Phoenix @ Anaheim 2-5 - 11/06

Anaheim recorded a fortunate 5-2 win against the Phoenix Coyotes that flattered them at Honda Center. Phoenix lost right wing and leading scorer Radim Vrbata to a lower-body injury. Vrbata took five shifts in the second period and did not return. No update was immediately available.

The Coyotes scored a typical early goal on Doan’s breakaway as the Ducks got caught on a line change. Lindholm, 19, scored on a pretty finish off a rush to bring the sparse crowd to its feet. It started when Coyotes captain Shane Doan whiffed on a neutral-zone pass and Devante Smith-Pelly grabbed the puck and got it to Mathieu Perrault, who found a pinching Lindholm for a snap shot that bounced in off Mike Smith’s left side to tie it, 1-1. The Ducks had never been in the game until that point. Indeed, they were lucky not to have Corey Perry ejected from the game after a cowardly check on Shane Doan that saw the Coyotes Captain go head first into the boards. He then whimped away when Doan offered to drop the gloves.

Michael Stone scored on the power-play in the second period when he sent a shot-pass to David Moss and one-timed the return feed. Soon after Phoenix had a second power-play but that was soon negated when, Oliver Ekman-Larsson had to prevent a break-away and a certain short-handed goal for the Ducks. The officials then made a huge mistake in calling Keith Yandle for goalie interference. This presented the lucky Ducks a 5-on-3 after their penalty ended, and the inevitable goal came to tie things up with the Yotes top 2 defenseman in the penalty box.

Anaheim got the go-ahead goal with 1.1 seconds remaining in the second period on an impressive puck-possession sequence during a delayed penalty. The Ducks worked it around to Lindholm up top, and he let go with a slap shot that got a piece of Corey Perry’s stick for a fortunate 3-2 lead. Mike Ribeiro was incensed and following the puck drop from the face-off slashed his opposite number causing a mini riot. As the players left the ice Ryan Getzlaf decided to cry to the officials while Coyotes captain Doan listened in. They exchanged words as the two skated away, with the Ducks captain making a quick retreat and waving Doan off when the latter offered him a fight.

The third period started with a very angry Shane Doan sitting on the Coyotes bench, disgusted with the way the officials had handled the game and helped the ducks in their lead. Fowler scored on a knuckleball slap shot in the third period for an insurance goal to give the Ducks their sixth power-play goal of the season, or as many as Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals. Even Teemu Selanne was getting in on the cheating act. Oliver Ekman-Larsson was adjudged to have interferred with the veteran Finn, but after the puck went Ekman-Larsson let him go, and even gave Selanne enough space to skae around him, instead Selanne decided to use his experience by tricking the officials into thinking he had been impeded. Andrew Cogliano scored an empty-netter at the end while he hobbled to the bench after taking a hit.

With 13 seconds of the game remaining Mathieu Perrault tripped Andy Miele infront of the Ducks net to spark another' riot. Allen and Chipchura got involved before Kyle Palmieri decided to act a goon and attack Miele. Despite Palmieri landing the better punches Miele, did well against a bigger more experienced opponent, and can clearly defend himself. Both received major penalties for fighting, while Jordan Szwarz and Luca Sbisa were called for 10 minute-misconduct penalties.

Coyotes coach Dave Tippett also felt his team didn’t take care of the puck against a fast-skating Ducks team that was 48 hours removed from an East Coast road trip. “You can’t win a game in this League if you are going to turn the puck over and be undisciplined, We knew it was going to be a hard game. It was a great test for our team to see how we reacted and we didn’t play well enough. We didn’t play disciplined enough to win.”

Phoenix is still 5-3-1 against the Pacific Division and will have a couple of days off to regroup, although that might not be the right word for a team with 24 points. Phoenix scratched defenseman Derek Morris with an upper-body injury suffered during a 3-2 shootout victory against the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday.

“I think we've got to get back to work,” Stone said. “I don’t see us hitting any sort of panic button or anything like that. We’ve got to continue working and build our game.”

 

Penalties

1st Period
NONE
2nd Period
02:14 ANA	Bryan Allen  Tripping against  David Moss
10:55 ANA	Corey Perry  Tripping against  Shane Doan
13:30 ANA	Bryan Allen  Hooking against  Mikkel Boedker
14:07 PHX	Oliver Ekman-Larsson  Tripping against  Nick Bonino
14:37 PHX	Keith Yandle  Interference on goalkeeper against  Mathieu Perreault
3rd Period
10:06 PHX	David Rundblad  Slashing against  Corey Perry
11:13 PHX	Oliver Ekman-Larsson  Interference against  Teemu Selanne
19:47 PHX	Andy Miele  Fighting (maj) against  Kyle Palmieri
19:47 ANA	Kyle Palmieri  Fighting (maj) against  Andy Miele
19:47 ANA	Mathieu Perreault  Tripping against  Andy Miele
19:47 PHX	Jordan Szwarz  Misconduct (10 min)
19:47 ANA	Luca Sbisa  Misconduct (10 min)