The Arizona Coyotes have not been able to get back into the win column since Jan. 22, hence their playoff hopes continuing to shrink.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!That number ticked up to 10-straight losses when they fell 6-3 to the Edmonton Oilers. After leading 3-2 through two periods, the Oilers scored four unanswered goals to rally back and claim two points.
When trying to pinpoint the reason(s) why this stretch keeps expanding, there is no clear-cut answer of a direct cause.
Walking into their locker room, the level of energy and charisma that it once had a few months back when they were still in a wild card race is now nothing more than just silence and their equipment’s velcro ripping.
When asked about what he believes the team is missing, Coyotes head coach André Tourigny didn’t shy away from responding after the latest loss.
“We have no confidence, that’s exactly what we have to learn,” Tourigny said. “It’s easy to play when you are confident. When you are confident, you are playing with energy, pace, life is good, the sky is blue. When you don’t have confidence, it’s how you carry yourself outside of the rink, it’s how you carry yourself in non-game days, it’s how you carry yourself in the game, in the tough moments.”
Even though the chance of clinching a playoff berth is close to mathematically vanishing, Tourigny stated that his players need to regain confidence for not just now, but moving into the future.
“Right now, confidence is extremely fragile,” Tourigny said. “We need to learn to get that back and play in those situations and want to play in those situations because that young team is a really good young team. They will play in a really critical game at some point, so they need to know how to handle it.”
With another chance to break out of this slump, the Coyotes face the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night at 8 p.m. MST.
3 Maple Leafs with Arizona connections return to face Coyotes
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Reporter Alec Cipollini covers the Arizona Coyotes, Cardinals and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on his X account @AlecCipollini
