GameTrax:Stats and more
By CRAIG MORGAN
FOXSportsArizona.com
March 5, 2011
Remember this game.
It might be a turning point in this season. It might be the win that vaults the Phoenix Coyotes into the playoffs. It might be the start of a long-awaited postseason run.
"I think that's a game even the Goldwater group would like," Coyotes coach Dave Tippett quipped after his team's stunning 5-4 shootout win.
For a franchise that has reached the 11th hour of its ownership impasse between the City of Glendale and the Goldwater Institute, this was a fitting finish.
The Coyotes were down 4-1 heading to the third period against the mighty Detroit Red Wings. A six-game losing streak seemed certain.
Detroit was getting all the breaks. Drew Miller scored on the game's first shot when his 60-footer somehow slipped between the pads of goalie Ilya Bryzgalov. Valtteri Filppula banked Detroit's third goal off Bryzgalov's shoulder from behind the net.
At the other end, Coyotes defenseman Adrian Aucoin rang a post, Ray Whitney missed a breakaway, Lee Stempniak missed from point-blank range in the slot and Radim Vrbata rifled a shot off goalie Jimmy Howard's glove hand, only to watch it trickle to a stop at the right post.
"It was some bad luck," Vrbata said.
But the Coyotes were heartened by one simple reality.
"We were getting a lot of chances," captain Shane Doan said.
That feeling was echoed in the Detroit locker room.
"I thought the score in the game early flattered us," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. "We weren't very good without the puck. We didn't break out of our zone very fast."
The Coyotes' resolve finally paid off.
Mikkel Boedker started the rally just 2:32 into the third period. Ray Whitney cut it to 4-3 with 5:26 remaining. Then Martin Hanzal, who came within an eyelash of not playing because of a lower body injury, came out of the penalty box to sweep in a rebound of Vrbata's shot with 1:57 remaining to force overtime and silence a Red Wings throng in the stands at Jobing.com Arena.
"I was talking to the doc, and he was doing some tests on me and I was told I shouldn't play," Hanzal said. "I was struggling at first, but I was getting better every shift and I knew I could play my game."
Hanzal's presence in the lineup is always important for the Coyotes, but doubly so when the opponent is as deep up the middle as Detroit with Pavel Datsyuk, Filppula, Mike Modano and often Henrik Zetterberg.
"As big as he is at 6-5, that's how much it changes (our team)," Tippett said. "Any time you can have a guy like Hanzal play against any of them it's a big plus."
The other big plus Saturday was the play of the Coyotes' kid line: Kyle Turris, Boedker and Brett MacLean.
Boedker had a goal, MacLean had an assist and Turris, the former No. 3 overall draft pick, had a goal and an assist in what Tippett said may have been his best game.
"The one thing they can do is they can play with pace. And when you play against Detroit, you know they're going to play fast," Tippett said. "I thought they played very well together."
One point would have been enough to hearten the Coyotes in such an improbable rally, but Vrbata put the finishing touches on the road-weary Wings with his patented back-hand move in the shootout, getting such elevation on the shot that it struck the horizontal twine at the top of the net before dropping behind Howard.
"Hopefully, it's a momentum swing," Tippett said of the win that vaulted the Coyotes back into fifth place in the Western Conference. "We've got to make sure we use this as a springboard. Not just as a springboard to winning
