Phoenix Coyotes wins 3-1 against league strugglers Edmonton Oilers performing exceptionally well
Edmonton Oilers played host to Phoenix Coyotes at the Rexall Place this past Thursday.
The game was important for Coyotes as they are caught up in a mid table battle for the playoff spots and they needed to score points to ensure that they stay in the running.
The game was expected to be pretty much one sided but Oilers came up with a decent performance during the course of the first period.
However, Coyotes managed to score the lone goal of the period in the final minute to leave the crowd silent.
The second period saw both teams coming up with a decent ice hockey display but Coyotes scored the lone goal of the period once again.
Oilers managed to cut the lead to a single goal at the start of the final period but Coyotes managed to bag a goal and win the game 3-1 in the end.
Ilya Bryzgalov, goal keeper of Coyotes, was named the star of the game as he made 35 saves during the course of the game.
Both teams started on the slower side with Oilers able to match Coyotes much to the surprise of many spectators.
They started to create chances for themselves with the passage of time and dominated the play while Coyotes panicked and didn’t have any answer for Oilers’ strong play-making.
However, things got better for Coyotes as they also started to come across quite a few chances. It looked as if the period wouldn’t see any goals but this didn’t happen as Coyotes scored in the final minute through Lee Stempniak’s well placed flick shot
to get into the lead.
The period ended with Coyotes leading 1-0 as they made 8 shots on goal while Oilers made 10 goal attempts.
The second period saw both teams pretty much even as they came up with shots after shots. There were several scoring chances for both teams but they failed to capitalize on them.
However, Coyotes were able to double their lead with another goal in the 12th minute which was scored by Ray Whitney from a decent strike.
Both teams made seven shots on goal during the course of the period and it was Coyotes who led 2-0 as the teams went into the break.
Oilers made a decent start to the final period which resulted in them scoring in the seventh minute through Magnus Paajarvi’s decent strike to cut the lead to a single goal.
Unfortunately for Oilers, Coyotes scored once again in the 12th minute through Radim Vrbata’s decent strike to win the game by 3-1 in the end.
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