For the first time in franchise history, the Phoenix Coyotes advanced past the first round of the NHL playoffs. The Coyotes -- who operated as the Winnipeg Jets from 1972 to 1996 -- made it all the way to the Western Conference final.
Throughout the thrilling post-season romp, Jason LaBarbera had the best seat in the house.
LaBarbera, who played minor hockey in Prince George, is the backup goaltender for the Coyotes. Night after night, he was part of the historic run, which ended when the Los Angeles Kings eliminated the Coyotes in the fifth game of the best-of-seven west final.
"It was a pretty neat experience," said the 32-year-old LaBarbera, who was born in Burnaby and moved to Prince George in his early teens. "The best part about it was we had such a great bunch of guys. We were a pretty tight-knit team. Guys got along good and we came together at the right time. The last three years we've been a good team, just this year for some reason we were able to find a way to get it done."
The Coyotes, the Pacific Division champions and the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference for playoffs, faced the sixth-seeded Chicago Blackhawks in the opening round and won in six games. Then, Phoenix knocked out the fourth-ranked Nashville Predators in five games.
For the duration of the playoffs, starting goalie Mike Smith was the backbone of the Coyotes. He was particularly brilliant against the high-powered Blackhawks, who managed to squeeze just 12 pucks past him in the six games. Then the Predators, not known for their offensive punch, beat him only nine times in those five contests.
"Mike Smith was unbelievable, obviously," said LaBarbera, who was phoning from Maui, where he and wife Kodette and their two sons, three-year-old Ryder and one-year-old Easton, were enjoying some downtime after the long hockey season. "He was the biggest reason why we beat Chicago and then you kind of gain confidence from that. Then when we played Nashville we were a pretty good group. L.A. kind of took it to us early the first two games and kind of took the wind out of our sails a little bit. We were able to find our stride the last two games but by that time it was too late."
In the Phoenix-L.A. series, the Kings took the first three games by scores of 4-2, 4-0 and 2-1. The Coyotes rebounded with a 2-0 decision in Game 4 but lost 4-3 in overtime in Game 5.
While Smith's stellar play took many observers by surprise, LaBarbera pointed out Smith was just as strong all season (38 wins, 2.21 goals-against average, .930 save percentage) but flew under the radar because the Coyotes don't get a lot of exposure.
With Smith doing his thing for the Desert Dogs, LaBarbera didn't make a playoff appearance. Of course, he would have loved to have gotten a shot. Not playing, he said, was mentally draining.
"There are a lot of nerves that go on because as a backup you don't get to play a whole lot and you go for a long stretch [in the playoffs] where you're really not playing," he said. "At least during the season there are times when you know you're going to play in a week so you can kind of get yourself ready for that. But in playoffs you have no idea so I almost find it more stressful because you just never know what could happen and you've got to try and stay ready as much as you can. It's not easy when you're just practicing all the time to have some kind of game feel but that's part of the job and you just learn how to deal with it."
LaBarbera said he and the 30-year-old Smith have a "really good" relationship.
"He's a good guy and I like him a lot," said LaBarbera, who played in 19 regular-season games, had a 3-9-3 record, a 2.54 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage. "I'm happy for him because I know he had a tough time in Tampa [his previous team, from 2007-08 to 2010-11] and he didn't really know what was going to happen to him [with Phoenix] and it worked out good for him."
LaBarbera was in the Los Angeles organization from 2005-06 to 2008-09 and played 93 NHL games for the Kings. He was with L.A. when the team was in a rebuilding phase and said the club has made a lot of good moves since then. The acquisition of Jeff Carter from the Columbus Blue Jackets and the hiring of head coach Darryl Sutter are two of the latest. LaBarbera said that under Sutter, the Kings seem to have found the identity they were searching for all year.
"Obviously they caught fire at the right time," he said. "You knew if they were able to figure out how they wanted to play and do it consistently they were going to be a pretty tough team to beat and they've obviously showed that in the playoffs."
The Kings are up 1-0 in the Stanley Cup final against the New Jersey Devils and will go for a 2-0 lead tonight in New Jersey.
"It's going to be an interesting series," LaBarbera said. "L.A. is just so big and strong. Down low, they were clicking on all cylinders against us. They were a little bit too big for us and we didn't know how to handle it, especially early in the series.
"We played them during the year and there were a lot of close games -- pretty physical games, but not like that."
LaBarbera, who lives in Calgary in the off-season, has one more year left on the contract he signed last summer with the Coyotes. He has been a member of the Phoenix organization since arriving there as a free agent in the summer of 2009 and is looking forward to rejoining his teammates in 2012-13.
"Unless they trade me or something, I'll be back there," said LaBarbera, whose parents, Tony and Debbie, still live in Prince George.
'Labs' is also excited about the direction in which the Coyotes are headed.
"For sure," he said. "I think it would make it a little bit easier on everybody if we were able to add a couple more high-end forwards but those are hard to come by. But for the last three years they've brought in unreal guys. That's been the biggest thing for our team. I talked about identity earlier and [head coach] Dave Tippett, that was kind of his thing right from when he got there. He wanted us to establish an identity and everybody bought in and it's been enjoyable to be around."
