National Hockey League
Coyotes snap skid, top Red Wings
National Hockey League

Coyotes snap skid, top Red Wings

Published Oct. 28, 2010 1:00 a.m. ET

The Phoenix Coyotes got off to a fast start, then let Ilya Bryzgalov take care of the rest.

Bryzgalov made 43 saves and Lauri Korpikoski scored twice in Phoenix' 4-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night.

Radim Vrbata and Keith Yandle also scored to help the Coyotes snapped a three-game losing streak.

''We had everybody on board tonight,'' Phoenix coach Dave Tippet said.

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The Coyotes raced to a 3-0 lead a little more than halfway through the first period and Bryzgalov made 17 saves in each of the second and third periods.

''It keeps you in the game all the time, the whole game,'' Bryzgalov said. ''But don't need that many shots.''

His teammates said Bryzgalov has been outstanding the entire season.

''That's kind of the way he's played every night, making big saves,'' Korpikoski said.

Johan Franzen and Tomas Holmstrom scored for Detroit, and Chris Osgood stopped 32 shots.

''I thought they were a lot hungrier than we were,'' Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom said. ''I thought they came out with a better jump. I thought they were quicker on pucks and they capitalized on their chances they got, too. They got one power play, one short-handed, one even strength. It's hard to give a team a 3-0 lead and try to come back from it. It's very tough.''

He also explained what makes Bryzgalov hard to beat.

''He makes himself big. Even though he's a butterfly goalie, his chest stays high and he doesn't seem to be going out of position,'' Lidstrom said. ''He's there to make the first save, but he's there for the second save as well.''

Holmstrom pulled Detroit to 3-2 3:56 into the third period, jamming the puck in from the side off of Bryzgalov for his second goal, but Korpikoski put it away with an empty-netter with 57 seconds left.

Franzen's power-play goal with 6:55 left in the second period put the Red Wings on the scoreboard. He tipped in Jiri Hudler's shot from the point. It was Franzen's seventh goal.

Phoenix' first-period goals came in a span of less than 5 minutes.

Vrbata opened the scoring at the 7-minute mark when he scored on a breakaway after beating defenseman Jakub Kindl to the inside. Yandle made it 2-0 with a power-play goal 1:55 later. He beat Osgood from the bottom of the right circle for his second goal. Korpikoski made it 3-0 with 8:04 left with a short-handed goal, beating Osgood with a wrist shot from about 45 feet.

''You take a wrist shot just past the blue line, you don't expect it to go in,'' Korpikoski said. ''Maybe knuckleballed a little on him. Good things happen when you shoot the puck.''

Osgood talked about the goal.

''It just curved ... but still, that's no excuse,'' he said. ''I've got to take away that side, no matter what.''

NOTES: Detroit G Jimmy Howard missed the game because of back spasms and was listed as day-to-day. The Red Wings recalled Joey MacDonald from their American Hockey League affiliate in Grand Rapids to back up Osgood. ... Detroit moved C Kris Draper (hernia surgery) from the short-term injured reserve list to the long-term IR and placed D Brian Rafalski (arthroscopic knee surgery) on short-term IR. ... NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and former Red Wings star Brendan Shanahan, the NHL's vice president of hockey business and development, attended the game. ... Yandle's goal was his second in two games. ... Pavel Datsyuk assisted on Holmstrom's goal to reach 600 career points.

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