Coyotes/Ducks:

The Arizona Coyotes and Anaheim Ducks will meet for the second time this season, and both teams have one common theme so far: low scoring outings. 

For the Coyotes, it is the lack of hustle. In two games to start the season, Arizona has yet to find the back of the net once. Head Coach Rick Tocchet revealed after yesterday’s practice that the team needs to have more of a killer instinct. This means crashing the net more, going after rebounds more, getting in the dirty areas. With a full three days off, I expect the message to be loud and clear for tonight. Expect to see more opportunities being created by Arizona, and I would be surprised if they go another game scoreless. 

For Ducks, their low scoring last two games fell in their favor, as the Ducks are currently 3-0 so far to start the season. However, all is not fine and dandy in Orange County, and the record itself could not be more of a misleading picture in terms of dominance. The Ducks are all but in control, as they rank dead last in CORSI, with a mind blowing 30% of puck possession time. They have relied heavily on goaltender John Gibson to stop quality shots, and he is a large part of why they are 3-0 to start. Their goal would be to improve on their dominance of control coming into this one, as everyone is well aware that the goalie can only handle so much. 

There is no surprise that the one meeting between these two teams resulted in a 1-0 Ducks win, but today, I feel something bottled up and ready to explode. Both teams need to work on getting quality scoring chances and shots through, and they will both most likely see offense as the key focus of improvement coming into tonight’s game plan. 

We have a nice deflated total with some nice value here, as we can expect a full out run and gun game with flexing offenses and high speed breaks. 

OVER 5.5 +120  1.5*