Coyotes need wins and Blues to cool off to make playoffs
A little more than two weeks ago, the NHL trade deadline came and went and the Arizona Coyotes made no moves.
General manager Bill Armstrong decided that the core of the team deserved to remain intact for a run at the playoffs, and no trade offer was good enough that to him would improve the roster.
At that point, the Coyotes had lost four straight games. Since then, Arizona has lost five of its last seven, and their postseason hopes are in serious jeopardy.
And while no changes to the roster were made at the trade deadline, it’s looking more apparent that plenty of changes will be made in the offseason should the Coyotes’ 2021 playoff mission go unaccomplished.
Following Wednesday’s 4-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks, the Coyotes (2124-5) have six games to play in the regular season. Four are at home, and two of those are Friday and and Saturday against the West Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights, who are trying to clinch the division title and No. 1 playoff seed.
The expression “must-win” applies to every game at this point, but it’s win and get help.
The Coyotes trail the St. Louis Blues for the division’s last playoff spot by three points, and the Blues had nine more games left on their schedule including a game against the third-place Minnesota Wild on Thursday night.
Doing the math, if the Coyotes somehow go 6-0 and collect all 12 possible points to close out the season, they’d need a Blues team on a three-game winning streak to go 4-5 or worse over their final nine games.
All points help, but the Coyotes are finding it hard to even come up with one from an overtime game. The fewer Coyotes’ wins and the more Blues’ wins from Thursday going forward, the more the Blues’ magic number for clinching the playoffs shrinks.
While possible, the way the Coyotes are playing of late hardly is a good sign for an undefeated run to end the season. But outwardly there is belief among players that the goal of making the playoffs is still attainable.
“We never give up, that’s just the team we are,” Coyotes captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson said. “Nothing’s going to change going forward here. We still believe, and we have to do all our part.”
“We’re going to fight to the end, regardless of the situation,” goalie Darcy Kuemper said after Ekman-Larsson’s postgame comments on Wednesday night.
The Coyotes were 19-15-5 on April 6, five points ahead of the Blues. They’d started a nine-game road trip with a 3-1 record, and held a 3-1 lead going into the third period of a road game at Los Angeles on April 7.
Arizona had no answer for three third-period goals, and the Kings won 4-3. That loss started a five-game losing streak, which has become nine losses in the past 11 games and has coincided with the Blues surging past the Coyotes in the standings.
On April 14, a fifth consecutive loss, this one at Minnesota, had defenseman Alex Goligoski confirming that the team’s next game was a must-win. The Coyotes beat the Blues 3-2 on April 17 at home, but couldn’t build much momentum after that.