azcentral.com | Phoenix Arizona News - Arizona Local News
It's all good for Coyotes
24 commentsby Jim Gintonio - Apr. 2, 2008 05:43 PM
The Arizona Republic
The Coyotes find themselves in what might be viewed as a win-win situation entering the last thee games of the season.
They will be trying to win out and wind up with 86 points, a 19-point increase from a year ago. If they stumble the next three games, however, all is not lost. The teams on their heels could win out, and the Coyotes could wind up with a top-five draft pick. As of now, the Coyotes have six picks in the first three rounds.
Tonight, the Coyotes host the Dallas Stars, who have already clinched a playoff spot in the Western Conference, then meet them again Friday in Texas. They close out the season Sunday in Anaheim, against the defending Stanley Cup champion.
This season, the Coyotes are 4-2 against Dallas and 5-2 against Anaheim.
When asked whether garnering six points against two of the top teams in the West and getting to 86 points would be any satisfaction, defenseman Nick Boynton shook his head.
"You know what, not for me," he said. "It doesn't matter if you have 100 points, if you're not in the playoffs, it's disappointing, especially to be so close as we were."
Boynton, a diabetic, was scratched for Sunday's game in San Jose because his insulin pump broke for the first time.
"It was three years old, and it just quit on me," he said. "There's not a whole lot I can do. I probably would have gotten pretty sick (if he played). I don't know what to compare it to. I had to stay in the room and monitor myself . . . it's pretty complicated."
Upon returning to Phoenix, he purchased a new pump and said he feels fine.
Doan, Morris remember
Coyotes right wing Shane Doan was just shy of his 19th birthday and Derek Morris had recently celebrated his when they broke in to the NHL, Doan with the Winnipeg Jets and Morris with the Calgary Flames.
So they both know the situation in which Kyle Turris finds himself as an 18-year-old who will make his first NHL start tonight against the Dallas Stars.
Doan, 31, will be on a line with Turris and 19-year-old Peter Mueller. Asked whether that made feel young or old, Doan laughed and said, "I think it makes me feel older because at some point you realize you were that young, and now you're not.
"I couldn't imagine doing it at the end of the year. . . . He'll definitely be nervous and excited for the first game."
Morris said his situation was a bit different from Turris' because he was with the team from the start of the season.
"You're nervous when you go out there, don't really know what to expect," he said. "You go out there and just play your game, and everything kind of works out."
He said being teamed defensively with Tommy Albelin helped him a lot.
"He's a good guy, really mellow, and if I made a mistake he wasn't too mad about it. He talked to me about what you have to do in situations. He helped me a lot."
Coach Wayne Gretzky, who turned 19 during his first NHL season with the Edmonton Oilers (he joined the Oilers, then members of the WHA, at age 17, and the Oilers joined the NHL in 1979), said a player should prepare the same way.
"The difference is the players are better, a little bit more physical and quicker, but he'll (Turris) will find that out on the first shift . . . just go out there and play the game the way he knows how to play, work hard, and he'll be fine."
Ice chip
Defenseman Nick Ross, the team's second pick in the first round (30th overall) in 2007, was signed and will report to San Antonio. Ross, 19, ended his fourth season in the Western Hockey League. Ross appeared in one preseason game for the Coyotes, getting almost 23 minutes of ice time. In 214 WHL games with two teams, he had 102 points and 242 penalty minutes.
Failed Pump 
Linear Mode
