Phoenix Coyotes goalie Mike Smith blanks San Jose Sharks for 3-0 win -NHL Match Update
Mike Smith blanked San Jose by stopping all of their 31 attempts on his net as the Phoenix Coyotes shutout the Sharks, 3-0, Saturday night at the sold-out HP Pavilion in San Jose, California, United States, to tie the Detroit Red Wings for the number four
spot in the Western Conference with 19 points.
San Jose is also tied for the same positioning in the West and has not been able to win more than two in a row so far after achieving five straight when the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season kicked off.
"We wanted to redeem ourselves from the first game of the season", Phoenix coach Dave Tippett said. "We didn't feel like we had a very good game, so we came out and had a very nice effort from the goalie on out. It's typical of our team. We find a way to
win, and that's the way it was".
Coach Tippett might have felt his team could have done better in terms of game-play, but veteran goalie, Mike Smith, realises that his team is much different than before and they play a lot better as compared to last season.
"We're a different team than we were from the first game of the season", Smith said. "We expected a better game, and we came through with a great effort. Our D was fantastic. They let me see pucks, cleaned away the rebounds that were there, and dove in front
of pucks. We deserved to win".
Radim Vrbata opened the scoring 14:21 into the first period for his sixth of the season followed by Boyd Gordon nearly five minutes later to end the opening 20 minutes with a commanding 2-0 lead.
Patrick O'Sullivan scored the only goal after both teams failed to pot a single point during the second period 12:55 into the final 20 minutes of regulation to eventually secure and finalise the match.
Phoenix Coyotes have started their five game road trip in a strong way and hope to continue doing so as they play their second contest against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday.
San Jose plays one more at home against the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday before taking off for two games straight.
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