By Dave Vest | Anthony Perez
GLENDALE -- Playing minus four injured players, the Coyotes banded together and earned a point on Tuesday night at Jobing.com Arena against the NHL’s top team.
Vancouver defenseman Dan Hamhuis scored his second goal of the game 2:13 into overtime to lead the Canucks to a 4-3 victory over Phoenix.
With the overtime loss, the Coyotes (34-23-11) climbed into sixth place in the Western Conference standings with 79 points. Fifth-place Dallas and seventh-place Calgary also have 79 points.
• Click
here to view the conference standings.
“We had a good, strong effort,” Coyotes Head Coach Dave Tippett said. “The effort was there. You know, there’s a couple mistakes made here but there was no lack of effort whatsoever. That’s a game we just had to compete hard in. We had everyone trying their hardest and we found a way to get a point. It’s disappointing we didn’t get two.”
Wanting to avenge a 6-0 loss vs. Vancouver on Feb. 2, the Coyotes started strong and scored twice before the game was 11 minutes old.
Center
Eric Belanger scored his 10th goal of the season, unassisted, just 3:27 into the first period after a turnover. Belanger assisted on the next goal by feeding captain
Shane Doan a pass at the point. Doan shot the puck and it deflected off traffic and past Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo at 10:55.
Vancouver (43-16-9), which leads the NHL with 95 points, quickly cut the deficit to 2-1 when Hamhuis beat Coyotes goaltender
Ilya Bryzgalov with a shot from the left circle 17 seconds after Doan’s goal.
Vancouver wasn’t done.
While killing a power play in the second period, Bryzgalov stopped Ryan Kesler’s deflection attempt but couldn’t control the puck. Coyotes defenseman
Adrian Aucoin tried to clear it but the puck went to Henrik Sedin and the reigning Hart Trophy winner slapped it into the net at 9:14.
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| Photo by Getty Images. |
The Canucks scored a third goal just 3:03 later when Sami Salo's shot from the right point hit Coyotes defenseman
Michal Rozsival in the slot and redirected past Bryzgalov, who made 35 saves.
Coyotes forward
Lauri Korpikoski tied the score 3-3 late in the second period when he swatted a pass from Belanger in mid-air past Luongo before crashing into the net.
Neither team scored in third period as both goalies made several crucial saves.
Vancouver had an excellent chance to win the game earlier in overtime when Alex Burrows was awarded a penalty shot after being taken down from behind by Belanger while on a breakaway. Burrows tried to cram the puck past Bryzgalov near the right post but failed, and the game continued until Hamhuis secured a win for Vancouver by scoring a nifty goal at the 2:13 mark (see
KEY MOMENT below).
The Coyotes played without
Martin Hanzal,
Derek Morris and
Ray Whitney. All three players are nursing lower-body injuries. Defenseman
Ed Jovanovski is on the injured reserve list because of an upper-body injury.
“There are still some issues I think with our puck management that we’ve got to be better at,” Tippett said. “There are just some of the turnovers that are just costly at the wrong time. There are two sides. There’s one side of it where we’re not thinking right and the other side we’re thinking right, we’re not executing. Those can be frustrating. Those are situations where in a game it turns into a territory battle. Either they’re playing in your end or you’re playing in theirs. I would much rather play in theirs.”
• NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman held a press conference inside Jobing.com Arena before the game to provide an update on the ongoing ownership situation. Click
here to watch the press conference.
• Not only did center
Eric Belanger have a three-point game (one goal, two assists), he also won 15 of 23 faceoffs against the NHL's top faceoff team.
• Defenseman
Keith Yandle played 30:06, took six shots on goal and blocked three shots.
• Forward
Paul Bissonnette delivered a team-high five hits in 8:00 of ice time.
• Defenseman
Rostislav Klesla was hit in the face by a shot early in the second period and left the game, bleeding profusely. He returned to the bench in the third period and played one more shift. Head Coach Dave Tippett said Klesla was too dizzy to continue.
• The Coyotes scratched
Martin Hanzal,
Derek Morris and
Ray Whitney. All three players are nursing lower-body injuries.
• The Coyotes' next game is Thursday vs. Calgary at Jobing.com Arena. The puck drops at 7 p.m. (Arizona time). The game can be heard on XTRA Sports 910 (AM).