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Doan records three-point night as Coyotes down Penguins

Oct 31, 2008 - 5:55 AM GLENDALE, Arizona (Ticker) -- The Pittsburgh Penguins were on the verge of another disappointing loss when things got even worse.

Captain Shane Doan scored a pair of goals and set up another on Thursday, lifting the Phoenix Coyotes to a 4-1 victory over the Penguins, who lost superstar Sidney Crosby to an undisclosed injury.

Rookie Kevin Porter scored his first career goal and Olli Jokinen also tallied for Phoenix. Ilya Bryzgalov stopped 27 shots and Steven Reinprecht notched a pair of assists for the Coyotes.

Miroslav Satan scored for Pittsburgh, which has lost three straight and is averaging just two goals in its last five games. Those numbers may not get better any time soon if Crosby, who missed 29 games with a high ankle sprain last season, is out for any length of time. That loss would be more devastating than this one.

There was no word on how Crosby was injured.

"I had some discomfort," said Crosby, who left the game with less than five minutes to go in the second period. "I decided that in the third period, it didn't seem like I could do much."

"It seems like lately, we have a lot of injuries," Penguins coach Michel Thierren said. "What are we going to do? Every little aspect of the game goes against us right now."

Phoenix snapped a 1-1 tie when Doan one-timed a pass from Reinprecht past goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury from the left side of the crease with 2:01 left in the second period.

Porter scored on a tap-in with 5:11 left off a beautiful feed from Reinprecht, who sliced through the right side and slid a pass to the 22-year-old.

"(Reinprecht) did all the work and I just tapped it in. It couldn't be easier for a first goal," Porter said.

"I wanted to help the team win, and we were able to put together a pretty solid 60 minutes," Reinprecht said. "It was a good outcome for us."

Doan added an empty-netter with 59 seconds left, capping the scoring.

Satan tied the game at 1-1 on a great individual effort at 8:30 of the second, as he dove in front of the crease and tapped a rebound into the left side. However, he was given a game misconduct after arguing a hooking penalty midway through the third session.

Satan's tally came just 37 seconds after Jokinen put Phoenix ahead. Jokinen snapped the scoreless tie at 7:53 of the second, banging home a rebound from the left side.

The Coyotes held the Penguins to just two shots in a scoreless first period, but then Bryzgalov had to work harder to keep them off the board.

"I thought in the first period, we did a really nice job of letting (Bryzgalov) get comfortable," Phoenix coach Wayne Gretzky said.

"We were really strong defensively in the first period. The second period, they came at us. We knew they were going to come at us, and come at us hard. Bryzy made some big saves and some key saves."

Fleury stopped 26 shots for Pittsburgh.

"We didn't come out the way we wanted," Pittsburgh's Jordan Staal said. "We weren't prepared for this game. It seems guys really aren't buying into our system and working hard. That's really frustrating for everyone. It's the little plays, the little things."

Thierren was not buying the fact the system is at fault.

"The system's only 50 percent of the game," he said. "After that, the players need to play hard. It's an excuse."