Five goals against per game is not conducive to winning hockey.
The Arizona Coyotes have not been able to defend their own end of the ice so far, and an optimistic home opening win has been replaced by deep concern about the team’s ability to improve on their deficiencies last season.
Arizona’s defense should be better, but right now it isn’t. The Coyotes will get another chance to right the ship tonight as they take on the New York Islanders in Brooklyn.
Long East Coast road-trips have not been kind to the Coyotes recently; last year, Arizona went 0-5-0 on an East Coast swing in February that definitively knocked them out of the playoff race.