head coach: Jim Schoenfeld

roster: C - Bob Corkum, Craig Janney, Jeremy Roenick, Cliff Ronning, Mike Stapleton. LW - Brad Isbister, Darrin Shannon, Keith Tkachuk, Juha Ylonen. RW - Dallas Drake, Mike Gartner, Jocelyn Lemieux, Jim McKenzie, Rick Tocchet. D - Murray Baron, Gerlad Diduck, Jim Johnson, Norm Maciver, Jayson More, Teppo Numminen, Deron Quint, John Slaney. G - Nikolai Khabibulin, Jimmy Waite.

injuries: Darcy Wakaluk, g (arthroscopic knee surgery, out 4-6 months); Norm Maciver, d (fractured hand, two weeks); Rick Tocchet, rw (jammed thumb, day-to-day).

transactions: 10/8 Shane Doan, rw, assigned to the Springfield Falcons (AHL); 10/17 John Slaney, d, recalled from the Las Vegas Thunder (IHL).

standings:

Western Conference - Central Division
Team       GP   W   L   T   PTS   GF   GA 
St Louis    9   7   1   1    15   31   18 
Detroit     9   6   1   2    14   34   19  
Dallas      9   5   3   1    11   30   20   
Phoenix     7   4   2   1     9   22   20    
Toronto     8   2   5   1     5   16   23   
Chicago     8   1   7   0     2   11   28      

game results:

10/08 Boston       L 3-2 OT
10/11 at Colorado  T 3-3
10/13 Chicago      W 2-1
10/19 San Jose     W 5-3

team news:

by Glenn Stahlman and Jeff Brown, Phoenix Correspondents

After three games the Phoenix Coyotes seemed to be taking an on-again, off-again approach to the 1997-98 hockey season. A big win on opening night was followed by an ugly blowout on the road in St. Louis, which in turn was followed by perhaps the best hockey game Coyotes fans have seen yet -- a hard-played, well- earned 2-1 victory in Philadelphia.

Not a bad start considering the Blues have been the surprise out West so far, and everyone and their hockey-following grandmother had picked the defending Eastern Conference champion Flyers to repeat in the East. Unfortunately, if the Coyotes were to follow suit, it would mean an embarrassing home loss to the doormats of the NHL, the Boston Bruins. Couldn't happen, you say? That's what the Coyotes were wondering after watching the Bruins celebrate on the ice like they'd just won a Game 7 in May. Ted Donato lit the lamp at 2:09 of the overtime period after Jason Allison beat Coyotes' center Cliff Ronning to the puck behind the net and fed it out to the circle, where Donato chipped it into the near side of Nikolai Khabibulin.

Rick Tocchet opened the scoring for Phoenix at 11:21 of the first period and the lead stuck until the Bruins tested the Coyotes penalty kill in the second period. All it took was one shot into Jim Johnson's high sticking penalty for Boston to tie the game. Just 1:08 later, with Phoenix again a man down, Boston's Kyle McLaren beat Khabibulin to make it 2-1. Two shots on goal, two goals on the scoreboard. It remained 2-1 until Craig Janney found Bob Corkum down low with :40 remaining and Khabibulin on the bench for the sixth man. Corkum unleashed a hard one-timer past Byron Dafoe, sending the game to overtime and prolonging the agony for the Coyotes.

"It wasn't a lack of effort, I felt we really worked hard but they deserved to win," Corkum said. "We have to go out and establish the way we're going to play, we can't wait to see how they're going to come out."

If the Coyotes were to wait and see how the Colorado Avalanche were to come out three nights later in Denver, they likely would not be found until the snow melted around Denver sometime this spring. Fortunately, the same Coyotes who made the trip to Philadelphia showed up at McNichols Arena Saturday night. The Dogs, who laid down and died against St. Louis and Boston, hung in for 60 minutes (65 actually), despite playing horrific defense and hardly managing to control the neutral zone. This simply was Nikolai Khabibulin's night to shine. The soft-spoken Russian was nothing short of fierce against the Avs, stopping 45 of 48 shots on goal. The Avs threw everything they had at him and all that managed to get by were two second period breakaway goals and Eric Messier's first NHL goal on a two-on-none in the third. In all the "Bulin Wall" stoned over 20 solid scoring chances and more than a half-dozen odd-man rushes.

"Nik stole a point for us tonight," said Coyote forward Dallas Drake, who started the Coyote comeback in the third period after taking a drop pass from Keith Tkachuk. "Frankly, I didn't expect that we would come out of the game with a tie. He just gave us a ridiculous effort." Craig Janney and Jeremy Roenick also tallied late- stanza scores for Phoenix.

"We get mesmerized by the puck and don't watch the guys coming up behind it," Coyotes head coach Jim Schoenfeld said. "If your head isn't on a swivel against this team, it will be when they blow by you because the wind will make you look like a turnstile." However Colorado's heads were spinning after Khabibulin turned aside 18 third period shots and slipped the Avalanche (5-0-1) their first blemish of the season on his way out the door.

After calling the barrage he faced in Colorado fun, goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin must have been all chuckles two nights later while facing Chicago back home at America West Arena. Although he gave up a goal to the Hawks' Ethan Moreau just 28 seconds into the game, he stood on his head for the remaining 59 and a half minutes, stopping the next 34 shots on goal and carrying the Coyotes yet again as they defeated Chicago 2-1. The Coyotes defense (or complete lack thereof) took responsibility for the mishap, as Gerald Diduck was still on the bench looking for his helmet when the game started (okay, just kidding - sincerest apologies to Buffalo Bills' Running Back Thurman Thomas).

Fortunately for Phoenix, the mishaps were few and far between for the rest of the game. They controlled the puck and the neutral zone for the remainder of the first period and Captain Coyote Keith Tkachuk lit the lamp for his first goal of the season with 9:16 on the clock, one-timing a deflected pass from behind the net by Dallas Drake. Tkachuk led the league with 52 goals last season.

"I'm supposed to be a goal scorer and I want to score goals," Tkachuk said. "I'm supposed to be on the power play and score goals. So it's frustrating when you don't get that job done and it's discouraging. I'm relieved that I finally scored but it's a long time coming."

With Tkachuk finally in the goals column, the only monkey riding on the backs of the Phoenix players was their ineptness on the power play. Coming into the game they were a surprising 0 for 28, this from the team who finished last season ranked 5th in the NHL. They went another 0 for 4 before Rick Tocchet broke the snide after taking a pass out front from Norm Maciver with 5:21 to go in the second period. Unfortunately for the Coyotes, both Tocchet and Maciver were injured later in the game.

"There was a lot of emotion out there, a lot of pushing and shoving," Coach Schoenfeld said. "Both teams were a little angry. They wanted to end their winless streak, we wanted to end our power-play streak."

Line Changes

The Coyotes search for the right combination of talent took a surprising turn last week, with the demotion of Shane Doan to the Springfield Falcons of the American Hockey League. The 20-year-old right wing from Halkirk, Alberta was the organization's first pick in the 1995 entry draft and had never played in the minors in his career. After being named the Jets rookie of the year in 1995, Doan played in 63 games last season for Phoenix, seeing time on the first line with Keith Tkachuk and Craig Janney and scoring 4 goals and 8 assists. Doan started out this season again playing with the top line, but was soon replaced by Dallas Drake, who wasted no time impressing the Coyotes staff this season (3-3-6).

"This is not a punishment," Coyotes general manager Bobby Smith said. "I hope when Shane Doan scores his 40th goal in the NHL, he's going to say, "I wouldn't have done this without having gone down to Springfield."

Doan himself wasn't available to comment on his being sent down, though he reportedly broke a number of his hockey sticks upon learning the news.

The Coyotes did not immediately replace Doan on the roster, but soon found it necessary to recall a defenseman to replace injured Norm Maciver, expected to be out two weeks with a broken hand suffered in the 2-1 win over Chicago. Smith chose to recall John Slaney, a 25 year old who signed in the off-season as a free agent. Slaney, originally a product of the Washington Capitals (9th overall in the 1990 entry draft) impressed the coaching staff in training camp with his toughness and shooting ability, making it to the final round of cuts before being sent to Las Vegas of the International Hockey League.

"It feels great to be back," he said. "I felt I had a good camp, one of the best I've had in seven years. But you can't get discouraged. I had to go down, prove myself, and hopefully, I did that."

The Coolest New Rink in the Desert

To the delight of their fans, the Phoenix Coyotes have installed new dasher boards and a new seamless glass system at America West Arena. Not only did the old metal seams in the glass obstruct views, but often big hits caused them to fall to the ice, requiring repairs that slowed down the pace of the game. The new precision-fitted boards also will allow for smoother puck play in the corners and truer angles on rebounds.

General manager Bobby Smith said, "You know, those bounces, they can work for you or they can work against you. But this is very good for the fans. They can see the ice much more clearly, and those instances when the posts were falling on the ice are a thing of the past."

Center Cliff Ronning agreed, "It's great for the fans," Ronning said. "They can see better, the rink looks brighter out there, and it looks like a brand new rink. It's great. I love it."

Upcoming

The Coyotes continue their homestand this week with games against Anaheim, Washington and Buffalo. Then it's off to the great white north for games in Edmonton and Calgary, before returning home on 11/2 for the back half of the home-and-home against the Flames.

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