The Los Angeles Kings already booked their date for the Western Conference finals over the weekend. Now the Phoenix Coyotes attempt to RSVP Monday night in Game 5 against the Nashville Predators.
The Coyotes are withouth defenseman Rostislav Klesla, who was suspended a game for boarding in Game 4, but that seems to matter very little right now. After dominating Game 4, Phoenix can close out the series at home, and continue a season that already saw it win its division for the first time ever. Now it can reach the finals for the first time in franchise history.
The Coyotes are favored by 1 1/2 goals, according to Bovada with a -115 moneyline.
Phoenix was in the same position in round one, up 3-1 against the Chicago Blackhawks at home. It lost that game, but rallied to win Game 6 in Chicago.
”We’re aware it’s not going to come easy,” Phoenix center Antoine Vermette told the Associated Press. ”We’ve been there just a couple of weeks ago. They’re going to play desperate. That’s what we saw with Chicago. You’ve got to come hard. They’re not going to give it to you.”
Nashville has shown some resiliance in the series, winning Game 3 at home after forwards Alexander Radulov and Andrei Kostitsyn were suspended for violating team rules. But after dropping the next game Friday night, head coach Barry Trotz said he will probably re-insert them into the lineup tonight.
”There’s nowhere to hide. It is what it is,” Trotz told the AP. ”I think during the series we’ve played well but not well enough to be up 3-1. We haven’t buried our chances when we’ve had lots of chances. We put ourselves in this position, and we’ve got to dig ourselves out.”
Nashville didn’t play well enough to even the series Friday. Coyotes goaltender Mike Smith got his second shutout of the postseason, but the rest of the team did their part, deflecting 16 shots before they reached him.
”I feel everybody knows if you take this game it’s a new series,” Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne told the AP. ”We have a chance to come back after that and obviously don’t want to go too far ahead. That’s just the situation we’re in.
”You have to stick with your teammates, stay close to each other and believe in that foundation we’ve been kind of leaning toward the whole season. I think that’s our backbone and we have a pretty resilient team.”