The road-tested Phoenix Coyotes took advantage of the home-challenged Nashville Predators.
Keith Yandle scored with 1:45 remaining and the Coyotes beat the Nashville Predators 3-2 on Tuesday night.
Phoenix has won two in a row. Nashville has dropped six of eight. Ray Whitney and Taylor Pyatt also scored for Phoenix. Jack Hillen and Shea Weber had the Predators' goals.
With the teams skating 4-on-4, Shane Doan fired a pass from the right circle to Yandle skating through the slot. Yandle corralled the puck and put it past goalie Pekka Rinne for his fourth of the season.
''Four-on-four, whenever I am out there with Doaner, we always seem to find each other,'' Yandle said. ''He's a guy who is always looking for other players, and 4-on-4 with so much ice I just tried to find a lane for him to get it to me. He made a great play.''
Nashville had tied it 2-2 at 12:53 of the third on Weber's goal, but the Predators fell to 0-3-1 in their last four home games.
''We've had such a good home record here in the past,'' Weber said. ''Right now, teams look at our record and see we're not playing very well at home and maybe they're licking their chops to come in.''
Phoenix improved to 9-4-1 on the road.
With the Predators on a 5-on-3 power play, Ryan Suter slid the puck to Weber just inside the left point. Weber's one-timer was deflected by Boyd Gordon, who had moved out to try to block the Nashville captain's shot. The puck changed direction and beat goalie Jason LaBarbera over the right shoulder.
Whitney had given the Coyotes the lead 1:40 into the third.
From below the Nashville goal line, and surrounded by two Predators, Radim Vrbata found Whitney alone in the low slot, from where he fired a one-timer past Rinne.
Whitney's goal came 4 seconds after LaBarbera made impressive back-to-back saves on Nashville chances to keep the game tied at 1.
''It was a scramble play, it was a tough save off of the pad that squirted into the slot,'' LaBarbera said. ''I had to pull out my inner Tim Thomas and dive across the net, then we went right down and scored. It is nice when you can get the guys fired up that way, and we go down and score. It makes you feel pretty good.''
Pyatt gave Phoenix a 1-0 lead just 9 seconds after the opening faceoff when he got the rebound of Lauri Korpikoski's long shot from the right side and the puck past Rinne.
''We talked about having a good start, and eight seconds in, we get a tough bounce,'' Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. ''That's their calling card when they score the first goal.''
Hillen tied it with just 10.8 seconds left in the first period, but the Predators couldn't carry that momentum into a win.
''We play kind of a road game all the time,'' Phoenix coach Dave Tippett said. ''On the road we are finding ways to get points, and that's what it's all about.''
The Coyotes will complete a road swing of three games in four nights when the play at Detroit on Thursday.
NOTES: Predators RW Jordin Tootoo served the first game of a two-game NHL suspension handed down Tuesday for charging Buffalo G Ryan Miller on Saturday. ... Nashville LW Sergei Kostitsyn returned after missing two games because of an undisclosed upper body injury. ... Hillen played in his 200th NHL game. ... Yandle played in his 200th consecutive game, the longest current streak for the Coyotes. ... Phoenix won both of its games in Nashville this season. The teams will complete the season series on March 12 in Arizona.
