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HEAD COACH
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Jim Schoenfeld
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ROSTER
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C - Jeremy Roenick, Bob Corkum, Mike Stapleton, Juha Ylonen,
Daniel Briere, Tavis Hansen, Trevor Letowski. LW - Keith Tkachuk,
Greg Adams, Jim Cummins, Mike Sullivan, Louie DeBrusk. RW - Rick
Tocchet, Dallas Drake, Brad Isbister, Shane Doan, Rob Murray. D -
Keith Carney, Gerald Diduck, Jyrki Lumme, Teppo Numminen, Oleg
Tverdovsky, Deron Quint, JJ Daigneult. G - Nikolai Khabibulin, Robert
Esche.
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INJURIES
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2/03 - Brad Isbister, lw (hernia surgery, six weeks); 2/19
- Dallas Drake, rw (shoulder, updated to day-to-day); 2/19 - Juha
Ylonen, c (knee, undetermined at this time); 2/19 - JJ Daigneault, d
(knee, 7-10 days); 2/20 - Mike Stapleton, c (facial cut, day-to-day);
2/20 - Shane Doan, rw (facial cut, day-to-day); 2/20 - Greg Adams, lw
(groin pull, day-to-day).
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TRANSACTIONS
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2/17 - sent Jimmy Waite, g, to Springfield (AHL) and
recalled Robert Esche, g, from Springfield.
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GAME RESULTS
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2/08 San Jose L 3-0
2/10 Los Angeles W 3-0
2/13 at Colorado W 4-1
2/14 Anaheim L 5-1
2/16 Philadelphia L 4-1
2/19 at Tampa Bay L 4-2
2/20 at Florida L 7-1
2/22 at Pittsburgh L 4-1
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STANDINGS
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Pacific Division GP W L T PTS GF GA
Dallas 54 35 10 9 79 159 107
Phoenix 57 29 18 10 68 146 128
Anaheim 58 24 25 9 57 155 147
San Jose 58 20 25 13 53 132 136
Los Angeles 58 21 32 5 47 135 158
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TEAM NEWS
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by Bob Chebat, Phoenix Correspondents
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The Coyotes ended their longest home stand of the season on a sour
note with two straight lopsided losses to Anaheim and Philadelphia,
only to head out to their longest road trip of the season, touring
the East Coast.
The trip has gotten off to a less than favorable start with losses
in Tampa Bay (yes, you read that correctly), Florida and
Pittsburgh. The Lightning snapped a 10-game winless streak, the
Panthers busted out of a scoring drought without Pavel Bure in a
7-1 rout, and the Penguins ended a three-game slump with a 4-1 win
on Monday night. The only good news is that the Coyotes next
opponent, the Washington Capitals, have won five straight home
games. Since the Coyotes are streak breakers this trip, who knows,
they may just snap out of it.
Injuries have taken their toll on the team as well. The roster looks
like that of the Springfield Falcons with names like Robert Esche,
Joe Dziedzic, JF Jomphe, Rob Murray, Trevor Letowski and Tavis
Hansen. Jimmy Waite was sent to Springfield prior to the road trip to
"find his game" as head coach Jim Schoenfeld put it, and in his first
appearance, allowed two goals on just 12 shots.
Robert Esche has come in relief of Nikolai Khabibulin in the last
two games after the Boolin Wall surrendered seven goals before each
game was 30 minutes old. Esche looked strong in both appearances,
but the defense in front of him has been lacking tremendously.
The Coyotes will not return the once friendly confines of America
West Arena until March 5th when the Detroit Red Wings make their
second appearance in Phoenix this season. Phoenix has played
Detroit twice this season and won both meetings by a combined score
of 9-3.
Injuries are not the only problem plaguing the Coyotes, putting the
puck in the net has not come easy either. Despite outshooting their
opponents in many of their games, goals are few and far between. The
current road trip of four games has seen four goals, three from Rick
Tocchet and one from Captain Tkachuk. The two are tied for the team
lead with 21 each. The once-hot Jeremy Roenick has cooled off
considerably since Dallas Drake has been sidelined. Drake hopes to
return to the lineup this week against Washington.
Even with the scoring woes, do not look for the Coyotes to make any
major changes to the lineup before the trading deadline on March
23. They have a payroll budget to stick to and will not be in the
market for any highly priced rent-a-players for the stretch run,
such as Theo Fleury, Mark Recchi or Doug Gilmour.
A healthy Coyotes team that gets back to basics and follows the
Schoenfeld system can be successful, but will they be able to
recapture that winning feeling they had over the first two months
of the season? Only time will tell.
For game-by-game updates, photos and more, please visit my
Unofficial Coyotes Web Site at http://bizbud.com/coyotes.
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