GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Shane Doan called it "the exploding stick trick." Keith Yandle had a less flattering description. Coach Dave Tippett said the Coyotes captain couldn't replicate it if he tried a thousand times.
Once was enough.
Doan scored the only goal of the shootout in a 2-1 win over Anaheim on Saturday at Gila River Arena when his stick blade exploded while the puck slid past startled Ducks goaltender Frederik Andersen.
"Too bad you don't get a save for saving the blade," Andersen said.
It was Doan's first shootout attempt of the season and his first shootout goal since March 8, 2012, against Minnesota, a point he humorously emphasized when asked why Tippett doesn't use him more often.
"Even though I have never ever scored as you're pointing out right now, I still want to shoot every single time. I don't care if I miss a hundred in a row," he said. "At one point, I was the best in the world (in shootouts). I won the All-Star Game shootout competition."
It's all true. Doan won the elimination shootout at the 2009 All-Star Game in Montreal. He also had a pretty good shooting percentage in his past shootouts attempts, going 11 for 36 (30.6 percent).
None of this was enough to impress Tippett, however.
"If he had showed me that move in practice, maybe I'd use him a little more," Tippett quipped. "I've seen a lot of things in this game. (I've been around) for a long time. I've never seen that one before."
The win was Arizona's second straight and second in three meetings with the Western Conference-leading Ducks, who had won 10 straight one-goal games. It also provided a welcome relief from the struggles that have defined this season.
Dubnyk made a whopping 36 saves and has stopped 61 of 63 shots in his last two games to continue one of the NHL's most overlooked rebound stories. The Coyotes played a mostly tight defensive game in front of him (as has been the trend this season), and even defenseman Zbynek Michalek chipped in with his first goal of the season and first since April 1.
"Big monkey off my back," Michalek said. "It feels nice, especially after the goal against. I thought that I should have done a better job there so it was nice to redeem myself a little bit."
In the locker room after the game, the mood was a rare mix of laughter and celebration. Doan was singing along as Redbone's "Come and Get Your Love" blared from a nearby stereo. Yandle was delivering his under-publicized one-liners in staccato fashion and the Coyotes were all wearing smiles.
"It's a win and it's two in a row so we're almost to a streak," Doan said. "We've got a long ways to go, but obviously two in a row is big.
"If we can find a way to get that next game -- that's all we're focusing on. Try to find a way to win the next game in front of you and not worry about everything that's gone on in the past."
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