Phoenix Coyotes defeat the San Jose Sharks 4-3 – NHL Recap
Ray Whitney and Andrew Ebbett both lit the lamp to lift Phoenix Coyotes to a 4-3 victory over San Jose Sharks, at Jobing.com Arena on Friday night.
Shane Doan and Radim Vrbata each also hit the net and had an assist for Coyotes, who had lost three of four play-offs coming in. Phoenix has snapped an eight games losing streak to San Jose and is now at the fourth place in the Western Conference with 99
points.
Eric Belanger picked up two assists and Ilya Bryzgalov turned away 24 shots to earn the victory.
"I said before the season started that every point is valuable and we got down to every point," said Phoenix head coach Dave Tippett. "That's a big two points we got here tonight and we still have a shot at home-ice for the playoffs.
Ian White and Dany Heatley both found the back of the net for San Jose, which has lost its previous two contests. Joe Thornton notched 1,000th point of his career and Antti Niemi stopped 22 shots in the losing effort.
The Coyotes drew first blood with nearly four minutes left in the opening period, when Paul Bissonette took a pass from Kyle Turris and hit a hard shot that was deflected in by Ebbett’s skate for 1-0 lead.
The Sharks knotted the game at 1-1, just 4 minutes into the middle period, as White ripped a shot that banked off a defender and went past Bryzgalov, but Phoenix took command of the play by scoring three consecutive goals.
The Coyotes went back on top, 2-1, just five minutes later. The play was set up by Doan, who swept a nice pass from the right boards to the front where Whitney tipped it home.
Phoenix then took two-goal advantage, 3-1, just over 2 minutes later. The goal came when San Jose defenseman Dan Boyle hit a post and Coyotes went back the other way on a 3-on-1 break. Belanger slipped a pass from the left wing to the right side where Vrbata
jammed the puck home for his 19th of the season.
Doan then extended the lead to 4-1 on a power-play with his 20th goal of the season just 8 minutes into the final period, but the Sharks mounted a come-back by scoring the next two goals and continued to put pressure on the Coyotes.
Thornton cut the deficit in half, 4-2, just over one minute later and entered the 1,000-point club, as he fired the puck out of mid-air in front of the net for his 21st goal of the season.
"We feel good about our club and we feel confident," Thornton said. "We've got three more periods before the big party starts so it's nice. We've got back-to-back games, go home and play these guys right back again."
Heatley then accounted for the final scoring, 4-3, with 3:39 left in the last period, as he moved around to the high slot and rifled a shot into the net.
However, Sharks failed to pull an equaliser despite numerous quality opportunities at the end.
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