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Whitney, Vrbata power Coyotes to win over Oilers

Mar 18, 2011 - 4:57 AM Edmonton, AB (Sports Network) - Ray Whitney and Radim Vrbata each posted a goal and one assist as Phoenix topped Edmonton, 3-1, at Rexall Place.

Lee Stempniak also tallied while Ilya Bryzgalov made 35 saves for the Coyotes, who have won four in a row and five of six.

"It was one of those nights where we weren't disciplined enough," said Phoenix captain Shane Doan. "We gave them lots of opportunities but thank goodness 'Bryzzie' was as good as he was."

Magnus Paajarvi provided the lone offense for the Oilers, losers of five straight. Nikolai Khabibulin allowed three goals on just 17 shots in defeat.

Stempniak opened the scoring for the visitors with under a minute left in the first period when he slid a shot through Khabibulin's pads from in front.

Whitney doubled the Phoenix advantage at 11:32 of the second period, then Paajarvi connected with a wrister from the left circle on a power play just after six minutes were played in the third.

Vrbata gave the Coyotes an insurance tally on the advantage with 8:03 left in regulation on a wrister from the high slot.

The Oilers went with an extra attacker for most of the final two minutes.

Edmonton did see a goal waved off with 38.1 to go after a whistle blew play dead just before Jordan Eberle tucked the puck home through a goalmouth scramble.

"I think as far as Phoenix goes, they wanted an easy game," said Eberle. "But we were going on the forecheck and it seemed like we were outplaying them for most of the game. Our power play (which was 1-for-9) probably killed our momentum but I would say that 5-on-5 we were playing them well."

Game Notes

Phoenix won three of the four meetings with Edmonton this season, including both at Rexall...The Coyotes improved to 29-2-2 when leading after two... Bryzgalov earned his 126th victory with the franchise, tying him with Khabibulin for second most on the all-time list.