Phoenix Coyotes defeat St Louis Blues 2-1: NHL recap
Ray Whitney and Lauri Korpikoski lit the lamp in the middle period to lift the Phoenix Coyotes to a narrow 2-1 victory against the St Louis Blues at Jobing.com Arena on Tuesday night.
Radim Vrbata earned two assists and Korpikoski also had one, while Ilya Bryzgalov turned away 29 shots for Phoenix, who are now in third place in the Western Conference standings.
Kevin Shattenkirk found the back of the net for St Louis, who have dropped 12 points and are now in last place in the Western Conference. Jaroslav Halak played very well, but came up just short in the loss, allowing two goals on 23 shots.
Phoenix were unable to find their rhythm in the opening stanza, as they were restricted to their own end for long periods, and wasted two of their power plays chasing pucks that St Louis had cleared to the other end.
St. Louis got on the board first for a 1-0 lead just nine minutes into the opening stanza. The goal came when the Blues controlled the disc in the offensive zone for a long time and Ian Cole tipped a pass from the crease to Chris Stewart on the left side.
Stewart then passed it to Shattenkirk, who blasted a one-timer past Bryzgalov for his eighth goal of the 2010-11 season.
The Coyotes tied the game at 1-1 in the ninth minute of the middle session. It happened so when Korpikoski let go a mishit shot from the left circle and Whitney redirected it home with a one-timer from the low slot, for his 15th goal of the season.
The Coyotes then went on top, 2-1, with three minutes left in the second period. Shattenkirk was responsible for this goal, as Korpikoski ripped a long wrist shot from the right side that unluckily deflected off Shattenkirk’s pad and went into the net.
Bryzgalov stopped 16 shots in the second session to restrict the Blues to just one goal. The final frame of the game remained goalless, as Bryzgalov had to turn aside just six shots to secure the advantage. He was lucky in the last minute of the third period
when a Blues shot eluded him but only hit the left post.
Blues coach Davis Payne was disappointed with his team’s performance. He said after the game, "From an offensive zone perspective, I thought we found the right areas. We're going to have to get to the interior, especially with a guy like Bryzgalov in the
net. We got one [goal], but we weren't able to get any sort of distance after that.”
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