Coyotes leapfrog Canucks in standings, hurt NHL draft odds with victory

The Coyotes have been stuck at 29th in the NHL standings for much of the season, but they leapfrogged the Canucks on Thursday to move up a spot with a 4-3 win over Vancouver at Gila River Arena in the team’s second-to-last game.

Winger Radim Vrbata scored twice to reach the 20-goal plateau for the sixth time (fifth with the Coyotes), center Alexander Burmistrov extended his point streak to four games and defenseman Luke Schenn scored his first goal of the season. Between the pipes, Louis Domingue made 26 saves in his last scheduled start of the season to improve to 6-1 in his past seven starts.

Schenn opened the scoring six minutes into the first period after pinching deep to whack a puck by Vancouver goalie Ryan Miller. The Canucks tied it 1:51 later on a Nikolay Goldobin one-timer before the Coyotes regained the lead 55 seconds into the second when Vrbata put back a bounce off the end boards.

Later in the period, Burmistrov redirected a slap-pass by defenseman Alex Goligoski on the power play at 9:40. During his four-game point streak, Burmistrov has four goals and five points. Vrbata added another power-play goal at 16:11 when his shot trickled through traffic and over the goal line.

Winger Max Domi assisted on both power-play goals, and the unit finished 2for-3. The Canucks were 1-for-3, with their lone tally coming 1:47 into the third when winger Brock Boeser buried a loose puck.

A Daniel Sedin shot moved the Canucks within one at 12:40. Miller totaled 18 saves.

Since the start of the team’s first three-game win streak Jan. 21, the Coyotes have banked 38 of their 70 points – the second-most points among teams that have been eliminated from playoff contention. Vancouver Arizona Coyotes 4, Canucks 3 1 0 1 3 2 0 — 3 4 First Period—1, Arizona, Schenn 1 (Perlini, Dvorak), 6:00. 2, Vancouver, Goldobin 2 (H.Sedin, D.Sedin), 7:51. Penalties—None. Second Period—3, Arizona, Vrbata 19 (Deangelo, Chychrun), 0:55. 4, Arizona, Burmistrov 5 (Goligoski, Domi), 9:40 (pp). 5, Arizona, Vrbata 20 (Domi), 16:11 (pp). Penalties—Schenn, ARI, (hooking), 1:03; Connauton, ARI, (interference), 5:59; Sutter, VAN, (holding), 6:34; Chaput, VAN, (holding), 9:33; Tryamkin, VAN, (tripping), 14:37. Third Period—6, Vancouver, Boeser 3 (Sutter, H.Sedin), 1:47 (pp). 7, Vancouver, D.Sedin 15 (H.Sedin), 12:40. Penalties—Baertschi, VAN, (roughing), 1:02; Connauton, ARI, (roughing), 1:02; Martinook, ARI, (roughing), 1:02; Connauton, ARI, Misconduct (misconduct), 1:02. Shots on Goal—Vancouver 10-5-14—29. Arizona 7-10-5—22. Power-play opportunities—Vancouver 1 of 3; Arizona 2 of 3. Goalies—Vancouver, Miller 18-28-6 (22 shots-18 saves). Arizona, Domingue 11-15-1 (29-26). A—11,959 (17,125). T—2:24. Referees—Furman South, Francois St Laurent. Linesmen—Darren Gibbs, Trent Knorr.