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Vrbata, Bryzgalov fuel Coyotes past Ducks

Nov 24, 2007 - 1:25 AM ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- Radim Vrbata had two goals in regulation - and he also had the decisive tally in the second round of the shootout - as the Phoenix Coyotes defeated the Anaheim Ducks, 4-3, on Friday.

Vrbata's backhander beat Jonas Hiller to end the bonus format after Ilya Bryzgalov denied both Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry with pad saves.

Bryzgalov, who made 23 saves against his former team, is now 3-0-0 since being picked up off waivers last Friday.

Bryzgalov said familiarity with his former teammates helped in the shootout.

"I saw those moves by Getzlaf and Perry in practice, so I pretty much knew what they were going to do," Bryzgalov said. "When Corey Perry starts skating to the ide, he's shooting at the five-hole."

"It's always nice to win the game, especially against your former team. You have to give them respect, these guys play very hard. Both teams deserved the win, but we won this game and were a little bit more lucky."

Phoenix coach Wayne Gretzky reiterated how happy the Coyotes are with Bryzgalov in net.

"We're happy we've got him," he said. "He's a tremendous young man, a great goaltender and we love the fact that we have him. It doesn't matter how good your team is, when it comes down to goaltending, you've got to have good goaltending."

As for Vrbata, he said he's worked on the move he used for the shootout winner.

"It just seemed like it could work and I'm glad it worked," Vrbata said. "We try to work on it in practice, but it's always a last second decision, depending on what the goalie does."

With the Ducks leading, 3-2, with 67 seconds remaining in the third period, Vrbata leveled the game after accepting a feed from Daniel Carcillo and blasting the puck past an out-of-position Hiller.

"We pulled the goalie and I was left alone in front," Vrbata said. "I was lucky enough to get it on my stick.

"We were kind of lucky that they scored a goal pretty early in the period, that gave us 20 minutes to come back. You have to play 60 minutes and that's what we did - and got a goal with maybe a minute left."

The tally came 40 seconds after Anaheim's Chris Pronger drew a slashing penalty on Shane Doan, who was alone in front of the net.

"Those are the types of penalties you have to take in situations like that," Pronger said. "We've got to kill those ... when the other team has a chance to score a goal. Those are situations where you need to take a penalty, to either save a goal or scoring chance."

Vrbata gave Phoenix a 2-1 lead midway through the second period as he flipped a shot from the left circle, beating Hiller on the stick side.

"Vrabata's been really everything we'd hoped he was going to be when we got him," Gretzky said. "He's been solid every game, you can see what he can do with the puck, he's pretty talented. ... It was just a nice effort by everyone tonight and it was a nice victory for us."

Pronger scored the game's next two goals to give the Ducks the advantage.

With 20 seconds remaining in the second period, Andy McDonald skated behind the net and fed to Pronger, who blasted a slap shot past Bryzgalov for a power-play goal.

Pronger then scored his second of the game - and third of the season - just 2:53 into the third period. After Travis Moen won a faceoff, the puck was fed from Sean O'Donnell to Pronger just inside the blue line. The former first round - second overall - pick of the 1993 draft blasted a shot past a screened Bryzgalov.

Peter Mueller opened the scoring midway through the first period.

Keith Ballard shot the puck from between the circles and Mueller picked up the rebound in front of the net and beat Hiller to the stick side. It was Mueller's first goal in seven games after scoring a hat trick at Anaheim on November 7.

Anaheim tied the game nearly three minutes later after a goal credited to Getzlaf that actually was put between Bryzgalov's pads by Phoenix defenseman Nick Boynton. As Getzlaf battled with Matt Jones, the puck rolled to Boynton, who couldn't get control and pushed it toward the net.

"I was trying to go with the puck into the corner and it went off my stick into the net," Boynton said. "I don't know exactly how it happened, I'll have to see the replay.

Boynton thought for a moment before continuing.

"I haven't scored a goal yet, so I wanted one," he joked. "We were controlling the game at that point and when that made it 1-1, it wasn't funny. It's a funny game sometimes, that's what happens."

The goal gave Getzlaf at least one point in seven consecutive games.

Hiller finished with 35 saves.

"It's tough to feel good if you lose," Hiller said. "You want to win every game. That's what you dress for, go on the ice for. But you can't always win.

"We have to take the positive things and go on, hope we can do the good things as well as today and the bad things better than today."

Hiller said he's had experience with shootouts while playing in Europe.

"The guys are more skilled (here)," Hiller said. "I have to adapt a little bit to that. I think I will. I'm not happy how it went."