Mike Smith stops 41 but Oilers beat Coyotes in shootout
By Troy Baker
On the road in Canada 2 points are nice but 1 is better than nothing.
In a game Smitty deserved to win the and the return of Lombo the Coyotes wasted 41 saves by their net minder to drop a heart breaker 3-2 in a shootout.
Mike Smith had 41 saves but the 2 goals he allowed led to a shootout that turned in favor of the home team Edmonton.
Kyle Chipchura opened the scoring after some frenetic action after a 4 day layoff with a shot that trickled over the goal line after hitting off Khavibulin’s glove.
Dave Moss took a nasty high stick in the face that drew blood resulting in a 4 min penalty. The fruits of that labor paid off with Matt Lombardi putting a wicked shot from Boedker to truly announce his return to the line-up. It was a sight for sore eyes after he left as soon as he arrived with concussion like symptoms and has missed the first 1/3 of the season.
Edmonton finally got on the board on a broken play in which Jordan Eberle flipped a pass from the corner top cheese. Going into the 3rd period the Coyotes had a 2 – 1 lead.
A tip in on the power play caused by a Yandle Klesla breakdown in which Rusty tripped the Oiler aggressor tied the score at 2 -2 which stayed that way regardless of the frenzied pace in the final 11 minutes plus.
In the shootout the old Phoenix goalie got the best of the new one. The Bulin wall saved a lot of pucks for this franchise and did just enough to snatch Mike Smith’s glory on this weekend day game.
Sam Gagner undressed Smitty with a gorgeous goal in the shootout followed by Eberle’s best Vrbata imitation to seal the deal. Boedker and Rundbland were denied.
No rest for the weary as the Yotes are right back at it against Calgary Sunday night at 6pm. 1 or 2 points will still make this a solid road trip. The Coyotes sit in 6th place with 2 games in hand on Nashville who leads them by 2 points. So in theory we are currently the 5th seed. Not too shabby after being in last less than a month ago.