Coyotes have simple solution for Game 2
May 15, 2012, 7:43 PM | Updated: 8:54 pm
It seems that in the time between Sunday’s loss and
Tuesday morning’s skate, the Phoenix Coyotes came up with
a solution and a game plan for Game 2 of the Western
Conference Finals against the L.A. Kings.
Keep the puck.
“They had the puck a lot,” defensemen Derek Morris said
Tuesday morning. “We gotta find a way to get the puck more
and get it down low in their zone and make their D work a
little bit more down there. We spent a lot of time in our
zone and when you’re chasing the whole entire game, it’s
tough to get the momentum back.”
The lack of possession for the Coyotes was evident in the
disparity of shots during the game. The Kings outshot the
‘Yotes 48-27. Of course, a bright spot for Phoenix could
be the fact that they made it to the conference final
despite being outshot in 10 of 12 postseason games, and
they’ve given up 45 or more shots three times, but that’s
not exactly a recipe for success.
So, Coyotes coach Dave Tippett agrees with the notion that
if you have the puck, LA can’t score.
“Well I think we have to have better execution with the
puck,” he said. “There are a lot of times where if our
execution was better it allows you to play with the puck a
lot more and hence you play defense less.”
Right wing Mikkel Boedker said they spent too much time in
their own zone and didn’t make the Kings work hard enough.
“When we have it we have to keep it; don’t give it up like
we did,” he said. “I thought we gave it away too easy and
when we have the puck we gotta play with it and make them
chase the game a little bit.”
Game two set for Tuesday night at 6pm at Jobing.com Arena.
