By Dave Vest | Anthony Perez
GLENDALE -- Dustin Penner scored the game-winning goal with just 22 seconds left in the third period to lift the Edmonton Oilers over the Coyotes, 4-3, on Tuesday night in Phoenix's last game at Jobing.com Arena before the NHL All-Star break.
The Coyotes (24-17-9) jumped to a 1-0 lead at 5:27 of the first period when
Scottie Upshall beat Oilers goaltender Devan Dubnyk with a slap shot on Phoenix's first power play.
Phoenix, which entered the game with a six-game winning streak vs. Edmonton, upped its lead to 2-0 early in the second period when
Kyle Turris wristed a shot past Dubnyk to cap an odd-man rush.
But from that point, last-place Edmonton (15-25-8) chipped away at the lead. Jean-Francois Jacques tipped a puck past goaltender
Ilya Bryzgalov to cut the deficit in half at the 7:11 mark of the second period and the Oilers had a pulse as they headed into the second intermission down 2-1.
At 2:56 of the third period, Oilers rookie Taylor Hall beat Bryzgalov with a shot during a power play. Seventy-two seconds later, Linus Omark scored his third goal of the season to give Edmotnon a 3-2 lead.
Upshall tied the score at 3 at the 8:29 mark of the third period when he one-timed an amazing pass from Coyotes captain
Shane Doan from the right boards. But Penner sealed Phoenix's fourth straight loss on home ice when he scored just as it seemed as if the game would be heading to overtime (see
KEY MOMENT below).
Dubnyk picked up his fourth win of the season by stopping 24 of the 27 shots he faced. Bryzgalov stopped 31 of the 35 shots he faced in the losing effort.
With the score tied 3-3, Oilers rookie Taylor Hall skated the puck down the left boards and delivered a pass to teammate Dustin Penner in the slot. With Oilers captain Shawn Horcoff screening Coyotes goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, Penner scored his 15th goal of the season with 21.3 seconds left in regulation.
► Click here to watch the KEY MOMENT.
• Phoenix dropped to 19-1-2 in games in which they've led after two periods.
• Forward
Scottie Upshall ended a five-game no-point streak by scoring two goals, and joined
Lee Stempniak as the team leader in goals with 14.
• Defenseman
Keith Yandle notched two assists to extend his point streak to eight games. The two assists give Yandle 42 points for the season. That's a new career-high for Yandle for points in a season. He notched 41 last season.
• The Coyotes won 35 of 53 faceoffs (66 percent). Center
Eric Belanger led the way by winning 11 of 16 draws.
• Defenseman
Ed Jovanovski returned to the lineup after missing five games because of a lower-body injury. Jovanovski played 21:21, took three shots on goal and blocked five shots.
• Forward
Paul Bissonnette led all players with seven hits in 6:57 of ice time. He also had three shots on goal.
• The Coyotes scratched
Mikkel Boedker,
Michal Rozsival (lowrer-body injury) and
Chris Summers.
• The Coyotes' next game is Wednesday vs. Colorado at the Pepsi Center. The puck drops at 7 p.m. (Arizona time). The game can be heard on XTRA Sports 910 (AM).