|
 Anaheim carried play for two periods and fended off a
third-period surge to beat the Arizona Coyotes 2-1 at Honda Center.
"We're still way too tentative in the third period with a lead, but
that comes with playing so many overtime games and close games,"
Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said.
Coyotes goalie Mike Smith had to be a wall for the first 40 minutes
to keep the game close. He ultimately stopped 28 of 30 shots he
faced.
"They were dominating us and the only reason it wasn't three or four
to nothing after the first was because of him," Coyotes defenseman
Keith Yandle said of his goaltender.
Goalie Frederik Andersen made 26 of 27 saves for Anaheim, including
16 of 17 in the third period to fend off the late push for the
equalizer.
Right winger Kyle Palmieri and left winger Patrick Maroon scored for
the Ducks, while Yandle netted the Coyotes' lone goal. Maroon also
had an assist and center Ryan Kesler added a pair of helpers for
Anaheim.
 The Ducks dominated possession in a scoreless first period,
outshooting the Coyotes 12-4 while drawing the period's only
penalty. Newly acquired Ducks left winger Rene Bourque made his
presence felt with a crunching hit on center Joe Vitale behind the
net at 12:51. Smith made a spectacular lunging save on Kesler's
backhand bid one minute later.
"He was awesome for us and we weren't able to help him out," Yandle
said.
The Coyotes relied heavily on Smith in the second period as well as
they struggled to control the puck. They were outshot again, 13-6,
and once again surrendered the only power play of the period. Smith
stood tall, stopping 21 straight shots.
It was only when Smith was taken out of a play -- he fell alone
behind his net and then defenseman Zbynek Michalek inadvertently
pinned him -- that Anaheim finally capitalized on an opportunity.
With Smith impeded, the Ducks set up Palmieri for a wrist shot into
the abandoned net. The goal came at 14:08 and was Palmieri's second
in four games played this season after recovering from an ankle
injury.
"He's very good, everyone in the league knows that, at playing the
puck," said Palmieri, who also dumped the puck in to start the play.
"You want to keep it away from him and I put it right on his tape,
but it worked out."
Anaheim added a goal at 17:20 to take a 2-0 lead. A clean faceoff
win led to a heavy shot from the right point by defenseman Sami
Vatanen. The resultant rebound off Smith's pad was swept in by
Maroon for his first goal of the campaign.
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"It was a little bit of a load off, but there's more to my game,
I can do it every night," Maroon said.
Arizona had a strong start to the third period that included a power
play. They got on the board 8:56 into the final frame when Yandle
drifted down low and snapped a wrist shot from right between the two
faceoff dots for his third goal of the season.
"As a D-man, you can kind of get lost in there, guys will kind of
forget where you are," Yandle said.
The Coyotes drew a penalty 46 seconds later but failed to convert on
the ensuing power play. They also concluded the game on a truncated
power play, which they played 6-on-4 by pulling Smith from his net.
They generated just one shot on net and could not earn the
equalizer.
"We came out with a lot of jump and did the things we needed to do
from the start of the game, unfortunately it was a little too late,"
Smith said.
Eight of Anaheim's 10 previous games had gone to overtime or a
shootout. They got a regulation win, though perhaps not a full
three-period effort.
"We played 40 minutes, now we need to figure out how to finish off a
60-minute game," Maroon said.
NOTES: Sunday's win was just Anaheim's second regulation victory in
its last 10 games. ... Attendance was 15928. ... Anaheim LW Rene
Bourque, acquired in a trade for D Bryan Allen Thursday, made his
Ducks debut, dressing in place of LW Emerson Etem. ... Ducks D
Clayton Stoner missed Sunday's game with mumps-like symptoms. He has
not been confirmed to have mumps, the ailment that sidelined RW
Corey Perry and D Francois Beauchemin recently. D Mat Clark replaced
Stoner in the lineup. ... Anaheim C William Karlsson (illness), D
Ben Lovejoy (finger), D Mark Fistric (back), LW Dany Heatley (groin)
and G John Gibson (groin) were all unavailable Sunday. ... Anaheim
returned C/RW Chris Wagner to their AHL affiliate in Norfolk, Va.
... Arizona D Brandon Gormley (lower body), C Martin Hanzal (lower
body) and RW David Moss (upper body) were out of action Sunday.
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