Take away 44 seconds of the first period, and the Phoenix Coyotes are playing the Detroit Red Wings straight up. In fact, they could even have a lead.
But those 44 seconds produced two sudden Detroit goals. Just as fans had settled in for the start of the 2011 WhiteOut and watched defenseman Lauri Korpikoski drive two Red Wings into the boards with checks, the visitors struck for their first goal.
Center Darren Helm sent a pass out from behind the goal area to defenseman Ruslan Salei, and the native of Belarus sent a wrist shot past Coyotes goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov 1:57 into the game.
Just as Coyotes fans were processing that one, defenseman Niklas Kronwall sent the puck in front, where teammates Drew Miller got his stick on it for a deflection that beat Bryzgalov again. Kronwall has two assists thus far. The two goals were 44 second apart.
If the Coyotes were any bit shell-shocked, they didn't show it. Bryzgalov has pulled himself together and stopped 11 shots in the first period. The Coyotes have also come close to scoring on a few occasions.
A loose puck in front at the 9:25 mark gave winger Radim Vrbata a chance to score from short range but he couldn't get a stick on it. Less than three minutes later, Eric Belanger's full windup and shot was stopped by Jimmy Howard.
The Coyotes are showing some fight. There were four scuffles in the period, one that started when Phoenix winger Taylor Pyatt laid out Detroit's Niklas Lidstrom. It was clean. At 5:17, Andrew Ebbett has the best chance for the Coyotes but somehow Howard was able to deflect a point-blank shot away to his left (glove side). Kyle Turris should have had an assist on that pass.