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GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Phoenix Coyotes forward Radim Vrbata, known as a streaky scorer, picked up right where he left off last spring.
Vrbata, who had a hat trick in last season's final game on April 27 against the Anaheim Ducks, opened the new season with a natural hat trick as the Coyotes beat the New York Rangers 4-1 at Jobing.com Arena.
Vrbata had a career-high 35 goals in 2011-12 when he helped the Coyotes to the Western Conference Finals. He dropped to 12 in the shortened 2012-13 season; five of them came in the first and last games of the season.
But he snapped a 1-1 tie with a hard-working goal 7:05 into the second period, added a power-play blast from the point 1:10 into the third and won a scramble in front of the New York net to pop home No. 3 with 12:37 left to trigger a cascade of hats and send the Coyotes off on a five-game road trip with some momentum.
Marc Staal had a strong game for the Rangers and scored New York's lone goal during a power play 3:38 into the second period. Goalie Henrik Lundqvist came into the game with a perfect 4-0-0 career record and a 1.71 goals-against average against the Coyotes; he made 28 saves on Thursday but had no answer for Vrbata, who scored on three of his four shots to spoil Alain Vigneault's debut behind the bench.
In the first of nine road games to open the season, the Rangers played without captain Ryan Callahan and forward Carl Hagelin. They had trouble sustaining a sustained offensive push against Phoenix goalie Mike Smith, who made 23 saves and opened the season with a strong effort.
After a standing ovation for the new nine-man ownership group introduced at center ice, the Coyotes rode the energy of the opening night crowd to dominate the first five minutes and grab an early lead.
Just 3:36 after the opening faceoff, the Coyotes' fourth line pinned the Rangers in their own zone on the forecheck. Rob Klinkhammer feathered a pass from behind the net to the slot, where Chipchura punched a shot past Lundqvist. Phoenix had the first five shots of the game before New York's Michael Del Zotto tested Smith five minutes in.
Smith, who struggled last season with injuries and inconsistency, preserved the lead with several big saves during the remainder of the period. He went post to post to rob Benoit Pouliot on a 3-on-2 rush, snagged a Brad Richards power-play blast and stopped Anton Stralman from the slot.
The Rangers started the second period with a push and it led to a feel-good, game-tying goal.
David Schlemko's interference penalty at 1:58 gave New York a power play, and Rick Nash drew both Phoenix defensemen toward him on the rush before feeding Staal on the wing. In just his second game since March 5, when a deflected shot by Philadelphia's Kimmo Timonen struck his right eye, Staal beat Smith to the short side under the crossbar with a wrist shot to make it 1-1.
But the goal didn't provide much momentum for the Rangers. Phoenix answered right away with offensive pressure, forced John Moore to take a hooking penalty and attacked the New York net for almost the entire two minutes before cashing in shortly after the penalty ended.
Lundqvist stopped a Derek Morris shot from the right point, but the rebound escaped into the slot. Vrbata grabbed the puck and was denied on a backhander, but ran down his own miss a flipped a forehand past Lundqvist at 7:05. New York's Mats Zuccarello hit the crossbar behind Smith with six minutes left, but the Coyotes had the better of the play and outshot New York 14-8 in the period.
The Coyotes are now 73-17-9 in the 99 games in which Vrbata has scored at least one goal, but he had more in store in the third period.
Dan Girardi was called for roughing at 1:02. Antoine Vermette won the draw back to Keith Yandle, who set up Vrbata for a point blast that found its way through a Martin Hanzal screen and past Lundqvist eight seconds later to give Phoenix a cushion. Vrbata put the game away again with a second-effort goal for his seventh career hat trick.
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