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Turris, Coyotes end misery against Lightning

Jan 9, 2009 - 6:03 AM GLENDALE, Arizona (Ticker) -- Rookie Kyle Turris made Rick Tocchet's return to the desert an unpleasant one.

Turris snapped a tie at 8:09 of the third period Thursday, helping the Phoenix Coyotes end their struggles against the lowly Tampa Bay Lightning with a 3-2 victory.

Olli Jokinen and Peter Mueller also scored and Steven Reinprecht and All-Star Shane Doan each recorded two assists for the Coyotes, who had dropped six straight meetings with the Lightning - three of which came at home. Phoenix's last victory against Tampa Bay at Jobing.com Arena came on December 14, 2000.

"We haven't played our greatest hockey the last couple of games, and when you get into a rut, it doesn't change overnight," Phoenix coach Wayne Gretzky said. "It takes time. I thought our guys worked pretty hard, did a lot of little things well. They played extremely unselfish as a group and did what they had to to win."

The Coyotes entered the game with a 126-minute, 26-second goalless drought, which included a 6-0 home loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday.

"After being embarrassed like that, no one wanted to come out and play a bad game," Mueller said. "We all knew what was at stake. It gives a lot of the guys some confidence and getting some points back in there and score some goals, but the more important thing was getting the two points."

Jeff Halpern registered a power-play goal and an assist and defenseman Andrej Meszaros also scored for the Lightning, who failed to post back-to-back victories for the third time this season.

"I am really disappointed in the team right now," Tocchet said. "That was unacceptable. We had three days, and we never showed up. The culture is going to change. That is terrible. That is the most disappointed I have been as a coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning and after giving the guys three days off."

Named Tampa Bay's interim coach on November 16, Tocchet served as an associate for Gretzky after playing alongside Doan on the Coyotes from 2000-07.

However, Tocchet was accused of financing a nationwide sports gambling ring based in New Jersey in which several current NHL players participated and left the league for two years to deal with the charges. Once his troubles were settled, he was hired as an assistant to Barry Melrose, who was fired by Tampa Bay on November 14.

Under Tocchet, the Lightning are 6-17-6 overall and 5-5-2 in their last 12 contests.

"We stopped skating, and some guys looked like they were in quicksand," Tocchet said. "It seems like we accept it as 'nice try,' but you can't win like that. If guys can't be men, you have to treat them like kids. So we are really going to have to tie the knot more. Maybe I am the idiot for giving them too much rope."

Turris ultimately ruined Tocchet's return by tipping the puck past goaltender Mike Smith while stationed in front of the net, giving Phoenix a 3-2 lead.

"This was a big game for us," Turris said. "We were pretty choked about the last one, and to come back and win the way we did was great for us."

The 19-year-old Turris also was pleased with his team's approach in the offensive zone.

"We wanted to get lots of shots on net because we hadn't scored in the last two games," Turris said. "We did that, and we knew that the next several games would be big games, so we made the best of it."

Mueller scored a power-play goal 46 seconds into the middle period by collecting a rebound, but Halpern evened the game at 2-2 by firing a wrist shot from the low slot by netminder Ilya Bryzgalov with 5:17 to go in the session.

"You have to (get rebounds)," Mueller said. "That is how you score points. We have to score points somehow, and that's pretty much where you find them, and that's where we got them."

Meszaros opened the scoring at 8:36 of the first, when his shot bounced off the crossbar and Bryzgalov's back before entering the net.

Jokinen pulled the Coyotes even at 1-1 with 7:43 remaining in the session with his 14th goal.

Bryzgalov made 22 saves, while Smith turned aside 24 shots.

"There were parts of the game where we played well, but the things we've been talking about for the last two months, the little things in the game, change momentum," Smith said. "It's throwing pucks in the middle. It's turning pucks over at the blue line, and certain guys did that tonight and that hurt the rest of us."