The Phoenix Coyotes got a double dose of good news Monday, advancing to their first conference finals just hours after the league said they had found a buyer for the NHL club.
The third-seeded Coyotes edged the Nashville Predators 2-1 to close out their second-round series four games to one, setting up a date with the Los Angeles Kings in the best-of-seven Western Conference showdown.
Prior to the game, league commissioner Gary Bettman announced that a group led by former San Jose Sharks chief executive Greg Jamison has a tentative deal with the league to purchase the club.
Bettman said the sale of the Coyotes would become official in the "not so distant future."
The Coyotes are currently owned by the NHL after former owner Jerry Moyes filed for bankruptcy three years ago.
In the other second-round playoff series Monday, defenceman Marc Staal scored 1:35 into overtime as the New York Rangers rallied to beat the Washington Capitals 3-2 and take a lead of three games to two in their Eastern Conference series.
For the Coyotes, goaltender Mike Smith made 32 saves and Martin Hanzal and Derek Morris scored once each against Nashville.
Phoenix had never made it to the conference finals in franchise history, including their time as the original Winnipeg Jets from 1972 to 1996.
Colin Wilson scored late in the third period while goalie Pekka Rinne made 15 stops for Nashville, who like the Coyotes were trying to reach the third round for the first time.
Nashville's Russian forwards Alexander Radulov and Andrei Kostitsyn were inserted back into the lineup Monday after being suspended by management prior to game three for violating team rules by breaking a curfew.
The Coyotes next play giant-killers Los Angeles for a spot in the Stanley Cup finals. The Kings beat the second-seeded St. Louis Blues in the second round after ousting the top-seeded Vancouver Canucks in the opening round of the postseason.
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