Coyotes Win Opener Against Blues 3-2

There were many factors that went into the Coyotes’ victory Thursday night. I’ll just highlight what I think were the most important:

• Keith Ballard
• Mikael Tellqvist
• Winning the face off battle
• Puck Possession

Ballard had three hits, two blocked shots, a goal, and a fight. He was a monster out there and he showed the fans and management his value to this hockey club. In the fight against the Blues’ David Backes, Ballard had to make up for Backes’ reach and size. He took off his shield and wasn’t about to back down from anybody.

Tellqvist stopped 22 of 24 shots and allowed two goals. He did have a shutout going into the thrid period and he made the save of the night against Paul Kariya when Kariya found himself on a breakaway only to be stoned by Tellqvist.

The Coyotes dominated the face offs by winning 61% of the draws. Mike Zigomanis was huge on the face off dot by winning 79% of his attempts.

Winning the face off battle allows the team to have a better advantage with controlling the puck and with the Coyotes last night, it certainly held true. The Coyotes had the puck just plain longer than the Blues and kept Kariya and company off the score sheet for as long as possible. After a time out called by Blues’ coach Andy Murray (which there might have been some sort of attitude adjustment meeting), the Blues scored on their first shift following the goal by Mike York that extended the Coyotes’ lead 3-0.

Other notable highlights:

• Daniel Winnik, the 9th round (265th overall) pick for the Coyotes in 2004 scored his first goal of his NHL career in front of his parents who made it down from Toronto to see him play.
• Nick Boynton stood up for his teammate Ballard after Ballard through a hip check at Barret Jackman. A Blues’ player seemed to grab Ballard from behind and Boynton stepped in to stop any kind of nonsense.

Last night was a good start for the young franchise. I’m glad I was able to attend the game because the atmosphere was perfect for hockey and I’m very happy it’s finally back!

Video may appear later so stay tuned.

Original post by PB

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