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Tellqvist shuts down Ducks in Coyotes' victory

Dec 24, 2006 - 7:25 AM GLENDALE, Arizona (Ticker) -- Thanks to some acrobatics and a little luck, Mikael Tellqvist gave the Anaheim Ducks an empty feeling.

Tellqvist made 29 saves for his first shutout of the season and Shane Doan and Fredrik Sjostrom scored for the Phoenix Coyotes, who won for just the second time in seven games with a 2-0 triumph over the Ducks.

Acquired from Toronto for Tyson Nash and a draft pick on November 28, Tellqvist stopped 12 shots in the first period, nine in the second and eight in the third en route to his third career shutout. His stellar play enabled the Coyotes to end an eight-game losing streak against Anaheim.

"We looked at their record before the game and they were 27-4-6 and we made a joke of it and said, 'Let's give them five,'" Tellqvist said. "We played good defensive hockey and didn't take many penalties, which is key for us."

"We played as well as we have all season long," Phoenix coach Wayne Gretzky said. "Two of our better home games have been against that team. It is probably because of the respect factor that our players have for that team. And if you don't play hard and if you don't play well, you are going to get embarrassed."

Making his eighth appearance since the trade, Tellqvist caught a couple of breaks in the final session. Anaheim right wing Corey Perry hit the crossbar in the opening minute of the period and Teemu Selanne missed an open net when he found the right goalpost with 8:34 remaining.

"I had two off the post, including Selanne," Tellqvist said. "I saw it rolling on his stick but he doesn't miss too many of those. I heard it and wanted to make sure it didn't fall in.

"This is a confidence builder. They are the best team in the league. We are not quite there yet but if we can keep playing like we did tonight, we (will) shut them down."

After being stopped in front by netminder Jean-Sebastien Giguere early in the third session, Shane Doan snapped a scoreless tie with 5:02 left by lifting a rebound of Mike Comrie's shot under the crossbar. It was his first tally since November 30.

"The last few games at home haven't been what we wanted, and we needed to find a way to get a win and get going in the right direction," Doan said. "We knew they only lost four (regulation) games all year, so they are incredible team and we knew we had to play a pretty solid game to get a win."

Just 13 seconds later, Phoenix struck again as Sjostrom tipped in blue-liner Keith Ballard's shot from the left faceoff circle for his third tally of the campaign.

"I didn't see it," Giguere said. "I was trying to look for it and I saw it when it went through my legs. It was one of those goals (where) there were a bunch of guys in front."

"We turned the puck over," Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle said. "The puck came right to the middle on both goals and we should have better position there. ... As a group, we didn't play a good game but we had our chances. We had a lot of quality chances."

Giguere made 30 saves and lost for just the second time in his last 13 starts for Anaheim, which suffered its second shutout of the campaign, despite leading the Western Conference in goals (134).

"It's our own fault," Giguere said. "We didn't do the things that make us successful. So not doing that, we didn't put any pressure on them and we gave them confidence."