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Boedker, Turris lift Coyotes past Ducks

Oct 13, 2008 - 4:18 AM By Craig Shultz PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- The Phoenix Coyotes haven't made the postseason since 2002, so the team has acquired a stable of high draft picks. Those youngsters came through on Sunday.

Mikkel Boedker and Kyle Turris recorded their first career NHL goals and fellow youngsters Keith Yandle and Kevin Porter added assists as the Coyotes notched a 4-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks.

Captain Shane Doan also scored twice and Steve Reinprecht had two assists for Phoenix, which notched its second win as many games this season.

Ryan Carter and George Parros scored and Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 20 saves for Anaheim, which dropped its second consecutive game to a Pacific Division foe. The Ducks lost their season-opening contest to the San Jose Sharks, 4-1, on Thursday.

"They work hard, they see the game and they understand the game," Phoenix coach Wayne Gretzky said of the youngsters. "They want to get better and practice hard. More importantly, my veteran guys really brought them along.

"The captains, these guys have really made it comfortable for them to come to work everyday and learning how to be a good pro. These kids are pretty unique and they are pretty good. They're fun to be around.

Doan said he's not surprised by the performance of his young teammates.

"You know they're going to get opportunities, you know they're going to get ice time. They've done it throughout their whole career," Doan said. "We want to keep encouraging them and keep pushing them and know that they're going to enjoy this.

"We have to take the pressure off them and make sure that everything they do is gravy. It's not that we're going to count on them to play key minutes."

The eighth overall pick of the 2008 draft, Boedker, 18, opened the scoring with 8:20 remaining in the first period.

After Anaheim's Travis Moen and Kent Huskins collided near the red line, Reinprecht collected the puck and skated down the left wing before feeding Bodeker, who wristed a shot past Giguere.

"Me and (Reinprecht) came down on a 2-on-1 and he made a phenomenal play and I got a little step on the (defenseman) and I put it in an open net," Boedker said. "From there, it was just a special game. Every game for me is special this year. So far, there have only been two, but every game is special and obviously getting my goal in my second game, that's unbelievable."

Doan doubled the advantage at 1:51 of the second period, skating up the middle of the ice before beating the netminder to the stick side.

"This was a good one for us," said Doan, who also scored in the third period. "We knew that they were an emotional team and they play good at home and they had to be ready. They played well and (Bryzgalov) was phenomenal for us."

Turris, who was the third overall pick in the 2007 draft, gave the Coyotes a three-goal bulge after digging the puck from under Giguere and slapping it into the net at 8:56 of the second period. Giguere appeared to have the puck covered, put no whistle came and Turris stayed on it, netting it past the goaltender's glove side.

"It's an unbelievable feeling. It's definitely a lot of pressure off my shoulders," Turris said. "The goal was a great setup by (defenseman) Keith Yandle.?? The bounce just came out to me and I was lucky enough to be in the right spot.

"We're really a young team, but we probably have one of the best leadership groups in the league.?? We're trying to learn a lot from the older guys and follow their lead.?? They've done a great job so far and it's just exciting to see how everybody's coming along."

Anaheim finally scored at 13:56 on the second, as Carter blasted a slap shot from the top of the right circle past Ilya Bryzgalov.

Bryzgalov finished with 33 saves to defeat his former team for the fourth time is six starts since joining the Coyotes off waivers on November 17.

Anaheim captain Scott Niedermayer said the team is disappointed to come out of the box at 0-2-0.

"We know we can be better and that creates a little bit more when plays aren't going the way you need them to. When you have two nights like we've had in the first two games, it's not very fun," Niedermayer said. "There were a lot of things that weren't how we need them to be.

"We're just not where we need to be mentally with our focus. We're working, but we're not working smart and we're in the wrong place at the wrong time. We're chipping when we should be passing and passing when we should be getting it in. That seems to be pretty much how our game is going right now. It's back to basics. We'll start from scratch and make an improvement that way.

Veteran winger Teemu Selanne agreed.

"We have to get things going again," Selanne said. "We're rushing things, and we're just forcing some plays. It's just not there. Nothing came automatically. We always talk about sticking with the plan and don't let anything bother (us). I think we didn't stick with the plan. We started forcing plays. There's a lot of things we have to do better and be smarter. There's no excuses. As players, we have to take responsibility, and we will."

"It was disappointing and not for lack of effort," Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle said. "I thought we tried. The frustration level seems to go up early here for our group when we lack execution. We just seem to be turning the puck over far too many times. It seems toward the end of the game we got more involved emotionally."