Vrbata’s lone goal stands in shootout session

In front of a soldout crowd of predominately Blackhawks fans, the Coyotes got their fourth straight victory in defeating the defending Stanley Cup champs 3-2 in a shootout. Radim Vrbata was the only player on either team to score during the shootout.

Vrbata also got the scoring underway a little more than 15 minutes into the first period. The goal was Vrbata’s 15th on the season and his fourth netter in his last three games. Phoenix would take a 2-0 lead behind a goal from Taylor Pyatt past Hawks goalie Corey Crawford just 42 seconds into the second period.

Chicago would get back in the game on the power play in the final two periods however. After a holding the stick call that was called on Lauri Korpikoski nearly 12 minutes into the peroid, Troy Brouwer would score a little more than a minute into the two-minute man advantage to pull his team within one. The Hawks would take advantage of another power play opportunity in the final couple of minutes of regulation time after Adrian Aucoin was called for a delay of game penalty. Duncan Keith would tie it up for his fifth goal of the season with a little more than four minutes left in the period.

Ilya Bryzgalov would have to come up with some huge saves to get the game into overtime. Patrick Kane somehow got behind the Phoenix defense for a 2-0 advantage against the Coyotes goaltender, but Bryzgalov came up with a big left-pad save to maintain the 2-2 tie. The Russian Bear was also big in the overtime and shootout sessions. He faced five shots in overtime and then stopped the trio of Jonathan Toews, Kane and Marian Hossa in the shootout. Not a bad night at the office for Mr. Bryzgalov.

Anytime you can beat a team as talented as the Blackhawks, you will always take it, whether it be in front of bunch of Hawks fans or not. The Coyotes next game will be at home on Monday night against a banged up Washington Capitals team. The puck will drop in Glendale at 6 p.m.