Phoenix Coyotes stay hot in OT; edge Nashville Predators 4-3 in Game 1 -NHL Playoffs Update
Phoenix continued to work their post-regulation magic as Game 1 headed into overtime and as usual, the Coyotes emerged victorious, edging Nashville Predators 4-3 to take a lead in the 2012 National Hockey League (NHL) Stanley Cup Western Conference Semi-Finals
on Friday, April 27, 2012, at the sold-out Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
Coyotes’ intensity that carried forward from their matchup against Chicago Blackhawks in the first round of the postseason to continue making history and extend one of the longest overtime winning streaks in the NHL.
Radim Vrbata gave Phoenix an early lead on their first power play opportunity of the night as Nashville lost Kevin Klein due to a tripping minor penalty.
Nashville got right back in the match with a lucky shot as Francis Bouillon slapped the puck of the sideboards as Mike Smith went behind the post for the puck which diverted towards Brandon Yip for the equaliser on an empty net.
Phoenix dominated the second period as Rostislav Klesla broke the tie with
Andrei Kostitsyn levelling it yet again a little over midway through while Mikkel Boedker answered for Coyotes at 16:27.
Killing the penalties worked miraculously for Coyotes as Martin Hanzal and Antoine Vermette were penalised by Phoenix held off the Predators for four of five chances.
Martin Erat forced the overtime extension with his lucky shot at the 15:18 mark of round-three for their first goal with an extra skater on board but as Ray Whitney got the chance at 14:04 into overtime after a face-off in the Nashville end, he capitalised
on it to take the lead.
Coyotes dominated in the face-offs department as they won 18 of 23, keeping control of the puck majority of the time while Nashville just could not find that trick to take charge.
The home crowd of over 17,000 Phoenix fans are confident their team will continue winning as Coyotes and Nashville Predators continue with one of the most anticipated series of the year.
It will be exciting to see whether Phoenix can take a 2-0 lead in the series going to Nashville for Game 3 or whether Nashville will finally come up for the win.
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