Arizona Knocks Off Anaheim 2-1 In Shootout
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) Shane Doan skated toward Frederik Andersen, sending a shot he intended to put between the goalie's legs. Instead, Doan's stick broke and the blade sailed over Andersen's shoulder.
Confused by what happened, Doan glanced back just in time to see the puck trickle over the line. Even then, Arizona's captain wasn't sure if the goal counted because of the broken stick.
It did, giving Doan his first shootout goal since 2012 and the Coyotes a rare winning streak.
Doan scored the only goal in the shootout with the broken stick, Devan Dubnyk stopped 36 shots and the Coyotes beat the Anaheim Ducks 2-1 on Saturday night.
"In your head, you're like: `Did that really just happen? Is it going to work?'" Doan said. "When I saw him point at the net, I was pretty excited."
Zbynek Michalek scored in the first period and Arizona played well in its own end against one of the NHL's most explosive teams.
Dubnyk was sharp from the start and gave the Coyotes a chance with some big saves in the third period when Anaheim picked up the pressure.
After both teams failed to score the first three rounds of the shootout, Arizona coach Dave Tippett sent out Doan for the fourth.
He hadn't taken a shot in a shootout this season and appeared to have no chance at scoring when his stick broke on the shot. But with the blade distracting Andersen as it sailed past, the puck trickled toward the right post and just sneaked over the line before Anaheim's goalie could react.
"Too bad you can't get a save for stopping the blade," Andersen said. "For a split second, that was my reaction (following the blade), it happened so fast. Yeah, that's a weird goal."
Andersen was sharp after the holiday break, stopping 28 shots and giving up two goals on screens - one by Sam Gagner on Michalek's goal, the other by Doan's stick.
Rene Bourque scored for the Ducks, who are still undefeated in one-goal games (17-0-6) despite the fluky shootout goal.
"More power to them," Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said. "It's a lucky goal, but they got it."
Anaheim was arguably the NHL's best team before the holiday break, rising to the top of the NHL with 51 points while tying for the league lead with 23 wins.
The Coyotes have been one of the league's worst teams, struggling at both ends of the ice to lurk near the bottom of the Western Conference. Arizona entered the break with 12 wins - five of those against Edmonton after beating the struggling Oilers 5-1 on Tuesday night.
The Ducks jumped on Arizona early, scoring in the first period when Bourque beat Dubnyk on a one-timer from just outside the crease after Ryan Getzlaf juked his way through Arizona's defense.
Michalek answered 1:13 later with a hard shot from near the blue line that Andersen had trouble seeing as Gagner skated past.
The score held up through the second period, thanks to the goalies.
Andersen had some tough stops, splaying out on one to rob Mikkel Boedker on a rebound. Dubnyk was solid, too, the highlight a snatching glove save on Patrick Maroon's shot from the left circle.
Dubnyk made a few more tough saves and got a break early in the third, when a shot by Andrew Cogliano got by him but hit the crossbar. Dubnyk stopped 18 shots in the period, including a blocker stop on Maroon with a second left in regulation.
Andersen made another big save late in overtime, stopping Antoine Vermette on a semi-breakaway.
That set the stage for Doan's stick-breaking winner, giving Arizona consecutive wins for the first time since beating Vancouver and Edmonton on Nov. 14 and 16.
"I've seen a lot of things in this game for a long time and never seen that before," Tippett said. "I just watched the replay and you couldn't do it again if you tried it a thousand times."
Notes: The game included the players with the three longest active consecutive games streak: Cogliano (577), Vermette (428) and Arizona defenseman Keith Yandle (420). ... Doan played game No. 1,350, passing Kirk Muller for 45th on the NHL's career list. ... ... Arizona LW Lauri Korpikoski returned after missing four games with a lower-body injury.
