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Posted at 1:00 PM EST.

9:05 PM EST. OT included. The following was copied and pasted (from NBC Sports by Scott Billeck) and it’s a story/excerpt on the Arizona Coyotes push for a playoff spot:

A tidy 3-1 win against the Detroit Red Wings — their sixth straight win — had finally lifted them back into the top eight teams in the Western Conference. By nights’ end, however, a Minnesota Wild win over the Calgary Flames would put them back out to the curb. But their appearance was enough to warn the rest of the teams battling it out for the two wildcard spots. And they better take notice.

You see, while other teams in the race have plateaued or fallen out altogether, the Coyotes have mounted a convincing charge. Teams like the Anaheim Ducks, losers of their past five and most of their games since December, have nosedived. The Edmonton Oilers and the Vancouver Canucks are running out of gas. The Chicago Blackhawks’ surge appears to have stopped. And like a running back who’s seen the Red Sea parted before him, the Coyotes have kicked it into high gear while others have spun their tires.

Arizona’s unlikely streak began on Feb. 18 when they eeked out a 3-2 shootout win against the Edmonton Oilers while running on fumes after a 5-2 loss to the Flames a night earlier. Their next win two days later, by the same scoreline and in the same shootout scenario. A couple days’ rest meant a rejuvenated team that walked over the Winnipeg Jets 4-1. They followed that up with another shootout win, another win against Vancouver and then their six straight against the Red Wings on Saturday.

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The story goes on from there but you get the jist of it. What we find so interesting is that this reporter is also a reflection of the market and that he probably watched about two minutes, if that, of every game. Like a lot of the market that reacts to final scores, this dude has no idea what he’s reporting. He’s reacting to the final scores he sees in the morning.

For instance, “A couple days’ rest meant a rejuvenated team that walked over the Winnipeg Jets 4-1”. Seriously? Walked over? Jets outshot the ‘Yotes, 35-24, out-chanced them 26-18 and won the Corso For % battle. Three of Arizona’s six wins came via OT/SO and two of the six wins came against the Canucks with Vancouver dominating the second meeting but losing 5-2. “The Oilers and Canucks are running out of gas??!!” Both are playing with high intensity and you would be hard pressed to find 10 teams that are playing better than Edmonton right now. Vancouver brings it every night.

A deep look into the analytic box scores reveals the truth about the Coyotes winning six games in a row and it’s simply because their average goaltender, Darcy Kuemper, has caught fire. It happens but Kuemper’s numbers during this hot run are unsustainable and as soon as he goes back to being Darcy Kuemper, the Coyotes will go back to clawing for every point. Goaltenders run hot and they run cold so it’s no coincidence that when they’re hot, the team wins a lot of games (see Jordan Binnington, Corey Hart, Robin Lehner, Braden Holtby and Marc Andre Fleury this past week for instance).

The reporter also mentions that “The Coyotes have kicked it into high gear while others have spun their tires”. Again, it’s a reaction to final scores only, as they have not kicked it into high gear at all. Arizona is getting better goaltending than their opponents lately and that’s all there is to it. They come in still badly banged up with several key pieces out of the lineup and now because of recency bias, they are an inflated price against the Ducks. Once again, the ‘Yotes are just not good enough to be priced in this range against anyone and we therefore must continue to play the value.

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