A Christmas Story
The Phoenix Coyotes ended a three-game losing streak by reverting to their old formula -- tight checking, good goaltending and timely scoring.
Radim Vrbata scored twice to back a 28-save performance by Thomas Greiss in a 3-1 victory against the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday night.
Phoenix entered the game with a 14-6-4 record but its success came despite an uncharacteristically leaky defense. But the Coyotes tightened up in front of their backup goaltender to end the Wild's six-game winning streak at Xcel Energy Center.
Mikkel Boedker had the other goal for the Coyotes, who are off until they host the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday. Dany Heatley had the only goal for Minnesota (15-7-4), which hosts the Colorado Avalanche on Friday to start a home-and-home series.
Phoenix grabbed the lead 8:13 into the game thanks to a quick defense-to-offense transition. Defenseman Derek Morris broke up a rush in his own zone and triggered a 2-on-1 break the other way. Boedker carried the puck down the left side, moved into the left circle and snapped a shot over Niklas Backstrom's glove for his sixth goal of the season.
Greiss made his best stop about 4 1/2 minutes later. Heatley redirected a pass through Greiss' pads, but the goaltender got enough of the puck to deflect it just wide of the post.
Aside from Heatley's chance, the Coyotes dominated play for the rest of the period. They outshot Minnesota 12-5, and only the play of Backstrom (23 saves) kept the Wild within a goal after 20 minutes.
Phoenix doubled its lead 3:42 into the second period when Tim Kennedy carried the puck around the net and centered to Vrbata, who got off a one-timer an instant before Mikko Koivu's stick would have gotten in the way. Vrbata's shot caught the far corner.
The Coyotes were outshot 10-3 in the middle period, but Minnesota generated few serious chances against Greiss. The Wild's best chance came when Heatley had a jam shot near the right post, but Greiss extended his pad to keep the puck out of the net.
The Wild finally solved Greiss at 10:02 of the third. Greiss stopped Nino Niederreiter's slap shot, which went through a screen, but couldn't control the puck, and Heatley batted it out of the air and into the net for his fifth goal of the season.
The Wild's best chance to tie the game came with just more than two minutes remaining when Charlie Coyle jabbed at a rebound with Greiss down, but the puck went over the net. Kyle Brodziak's interference penalty with 44.3 seconds remaining forced the Wild to play down a man as they tried for the equalizer, and Vrbata hit the empty net with 22.9 seconds left to seal the win.
Minnesota played without its leading scorer, Zach Parise, who's out with a contusion of his left foot. The Wild announced Tuesday that he would miss 2-3 weeks, but Parise skated with the team Wednesday morning, though he didn't dress for the game.
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