Phoenix Coyotes rout top team Detroit Red Wings 3-1 -NHL Update
Hosting the National Hockey League’s (NHL) top team might have put the pressure on Phoenix before the actual match kicked off as the Coyotes stunned Detroit Red Wings with a, 3-1, victory on Monday night, February 6, 2012, at the Jobing.com Arena in Glendale,
Arizona.
Detroit currently ranks at number one not only in the Western Conference, but in the league as well with 72 points and an impressive 35-17-2 record while New York Rangers atop the Eastern Conference, stand at number two with 71.
Phoenix is now on a two-game winning streak coming out of a previous, 5-3, victory against San Jose Sharks on Saturday while Detroit lost its second straight, the last being against Edmonton Oilers in a wild shootout.
The Coyotes not only got another win to put them at number 10 in the West with 56 points but it also marked their first win, snapping a seven-game losing record against Detroit Red Wings.
"They're two good teams in the upper echelon of the conference and when you're taking points away from them, you're getting points that other teams aren't going to get," Coyotes coach, Dave Tippett, said. "You look at those as very valuable points."
The home team kicked off the scoring as Boyd Gordon potted the game opening at the 7:22 mark of the first period while being shorthanded on a quick turnover while Martin Hanzal of Phoenix was out with a minor penalty.
Hanzal came out strong in the second period with his seventh of the 2011-2012 NHL regular season on a power play opportunity, followed by Detroit’s first of the night as Johan Franzen got his 20th on an added man advantage of their own.
Ray Whitney found Hanzal open yet again and gave him the puck to shoot into an empty net with nearly 29 seconds remaining left to play in regulation.
"I thought we didn't execute as well as we'd like in our own zone," Detroit coach, Mike Babcock, said. "But you've got to give them credit. I thought they played hard and I thought we played hard. We just had too many turnovers and a lot of their offense,
in my opinion, came off of that."
Phoenix has the next against Dallas Stars on Tuesday while Detroit Red Wings return home for the six, starting off with Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday.
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