By Bob McManaman
There was no mistaking what the Coyotes needed to do Thursday night at Jobing.com Arena.
With struggling Florida in for a visit and precious points at stake to keep a run to the playoffs alive, it was time to kick sand in the face of the Panthers, drop them like a bad habit and sink them like a 3-foot putt.
Nothing short of a victory, and maybe really a convincing one at that, would be acceptable — especially with the big, bad Boston Bruins coming to town Saturday night.
It wasn’t pretty, but mission accomplished.
The Coyotes scored both of their goals during a first period in which they took just seven shots and Mike Smith stopped all but one of the 23 shots he faced en route to a 2-1 victory in front of 14,442.
“They all can’t be masterpieces,” coach Dave Tippett said wryly. “We got up two goals and we won, so let’s just leave it at that. Take the points and get ready for Boston.”
It was the team’s third straight win, something the Coyotes hadn’t accomplished in four months, when they won five straight from Oct. 26 to Nov. 5.
But they needed this one in the worst way.
Coupled with the Stars’ 4-2 loss to the Flyers earlier in the night, Phoenix, with 79 points, now has a fourpoint cushion on the eighth and final playoff seed in the Western Conference.
Just think what a win over Boston would do. The Bruins, who lead the Eastern Conference with 99 points, have to play in Denver tonight so the Coyotes will be catching them on the back end of a backto-back.
Back-to-backs don’t scare the Bruins, though, who cut down the Coyotes 2-1 on March 13.
“We’ve got a vivid memory of that last week in Boston,” Tippett said, “so we better be ready to play come Saturday.”
Thursday’s game marked the first time Tippett was able to roll out his three Czech forwards and play them on the same line. The trio of Martin Hanzal, Radim Vrbata and Martin Erat didn’t deke and juke Roberto Luongo out of his goalie pads, but they had his attention most of the night.
On just their second shift of the game, Vrbata and Hanzal teamed up to give the Coyotes a1-0 lead. The Coyotes were on the power play, which has been riding some red-hot momentum, and Oliver EkmanLarsson blasted a shot from the point.
The puck hit Hanzal hard in the foot, dropping the center to his knees between the faceoff circles. Vrbata immediately swept it past Luongo for his 20th goal of the sea- Florida Phoenix First Period— son.
“He paid the price on that one,” Vrbata said of Hanzal, “but we were able to get a goal out of it.”
The Coyotes put three shots on Luongo during that power play and they had a total of just four shots overall with less than two minutes to play in first period.
Then in a rapid-fire instant, the game changed.
Michael Stone fired a shot that bounced off Luongo’s pads. Antoine Vermette swiped at the rebound, putting another shot on goal. Mikkel Boedker, meanwhile, had worked his way down low and was sent crashing through the crease by Florida defenseman Dylan Olsen.
His momentum toppled Luongo off his skates and out of position, allowing Vermette to corral the loose puck and score easily for his 23rd goal.
Luongo went ballistic, banging his stick on the net while barking at the referees. He clearly thought he was interfered with — and he was. But it was his teammate that caused it and the goal wasn’t even reviewed.
“Olsen’s 6-foot-3, 220 pounds, Boedker’s 5-foot-9, 5-foot-10, a little guy, so if there was anything, interference was going the other way,” Panthers coach Peter Horachek said. “… It was their interference on the goalie, but it was missed.”
Vermette said he didn’t see the replay, but asked how often he gets that much net to shoot at, he replied: “Not too many times. It was good timing.” They’ve played better games, cleaner games and more entertaining games, but the Coyotes played well enough to win and that’s all that mattered Thursday night. A loss to the lowly Panthers would have been devastating for their playoff hopes with only a dozen regularseason games remaining and a tough customer visiting on Saturday night in the Boston Bruins. This was a win the Coyotes can build on before that big game and a three-game road swing looming back East.
Added Tippett, “I thought it was the right call. Boedker wouldn’t have been in there if he hadn’t got pushed.”
The Coyotes, who haven’t lost in regulation to the Panthers since 2007, leaned on Smith the rest of the game and he was four minutes away from his fourth shutout of the season and 28th of his career when Scott Gomez rifled a shot past his glove side.
“Until he let that one goal in, he was unbelievable,” Tippett said.
The Panthers didn’t generate a ton of chances and they failed to register a single shot on two of their three power plays, which explains why they rank dead last in the NHL with the man advantage.