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Coyotes coach Tippett: “We weren’t close in that game”

Mike Smith

Phoenix coach Dave Tippett was brutally honest after his team was beaten, 4-2, by the Los Angeles Kings in Game 1 of the Western Conference final.

“We weren’t close in that game,” said Tippett. “We got beat in every facet of the game. Hopefully we can take some lessons from it and we can be better next game.”

Among the stats that support Tippett’s take:

---- The Coyotes were outshot 48-27.

---- Their power play went 0-for-5 and registered just four shots in almost eight minutes with the man advantage.

---- They even got dominated in the faceoff circle, winning 30 draws and losing 40.

And we won’t even get into the needless penalties and defensive breakdowns.

On the bright side, if you’re going to lose Game 1, sometimes it’s good to get embarrassed. Something tells us the Coyotes will give a better effort Tuesday when they’ve moved past the realization they’re in the conference final and arrived at the realization they’ll be in deep trouble if they don’t get a win.

“The execution and the will to get things done is going to have to improve greatly if we’re going to have a chance in this series,” said Tippett.