Pyatt, LaBarbera lead Coyotes to victory

Behind two goals from Taylor Pyatt and some great goaltending out of Jason LaBarbera, the Coyotes got a 2-0 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night.  After a few hiccups, the Coyotes have suddenly won two straight and are playing much better hockey.

Pyatt got Phoenix off to a great start with his eighth goal of the season about halfway through the first period.  After that, both teams were held silent until Pyatt scored on an empty netter with 20 seconds left for his second goal of the game.  The goal wasn’t only big for the fact that it put the game away for good for the Coyotes, but it also gave Shane Doan an assist to extend his points streak to eight games.  Talk about good timing.

There have been whispers that the Coyotes have been looking for a backup goalie with Ilya Bryzgalov being banged up and how LaBarbera has fared when Bryz is out, but the Canadian goalie has a knack to step up when needed and he did so last night.  He stopped all 34 shots thrown on him by Colorado for his second shutout of the season.  At least for one night, those whispers will die down a bit.

Phoenix is right back at it tomorrow night against a Buffalo Sabres team that has played much better during the month of January.  The puck will drop at 6 p.m.