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Coyotes-Red Wings Preview

Dec 13, 2009 - 7:05 PM By TOM CASTRO STATS Senior Editor

Phoenix (19-11-2) at Detroit (16-11-5), 7:30 p.m. EDT

The Detroit Red Wings dominated the Phoenix Coyotes over the past three seasons. Avoiding a second loss as many matchups this year, however, may not be easy to do.

Though the Wings have won three of four, they will be looking up at the Coyotes in the Western Conference standings as the teams meet at Joe Louis Arena on Monday night.

Detroit (18-11-3) has gone 11-1-1 against Phoenix since the start of the 2006-07 season, and the Wings won their second straight Saturday, 3-2 over Nashville to give them a 3-1-0 mark in their last four games. The Wings gave up six goals in those four contests.

Detroit has not lost to Phoenix at Joe Louis Arena since March 7, 2006, but the Red Wings could have a tougher time earning a seventh straight home victory over the Coyotes.

Phoenix (19-11-2) defeated San Jose 2-1 on Saturday and has gone 6-0-1 in its last seven to climb into sixth place in the West.

Ilya Bryzgalov continued his outstanding play for the Coyotes, stopping 37 shots to give him a 1.41 goals-against average in the last seven games and a 1.95 GAA on the season - second in the NHL.

"'Bryzzie' was excellent," coach Dave Tippett said. "In the third period, there was a couple of great chances, and he managed to close the door, and that's how he's played all year. He's given us a chance when there's a breakdown. He's cleaned up a lot of messes for us."

Bryzgalov has been all the more impressive considering Phoenix has averaged less than three goals during its seven-game surge. Radim Vrbata and Robert Lang scored in the second period Saturday as the Coyotes managed two goals for the third straight contest.

Shane Doan, Phoenix's leader with 19 points, hasn't scored in five games to match his longest drought of the season.

While the Coyotes have been hot lately, they have not played well on the road recently. Phoenix went 2-4-2 in its last eight away from Jobing.com Arena, although it will face a Detroit club that has not been its usual dominating self on home ice in the last month.

After going 7-1-1 in their first nine at Joe Louis, the Red Wings went 2-5-1 in eight home games since Nov. 18. They managed to avoid a third straight loss in Detroit with a 3-2 victory over Anaheim on Friday night.

Forward Todd Bertuzzi has delivered the team's two consecutive victories, scoring in regulation and overtime on both Friday and Saturday.

Detroit's strong play has been aided by outstanding work in short-handed situations, as the Wings killed off 27 consecutive power plays before allowing Ryan Jones' goal Saturday.

"I thought the penalty kill was outstanding, and even that goal, who cares, let's just move on, I just thought we did a really good job," coach Mike Babcock said.

While the Red Wings have won six in a row at home against the Coyotes, the last four came by one goal.

Phoenix took the teams' first meeting of the season 3-2 in overtime Oct. 22, as Bryzgalov made 25 saves and Adrian Aucoin scored the winner and added an assist.