from Mark Spector of Sportsnet,

There are high-event teams, there are high-flying teams, and there are high-wire acts like Connor McDavid, Elias Pettersson or, of late, Brad Marchand.

Then there is the Arizona Coyotes. Low event, low excitement, low value for the ticket buyer, and a perennial low finisher in the National Hockey League standings.

Boring? Calling the Coyotes boring does a disservice to tedium. It’s like calling the Stanley Cup a spittoon.

We’re old enough to recall The Mad Trapper Jacques Lemaire, whose New Jersey Devils, and later the Minnesota Wild, put their own success ahead of the good of the game. The Devils won, but left behind a game so bereft of excitement that the rulebook had to be re-written, most specifically to eliminate obstruction and open up the neutral zone.

Now, just as the game is at its fastest, most entertaining place in years, the Arizona Coyotes come along with a plan to slow everything down....

The Coyotes work hard, which might be entertainment enough when you’re spending $20 for a hockey ticket, a hotdog and a beer in the desert. But at Canadian prices, watching the Coyotes roll through your town and squeeze the excitement out of the game like a bartender squeezing a lemon is, quite plainly, a ripoff.

Sure, you say. It was good enough to win last night in Edmonton.

Indeed, the Coyotes ground out a 3-2 overtime win over the Oilers. They won, fair and square, showing more offensive zeal in 2:01 of overtime than they did in 60 minutes of regulation time.

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Watch the game highlights below.