Predators 2, Coyotes 0

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GLENDALE, Ariz. - Coyotes goalie Ilya Bryzgalov put together one of his better performances of the season on Saturday night, but the Nashville Predators beat the Coyotes, 2-0, at Jobing.com Arena as Phoenix started a four-game homestand.

“It might have been his best game of the year tonight,” Coyotes Head Coach Wayne Gretzky said. “He has had a few good ones and I thought he was really good tonight.”

Bryzgalov made 31 saves on 32 shots, including multiple saves that were highlight-reel worthy.

“(Bryzgalov) was awesome,” Coyotes defenseman Keith Yandle said. “It if wasn’t for him, we would have lost 6-0. He made great saves all night and key saves. He gave us a chance to win and we couldn’t find the back of the net.”


J.P. Dumont scored the game-winning goal in the second period and Pekka Rinne recorded 18 saves for his seventh shutout of the season for the Predators, who snapped a three-game losing streak.

“It’s a little frustrating that we can’t put together 60 minutes of effort,” Gretzky said.

David Legwand added an empty-netter for the Predators with 31 seconds left after the Coyotes threw a late surge of pressure at Rinne with 10 shots in the final frame after accumulating just eight shots in the first two periods.

"I was worried after two periods that they didn't have a lot of shots," Predators Head Coach Barry Trotz told reporters. "I knew they'd have their best effort in the third, come with everything and that we'd have to weather some storms. Pekka was up to the challenge."

Dumont opened the scoring at 14:01 of the second period with his 14th goal. Nashville's leading point-scorer took a pass from Steve Sullivan in between the faceoff circles and released a one-timer that beat Bryzgalov.

Trailing 1-0 in the third period, the Coyotes created scoring chances. About six and a half minutes in, Mikkel Boedker drove into the Predators zone, cut to the slot, and then faked a shot as Rinne went down. A shot at the last second by the Dane caught the leg pad of Rinne.

Photo by Norm Hall/NHLI via Getty Images

A couple of minutes later, Peter Mueller almost turned on the red light after taking a pass from captain Shane Doan, but Rinne was ready again with a leg-pad save.

"Obviously it's hard when you only face eight shots in the first two periods," Rinne told reporters. "But it's all mental. You just try to be sharp."

The Coyotes earned a power play with 4:49 left in the game when Nashville's Vernon Fiddler was called for tripping. With the man advantage, the Coyotes maintained possession of the puck in the offensive zone, but they couldn’t create a shot on goal.

“We did move the puck around pretty well there against an aggressive, good penalty kill,” Yandle said. “We had a pretty good chance there in the end to tie up the game with five minutes to go, but we failed to do that.”

NOTES

• In three wins against the Coyotes this season, Rinne has stopped 72 of 74 shots.

• Six Coyotes players acquired at the trade deadline 10 days ago made their home debuts: Matthew Lombardi, Scottie Upshall, Petr Prucha, Brandon Prust, Nigel Dawes and Dmitri Kalinin.

• Upshall faced the Predators, the team that drafted him sixth overall in the 2002 NHL Draft, for the first time in his career.

• Zbynek Michalek led all Coyotes in ice-time with 22:25 played and had four blocked shots to lead all players.

• The Coyotes scratched forwards Todd Fedoruk, Enver Lisin, Joakim Lindstrom, Daniel Winnik, and defenseman David Hale. Defenseman Ville Koistinen, and centers Radek Bonk and Jason Arnott sat out for the Predators.
 

Pekka Rinne Ilya Bryzgalov Jean-Pierre Dumont