TV: 10 p.m. ET, FSN North, FSN Wisconsin (Minnesota), FSN ArizonaABOUT THE WILD (2-0-0): Parise is tied with four others for the league lead in goals, two of which have come on the power play.
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“We’re a big, heavy group now”, Tippett said. This is the first time the Coyotes franchise has started the year with three straight wins since 2003-04. To be fair, they were only badly outplayed in the first game, but in both the Anaheim and LA games they were out-possessed of the puck and relied to heavily on Smith.
The Coyotes clawed their way back through a string of Minnesota penalties, pulling within 4-3 on Michael Stone’s 4-on-4 goal with just over 5 minutes left. Right winger Shane Doan had an assist on the goal to pull within one point of 900 for his career. However, the Coyotes could not find an equalizer. Arizona’s roster is not filled with marquee names but Coach Dave Tippett, known for his tight-checking system, has the Coyotes as the talk of the league. Ducks D Kevin Bieksa played in his 600th regular-season game. The team appears on paper to be a mixture of unseasoned rookies, declining veterens and Ekman-Larsson, so I totally get people being psyched up about this start, but a few of the things just aren’t very realistic. The first goal was scored by Tobias Reider assisted by Anthony Duclair and Martin Hazal. Ryan Suter took a shot from the point that glanced off Jason Pominville in the slot and bounced hard off the boards back in front on the backdoor. It was also the first time Arizona trailed in a game all season.
The Coyotes’ Mike Smith, who stopped 104 of 106 shots the first three games, was replaced in the second period after allowing three goals.
The Wild have been idle since beating the Blues 3-2 on Saturday.
It was Vanek’s 300th career goal.
The Wild kept rolling in the second period, going up 3-0 on a short-handed goal by Koivu, who one-timed a pass from Justin Zucker past Smith. “We’ll work on that progression and hopefully have him soon”.
Arizona Coyotes’ Max Domi (16) fakes Minnesota Wild’s Jared Spurgeon (46) before Domi scored a goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game Thursday, October 15, 2015, in Glendale, Ariz.
“I attribute a lot of (my) success past year to the way the guys there, the coaches, the organization, brought me in and were excited to have me there”, the Wild goaltender said.
Mikael Granlund’s goal, the Wild’s third of the night, came on perhaps the game’s prettiest play.
As far as improbable occurrences go, the Coyotes starting the season 3-0 after an 0-6 preseason that saw them score a single even-strength goal, isn’t exactly like meeting a scrawny middle-age guy with a mustache who isn’t creepy, but it’s damn close.
And Domi set him up again…
Dubnyk, in turn, has watched the Coyotes get off to a 2-0 start with wins over a pair of presumptive contenders in Los Angeles and Pittsburgh. He batted a puck out of the air and embarrassed Jared Spurgeon before going five-hole on Dubnyk with ten seconds left in the period. Khudobin allowed three goals on eight shots. G Anton Khudobin made his first start for Anaheim.
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Proponents of goalie analysis were convinced that Mike Smith could bounce back from an bad 2014-2015 campaign, but weren’t so convinced that he could hit the kinds of numbers he had in his Vezina-nominated 2011-2012 season.
