The little girl with the curl...

There is a nursery rhyme that goes...

There was a little girl,

Who had a little curl,

Right in the middle of her forehead.

When she was good,

She was very, very good,

But when she was bad, she was horrid.

Well, much as we're loathe to compare hockey players to little girls, the rhyme -- at least the "very, very good" part -- seems to fit the Phoenix Coyotes in the early going. Yes, they are 3-2-0, and while that is better than a lot of folks might have expected, it isn't earth-shattering.

But consider Ilya Bryzgalov. He's been in four of those games, and after having allowed three goals in his season debut, has allowed only one in his last three, including shutouts against -- we are not kidding -- Pittsburgh and San Jose, your defending Stanley Cup and President's Cup winners, respectively. He has stopped 73 of the last 74 shots he has faced.

With a 3-1-0, 0.98, .960 record, to go along with those two shutouts, Bryzgalov has staked an early claim to be the October player of the month.