Stemming from pre-NHL All-Star break, the Arizona Coyotes have been riding a wave of losses that seems effervescently insurmountable.
As the season winds down, teams are going to amp up their level of play and intensity as the playoff races tighten.
The Coyotes aren’t out of the race just yet. Sitting with 50 points, they’re only eight points back of the Los Angeles Kings and the St. Louis Blues, and six points back of the Nashville Predators.
With the news of Connor Ingram being sidelined for 7-10 days on Thursday comes a challenge in and of its own – running out the heavy part of the race without a goaltender who had been reliable early in the season.
Karel Vejmelka shined brighter (catch that – brighter than this season) when he was in a consistently splitting time between the pipes last season with Ingram. This season, as the backup to Ingram, who seems to be the favorable of the two, Vejmelka has been indecent. Now is his time to step up. After a small ego boost hoisting a 1.000 SV% against the Vegas Golden Knights on February 8th (following Ingram being pulled after allowing three goals on six shots). Since then, he’s posted five goals against in one start, and one relief appearance when Ingram went down against the Minnesota Wild. As a career .900 SV% goalie, Vejmelka has a chance to be sharp in a big time and be the anchor to stop the ship.
15-11-0 on home ice, the Coyotes get a chance to be staunch. With their next 12 games being split between home and road evenly, the Coyotes can start to get on course in the next four games by grabbing the three that are at Mullett Arena, starting with Friday vs the Carolina Hurricanes.
The Hurricanes made landfall in Tempe, splitting their first four after the break with two wins and two losses.
Carolina has been good on the road and at home this season, but share a closer margin of wins and losses on the road (13-11-1) than at home (17-6-4).
A consistent playoff contender, the Hurricanes have found themselves in the playoffs yearly since the 2020 bubble season, when the Coyotes got their last taste of playoff hockey, surviving the play-in round against Nashville, but being eliminated by the Colorado Avalanche.
After their meeting Friday night with the Hurricanes, the Coyotes gear up for a back-to-back with the Avalanche in Colorado on the 18th and then a 2:00 PM local time puck drop on the 19th against the Edmonton Oilers back at Mullett Arena.
