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Tippett: “This is the best 60 minutes we’ve played in the playoffs”

coyoteswin

The score might have “only” been 5-3, but the Phoenix Coyotes absolutely steamrolled the Nashville Predators in Game 2 to take a 2-0 series lead. For many of us who were conditioned to watch a “collapsing” Coyotes team, it was stunning to watch such an aggressive, dominant Coyotes squad.

That effort left Predators coach Barry Trotz scratching his head while Phoenix bench boss Dave Tippett beamed about as much as he beams. Dave Vest passes along some of Tippett’s rave reviews.

“I would say this is the best 60 minutes we have played in the playoffs for sure,” Tippett said. “Right through our lineup, we really had a consorted push. I didn’t think there were any weak links.”

If you want to nitpick, perhaps Tippett can point to special teams. While the Coyotes won the 5-on-5 battle 5-1, the Predators connected on both of their power play opportunities and killed both Phoenix man advantages.

It’s pretty tough to linger on such a negative when they opened the series with a 2-0 smash success, but if Tippett subscribes to the Bill Parcells school of being easy on a losing team and hard on a winning one, then that might be a bullet point. You can’t blame Tippett if he feels like he’s looking for a needle in a haystack when it comes to downers from this one, though.