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Second-period flurry, Bryzgalov lead Coyotes

Jan 9, 2008 - 6:32 AM CALGARY, Alberta (Ticker) -- The Phoenix Coyotes combined a second-period power surge with an outstanding goaltending performance. The formula produced the team's fifth consecutive victory.

Daniel Winnik, Joel Perrault and defenseman Keith Yandle scored just under six minutes apart and Ilya Bryzgalov made 30 saves as the Coyotes doused the Calgary Flames, 3-1, on Tuesday.

The victory made a winner of Wayne Gretzky in his 200th game as the Coyotes' coach.

"It's his 5,000th (record), I guess, in the NHL," Phoenix's Steven Reinprecht said. "He's going to be coaching for a lot of years. It's nice to be able to get a win for him."

"It was 200 for that old guy?" defenseman Derek Morris asked. "Obviously, we didn't think of it that way, but it's a nice bonus for him. We have a real character team that wants to win. "

In addition, it was Phoenix's 14th win on the road this season, eclipsing last season's total.

"Well, obviously we didn't have too many wins on the road last year," Reinprecht said. "For some reason, we're feeling pretty comfortable on the road. Maybe it's because we simplified it. We just play an easy game - go out and work hard, try to get deep."

The loss snapped Calgary's winning streak at five games.

"You have an expectation, and it's built upon the results and their effort. You come to believe that they're going to give the effort that you respect. They didn't do that (on Tuesday)," Calgary coach Mike Keenan said. "It was an atypical response for this group in terms of how they've grown over the last 90 days."

Bryzgalov improved to 13-8-1 since being claimed off waivers from Anaheim on November 17.

"We win five in a row. It's a good sign, but you don't have to stop, you have to keep moving forward," Bryzgalov said. "We want to play in the playoffs. There are several teams in front of us."

Alex Tanguay spoiled Bryzgalov's bid for his second shutout of the season by scoring with 3:52 remaining in the third period.

After the teams skated to a scoreless first session, Winnik opened the scoring 3 1/2 minutes into the second.

Winnik accepted a cross-ice feed from Niko Kapanen and deked goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff to the ice before wristing the puck into the net for his fourth goal of the season.

Perrault doubled the Coyotes' advantage just over three minutes later, firing a shot from the top of the right faceoff circle that beat Kiprusoff for his fourth tally.

Yandle added a power-play goal 2:40 later to increase Phoenix's bulge to three.

"The biggest thing was keeping pressure on them and not let them get a chance to get back in the game," Yandle said.