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NEWARK, N.J. -- The Phoenix Coyotes came east for three games this week, hoping to build on their small cushion for a wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
The Coyotes boarded their flight back to the desert Thursday night with five out of six points in the bag after a 3-2 shootout victory against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center.
Phoenix defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday and lost in overtime to the New York Rangers on Monday after blowing a two-goal lead.
The Coyotes had a five-point lead over the Dallas Stars at the time their game ended in New Jersey, but the Vancouver Canucks were in action at the Colorado Avalanche with a chance to leap the Stars and move within four points. However, Phoenix was only one point behind the Minnesota Wild for the first wild-card position. The Wild were playing at the St. Louis Blues.
The Devils, who are 0-9 in the shootout this season, picked up a point and trail by four in the Eastern Conference wild-card race with nine games to play. They have to jump three teams, all with 80 points, to move into a wild-card position.
Phoenix forward Mikkel Boedker scored the lone goal in the shootout. Coyotes goalie Thomas Greiss made 26 saves, including three in overtime, when he was under a lot of pressure. He faced Damien Brunner, Ryane Clowe and Patrik Elias in the shootout, and had to make saves on Clowe and Elias. Brunner never got off a shot. The Devils have one shootout goal all season.
Phoenix got a goal and an assist each from forward Kyle Chipchura and defenseman Chris Summers in regulation before the Devils mounted a comeback that got them a point.
Clowe scored his sixth goal of the season with 0.3 seconds left in the second period when defenseman Jon Merrill's pass hit off his left shoulder and redirected into the net.
Clowe was standing in front of the crease as defenseman Merrill took the puck through the left circle and below the goal line. As Merrill made the pass toward the front of the net, Clowe was hit in the back by Jeff Halpern, causing him to fall forward into the crease. The goal was reviewed to determine if the puck legally crossed the goal line before time had expired, and replay confirmed the call on the ice that it was a good goal.
New Jersey forward Adam Henrique's team-leading 24th goal of the season tied the game at 2-2 with 9:38 left in the third period. Elias got the puck behind the net and Henrique won it from Coyotes defenseman Michael Stone before tucking it around the right post and in between the iron and Greiss' left skate.
Phoenix took a 2-0 lead a little more than three minutes earlier when Summers scored his second goal in his 11th game of the season with a low shot from the point through a screening Brandon McMillan, who had position in front of the net on Merrill.
Chipchura, who gave Phoenix a 1-0 lead early in the first period, won a puck battle at the right-wing half-wall and sent a diagonal pass up to Summers, who had time and space to wind up and shoot. Devils defenseman Marek Zidlicky and forwards Elias and Henrique were around the puck when it was at the half-wall, but Chipchura was the only one who reached for it.
The Coyotes took a 1-0 lead on Chipchura's fourth goal of the season, his second on the road trip. He had a goal and an assist in the 4-3 overtime loss to the Rangers.
Chipchura completed a swarming shift by Phoenix's fourth line when he beat Devils goalie Martin Brodeur through his legs with a shot from the right side of the net. Lauri Korpikoski and Summers got the assists, but Rob Klinkhammer also was around the net for the entire time the Coyotes had the puck deep in the offensive zone.
The Coyotes had to play the majority of the final two periods without forward David Moss, who sustained a lower-body injury in the first period and left the game after attempting to play a shift midway through the second. Moss was slow to get up after he was hit hard by Devils defenseman Eric Gelinas 9:36 into the first period. Gelinas was called for interference. Later in the period, Moss was hit from behind and into the boards by Clowe, who was called for cross checking with 1:57 to play.
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