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Sunday, Feb. 27 10:00pm ET
Coyotes go 0-3-1 on Canada trip | |||||
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VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- As Felix Potvin goes, so too do the Vancouver Canucks. Potvin stopped 27 shots, but fell two minutes short of his second shutout of the season Sunday night as the Canucks improved to 6-3-1 since the All-Star break with a 2-1 win over Phoenix. Deron Quint put a rebound into a wide-open net with two minutes left to end Potvin's bid for the 14th shutout of his career. "I thought Potvin has been really sharp," said Vancouver coach Marc Crawford. "It would have been nice to see him get the shutout tonight. I think he was a little frustrated and showed a little bit of anger when the puck went in. He's a competitor and we are definitely going to need good goaltending from both he and Garth (Snow) if we hope to continue to claw back in." Darby Hendrickson had two points and Todd Bertuzzi scored for the third time in three games as Vancouver moved within eight points of Colorado and San Jose for the final Western Conference playoff spot. "We still believe, of course we do, we're right there," said Bertuzzi of his team's playoff hopes. "Tonight was huge. A big two points and now we head out to L.A., and if we play like we did tonight there's a good chance to win." Bertuzzi opened the scoring with a strong solo effort just 1:36 into the second period. Bertuzzi cut hard around Coyotes defenseman Jyrki Lumme on the right side, then moved quickly through the crease before tucking the puck behind goaltender Sean Burke. Hendrickson scored the winner on a wraparound with less than one minute left in the second period and now has three goals and three assists in his last five games. Phoenix finished a four-game, all-Canadian road trip 0-3-1 and dropped to 32-23-7-1 overall. The fifth-place Coyotes are now just 1-12-3 this year when center Jeremy Roenick fails to record a point. Phoenix is 28-8-3 when Roenick gets on the scoresheet. "You win with your top players and you lose with your top players, and this trip I've been very ineffective and not feeling up to par, and it is not acceptable," said Roenick. "I get very frustrated with myself when things go like this. I take a lot of pride in myself, so I'm going to have to go back and regroup and get back to playing some good hockey." Potvin is 4-2-1 since returning after the All-Star break from a knee injury that forced him to miss seven games. He went 3-1 on a recent road trip, allowing just six goals, but gave up eight goals in the two games before playing Phoenix. "I thought the other night against L.A., we weren't very good and I looked at the four goals and really only one was a bad rebound by him," said Crawford. "I thought he really just made outstanding saves on a couple of their goals and the rebounds weren't cleared. I thought tonight he was showing great patience in and around the net. "When I talked with Andy (Moog, the team's goaltending coach) about Felix, he told me that if you see Felix play a real patient game, that's is when he is going to be at his best. He looks very comfortable right now. He played real well." He wasn't tested often in the first period, but faced 11 shots in the second and made several big saves in the third period. He made his best save less than one minute into the third period when he stopped 20-goal scorer Shane Doan on a partial breakaway. Potvin also got a little help from the goal post when Louie DeBrusk got a wrist shot behind him with 5:27 left. | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard Phoenix Clubhouse Vancouver Clubhouse RECAPS Chicago 4 St. Louis 1
Vancouver 2 AUDIO/VIDEO   Darby Hendrickson scores while being taken down.avi: 829 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1   | |||||