The Vancouver Canucks rallied for another confidence-building victory – at the struggling Phoenix Coyotes’ expense.
Henrik Sedin capped a three-goal comeback with a power-play goal midway through the third period in the Canucks’ 4-3 victory over the Coyotes on Thursday night.
“We have a good feeling right now, and playing with confidence,” Sedin said. “Yeah, we were down, but started to move the puck in the third period and made sharp passes. We also have several lines which can score.”
Down 3-1 early in the third, the Canucks tied it on goals by Pavol Demitra and Alexander Edler, and took the lead on Sedin’s winner at 10:47.
The Canucks also rallied to beat St. Louis on Tuesday night. After an eight-game winless streak, Vancouver was won four in a row.
“It’s not easy to come back against any team in this league,” Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault said. “Now, we’ve done that in consecutive games, and our confidence is increasing.”
Enver Lisin, who scored the only goal in Phoenix’s win over Dallas on Wednesday night, put the Coyotes on the board at 2:20 of the first. Picking up the puck in the neutral zone, he neatly sidestepped Mattias Ohlund and Edler and put a wrist shot behind Roberto Luongo for his 10th of the season.
Phoenix’s power play, next to last in the NHL, then clicked when Steven Reinprecht picked his 10th of the season, and first with the man advantage, with four minutes left in the opening period.
The Canucks cut the lead in half when defenceman Ohlund beat Ilya Bryzgalov from the blue-line with 2:59 to go in the second period. The Coyotes answered when Derek Morris’s shot beat Luongo just inside the right post with 33 seconds to go.
Demitra brought the Canucks within one, scoring on a wrist shot for this 15th of the season at 2:16 of the third period. Edler tied it at 8:22.
“We were caught sitting back,” Morris said. “When you’re a young team, like ours, it’s tough to stay aggressive. You get up a few goals and think you have to sit on that. We need to be real aggressive and stay tight with teams.”
Sedin eventually scored the winner, his 10th of the season, and third on the power play, with Morris in the penalty box for holding.
Phoenix has lost eight of its last 10 games.
“Every game counts for us,” Phoenix coach Wayne Gretzky said. “We can’t afford to have nights where we blow 3-1 leads in the final period.”
Notes: The Coyotes assigned 19-year-old centre Kyle Turris to San Antonio on Thursday, and recalled defenceman David Schlemko from the American Hockey League affiliate. Turris, the former University of Wisconsin star selected third overall in 2007, has six goals and 10 assists in 50 games this season. … Mikkel Boedker missed his first game of the season, a healthy scratch. The Phoenix rookie has one point in his last six games. … Ohlund scored his first goal since Jan. 1 against Nashville.
