To quote a New Times colleague, the Coyotes run at Lord Stanley's Cup is pretty much "ovah."
The Howlers dropped game three of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs 4-2 to the Detroit Red Wings last night, and they looked like hell doing it.
Both of the Coyotes' goals came on the power play, which is a nice change of pace for a team that often squanders opportunities with the man advantage. When all things were equal, though, Phoenix couldn't get the puck past Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard.
"We couldn't have asked for any worse start because we had good energy,
we were excited to play tonight, and then you get kicked in the teeth
like that early," Coyotes coach Dave Tippett told the Associated Press after the game.
The Red Wings scored early, and were quickly up by two less than three
minutes into the game thanks to goals by Ruslan Salei and Drew Miller.
Detroit's lead was up to three early in the second when Valterri Filppula put one past Coyotes goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov.
Bryzgalov, who's in a contract year, is one of the best goalies in the
league, which isn't showing now that his team's in the playoffs -- but
his defense certainly isn't helping.
Detroit has skated all over the Coyotes in each of the series' three
games. As we mentioned yesterday, at times, it's been like watching the
Harlem Globetrotters bat around the Washington Generals.
The Coyotes now find themselves in a must-win situation when they host
Detroit Wednesday night. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m. For more info on
the Coyotes, click here.
