Oh the weather outside was frightful, but the hockey inside of Jobing.com Arena last night was positively delightful! (Just a note on the weather - people in Arizona can't drive when there's a speck of water on the road. They just can't do it. It blows my mind. It flips their entire world upside down. Heaven forbid it rain... anyway...)
The first period was iffy. The boys came out flat and playing what I like to call their Lackadaisical Hockey style. Lazy, sloppy, disinterested. Lucky for us, the Wild played worse. Then about midway through the 2nd period, the boys came alive. Scottie Upshall and Taylor Pyatt scored about 44 seconds apart to give the Coyotes a 2-0 lead and the fire they needed to wake up and play some good hockey!
Ilya Bryzgalov was the Man of the Night however, stopping all 28 shots he faced. I really have to give Bryz some credit. I've given him a hard time in the past but when we needed him the most, and we've needed him more this season than ever; he's come through. He's becoming that elite NHL goaltender everyone said he had in him. He's making quite a case for himself and has finally won me over. That's huge, for those of you who know me well you know that I expect a lot out of my number 1 goaltender and Bryz just wasn't doing it for me until this season. But I don't mind admitting when I'm wrong and thank goodness I was wrong about Bryz. I certainly hope this continues and he finally realizes his dream of becoming a Stanley Cup Champion as a starter, and as a starter in Phoenix. I've got to give props to Sean Burke, apparently he knows how to Coach Bryz. Bryz is a different goalie this year. I don't know how long he'll last carrying the team on his back like that, but he's not showing any signs of slowing just yet.
The Coyotes are now 18-11-1 and can boast that they are having their first 5 game winning streak since the last one that lasted from 12/31/07-1/8/08. A few more interesting things of note from the game last night: Bryzgalov posted his personal career high 4th shutout of the season and is now one point behind the League leader in Wins, New Jersey's Martin Broduer. So our goalie is #2 in the League in wins!
Man, it sure is sweet to be a Coyotes fan today!
I'll leave you with some Good Morning Reads: If you haven't yet seen the article about Bryz in the Republic, what's stopping you??? It's spectacular. I am loving the new reporter, she's a keeper guys!
I'm a huge fan of Luke Lapinski's and thoroughly enjoyed his new "Off The Post" segment over at PhoenixCoyotes.com.
I think that's it for now... have a great day everyone!
Cheers,
Heather
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