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Evan’s NHL Daily: Stars In Trouble, Utah Welcomes Coyotes

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2 weeks ago

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The NHL is headed to Utah, and on Wednesday, Coyotes players and staff members got a sneak peak at what life will be like in their new city.

On the ice, the Dallas Stars finished the season with the best record in the Western Conference, with only one other NHL team finishing the year with more points. None of that matters now, because they’ve lost both games at home to start the playoffs and find themselves in a big hole against the Golden Knights.

The Avalanche had a travel day on Wednesday but will be back on the ice Thursday. I also spent all day traveling, and wrote about all of our adventures in Winnipeg (and Fargo).

All that and more in this Thursday edition of Evan’s Daily.

Colorado Hockey Now

Miles Wood is scoring when the games really count, and Casey Mittelstadt might not be showing up on the scoresheet, but he’s doing a lot of things right.

Getting to Winnipeg is insanely difficult, far more difficult than it should be. I had to write about it.

CHN

Utah Welcomes The Coyotes

The players from the Arizona Coyotes might not have loved the move to Utah right off the bat, but Wednesday could have changed their minds. The newest city to welcome an NHL team rolled out the red carpet for Coyotes players and staff and they all seemed to really enjoy it.

Those generic “Utah NHL” hoodies are pretty funny, but all the players probably feel a fair bit better today than they did a week ago. I’m excited to head to Salt Lake next season when the Avalanche travel there.

Stars in Trouble

The Dallas Stars finished with the second best record in the NHL, and their reward was the Vegas Golden Knights. Maybe they’re regretting pushing for that top spot right now.

Jake Oettinger, who looked bad in Game One, bounced back in Game Two. He made some crazy saves towards the end of the second period. The problem is that the Stars couldn’t generate any offense, mustering up just 21 shots on goal against Logan Thompson, including just five in the third period while trailing.

With the 3-1 loss, the Stars now head back to Vegas in a 2-0 hole. It doesn’t get any worse than that. This is why nobody really wanted to face the Golden Knights. With all their players magically getting healthy at the start of the playoffs, you didn’t know what you were up against. Dallas is in trouble and now has to figure things out in a hostile environment.

Other Playoff Games

If you’re the Boston Bruins, you can’t take Jeremy Swayman out of that net, right? Swayman was huge in Game Three, holding down the fort in Toronto and helping the Bruins take the 2-1 series lead.

Anze Kopitar is perhaps the most under appreciated player in the NHL over the last 15 years, and he’s still going strong at of 36. A nice bounce in the neutral zone helped him score the game-winning goal, tying that series up at one.

National Hockey Now

A Q+A for PHN+ members on the Pittsburgh Penguins

The Avalanche didn’t fire Jared Bednar when he led the Avalanche to an abysmal 48 points during the 2016-17 season. The Sharks did not do the same thing, firing David Quinn for leading his team to just 47 points, the lowest in the NHL. Not sure what they expected with that lineup…

The Panthers will have to play without Sam Bennett for at least a week after getting injured in Game Two.

No Thatcher Demko gives the Predators the advantage in net, and Juuse Saros made the difference in Game Two.

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