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BOX SCORE
PHOENIX (AP) -- There were no brooms out when the Detroit Red
Wings lined up against Phoenix for the final time in the regular
season.
Coyotes fans know all too well how tough it is to sweep Detroit.
Winnipeg-Phoenix has only done it twice in franchise history -- most
recently 14 years ago.
|  | | Detroit's Darren McCarty, left, collides with Phoenix's Benoit Hogue. |
By the end of the first period Monday night, the achievement was
out of reach again, as Igor Larionov, Pat Verbeek and Brendan
Shanahan scored on consecutive power plays in a 3-1 victory -- their
third straight after beating St. Louis and Colorado.
"It's big," Shanahan said. "We didn't want it to become a
mental thing, and we were coming off a couple of big wins --
especially coming back from 3-0 down against Colorado -- and we had
an opportunity to make this a special road trip.
"You saw that when we came out jumping and built up a big
lead."
Ken Wregget, spotted an early lead, stayed focused and stopped
28 shots to extend his unbeaten streak to six games (5-0-1).
"We went through a little bit of a spell after Christmas, up
until the All-Star break, where we kind of got away from our game,
and I think this road trip we're kind of taking it one game at a
time," Wregget said.
Greg Adams scored during a Phoenix advantage in the second
period, but otherwise the Coyotes had difficulty getting past
neutral ice after Detroit turned defensive.
In 1982-83 and 1985-86, the Coyotes (Winnipeg Jets) swept three-game series
against Detroit. They reached that plateau this year, but had one
more game in the new NHL scheduling format.
"They're a proud team," Coyotes coach Bob Francis said. "They
had in their mind that they didn't want to be swept, and we knew we
had our work cut out for us."
Martin Lapointe had two assists, and Shanahan had one.
Larionov scored on Detroit's second shot and Verbeek on the third.
The Wings are 17-0-4 when Verbeek has a point. When Shanahan made
it 3-0 with his 30th goal with 5:13 remaining in the first period,
the suspense went out of the contest.
The outburst came within one of Detroit's franchise record of
power-play goals in a period, set against the New York Rangers on
Nov. 5, 1942.
Phoenix goalie Sean Burke had 19 saves, but only four in the
first period, when the game was decided. Bob Essensa replaced him
in goal for 47 seconds in the second period but didn't face a shot.
The Coyotes stopped Detroit's fourth and last power play, but their bad luck continued.
Radoslav Suchy beat Wregget 7:21 into the second, but the
whistle had already blown to assess a penalty on Rick Tocchet, and
the goal was disallowed.
The Coyotes had a five-on-three advantage for 41 seconds in the second
period, because Steve Yzerman delayed the game by sprawling on the
puck during Phoenix's original power play.
As it was ending, Shane Doan took a shot, Jeremy Roenick
retrieved the rebound and sent a cross-ice pass to Adams, who
scored into the near side of the net with 2:20 left, cutting the
deficit to 3-1.
They've got a great team over there," Doan said. "They did a
great job of burying us when they got the chance. It's tough to
come back from a three-goal deficit, especially when it's
Detroit."
It took just 16 seconds of the first Red Wings power play for
Larionov to score, just 1:33 in. Shanahan took a shot from the
slot, and Larionov poked the rebound past Burke's stick side.
Tocchet was called for boarding minutes later, and Verbeek
scored at 6:03.
"Our power play won the game for us," coach Scotty Bowman
said. "Basically, we went over some stuff before the game and made
some changes. We were 0-for-6 last game, and this game we score three
goals."
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Detroit Clubhouse
Phoenix Clubhouse
RECAPS
Montreal 4
Florida 1
Pittsburgh 3
Vancouver 0
Carolina 5
Toronto 2
Detroit 3
Phoenix 1
Los Angeles 4
Calgary 3
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Brendan Shanahan scores goal No. 30 on the wrister.
avi: 564 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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