Round 2, Game 1 recap.

The Coyotes started round two, like they left round one, leaving us all gasping for breath until the very last second of overtime...again.  I have mentioned before that this was my first time experiencing round two live, and I successfully checked several things off of my "hockey bucket list":

1.  See your team play a second round game live.
2. See your team win a second round game.
3. See your team win a second round game in overtime.

Thanks to the Coyotes for helping me check off all three of those items.   Thanks also for my lack of voice, and leaving me both mentally and physically exhausted, again.  Love it.  Really I do.

The game itself left a little to be desired, neither team played particularly well.  I really think the layoff between round one and round two had a lot to do with that.  Nashville's defensive style really seemed to confuse the Coyotes, especially from about half way through the first, through most of the second.  The Coyotes had short spurts of pressure, but generally had a hard time getting things going.   That being said, were it not for a couple of really crazy bounces, the game could have been 3-0 or 3-1 and not needed overtime.  Nashville only scored one "legit" goal during the course of the game.  The other two were created by a strange bounce of the back glass, and a slow whistle from the referee.    I'm looking forward to see what kind of changes both coaches make before game two.  Dave Tippett was not happy with his team post-game, even though they did get the win.

There were a couple of things that I was surprised to see, or not see at the game:.

1. Rows of empty seats, especially down low.   It's my personal belief that you HAVE to sell out your home playoff games.  HAVE TO.   I thought at first that the crowd was simply late arriving, due to a 6pm local start time.  I know I would have had a hard time making it on time for a 6pm start if I had to work until 5pm, but that wasn't the case.   Come on Phoenix,  FILL THAT BUILDING.

2. Silence.  There was dead silence after Nashville scored.  It was sublime.  I've been to 12-14 Coyotes games at Jobing.com and last night was the first time that I didn't have to deal with a loud roar when the visitors scored.  I like that a lot.

3. Lack of physical play.  There was not a lot of hitting in this game, nothing like we saw in the Chicago series. My buddy and I even went so far to refer to it as "Olympic Hockey" for a while.  There weren't even a lot of post whistle scrums, until late in the third and overtime.  I'm hoping that the Coyotes can bring that physical element back for game two. 

Lastly,   I'm in Vegas on Sunday. It's the first time I've actually been slightly disappointed to go to Vegas.  I'm hoping that I can find a decent sports book to enjoy the game from.  I'll be twittering if I can.


LET'S GO YOTES!!!!