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Hanzal helps Coyotes end drought vs. Sharks

Mar 26, 2008 - 6:38 AM GLENDALE, Arizona (Ticker) -- Rookie Martin Hanzal and the Phoenix Coyotes were determined to end their losing ways.

Hanzal notched his seventh goal of the season with 1:37 left in overtime to lift the Coyotes to a 5-4 victory against the red-hot San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night.

Defenseman Derek Morris, Enver Lisin, captain Shane Doan and Steven Reinprecht also netted goals for Phoenix, which had gone 0-4-1 over its previous five games. With the win, the Coyotes (37-34-6) kept alive their slim playoff hopes, climbing within six points of the eighth and final spot in the Western Conference with five games remaining.

"(The win) was huge," Doan said. "We've had some leads in the last few (games) and we've let them slip away, and fortunately, tonight we found a way to take care of the win. That's all that matters."

Joe Thornton registered his first hat trick of the season for the Sharks, who extended their streak of earning at least one point to 16 games (14-0-2). San Jose (45-21-10) did fall eight points behind Detroit (51-20-6) in the race for the Presidents' Trophy.

"We didn't play as well as we would like to, but we still managed to get a point," Thornton said. "So, just take the good from the bad from the game and move on to the next game. But we have to get better."

After Thornton tied the game at 4-4 with just 2:46 left in the third period, Hanzal received a drop pass from Keith Ballard after the defenseman carried the puck into the offensive zone and fired a wrist shot past former Coyotes goaltender Brian Boucher for the game-winner.

"I got lucky and I shot it perfect and hit the perfect shot," Hanzal said.

The momentum swung back and forth in the third period, as the teams combined to score five goals in a span of 2 minutes, 38 seconds early in the session.

The Coyotes appeared to be in control after Doan scored a shorthanded goal at 2:16 for a 3-0 lead.

However, the Sharks responded with the first of two straight power-play tallies just 35 seconds later.

Thornton narrowed the deficit to 3-1, pushing a centering pass from captain Patrick Marleau into the net for his 22nd goal of the season. Defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic picked up a loose puck just inside the blue line and fired a wrist shot past netminder Ilya Bryzgalov's glove 28 seconds later to make it a one-goal game.

Phoenix briefly regained the momentum 46 seconds later after a horrendous play by All-Star Evgeni Nabokov.

The netminder chased the puck behind the net and tried to swing it around the boards to clear the zone. However, Mathias Tjarnqvist pinned the puck against the boards and sent a centering pass to Reinprecht, who gave the Coyotes a 4-2 lead by scoring into a wide-open net as Nabokov failed to get back in time to stop the shot.

But San Jose kept battling and crawled back within one goal when Thornton scored his second of the game on a wrist shot from the left faceoff circle at 4:54.

"We took two penalties back to back, and they have a pretty potent offense," Coyotes coach Wayne Gretzky said. "They scored the quick goal. ... Then they made a heck of a shot to make it 3-2. We kept our composure and made it 4-2, and they just kept coming back."

Thornton completed his third career hat trick with 2:46 left, when he deflected defenseman Christian Ehrhoff's slap shot past Bryzgalov to forge a tie.

"Sometimes the game opens up. I mean, look around the league - goals are scored in bunches, and that was the case tonight," Thornton said.

Morris opened the scoring at 8:25 of the second period and Lisin gave the Coyotes a 2-0 lead heading into the third period with his third goal of the season with 71 seconds to go in the session.