News » Thomas Vanek Jersey

GLENDALE Thomas Vanek Jersey , Ariz. (AP) — The Arizona Coyotes lost four of their first five games, three by shutout.Another lost season in the desert apparently on the way.The thing about those early games, though, is they were close, unlike the start of last season. The Coyotes played well, just couldn’t seem to catch the right break or get pucks to find the net.Once the pucks started going in, the Coyotes couldn’t seem to miss.Behind a scoring flurry that would have been unthinkable on previous teams, Arizona is off to its best 11-game start (6-5-0) since 2013-14.“I really like all our games; we played well in all of them, we competed well,” Coyotes forward Derek Stepan said. “Yeah, we made some mistakes that cost us some goals early on Nick Foligno Jersey , but we’re learning quickly.”It’s been a long-arching curve.The Coyotes have struggled since reaching the 2012 Western Conference finals, seeming to be in perpetual rebuilding mode. Arizona got last season off to a miserable start, needing 12 games to win for the first time to fall out of playoff contention before the season’s first month was over.The Coyotes played better the last two months of the 2017-18 season and hoped it would carry over into this season.It did not, at least early.Arizona opened the season with a pair of shutout losses and had four goals its first five games — three of those in its lone win.Then something clicked.The Coyotes beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-1 on the road on Oct. 18 and, after a 5-3 loss at Winnipeg, have been one of the NHL’s hottest teams.With Tuesday night’s 5-1 home win over Ottawa, the Coyotes have outscored opponents 20-4 during a four-game winning streak. Arizona has 27 goals over a six-game span, a first for the franchise since 2006-07.“The guys were sticking with it and practicing like the goals would come,” Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet said. “You have to have that mentality in this league. We’ve got good mojo right now and we don’t want to wreck it.”Arizona has been among the league leaders in shots per game since the start of the season and the shooting percentage has dramatically increased since the minuscule 1.6 to start the season.The Coyotes seemed to get some bad breaks on shots early in the season, hitting posts and crossbars, having pucks squirt out of their reach in the offensive zone. They also didn’t seem to create their own luck by getting traffic in front of the crease and putting shots in spots where goalies could make easy saves.The breaks have been coming the past few games Authentic Oliver Bjorkstrand Jersey , such as Stepan’s blue line, short-handed goal that skittered off the ice and through Ottawa goalie Mike Condon’s pads .Arizona also has been creating some of that luck with hard, smart play, getting traffic in front of opposing goaltenders and more precise shooting.“You earn your bounces,” Stepan said. “We had some bounces going the other way early on in the year, now they’re starting to go our way and in a few weeks, they’re going to come back the other way. Good teams find ways to win any given night regardless of the bounces.”With the scoring boost, the Coyotes have continued to play stingy defense, the one area that helped them get through the difficult times in the past.Arizona has limited good chances against and its goalies, Antti Raanta and Darcy Kuemper, have been superb Ryan Murray Jersey , combining to give the Coyotes the NHL’s best goals-against average at 1.91. Raanta, healthy after an injury-filled first season in the desert, is fourth in the NHL with a 1.99 goals-against average.The Coyotes also have the NHL’s second-best penalty kill at 90.6 percent and have a league-high six short-handed goals to three power-play goals allowed. Stepan’s goal against Ottawa gave Arizona short-handed goals in three straight games for the second time in franchise history (1985). The Coyotes are 11th NHL team since 1933 to have five short-handed goals in three games.“When we’re sticking with our game plan and everybody is dialed in, we’re a really good team,” Raanta said. “As a goalie, it’s a dream to play behind that team.”Especially when they’re scoring goals, as they are now. With center Kyle Turris joining a lengthy list of key players on injured reserve before Sunday night’s game with Anaheim, the Nashville Predators needed someone to step up.Enter Austin Watson.In his sixth game since serving an 18-game suspension for domestic violence to open the season, Watson notched the first hat trick of his career to help Nashville maintain its place atop the Central Division and Western Conference with a 5-2 win.Article continues below ...Without Turris, Viktor Arvidsson and perhaps P.K. Subban, the Predators will try to pick up another two points on Tuesday night when they welcome the Colorado Avalanche to Bridgestone Arena for the second of a five-game homestand.Watson and Ryan Hartman split time on the top line against the Ducks with Ryan Johansen and Filip Forsberg. Both provide grit and better skill than some might think Sergei Bobrovsky Jersey , but clearly on Sunday night, Watson had the hot stick.“I think it’s just a matter of getting back on the ice and getting his timing back,” Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said. “He was in shape when he started but there’s something about the game and the way it moves and getting your game timing down from skating, reading the puck and handling the plays.“We’ve been giving him more opportunity in regards to ice time, penalty kill and defensive zone starts when the game is on the line.”For Watson, who normally plays on third and fourth lines whose roles are to keep opponents from scoring and occasionally create a “dirty” goal, the chance to play with creative players like Johansen and Forsberg was fun.“It’s always nice to score goals and contribute,” Watson said. “As hockey players, that’s what we like doing. It’s a good change to play with Johansen and Forsberg, two gifted players.”The Predators (17-6-1) have won six straight at home, dating back to an Oct. 27 loss to Edmonton Womens Seth Jones Jersey , and own a five-point lead on Colorado and Minnesota in the division. They also own an even longer streak over the Avalanche (13-6-4).Nashville has dumped Colorado in 11 straight regular season games, a streak that started in the last week of the 2015-16 season. The 11th win occurred on November 7 in Denver, where Colton Sissons notched a hat trick in a 4-1 verdict.Pekka Rinne bagged 24 saves that night and also got help from his team’s video coaches. Two Avalanche goals were waved off via review when replay detected offsides.Colorado is coming off a 3-2 home win Saturday night over Dallas, thanks to Mikko Rantanen’s second game-winner of the season off a rebound with less than two minutes remaining. Rantanen and center Nathan MacKinnon are 1-2 in the NHL in scoring with 38 and 35 points, respectively.Add linemate Gabriel Landeskog’s 26 points to the mix, and you have the top-scoring line in the NHL with 39 goals and 60 assists through 23 games.“They have been consistent all year,” said forward J.T. Compher. “It’s just finding a way to consistently support them. You know what you are going to get out of them every night.”