|
|
 |
 |
|
| |
Sunday, Jan. 23 8:00pm ET
Lumme's late OT goal lifts Phoenix | |||||
|
| ||||||
|
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
PHOENIX (AP) -- Even the Phoenix Coyotes admit that they've needed a little bit of luck to keep up their domination in the West. The Coyotes picked up a 3-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Sunday night when Jyrki Lumme flipped the winning goal into the net with 44 seconds left in overtime. Seconds before, San Jose's Todd Harvey broke his stick and skated to the bench to get another one. That left Lumme alone in the slot about 15 feet out, and he one-timed a pass from Keith Tkachuk for the winner. "It was kind of a fluky one, but I'll take it," Lumme said. San Jose goaltender Steve Shields, who kept the puck in play because he wasn't aware of the problem, was at the side of the crease and could only flail at the puck as it flew past. "Had I known he broke his stick, I would have frozen it," Shields said. "We came back after we didn't play well in the second period. In the third, we dominated. It was just a bad bounce and a bad break that won it." The Coyotes' third straight win kept them in first place in the Pacific Division with their division-leading 26th victory. They are 10-4 in their division and 20-9-2 against Western Conference, the best marks in the conference. The game started hours after Carolina traded Keith Primeau to Philadelphia, ending speculation that Coyotes owner Richard Burke wanted to unload Tkachuk and his $8.3 million salary to acquire Primeau in a three-way deal involving the Hurricanes and New York Rangers. Signs supporting Tkachuk dotted the America West Arena, where Burke claims to have lost $23 million in the last two seasons. One said, "Keep Tkachuk, Trade Bobby Smith" -- a reference to the Coyotes general manager. "He's stuck with us right now, and we don't mind," Lumme said. "It's good. Hopefully it's all behind us now. Especially Keith hopes so and we all do. It's hard enough to go out there and play and travel and all that stuff, and then you have all the off-ice stuff." "We're becoming ducks with water on our backs," Rick Tocchet said about the distractions. Tocchet and Louie DeBrusk scored earlier for the Coyotes -- DeBrusk from long range on the bad bounce Shields mentioned. Harvey and Owen Nolan had third-period goals as the Sharks surged back.The Coyotes' Sean Burke made 28 saves, including 12 in the third period. But Burke allowed two goals in the final period as the Coyotes blew a two-goal lead in the third for the second time in three games. This time, though, the Coyotes recovered thanks to Lumme's seventh goal and 99th of his career. It was the Finnish defenseman's 400th career point. Nolan got his 30th goal on a one-timer with 7:25 remaining in regulation. Harvey broke up Burke's shutout on 2:09 earlier, scoring on a rebound for the Sharks' third power-play goal in their last two games. Until then, the Coyotes had killed 29 of the last 30 penalties against them. "They didn't have much going up until the power-play goal," Coyotes coach Bob Francis said. Tocchet also had a power-play goal, deflecting a slap shot by Keith Carney 9:33 into the game. It made him the seventh Coyotes player with 10 or more goals this season. Shields made 30 saves, including eight on the Coyotes' nine shots in the first seven minutes of the second period. DeBrusk made it 2-0 at the 5:00 mark when he took a slap shot on the fly from above the circle. It skipped off the ice and sank as it neared the net, diving under Shields' attempt to kneel and stop it. "They are the best team in the league at that -- in traffic and along the boards -- and you have to be able to compete with them and win battles in the tough areas," Sharks coach Darryl Sutter said. "I though our grinders really did that well." | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard San Jose Clubhouse Phoenix Clubhouse RECAPS Los Angeles 3 Colorado 2
Phoenix 3 AUDIO/VIDEO   The Coyotes' Jyrki Lumme scores the OT game-winner vs. San Jose.avi: 644 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1   | |||||