Peepin' Foes: Phoenix Coyotes

Petr Prucha and Lauri Korpikoski make their return to the Garden on Monday night as the Phoenix Coyotes come to take on the Rangers. Pru has two goals and one assist in nine games while the Korpedo is pointless in six. (Enver Lisin has six points in 11 games so I guess we won that deal, at least thus far.)

Phoenix should be out of their element, seeing that the arena will actually have fans in it so hopefully us fans will throw them off their game. Then again, if the Yankees are playing a Game 7 and Ranger fans decide that they have better things to do with a Monday night than watch the Gretzky-less Coyotes, then the Garden won't necessarily be as much of a benefit.

Where We Are: Falling apart. Three bad losses in a row marked by a lack of discipline, a lack of physicality and a lack of proper accountability.

Where They Are: Phoenix, 6-3-0, had a four game win streak snapped on Saturday by L.A. The Yotes beat San Jose, St. Louis, Boston and Detroit ... a tough bunch to beat.

Who To Watch For: Winnipeg Jet Shane Doan continues to shine in the desert. This guy has been the franchise for far too long and remains vastly under-appreciated. Love the heart, love the dedication, hate that he is in Phoenix. Former Flyer Scottie Upshall is a big part of the offense, as is JovoCop Ed Jovanovski and the ageless Robert Lang. Matthew Lombardi came in the Olli Jokinen deal from Calgary and is fitting in just fine with Upshall and the underachieving Peter Mueller.

What To Watch For: Brandon Dubinsky to come out flying after his benching. Taylor Pyatt taking advantage of the soft Blueshirt blueline to cause havoc around Hank. Former Isle Adrian Aucoin having all the time in the world to fire long bombs from the point during power plays. Ilya Bryzgalov to continue to be red hot and shut down opposing shooters.

What We'll (Hopefully) See: Chris Higgins to come out flying after his benching. Marc Staal not allowing Taylor Pyatt to cause havoc around Hank. Former Isle Adrian Aucoin not getting the time or space to get off that shot of his, and the Rangers not to take stupid penalties. Ilya Bryzgalov to get cold and not be able to stop a beach ball.

Also Check Out: The Corner of Section 420 And Glendale, Hip Shot Blog, SBN's Five For Howling and the MSM Ice Chips from Jim Gintonio of The Arizona Republic.