NEW YORK — Start spreading the news. These Arizona Coyotes do not look, sound or feel like any Coyotes teams of the Glendale era.
There is a pace to their play that has made every opponent, with the exception of the Colorado Avalanche, look slower. There is a hunger to their forecheck and defensive play that reduces space and time to millimeters and milliseconds. There is a growing confidence in the dressing room as each win further validates their process. And there is a growing belief that no matter the circumstance, that process will produce the desired result.
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“It feels like you’re chipping away, what you’re doing is right and guys are buying in,” coach Rick Tocchet said moments after a 3-2 overtime win against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday. “It’s easy as a coach when you have 21 guys buying in.”
The Coyotes’ second straight OT win at MSG should have been easier. They outshot the Rangers 21-4 in the first period and the game felt every bit that lopsided. The Rangers were a hot mess in their own end, they were hesitant to shoot on their rare offensive-zone forays, and the Coyotes were the main reason for both issues because of their relentless pressuring of the puck.
All that pressure produced only a 1-0 lead, however, a Lawson Crouse follow of Christian Fischer’s rebound after Carl Söderberg did the work with a deep drive and a centering pass.
In the second period, New York turned the tables and the teams went to the third period tied at 2 after former Coyote Tony DeAngelo scored twice, sandwiched around Alex Goligoski’s first goal of the season.
It felt deflating. It felt like Coyotes teams of the past, the ones that had gone 2-6-3 in their previous 11 games here, and 5-19-5 in their previous 29 games against the three New York-area teams. It wasn’t deflating in the locker room, however. There was a simple message instead.
“Not to get frustrated,” forward Christian Dvorak said. “Maybe in the past, that’s something we’d get frustrated (about).”
The Coyotes played a careful third period, holding the Rangers to three shots, and then Phil Kessel, Nick Schmaltz and Oliver Ekman-Larsson set the stage for Dvorak’s game-winner by hanging onto the puck and getting a full line change while the Rangers’ three players were stuck on the ice against Dvorak’s, Goligoski’s and Clayton Keller’s fresh legs.
“We learned it from Colorado,” Tocchet said of an OT loss on Oct. 12 in which Keller failed to change and got beat on the game-winning goal. “Phil did a good job of ragging the puck, and Schmaltzy. They changed and the Rangers couldn’t get off. That’s why we had the zone time and scored a goal.”
The Coyotes are 5-0-1 in their past six games. They have outplayed six of their eight opponents this season and they played the other two evenly. There are so many games left that it is pointless to think about what this group might accomplish, but understated veteran Derek Stepan let slip a hint of what is brewing in that private team space when NHL.com senior writer Dan Rosen spoke to him after Monday’s practice.
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“As of right now, we have the machine oiled well,” Stepan told Rosen. “When I first got to Arizona it was like, ‘OK, which direction are we going in?’ Now the ship is moving pretty quickly in the right direction. So, yes, I would tell you that it does feel like a playoff team.”
Tocchet won’t go that far. He’s a coach. He’s too worried about the next game, the next shift, and on Tuesday, he was too worried about what Artemi Panarin or Mika Zibanejad might do in a tie game.
“You’ve got some high-end players over there; they’re dangerous guys,” Tocchet said. “Any time you’re in a tight game, those guys can win a game so, as a coach, you’re never feeling great.”
Tocchet may be the only one worrying right now. Owner Alex Meruelo was in a festive mood as he walked past the locker room with an entourage after the game, Tocchet’s players are feeding off each other’s good vibes and the Coyotes are climbing in the standings.
“It’s obviously a long process and a long year, but more than anything the chemistry in the room is so good,” Goligoski said. “Everybody gets along with everybody and everybody works hard. It’s fun to be around and it’s infectious. Everyone just kind of rallies off of it. It’s not unlike other good teams I have played on.
“We just work so hard. Every time we chip a puck in or there are these little plays in the neutral zone, we have sticks on guys all the time. It’s been a struggle for other teams to play against us. I hope we keep working like this the rest of the year because it’s a good recipe.”
(Photo: John Crouch / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)