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Joseph posts shutout for milestone win

Jan 5, 2007 - 5:34 AM RALEIGH, North Carolina (Ticker) -- Curtis Joseph surpassed a Hall of Famer in impressive fashion.

Joseph made 29 saves to move ahead of Jacques Plante on the all-time wins list and Yanic Perreault scored his team-leading 12th goal as the Phoenix Coyotes skated to a 2-0 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes.

In taking sole possession of fifth place in NHL history with his 438th career win, Joseph turned aside 11 shots in both the first and third periods while making seven saves in the middle session.

"I thought he made some pretty good saves early on," Carolina coach Peter Laviolette said of Joseph. "He was a factor because we had some scoring chances, but he did his job."

The veteran goaltender credited his defensemen for his recent success.

"They're blocking shots and there's a little bit of a swagger," he said. "We need to have that to win games on the road. We weren't doing that earlier in the year. It was tough sledding."

Joseph, who has posted two consecutive shutouts and 49 in his career, is nine triumphs behind Terry Sawchuk for fourth place.

"They are inventors and the greatest legends of the game," Joseph said. "If I can creep into the same company somehow, I'm honored."

"I played with Cujo in Toronto before," Perreault said. "He's been amazing. He's a great goaltender. ... He's been really solid the last few games. He's been a key in our last few wins."

Joseph received all the support he needed from Perreault, who extended his points streak to five games with a tally 3 1/2 minutes into the contest. Defenseman Ed Jovanovski added an insurance goal in the first minute of the second period.

"We've been playing a lot better in the first period the last few games," Perreault said. "That's what we were trying to do tonight - get the lead early. We came out strong and Cujo made some big saves."

"We had a nice start to the hockey game," Coyotes coach Wayne Gretzky said. "We know they're a tremendous transition team that creates a lot of opportunities offensively. We felt that we had to match their intensity and I like how we played tonight. We were strong defensively, and when we did break down, Curtis was great again."

Oleg Saprykin and Owen Nolan each had an assist for the Coyotes, who have won four straight and recorded at least a point in each of their last six (5-0-1).

"We're a different team than we were the first 12 games," Gretzky said. "The team is playing with much more urgency and playing much more as a team, scoring big goals when we have to and getting big saves when we need them."

Cam Ward made 26 saves for Carolina, which has lost four in a row against Phoenix and three straight overall.

"I don't have any words for it - being shut out in your own building," Hurricanes right wing Justin Williams said. "We're a much better team than that. We haven't shown it."

Signed as a free agent two days before the Coyotes' season opener, Perreault staked his team to a 1-0 lead at 3:29 of the first period. After Nolan dumped the puck into the left corner, Saprykin got to it and fed Perreault, who knocked in a backhander from alone in front.

"He saw me coming from the far side, so he was trying to hit me on the far side," Perreault said. "I don't think their goalie saw me coming from the far side. I was trying to get a quick shot on net."

"We were skating with them in the first period and had a missed coverage on their first goal," Laviolette said.

Jovanovski made it 2-0 just 26 seconds into the middle session, unleashing a one-timer from above the left faceoff circle that deflected off a defender's stick and past Ward for his eighth of the season.

Chad LaRose nearly halved the deficit with 8:16 to go in the period, but his shot during a breakaway glanced off the left goalpost.