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Yard Barker: NHL

Coyotes look to snap road skid vs. Stars
The Phoenix Coyotes are riding high after defeating two of the Western Conference's elite clubs. The Dallas Stars' schedule may give them a chance to string some wins together. The Coyotes attempt to match their longest overall winning streak of the season and snap a long road slide when they face the Stars on Tuesday night. Phoenix (24-21-8) went 3-5-4 last month, but has played much better since the calendar flipped to February. The Coyotes opened the month Saturday with a 5-3 win over Pacific Division-leading San Jose, before stunning league-leading Detroit 3-1 on Monday. "They're two good teams in the upper echelon of the conference and when you're taking points away from them, you're getting points that other teams aren't going to get," coach Dave Tippett said. "You look at those as very valuable points." Phoenix, which used a late-season surge to reach the playoffs last season, may be in position to repeat that feat in 2011-12. The Coyotes are currently tied with Dallas (27-22-2) for ninth in the West, two points back of Minnesota for the eighth seed. The Coyotes, who are seeking to win three straight for just the second time this season, may need to play better on the road if they are to catch the Wild. They're 12-11-4 away from home, where they've been outscored 20-9 during a 0-3-3 skid. Center Martin Hanzal has three goals and two assists in his last three games, matching his point total from his previous 11 contests. He scored twice against the Red Wings to give him eight goals on the season - half his total from 2010-11. Hanzal has not scored a goal in his last 17 game against the Stars. Teammate Radim Vrbata has had better luck lately, with 15 points in 17 career visits to Dallas including four goals and two assists in his last six. Vrbata scored in regulation before missing his shootout attempt in the Coyotes' 2-1 road loss to the Stars on Oct. 10. Phoenix is 1-0-2 in the season series, and has managed at least one point in the standings in 10 of its last 12 trips to Dallas. Vrbata, the team leader with 24 goals, enters this matchup with two goals and three assists during a four-game point streak. The Stars have won three of four including Saturday's 2-1 shootout win at home against the Wild. They have a couple of favorable matchups after this contest, visiting NHL-worst Columbus on Thursday before playing at struggling Buffalo the following night. Kari Lehtonen figures to be back in net for Dallas after winning his last three starts with a 0.97 goals-against average and one shutout. He made 33 saves Saturday before stopping two of three Minnesota shootout attempts. Lehtonen seems back in midseason form after going 3-7-0 with a 2.91 GAA in his first 10 games after returning from a groin injury suffered early in a 3-0 loss at Phoenix on Nov. 26. "I think it took him a couple games to get himself back," first-year coach Glen Gulutzan told the Stars' official website. "The last three or four games he played, he was real, real sharp, so I think he's back to where he needs to be." Lehtonen is 4-1-3 with a 1.91 GAA in nine career starts against the Coyotes. Jamie Benn, who leads Dallas with 46 points, converted the deciding shootout attempt Saturday after failing to manage a point through regulation and overtime. The All-Star left wing has seven goals in his last 11 games versus Phoenix.

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1,200 and counting for Coyotes' Whitney
Ray Whitney will play his 1,200th NHL game tonight against Detroit. If my calculations are correct, hes one of just 91 players to achieve that milestone. That doesnt mean he has a bottle of champagne at the ready in the Coyotes locker room. A thousand is the big one, Whitney said. After that, it just means youre getting old. It also means youve stayed healthy and youre pretty good. Teams dont keep 39-year-old wings who are generously listed at 5-foot-10 unless they can produce. Whitney does on the ice, where he leads the team in points with 45. And he does in the locker room, where hes one of the most respected guys for his practical approach and one of the most beloved for his practical jokes. Whitney has an appreciation for major milestones like the Stanley Cup he won in Carolina. Hed like to hit 1,000 career points this season, which means he needs 29 in the Coyotes final 30 games. But hes played the game far too long, and in far too many places, to get wrapped up in a single number, including his rapidly approaching 40th birthday and his not-too-distant retirement. Teemu Selannes going to be 42 at the end of this year, and hes still going strong, said Whitney, who will be a free agent after the season. I know the end isnt coming at the end of this year. Ill just go year to year and as long as I feel good Ill keep playing. Nobodys looking to tie me up until Im 45, but they can if they want.

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Coyotes, Red Wings on collision course -- again
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The Coyotes have faced the Red Wings so many times (23) over the past three seasons that they feel like Pacific Division opponents. We didnt even have a video (session) before (Mondays) game because we know them so well, Phoenix center Martin Hanzal said. We seem to play them over and over again. Which got us thinking: The NHL should institute a new rule for the playoffs. They could call it The Coyote Clause. If two teams have met each other two consecutive years in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, they cant open against each other a third straight year. We know the odds of that idea reaching fruition are considerably worse than the odds of someone buying this team, but the prospect of another first-round matchup between these clubs looks like even money or better. Chicagos team defense is nothing more than a rumor. St. Louis still has a pop-gun offense and zero playoff-race experience. Nashville has guts galore but lacks the talent to keep this pace up down the stretch. So we have the Wings penciled in for first place in the NHLs toughest division, the Central. That means either a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the Western Conference playoffs. The Coyotes might be able to climb as high as No. 7 if they can turn in more efforts like Mondays 3-1 win, but No. 8 is a more likely destination. Either way, a rematch of the rematch looks likely, which means a jam-packed Jobing.com Arena where you have to squint to determine whos who among the similar shades of red. Everywhere Detroit goes, the stadium is a mixed bag with lots of Red Wing fans, coach Dave Tippett said. If they do meet again, at least the Coyotes finally have something to hang their hats on. After dropping seven straight to the Wings -- including last seasons first-round playoff sweep -- the Coyotes did all the little things Tippett has been preaching to withstand a 31-shot Detroit barrage and what felt like a full-on siege near the end of the third period. The Coyotes got a second straight strong outing from goalie Mike Smith (30 saves). They limited most of Detroits chances to the perimeter. They went hard to the net and they kept their structure, intensity and work ethic consistent. They even got two goals from their special teams -- a shorthanded goal by Boyd Gordon to open the scoring and a power-play goal from the leagues 30th-ranked unit that deflected off Hanzals stick and leg because he was doing what hes supposed to do by creating traffic in front of the net. Hanzal also added an empty-netter, giving the two centers who missed a chunk of time during the middle of the season all the scoring while giving Tippett a glimpse of whats possible when his lineup is intact. It shows how much they mean to our team and how much we miss then when theyre out, he said. No matter who the Coyotes face among the elite teams of the West, they are bound to see a pair of top-line centers. Detroit has Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk. San Jose has Joe Thornton and Logan Couture. Vancouver has Henrik Sedin and Ryan Kesler. Gordon and Hanzal are vital to matching up with those pairs, and Mondays game was a perfect example of the tempo the Coyotes will have to match. It was a very fast game, Tippett said. Seemed like in the first period, the first time I looked up when there was a whistle, there was about 10 minutes left to go in the period already. The Coyotes kept pace with the Wings this time, but they may have to do it a few more times in April. While Mondays game was billed by radio play-by-play man Bob Heethuis as the final meeting between the teams this season, history has taught us otherwise.

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Predators Insider: Preds make easy work of tough Central
There's something about the Central Division that sets off the Nashville Predators. Nashville once again beat up on its middle-of-the-country brethren with a 3-1 win over the St. Louis Blues on Saturday. The victory moved the Predators to 12-2-2 against the Central, far and away the best mark within the division. With the victory, the Predators also continued their climb in the standings. They rest in second place in the Central with 68 points. If the concern going into the game was defense, the Predators quelled those fears by allowing just one goal. In Nashville's previous two games, the Predators had allowed seven non empty net goals. With the victory, G Pekka Rinne won his 11th consecutive contest. The Predators now have the NHL's best record since Dec. 28, going 14-3-0 in their last 17 contests. The Predators are doing it mostly with defense. Nashville has allowed just 1.94 goals in that span. On Tuesday, the Predators have a big contest against the Vancouver Canucks. If Nashville wants to continue to prove it's for real, it needs to catch the teams in front of it. Vancouver would be one of those squads. It would also give the Predators a small sense of payback against the team that beat them in the postseason a year ago. NOTES, QUOTES RW Martin Erat doesn't often score on slap shots. Erat, who is known for shiftiness and uses a stick that goes near his chest, often relies on the wrist shot or snap shots. He's also normally good for tip-ins and tap-ins. But at the 6:59 mark of the first period Erat blasted a slap shot past Blues goaltender Jaroslav Halak. "The thing about Marty is he's scoring in different ways. How many slap shots have you seen him take in 14 years? Not a lot, but he's doing that more," coach Barry Trotz said. "I like the fact that Marty isn't just playing one way; he's adapting to the game. To me, he's one of the most underrated players in the league." After a night off, G Pekka Rinne continued his hot streak, with 42 saves on 43 St. Louis shots. Rinne has now won a franchise-record 11 consecutive games, dating back to Jan. 7. On Thursday in Philadelphia, the coaching staff decided to give Rinne a rare night of rest. St. Louis' 43 shots were the most allowed by Nashville this season. "It was a party. It's always fun," Rinne said. "It keeps you in the game and you get the flow going, and when you stay in the game it gets easier. But at the same time, next game I get 15-20 shots and you have to be ready for that. You just have to be ready each night; it doesn't matter what type of game." C Mike Fisher tied RW Patric Hornqvist for the Predators' lead in goal scoring. Fisher buried his 15th goal of the season in the first period. Fisher has seven goals in his last seven games. The Predators also have nine players with 10 or more goals scored this season. "That's how we're wired and lined up in terms of our lines. Everyone is capable of scoring," Trotz said. QUOTE TO NOTE "The division is so hard and we have to take all the points we can right now. It's going to be a battle until the end, because in the end we always have to play against St. Louis, Detroit and Chicago. Other teams have maybe a bit more free passes." -- RW Martin Erat. ROSTER REPORT LW Sergei Kostitsyn notched a goal and an assist. He has 14 points in his last 15 games. Saturday was his third multi-point performance in his last 10 games. G Pekka Rinne made a season-high 42 saves on 43 St. Louis shots. Rinne has won a franchise-record 11 straight games. The Predators re-inserted RW Brandon Yip into the lineup in place of RW Jerred Smithson. Yip, who sat out the previous game as a healthy scratch, played 16:15.

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Kessel, Grabovski help Leafs finish Oilers
Phil Kessel scored twice and Mikhail Grabovski assisted on Toronto's first two goals to lead the surging Maple Leafs past the Edmonton Oilers 6-3 on Monday night. The Oilers played without coach Tom Renney, who stayed back at the team hotel after taking a puck in the head during the morning skate. The cut required stitches and left Renney experiencing headaches. Associate coach Ralph Krueger took over in his absence. Toronto has climbed back into playoff position in the Eastern Conference by going 5-0-1 in its last six games. Grabovski has led the charge with 12 points during that stretch. Clarke MacArthur, Jake Gardiner, Tyler Bozak and Joffrey Lupul also scored for the Maple Leafs. Kessel added an assist, passing the 300-point plateau for his career. Jordan Eberle scored twice and Jeff Petry had a goal for Edmonton, which lost in regulation for the first time since Jan. 21. Oilers rookie forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins didn't play after taking a hit from Mike Brown early in the third period. Nugent-Hopkins just returned to the lineup Saturday after missing a month with a shoulder injury. James Reimer entered the game with a long shutout streak after blanking Toronto's previous two opponents, but it ended quickly. Eberle collected a puck in front that Maple Leafs defenseman Dion Phaneuf was unable to clear and beat Reimer just 21 seconds in. Sam Gagner picked up the second assist on that play, giving him 12 points in three games dating to his eight-point night against Chicago on Thursday. Grabovski made sure that early lead didn't stand. He set up MacArthur with a nice touch pass at 7:21 before carrying the puck right around the goal and finding Gardiner in the high slot at 13:45 to give Toronto a 2-1 lead. Eberle tied it at 17:30 on tic-tac-toe passing play with Taylor Hall and Petry before scoring his 24th of the season. The wide-open play continued in the second period. Kessel scored into an open net after a couple of nice passes at 1:28 before Bozak added to the advantage less than 3 minutes later, stealing the puck from defenseman Cam Barker and flipping the puck past Devan Dubnyk. Petry scored on a point shot at 13:24 to make it 4-3, but Lupul restored Toronto's two-goal advantage before the intermission. He caught a high shot by Phaneuf and swept it behind Dubnyk, prompting the Oilers' goalie to smash his stick over the crossbar. The Oilers came out hard in the third period, but Reimer stood tall. He robbed Ben Eager off the rush and was fortunate a couple of minutes later when Eberle's shot rang off the post. Kessel added an empty-net goal to seal the victory. Notes : Toronto is 16-8-4 at home this season. ... The Maple Leafs and Oilers play again in Edmonton on Feb. 15. ... Dubnyk has allowed at least four goals in his past three starts. ... Eberle moved into the top 10 in the NHL in scoring. ... MacArthur is on a five-game point streak. ... Gagner, who grew up in Oakville, Ontario, had 30 friends and family members in the crowd of 19,581.

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Ducks get rare shootout win to fuel playoff run
ANAHEIM, Calif. It might not have thrilled the other 13 playoff-hungry teams in the Western Conference, but the Anaheim Ducks' 3-2 shootout win over the Calgary Flames Monday night went a ways towards exorcizing the shootout demons that haven't exactly graced the team with a superfluous amount of points in recent history. In the club's first Honda Center shootout since a similar 3-2 win over Calgary on December 10, 2010, Jonas Hiller stopped six of eight shooters and Niklas Hagman buried the game-winner past Mikka Kiprusoff in the eighth round as the Ducks extended their uphill climb towards the Stanley Cup playoffs. Hagman was denied as a member of the Flames in the previous Honda Center shootout last season. "It's a goalie that I've practiced a lot against, quite a bit," Hagman said about facing Kiprusoff, a fellow teammate in Calgary and with the Finnish national team. "I don't have that many moves. He knows my go-to moves. I try to switch it up a little bit. I wanted to come with good speed, and I wanted to shoot it. Luckily for me, he probably thought that I'm going to go with my backhand." With his game-winner, Hagman denied Kiprusoff's first attempt at earning the 300th win of his career. "Too bad I had to ruin it," Hagman said. "He's a world class goalie and he gives a team a chance to win every night." The Ducks take to home ice once more, a Wednesday home tilt with Carolina, before heading out on the season's longest road trip, a two-week, eight-game marathon that begins in Detroit on Friday and ends in Raleigh, N.C. on Thursday, February 23. They'll travel to Columbus, Minnesota, Pittsburgh, Newark, Sunrise, Fla. and Tampa in between. There already seems to be a mission on this upcoming trip, per Bruce Boudreau: narrow the gap. "Whether it's home or road, the biggest thing to me is getting into that 50 point thing," Boudreau explained. "When you're in the 40's, and the other teams are in the 50's, or even at 60, it seems so distant. But when you get into the 50-point range, you see a light at the end of the tunnel. It doesn't seem as far, whether it's just perception or not. So you get into that 50-point, and then all of a sudden there's 14 teams bunched in between 50 and 60, and it seems really a realistic thing to catch." "And that's what we want to do. Get into the 50-point thing. Go on the road L.A.'s in the middle of it, Detroit's just finished it it's a grueling schedule. We've got to do it." After Monday's action, Anaheim sat 10 points behind eighth place Minnesota with 48 points and a 20-24-8 record. There are four teams between the Ducks and Wild, though Anaheim did itself a favor by picking up a pair of points against a team that they're battling with for that eighth playoff spot, even if Calgary earned a point in the shootout loss. "I'd rather give up one and gain two," Boudreau said. When asked after the game whether the team looks back at missed opportunities during their woeful November and December stretch, Bobby Ryan gave an honest assessment. "I have, yeah, but you're really trying not to. I think at this point it's all about moving forward and just letting the past be the past," Ryan said. "I think if we fall short at the end of the year, then we would really reflect on it. But right now, we're coming to the rink ready to play every night. Hiller continues to be good, our line starts to get on a role, you know, we're getting contributions from the second and third line." "I think we can do a lot of damage." NOTES: Former Mighty Ducks of Anaheim Head Coach and current Calgary Flames Associate Coach Craig Hartsburg spoke to the media instead of Head Coach Brent Sutter after the game. "I thin kthe game itself was a little bit of a rollercoaster," Hartsburg said. "I thought we had a good first 10 minutes and the last 10 minutes of the first period weren't very good at all. We had to kill some key penalties in the second and battle back to get a point. So obviously we had some chances, especially in the shootout. Three or four times we had a chance to win it, but we didn't. You get to the point and you've got to move on, move forward." Anaheim extended its home winning streak against Calgary to 14 games. The Ducks last lost at home to the Flames on January 19, 2004. Anaheim has points in 24 of 26 overall against Calgary, going 21-2-3 since March 28, 1999. The Ducks are 10-2-2 in their last 14 games and have outscored their opponents 30-19 in their last 10, going 7-2-1. Boudreau, on Jonas Hiller: "He was great, but he's been great for a month and a half."

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Crosby returns to Penguins practice
Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby returned to practice Monday, but there is still no timetable for when the former MVP will return from a neck injury. The 24-year-old skated with his teammates in Montreal for the first time since being forced out of the lineup in early December following a brief return. He has been skating on his own in recent weeks. Last Tuesday, the Penguins announced Crosby had suffered a treatable soft-tissue injury in his neck that was causing neurological symptoms similar to a concussion. Over the past week Crosby has been undergoing massages and other therapy. The injury is causing swelling in the star forward's top two vertebrae. Crosby has played just eight games since suffering a concussion in Jan. 2011. After a prolonged recovery, the 2009 Stanley Cup champion finally returned to the lineup Nov. 21, tallying two goals and 10 assists in eight games. But Crosby was forced back to the sidelines after reporting that he was again suffering symptoms thought at the time to be concussion-related. The Penguins are sitting in fifth place in the Eastern Conference standings, seven points behind the first-place New York Rangers.

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Sabres coach Ruff hurt in practice
Buffalo Sabres coach Lindy Ruff was clutching his right arm in pain and had to be helped off the ice after being upended by defenseman Jordan Leopold in practice Tuesday. The Sabres had no update on Ruff's status, except to say the coach was not available to address reporters as he usually does after practice. A person familiar with what happened told The Associated Press that Ruff was escorted outside of the arena by a team trainer. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person is not authorized to comment on team matters. According to witnesses, Ruff was looking the other way when Leopold lost his footing and crashed into the back of the coach's skates. Ruff fell backward, landing on his right arm.

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Buffalo Sabres coach Ruff hurt during practice
Buffalo Sabres coach Lindy Ruff was clutching his right arm in pain and had to be helped off the ice after being upended by defenseman Jordan Leopold in practice Tuesday. The Sabres had no update on Ruff's status, except to say the coach was not available to address reporters as he usually does after practice. A person familiar with what happened told The Associated Press that Ruff was escorted outside of the arena by a team trainer. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person is not authorized to comment on team matters. According to witnesses, Ruff was looking the other way when Leopold lost his footing and crashed into the back of the coach's skates. Ruff fell backward, landing on his right arm.

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Hunter: Laich's injury 'not major'
Washington Capitals coach Dale Hunter says Brooks Laich's left knee injury is ''not major.'' But Hunter also says Laich has yet to see the doctor Monday, so it's too early to tell how long the durable veteran center will be sidelined. Laich was injured Sunday when he was rammed into the boards on a clean hit by Dennis Seidenberg in the second period of a 4-1 loss to the Boston Bruins. Laich was on crutches and wearing a knee brace after the game. Losing Laich for a substantial length of time would be a severe blow for the Capitals, who are in the unaccustomed position of fighting for a playoff spot deep into the season.

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1,200 and counting for Coyotes' Whitney
Ray Whitney will play his 1,200th NHL game tonight against Detroit. If my calculations are correct, hes one of just 91 players to achieve that milestone. That doesnt mean he has a bottle of champagne at the ready in the Coyotes locker room. A thousand is the big one, Whitney said. After that, it just means youre getting old. It also means youve stayed healthy and youre pretty good. Teams dont keep 39-year-old wings who are generously listed at 5-foot-10 unless they can produce. Whitney does on the ice, where he leads the team in points with 45. And he does in the locker room, where hes one of the most respected guys for his practical approach and one of the most beloved for his practical jokes. Whitney has an appreciation for major milestones like the Stanley Cup he won in Carolina. Hed like to hit 1,000 career points this season, which means he needs 29 in the Coyotes final 30 games. But hes played the game far too long, and in far too many places, to get wrapped up in a single number, including his rapidly approaching 40th birthday and his not-too-distant retirement. Teemu Selannes going to be 42 at the end of this year, and hes still going strong, said Whitney, who will be a free agent after the season. I know the end isnt coming at the end of this year. Ill just go year to year and as long as I feel good Ill keep playing. Nobodys looking to tie me up until Im 45, but they can if they want.

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Ducks 3, Flames 2, SO
Niklas Hagman scored the deciding goal in the eighth round of a shootout and the Anaheim Ducks beat Calgary 2-1 on Monday night for their 14th straight home victory over the Flames. Bobby Ryan and Matt Beleskey scored less than 2 minutes apart in the first period for the Ducks, who won the tiebreaker by a 3-2 margin. Jonas Hiller made 24 saves. The Ducks haven't lost to the Flames at home since a 5-1 defeat on Jan. 19, 2004 - Calgary's only regulation win in its last 24 visits to Anaheim (1-13-10). The Flames' last seven games at Honda Center have resulted in one-goal losses, five of them either in overtime or a shootout. Alex Tanguay and Jarome Iginla scored for Calgary. Miikka Kiprusoff had 31 saves in the opener of a three-game road trip.

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Ducks get rare shootout win to fuel playoff run
ANAHEIM, Calif. It might not have thrilled the other 13 playoff-hungry teams in the Western Conference, but the Anaheim Ducks' 3-2 shootout win over the Calgary Flames Monday night went a ways towards exorcizing the shootout demons that haven't exactly graced the team with a superfluous amount of points in recent history. In the club's first Honda Center shootout since a similar 3-2 win over Calgary on December 10, 2010, Jonas Hiller stopped six of eight shooters and Niklas Hagman buried the game-winner past Mikka Kiprusoff in the eighth round as the Ducks extended their uphill climb towards the Stanley Cup playoffs. Hagman was denied as a member of the Flames in the previous Honda Center shootout last season. "It's a goalie that I've practiced a lot against, quite a bit," Hagman said about facing Kiprusoff, a fellow teammate in Calgary and with the Finnish national team. "I don't have that many moves. He knows my go-to moves. I try to switch it up a little bit. I wanted to come with good speed, and I wanted to shoot it. Luckily for me, he probably thought that I'm going to go with my backhand." With his game-winner, Hagman denied Kiprusoff's first attempt at earning the 300th win of his career. "Too bad I had to ruin it," Hagman said. "He's a world class goalie and he gives a team a chance to win every night." The Ducks take to home ice once more, a Wednesday home tilt with Carolina, before heading out on the season's longest road trip, a two-week, eight-game marathon that begins in Detroit on Friday and ends in Raleigh, N.C. on Thursday, February 23. They'll travel to Columbus, Minnesota, Pittsburgh, Newark, Sunrise, Fla. and Tampa in between. There already seems to be a mission on this upcoming trip, per Bruce Boudreau: narrow the gap. "Whether it's home or road, the biggest thing to me is getting into that 50 point thing," Boudreau explained. "When you're in the 40's, and the other teams are in the 50's, or even at 60, it seems so distant. But when you get into the 50-point range, you see a light at the end of the tunnel. It doesn't seem as far, whether it's just perception or not. So you get into that 50-point, and then all of a sudden there's 14 teams bunched in between 50 and 60, and it seems really a realistic thing to catch." "And that's what we want to do. Get into the 50-point thing. Go on the road L.A.'s in the middle of it, Detroit's just finished it it's a grueling schedule. We've got to do it." After Monday's action, Anaheim sat 10 points behind eighth place Minnesota with 48 points and a 20-24-8 record. There are four teams between the Ducks and Wild, though Anaheim did itself a favor by picking up a pair of points against a team that they're battling with for that eighth playoff spot, even if Calgary earned a point in the shootout loss. "I'd rather give up one and gain two," Boudreau said. When asked after the game whether the team looks back at missed opportunities during their woeful November and December stretch, Bobby Ryan gave an honest assessment. "I have, yeah, but you're really trying not to. I think at this point it's all about moving forward and just letting the past be the past," Ryan said. "I think if we fall short at the end of the year, then we would really reflect on it. But right now, we're coming to the rink ready to play every night. Hiller continues to be good, our line starts to get on a role, you know, we're getting contributions from the second and third line." "I think we can do a lot of damage." NOTES: Former Mighty Ducks of Anaheim Head Coach and current Calgary Flames Associate Coach Craig Hartsburg spoke to the media instead of Head Coach Brent Sutter after the game. "I thin kthe game itself was a little bit of a rollercoaster," Hartsburg said. "I thought we had a good first 10 minutes and the last 10 minutes of the first period weren't very good at all. We had to kill some key penalties in the second and battle back to get a point. So obviously we had some chances, especially in the shootout. Three or four times we had a chance to win it, but we didn't. You get to the point and you've got to move on, move forward." Anaheim extended its home winning streak against Calgary to 14 games. The Ducks last lost at home to the Flames on January 19, 2004. Anaheim has points in 24 of 26 overall against Calgary, going 21-2-3 since March 28, 1999. The Ducks are 10-2-2 in their last 14 games and have outscored their opponents 30-19 in their last 10, going 7-2-1. Boudreau, on Jonas Hiller: "He was great, but he's been great for a month and a half."

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Coyotes, Red Wings on collision course -- again
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The Coyotes have faced the Red Wings so many times (23) over the past three seasons that they feel like Pacific Division opponents. We didnt even have a video (session) before (Mondays) game because we know them so well, Phoenix center Martin Hanzal said. We seem to play them over and over again. Which got us thinking: The NHL should institute a new rule for the playoffs. They could call it The Coyote Clause. If two teams have met each other two consecutive years in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, they cant open against each other a third straight year. We know the odds of that idea reaching fruition are considerably worse than the odds of someone buying this team, but the prospect of another first-round matchup between these clubs looks like even money or better. Chicagos team defense is nothing more than a rumor. St. Louis still has a pop-gun offense and zero playoff-race experience. Nashville has guts galore but lacks the talent to keep this pace up down the stretch. So we have the Wings penciled in for first place in the NHLs toughest division, the Central. That means either a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the Western Conference playoffs. The Coyotes might be able to climb as high as No. 7 if they can turn in more efforts like Mondays 3-1 win, but No. 8 is a more likely destination. Either way, a rematch of the rematch looks likely, which means a jam-packed Jobing.com Arena where you have to squint to determine whos who among the similar shades of red. Everywhere Detroit goes, the stadium is a mixed bag with lots of Red Wing fans, coach Dave Tippett said. If they do meet again, at least the Coyotes finally have something to hang their hats on. After dropping seven straight to the Wings -- including last seasons first-round playoff sweep -- the Coyotes did all the little things Tippett has been preaching to withstand a 31-shot Detroit barrage and what felt like a full-on siege near the end of the third period. The Coyotes got a second straight strong outing from goalie Mike Smith (30 saves). They limited most of Detroits chances to the perimeter. They went hard to the net and they kept their structure, intensity and work ethic consistent. They even got two goals from their special teams -- a shorthanded goal by Boyd Gordon to open the scoring and a power-play goal from the leagues 30th-ranked unit that deflected off Hanzals stick and leg because he was doing what hes supposed to do by creating traffic in front of the net. Hanzal also added an empty-netter, giving the two centers who missed a chunk of time during the middle of the season all the scoring while giving Tippett a glimpse of whats possible when his lineup is intact. It shows how much they mean to our team and how much we miss then when theyre out, he said. No matter who the Coyotes face among the elite teams of the West, they are bound to see a pair of top-line centers. Detroit has Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk. San Jose has Joe Thornton and Logan Couture. Vancouver has Henrik Sedin and Ryan Kesler. Gordon and Hanzal are vital to matching up with those pairs, and Mondays game was a perfect example of the tempo the Coyotes will have to match. It was a very fast game, Tippett said. Seemed like in the first period, the first time I looked up when there was a whistle, there was about 10 minutes left to go in the period already. The Coyotes kept pace with the Wings this time, but they may have to do it a few more times in April. While Mondays game was billed by radio play-by-play man Bob Heethuis as the final meeting between the teams this season, history has taught us otherwise.

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