The Coyotes are looking for revenge after a rough finish against the Wild.
Game Preview
It only took one goal to beat the Arizona Coyotes in their last game. The Minnesota Wild scored four, but they had already won as soon as Kirill Kaprizov found a way past Adin Hill.
Things had started off so well for the Arizona Coyotes. They looked decent in the first period, not establishing their game but playing a solid road game. But when Minnesota started applying the pressure in the second, things started to fell apart.
Arizona made things extremely difficult for themselves when they started taking penalties in the second period. They had gotten called for one in the first period, but the second period went to another level.
The Coyotes were called for three penalties in less than minutes, draining Arizona of all momentum. This came at the worst time when the Coyotes needed to have a push leading into the final period of a tied game.
Minnesota wasn’t able to score on any of their power plays, but the damage was already done. When they finally found the back of the net, it looked to be one of those insurmountable deficits, even though the team was only down 1-0.
And it should have been a goal the team could recover from. Kaprizov’s first two goals happened when the puck went in off a Coyotes’ player. That can be a demoralizing goal, but there was still plenty of time left.
Arizona is going to need to be much better all-around today. They need to be disciplined and not spend all of their time in the penalty box. They need their offense to show up, either from their top players or secondary scoring. And they need to get solid goaltending.
Players to Watch
Arizona: Christian Dvorak – Earlier this season the Coyotes were shut out in consecutive games against the Vegas Golden Knights and Anaheim Ducks. And in the next Dvorak scored two against the Ducks. Dvorak hasn’t scored since February 22nd and the team could use a big game from him.
Minnesota: Kirill Kaprizov – Kaprizov had a hat-trick, and apparently those are pretty good.
Injuries
Arizona: Darcy Kuemper (lower body)
Minnesota: Marcus Foligno (questionable, undisclosed), Kyle Rau (questionable, upper body), Marcus Johansson (upper body), Marco Ross (upper body)
Puck Drop
Today’s game is an early one and will start at 11:00 am Arizona time. It will air on Fox Sports Arizona, NHLN, SN, and Fox Sports 910 AM.
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