Oilers Drill Coyotes
Ethan Moreau ended his scoring drought and the Edmonton Oilers stopped the Phoenix Coyotes' unbeaten streak.
Moreau had a goal and an assist his first points of the season as Edmonton ended a three-game winless streak by beating Phoenix 3-1 Tuesday night.The loss ended Phoenix's five-game unbeaten streak.
Moreau was pointless in nine previous games this season.
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Moreau scored Edmonton's first goal and assisted on the winning goal by Josef Beranek at 4:53 of the third period. Alex Selivanov scored the Oilers' final goal, on a power play with 5:27 remaining.
Travis Green scored the lone goal for Phoenix.
Oilers goalie Tommy Salo made 25 saves and was especially sharp in the third period, when Phoenix outshot Edmonton 17-8.
"This team needed to win a game 2-1," Moreau said. "We've been playing well defensively. It's nice to reward the defensemen and Tommy Salo."
Phoenix coach Bob Francis was displeased with his team's effort, saying they didn't show much life until the third period.
"We didn't play as a group," Francis said. "Our execution was lacking and our thought process was lacking. We can't play like that."
Coyotes left wing Keith Tkachuk agreed with his coach.
"That's not the way we play hockey," Tkachuk said. "Tey outworked us. We decided to do it our own way. It backfired on us."
Beranek broke a 1-1 tie when he fired home a shot from the slot past goalie Mikhail Shtalenkov after taking a pass from Moreau.
Selivanov added an insurance goal when he came out of the corner and jammed the puck behind Shtalenkov on the short side.
Green opened the scoring with his sixth goal of the season, deflecting Teppo Numminen's point shot past Salo at 2:10 of the first period.
Moreau tied it when he took a pass from Todd Marchant and beat Shtalenkov high on the glove side at 17:08 of the second period.
"Ethan was wide open," Marchant said. "He made a great shot."
Coyotes right wing Rick Tocchet played the 1,000th game of his NHL career.
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