Coyotes Joyful and Triumphant Heading Into Holiday Break

1st In The League

ArticleThe Arizona Coyotes head into the Christmas break at the top of the league, and a red hot 8-0-2 in their last 10 games. The team managed to gift their fans an early present, with what might be their most convincing win of the season, as the Coyotes dominated the Avalanche 5-1 in Denver. With the win, the Coyotes now have a 7 point lead over the Avs for first in the Central.

The Coyotes, lead by the stellar play of Captain, Alexsander Barkov, and likely Vezina candidate, Jake Oettinger, have helped put this team in the position they are today. Barkov leads the team at the break with 17 goals and 19 assists, good enough for 7th in the league in scoring while Jake Oettinger, after a slow start to the season, has been arguably the best goaltender in the league. Otter currently leads all starting goaltenders with a GAA of 1.67 and a SV% of 0.9359, sporting a 17-4-2 record.

Another bright spot on the team has been the play of Matty Beniers, who currently sits in first place amongst all rookies with 15 points in 33 games. A good sign for the future of the franchise.

Despite the Coyotes sitting in first place, some fans still have their concerns. Flash back to last season where the Coyotes were a top 10 team in the league, only to have a horrendous second half of the season and ended up battling just to make the playoffs. This painful reminder, coupled with the slow start from players like Valeri Nichushkin, 6 points in 18 games, and Kirill Marchenko, 1 point in 22 games with the Coyotes, have the team relying heavily on their defence and goaltenders.

Head Coach Dave Tippett did make some adjustments to the line up prior to the break to help jump start the offence on his team, who currently sits 21st in goals for and 20th in shooting percentage so far this year. If Tippetts adjustments work, the Coyotes could have an opportunity to separate themselves from the rest of the top teams in the league, as long as the play on the back end continues to be the class of the league.

For now, we will have to sit and wait to see if the Coyotes can continue their winning ways into 2024, or will the Coyotes once again be plagued in the later half of the season.