|
 Vancouver's goaltender improved to 9-1 lifetime against the Coyotes,
and 6-0 at Gila River Arena with a 34-save performance in the
Canucks' 2-1 win on Wednesday.
Right wingers Jake Virtanen and Jannik Hansen scored for Vancouver,
which won both games of a back-to-back road set in Denver and
Glendale to jump past the Coyotes into fourth place in the Pacific
Division while climbing within two points of Colorado and Nashville
for the conference's two wild card spots.
Center Martin Hanzal scored for Arizona, which lost its fifth
straight game (0-4-1). Coyotes goalie Louis Domingue made 24 saves.
Virtanen staked the Canucks to a 1-0 lead when he blasted a
one-timer past Domingue's blocker at the 8:27 mark of the first
period. Center Jared McCann set up the goal when he skated across
the blue line, pulled up and sent a pass across the high slot to
Virtanen on the left wing.
The Coyotes thought they had tied the game late in the first period
when defenseman Klas Dahlbeck's shot from the point eluded Miller,
but Vancouver coach Willie Desjardins challenged the goal and
officials reversed their call, ruling that Arizona center Martin
Hanzal was offside on the play.
Arizona finally tied the game on Hanzal's seventh goal of the season
on a power play. He took a pass from left winger Max Domi at the far
post and banked the puck off both posts before it went in. It was
just Hanzal's second goal since Jan. 7 and third since Nov. 27.
Vancouver retook the lead on a fortunate bounce. Hansen's shot from
the far boards banked off Coyotes defenseman Connor Murphy at the
near post, then off defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson at the far post
and into the open side at 15:13 of the second period. It was
Hansen's 16th goal of the season.
[to top of second column] |
NOTES: Canucks C Brandon Sutter suffered a fractured jaw and D Alex
Edler suffered a fractured fibula in Tuesday's game in Denver, the
team confirmed. Both returned to Vancouver and are out indefinitely.
To replace them, the Canucks will recall D Yannick Weber and C Alex
Friesen ... Coyotes C Boyd Gordon (hand) is listed as week-to-week,
but coach Dave Tippett said that timeline could increase based on a
recent diagnosis. The Coyotes recalled C Tyler Gaudet from their AHL
affiliate in Springfield to take Gordon's roster spot. ... Despite
Sutter's injury, Canucks RW Radim Vrbata was on the fourth line with
C Jared McCann and LW Adam Cracknell for a second straight game.
Vrbata has 11 goals and 22 points in 51 games after notching 31
goals and 63 points last season. He can become an unrestricted free
agent after this season and has been the subject of trade-deadline
rumors. ... Coyotes RW Viktor Tikhonov and D Jarred Tinordi were
healthy scratches.
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