Tavares, Islanders Lose 5-1 To Coyotes
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Shane Doan scored at the buzzer for the first hat trick of his 16-year NHL career, leading the Phoenix Coyotes to a 5-1 victory over the New York Islanders on Saturday night.
Doan, in his 1,161st game, fired a slap shot past goalie Evgeni Nabokov just before the buzzer sounded. The 35-year-old team captain had been, along with Scott Mellanby, the only players in league history with 300 goals but no hat tricks.
Doan scored early in the first and second periods to set the stage but missed several close tries before getting the goal at the last possible moment.
Taylor Pyatt and Oliver Ekman-Larsson also scored for Phoenix. Frans Nielsen scored the Islanders' lone goal.
New York goalie Evgeni Nabokov had 25 saves. Mike Smith had 32 for Phoenix.
Doan scored 1:41 into the first period and 1:39 into the second, so there was plenty of time for him to get that still-elusive third. But after a handful of near misses after that, it appeared he was headed for his 39th two-goal game, which would have set a record for most by any player without a hat trick.
Doan's first goal of the night, and 10th of the season, came on a deflection of teammate Mikkel Boedker's shot. Doan's shot slipped in above Nabokov's right shoulder.
The Islanders tied it on a power play exactly halfway through the period after Marc-Antoine Pouliot was called for tripping. Smith had stopped the last in a flurry of shots but the puck slipped from his left hand just outside the goal line, where Nielsen knocked it in the unprotected net.
The Coyotes, who had lost six out of seven, scored twice in a 1:19 span in the second period to go up 3-1.
Doan put Phoenix ahead with a breakaway goal, his shot dribbling between the legs of Nabokov after the goalie appeared to have the shot safely blocked.
Pyatt ended a 14-game goal drought with a wrister that made it 3-1with 16:19 left in the period. Ekman-Larsson sailed a shot into the right corner of the net over the embattled Nabokov and it was 4-1 with 5:21 still left in the third.
John Tavares' assist on Nielsen's goal extended his points streak to five games. He has two goals and seven assists in that span. Nabokov has allowed nine goals in two games. The Islanders lost at Anaheim 4-2 on Friday night.
Doan had a hat trick in just 6:25 for Canada against Belarus in the 2007 world championships.
Notes: Phoenix D Adrian Aucoin sat out the game with an injured right eye, the result of a puck to the face Thursday night in a 1-0 overtime loss to Los Angeles. ... Islanders D Mark Streit played in his 400th NHL game and teammate Tavares his 200th. ... Phoenix LW Raffi Torres returned after serving a two-game suspension. ... Doan had two power-play goals in the season opener against San Jose.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
