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Reinprecht's hat trick propels Coyotes past Avalanche

Jan 3, 2008 - 5:52 AM DENVER (Ticker) -- Steven Reinprecht gave his former team a rude awakening on Wednesday.

Reinprecht recorded his fourth career hat trick and set up Shane Doan for the game-winner with 3:11 remaining in the third period as the Phoenix Coyotes posted a 5-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche.

With the game tied at 2-2 late in the third session, Reinprecht gained control of the puck behind the net. Alertly, the Edmonton native found Doan in the slot, and Phoenix's captain quickly deposited the puck past goaltender Peter Budaj for his 10th goal of the season.

"I just tried to get it off as quickly as possible, and it worked," said Doan, who had a season-high four points. "We take pride in being a team that can go for 60 (minutes), and we didn't do that last game. Tonight, we worked on it."

Radim Vrbata added an empty-netter with 57 seconds remaining and Reinprecht scored another empty-net tally 20 seconds later to seal the win.

"We know we have a long way to go, but we're really proud of what we have done so far in the first half of this season," said Phoenix coach Wayne Gretzky, whose team improved to 19-18-1.

Ilya Bryzgalov, who made 42 saves in a 4-3 victory over the Avalanche on Monday, turned aside 24 shots in this one.

"It's a great team and we're working hard," Bryzgalov said. "It's fun to watch young players grow up."

Reinprecht, who was a member of the Avalanche from 2000-03, gave the Coyotes a 2-0 lead when he found the net twice in a span of 62 seconds in the first period.

His first goal came off the rebound of defenseman Ed Jovanovski's slap shot with 6:45 remaining in the first period.

Jovanovski's blast from the high slot went up in the air and came down near the right goalpost. After Colorado blue-liner Brett Clark tried to knock the puck out of mid-air, Doan poked it toward the net and Reinprecht knocked it past Budaj just inside the post.

Reinprecht doubled the advantage with his 100th career goal when he gathered a rebound and deposited it past Budaj.

"I'm just happy about the win, really," Reinprecht said. "We're in a dog fight here, and we want to stay in the fight. Every one is a big win for us right now."

Marek Svatos halved the deficit when he scored with 2:20 remaining in the first period.

Defenseman Kyle Cumiskey tried to feed Jaroslav Hlinka with a long breakout pass, but the puck went into the left corner of the offensive zone. Bryzgalov stopped Svatos' first shot from the inside of the left circle, but the Slovakian worked free from defenseman Zbynek Michalek at the top of the crease and backhanded his own rebound into the net.

Svatos leveled the contest 8:02 into the second period with his fifth goal in the last six games.

Andrew Brunette took a pass from Hlinka behind the net and came out at the right post to feed Svatos, who put a one-timer over Bryzgalov's left shoulder to tie the game at 2-2.

It was the second multi-goal game of the season for Svatos and third multi-point game for Hlinka.

However, it was Svatos' tripping penalty with 4:32 remaining that set up Doan's go-ahead goal.

"Bad penalty by me with four minutes left in the game," Svatos said. "We had lots of chances. We should have put away that team in the second and the beginning of the third period."