Coyotes 6, Oilers 2
EDMONTON, Alberta -- The Phoenix Coyotes have no problem with the snow and cold of Edmonton.
Not if it means they get to play the Oilers.
They Coyotes took advantage of Edmonton's miserable record at home (3-9-0) to right their own ship with a 6-2 victory Tuesday.
The Oilers appeared to be picking up steam, having won five of their last seven games after a ghastly 4-15-2 start, while the Coyotes appeared to be losing momentum, going 2-3-2 in their last seven after a 13-4-2 start.
It didn't play out that way on the ice, though.
The Oilers, stressing the importance of a quick start against a Phoenix team that is fifth in the NHL with an .846 winning percentage when it scores first, took a penalty 1:48 into the first period and gave up a power-play goal at 3:37.
They didn't let the early setback take the life out of them, though, and pressed until left winger Perron evened it up thanks to a terrible defensive-zone giveaway by Coyotes defenseman David Schlemko at 9:51.
Then Phoenix pulled away for good.
They exploded for two goals in a 58-second span in the second period. First, defenseman Jeff Petry and center Mark Arcobello left Phoenix right winger Radim Vrbata alone at the back door for a pretty easy one-timer at 6:58, then a floater from the point banked off right winger Shane Doan and through goaltender Devan Dubnyk to make it 3-1 at 7:56.
Perron's second of the night closed the gap to 3-2 at 19:52, but the Coyotes were still 7-0-2 when leading after two periods, while the Oilers were 2-13-0 when trailing after 40.
The Coyotes padded their lead to 4-2 five minutes into the third period when Mike Ribeiro got left all alone in front of the net and whipped a quick shot inside the right post.
It went from bad to worse from there. Oilers defenseman Petry got undressed by Coyotes defenseman Keith Yandle at 9:33 and winger David Moss beat defenseman Anton Belov to soft rebound at 10:15.
Suddenly 3-2 was 6-2.
NOTES: Edmonton G Ilya Bryzgalov is on the shelf for a while, nobody is sure exactly how long, after getting run over Sunday in Dallas. He either has whiplash or a concussion, and the Oilers are waiting until the symptoms go away before getting him back on the ice. They re-called Jason LaBarbera from the AHL in the meantime. ... Oilers C Boyd Gordon missed his second game in a row with back, leg and hand issues. Gordon is the team's leading faceoff man. ... After scoring just one first-period goal in their last 10 games, the Coyotes needed just 3:37 to open the scoring against Edmonton. ... Coyotes D Rusty Klesla was re-assigned to Portland of the AHL on Monday. ... Phoenix LW Lauri Korpikoski (upper-body injury) and D Zbynek Michalek (lower-body injury), who have missed six and seven games, respectively, are both close to returning to the line-up and accompanied the team on the four-game trip.
