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View Full Version : Canucks end marathon road trip with shootout loss to coyotes



sleddy2008
03-11-2010, 06:18 AM
C/P from TSN.ca

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Adrian Aucoin scored in the sixth round of a shootout, and Ilya Bryzgalov deflected Mason Raymond's final attempt for Vancouver high over the net to give the Phoenix Coyotes a 4-3 victory over the Canucks on Wednesday night.

Lee Stempniak scored twice, Taylor Pyatt added a goal and Vernon Fiddler had two assists to help the Coyotes finish their four-game post-Olympic homestand with three straight victories.

Henrik Sedin had a goal and an assist, and Mikael Samuelsson and Christian Ehrhoff also scored for the Canucks, who lost for the second time in six games.

It was the end of Vancouver's 14-game road trip, the longest in league history. It surpassed the 11-game road trip the Calgary Flames endured in 1988, also to accommodate the Winter Olympics. The Canucks finished the trip wit an 8-5-1 record.

Stempniak, acquired from Toronto at the trade deadline, gave Phoenix a 3-2 lead 35 seconds into the third period on a wrist shot from between the hashes.

Ehrhroff tied tit 59 seconds later, scoring into an open net after Pavol Demitra lured Bryzgalov well past the left edge of the crease.

Bryzgalov maintained the tie when he reached back with his blocker to stop Demitra's rolling shot on the goal line.

Stempniak opened the scoring at 10:16 of the first, skating down the left side on a 2-on-1 break and keeping the puck for a quick wrist shot over Andrew Raycroft's blocker from the bottom of the circle.

Sedin tied it with 45.1 seconds left in the period after Samuelsson outfought Phoenix defenceman Jim Vandermeer for the puck in the right corner. Samuelsson took two strides back up ice and fired a pass to Sedin, who beat Bryzgalov with a wrist shot for his 27th goal.

Another defensive miscue by Phoenix led to the Canucks' second goal. Ed Jovanovski corralled Sedin's errant pass from behind the net intended for Samuelsson in front of the crease and looped behind the net. Samuelsson caught up to Jovanovski and slapped the puck off the defenceman's stick and past Bryzgalov from the front left edge of the crease to make it 2-1 at 36 seconds of the second.

The goal was Samuelsson's fourth in two nights and seventh in his past five games.

Pyatt made it 2-2 at 9:39 of the period, regaining the puck after a poke check by Raycroft and scoring on a rebound for his 100th career goal.

NOTES: Two of the Canucks' three overtime losses have come in Phoenix. ... The Coyotes will play 11 of their final 15 games on the road. ... With his two points, Sedin moved within one of becoming the highest scoring centre in Canucks history. Sedin has 136 goals and 414 assists for 550 points in 713 career games.