Special Teams Lead ‘Yotes over Wings

Three power play goals and two shorthanded goals lifted the Phoenix Coyotes to a 5-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings Friday night. The Coyotes ended the night three-for-six on the powerplay with goals on three of their first four chances with the man-advantage.

Phoenix’s first powerplay goal opened the game’s scoring just 47 seconds into the first period. With Detroit’s Ray Whitney in the box for hooking, Daymond Langkow deflected a Shane Doan shot from the point past Detroit netminder Curtis Joseph, giving Phoenix the 1-0 lead.

Detroit came back buzzing after the Phoenix goal and evened things up at 6:45 of the first. Pavel Datsyuk kicked a pass from Steve Thomas from his skate to his stick as he crossed the blue line, then carried the puck down the left side of the ice and rifled a shot by Coyotes’ goaltender Brian Boucher.

The Coyotes regained their lead when Radoslav Suchy scored a powerplay goal with 7:26 remaining in the period. Suchy took a pass in the slot and fired a quick shot under the sliding defenseman Chris Chelios and through Joseph’s five-hole.

Another powerplay goal gave the Coyotes a 3-1 lead 3:44 into the second period. Paul Mara took a point shot that went wide on the short side. Joseph moved to follow the puck behind the net but it took a lively bounce off the back boards and came out to Jan Hrdina, who had an open net to put the puck into.

Mathieu Schneider pulled the Wings back to within a goal of the Coyotes, scoring at 8:46 of the second. Schneider darted in from the blue line to one-time a deflected pass in the slot past Boucher.

Daniel Cleary gave Phoenix a shorthanded goal with 1:07 remaining in the second and Branko Radivojevic added a shorthanded empty-net goal with 29 seconds left in the game.

Detroit’s Joseph stopped just four of the eight shots he faced in the first two periods before being replaced by Manny Legace. Legace was perfect on five shots. Boucher stopped 44 of the 46 shots he faced.

The Red Wings will conclude their Pacific Division road trip on Monday night in Dallas.

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The game was Detroit’s first at Glendale Arena, the Coyotes’ new home… Jiri Fischer missed the game due to a one-game suspension handed down by the NHL. Fischer was suspended for head-butting Los Angeles’ Ian Laperriere on Thursday night.