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 Phoenix won its third in a row, and its 31st victory matched the team's win total from last season.
Mikael Tellqvist stopped 34 shots for his sixth career shutout and eighth victory of the season, starting in place of Ilya Bryzgalov.
Gretzky's Coyotes are 6-0 against his former team this season, winning by a combined total of 21-7. His 99th win also came against the Kings, 4-3 on Saturday at Phoenix.
Vrbata had the winning goal that night, and he kept up the pace Monday.
With Michael Cammalleri off for holding, Ed Jovanovski scored a power-play goal on a slap shot that deflected in off Jason LaBarbera at 3:45 of the first period. Vrbata
and Shane Doan assisted.
Vrbata capitalized on a defensive mistake 1:21 later, making it 2-0 with his career-high 27th goal. Dustin Brown tried to pass the puck out of the zone and it ended up on Vrbata's stick with three defenders chasing him.
Phoenix extended its lead with a pair of goals in the second. Daniel Carcillo beat LaBarbera's glove side on passes from Steven Reinprecht and Vrbata at 4:16.
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Daniel Winnik took a pass in front of the net from Jovanovski and chipped it past LaBarbera at 12:40, triggering more boos from 16,617 Kings fans.
The Kings outshot the Coyotes 17-5 in the third period, but couldn't convert and went 0-for-5 on the power play.
LaBarbera made 25 saves for the Kings, who have lost four of six and remain mired at the bottom of the Western Conference standings.
Notes: Tellqvist had 35 saves in his previous shutout Nov. 2 at Dallas. ... The Coyotes improved to 22-0-0 when scoring four or more goals. ... The teams meet twice more. ... Jovanovski has two goals and nine assists against the Kings this season.
[Associated Press; By BETH HARRIS]
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
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