3 takeaways from Arizona Coyotes blowout loss to Colorado Avalanche
The Colorado Avalanche unleashed its potent attack and beat the Arizona Coyotes in Game 4 to lead the series 3 games to 1.
Game 4 was a simply ugly game for the Arizona Coyotes, as they lost to the Colorado Avalanche 7-1. In a huge game, the Coyotes simply didn’t show much fight and now have a 3-1 deficit against a very dangerous Avalanche team.
Head coach Rick Tocchet said it best. Let’s look at three takeaways from today’s game.
1. The Colorado Avalanche are a better team than the Arizona Coyotes.
Right from the start, the ice seemed slanted in favor of the Avalanche and the Coyotes quickly assumed their normal five-man defensive posture. Arizona was undisciplined enough to commit three penalties in the first period, and two of them ended in power play goals by Nazem Kadri.
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The Coyotes were already down 3 to 0 at the beginning of the second period, and it appeared that the miraculous play of goalkeeper Darcy Kuemper was not going to result in the Coyotes tying the series at two games apiece. A tripping penalty on Michael Grabner gave the Avs another chance to show off their offense skills.
2. The Arizona Coyotes are perhaps the weakest team among the 16-team finalists
Game 4 was essentially over at the end of the first period. Depending solely on your goalkeeper to keep your team competitive in a playoff series is not a recipe for success. The lack of offense compounds the problem for the Desert Dogs when your team is built from the back end forward.
The Coyotes obviously need to make some significant changes during the offseason to become truly competitive. No skater can do the work by himself, and the frustration on the face of Taylor Hall reflected their futility.
It was embarrassing to watch the Coyotes stumble around the ice in a playoff game with an inability to string passes together or create many scoring chances. They depend on their goalkeeping and defense to keep games close so that an opportunistic goal or two may put them in the win column. That’s not going to work against the Colorado Avalanche.
3. The Arizona Coyotes will not advance to the next round of the playoffs this season.
The Arizona Coyotes organization and its fans know that the season is nearly over for their beloved Desert Dogs. As much as it hurts to admit it, the mix of players on the current roster are just not talented enough to advance to the next round. They were the pretenders in the Edmonton bubble, hidden from view for a while by the efforts of a great goalkeeper.
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Changes are thus on the horizon, which is ultimately a good thing for the Coyotes organization. The status quo is unacceptable, and Coyotes fans know it more than anyone.