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Arizona Coyotes head coach Dave Tippett cites poor goaltending in 6-2 season opener loss

By Catherine Silverman

Of all the things that went wrong, the Arizona Coyotes should be most concerned about their goaltending in 6-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports
Of all the things that went wrong, the Arizona Coyotes should be most concerned about their goaltending in 6-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports /
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Of all the things that went wrong, the Arizona Coyotes should be most concerned about their goaltending in 6-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets

During the post-game press conference, Arizona Coyotes head coach Dave Tippett had few good things to say about the team he saw out on the ice Thursday night.

“Too many errors with the puck, too little discipline,” were Tippett’s words, referring to the whopping nine penalties taken by Coyotes over the course of the game- seven of them, incidentally, during the disastrous first period.

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That comment, though, would come towards the middle of his post-game speech. Right off the bat, he addressed arguably the biggest issue the team saw throughout the evening- and that was with the team’s goaltending.

Arizona Coyotes goaltender Mike Smith has been the source of speculation around the league all off-season; he’s not getting any younger, and many wondered if he’ll be able to replicate his success from the 2011-2012 season this year, as well.

Based off Thursday night’s loss to the Winnipeg Jets? Not likely.

The netminder posted a .778 SV% for the game, only inflated by the strong second and third periods the Coyotes had. He allowed more goals than almost every other netminder so far in the 2014-2015 season, joining Anaheim’s John Gibson in starting of the year with a whopping 6 goals allowed apiece.

Of course, Smith should not bear the blame alone for the team’s loss. Star defensemen Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Keith Yandle both had off games, and the Winnipeg Jets must be given credit for Blake Wheeler’s strong offense (he walked away Thursday night with 2 G, and 1 A) and the team’s overall solid defense.

The Coyotes will play their second game of the season on Saturday against the Los Angeles Kings, who will also be going into the game with a four-goal loss on the books.

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