Coyotes 3 - 2 Penguins
Final
  for this game

Coyotes slip past struggling Penguins

Mar 26, 2014 - 3:43 AM Pittsburgh, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - Mikkel Boedker netted the deciding score late in the second period and Thomas Greiss came up with 23 saves, as Phoenix stole a 3-2 victory over Pittsburgh at CONSOL Energy Center.

David Moss and Antoine Vermette also tallied and Shane Doan added two assists for the Coyotes, who halted a two-game skid and won for the sixth time in their last nine overall.

"(Greiss) was phenomenal," Doan said of his netminder. "He kept the game calm. We're fortunate to have him coming in to back up another really good goalie."

Jussi Jokinen and Taylor Pyatt scored for the Penguins, the slumping Metropolitan Division leaders who have lost five of their last seven. Marc- Andre Fleury stopped 26 shots in defeat.

"I don't find any joy in losing and really not playing well," Pittsburgh head coach Dan Bylsma said. "There's no excuse there for that, in terms of our play."

Pittsburgh's narrow defeat came hours after the club revealed that star forward Evgeni Malkin will miss 2-to-3 weeks with a foot injury.

Boedker gave the Coyotes their third lead of the contest with 6:42 remaining in the second. Just after a minor to Jokinen expired, he followed up a Doan rebound and scored from a sharp angle along the goal line to the right of the Penguins net.

Greiss backed up that one-goal margin with seven saves in the middle frame and eight more in a scoreless third period.

Fleury was sent to the bench for an extra skater inside of two minutes left, then Greiss dove out with his legs straddling the left post to smother a chance by James Neal with 1:22 to go.

Neal was sent off for slashing with 45.8 seconds remaining and Fleury, after being recalled to the ice, was quickly pulled again. Despite their usual pressure in the offensive zone, no equalizer was forthcoming.

Moss opened the scoring for the visitors at 9:06 of the first on a shot from the slot, but Jokinen countered to level things just shy of the 12-minute mark while on the advantage.

Phoenix regained its lead on a power play, when Vermette beat Fleury from inside his crease at 14:47, and the Pens went to intermission knotted again thanks to Pyatt's marker at 19:55.

Game Notes

Moss' tally was his first in 19 games, since Jan. 30 against Buffalo ... Fleury has not won any of his last five starts since a shutout against Washington on March 11 ... Prior to the contest, the Coyotes recalled goaltender Mark Visentin from Portland of the American Hockey League after Mike Smith was injured on Monday.






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