• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Doan scores twice as Coyotes top Blue Jackets

Nov 13, 2008 - 4:52 AM By Dave Holstein PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

COLUMBUS, Ohio (Ticker) -- Captain Shane Doan scored two goals and defenseman Keith Yandle added a pair of assists as the Phoenix Coyotes on Wednesday posted a 5-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets, who had their three-game winning streak snapped.

It was the third multi-goal game of the season for Doan, who leads Phoenix with nine tallies in 14 games.

"He's playing as good as I have ever seen him," Phoenix coach Wayne Gretzky said.

Steven Reinprecht, Kevin Porter and Martin Hanzal also scored for the Coyotes, who won for just the second time in their last six road games.

Ilya Bryzgalov made 31 saves en route to his third straight win and fourth in his last five appearances.

"It's nice to get the two points here," Bryzgalov said. "Because there are no easy points here in the NHL, no matter where you play or against what team."

Coming off a 4-2 win over San Jose on Sunday, Phoenix recorded the first goal of the game for the sixth time this season when Reinprecht redirected a shot by Yandle past rookie goaltender Steve Mason from the top of the crease with 3:26 left in the opening period.

"It is important on the road to have a good start," Gretzky said. "Especially against a team that is playing well, and we did that. We had a nice goal, the guy goes to the net, tips it in and we are up. You get ahead on the road and it's always a good thing."

The early deficit once again sank the Blue Jackets, who dropped to 0-5-2 when giving up the first goal of the game.

"We didn't compete," Columbus coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We wanted the game to be easier than it was. We lost too many board battles, front-of-the-net battles and (were) light on the puck. The effort disappoints me. It was definitely a team loss."

Doan made it 2-0 on his eighth goal of the season 7:41 into the second period, beating Mason with a nice individual effort. The right wing tallied on a breakaway when he faked to the forehand before lifting a backhander over the sprawling netminder.

"(Peter Mueller) makes a nice play," Doan said. "We are all coming up the ice, and you are trying to find a hole. He put it right on my stick and I was able to get to the other side of the net."

Early in the third, Bryzgalov made a terrific pad save on Columbus' Fredrik Modin by going from his left to his right at 2:41.

"That's just one of those saves," Bryzgalov said. "I knew (Rick) Nash wasn't going to shoot it, so I was able to focus on Modin."

Porter scored exactly eight minutes into the session, when his shot from the left side of the net deflected off Blue Jackets defenseman Jan Hejda and in, extending the lead to 3-0.

Doan collected his second goal just 84 seconds later after video replay showed his shot from the slot went over the goal line before Mason could pull back the puck.

"I was pretty sure when I went by that it was in," Doan said of his team-leading ninth tally. "I could have made it easy by putting it in the empty part of the net, but that was one of those ones you are fortunate."

Mason made 25 saves but suffered his first defeat after winning his first three starts since being recalled from Syracuse of the American Hockey League on November 4.

"Obviously, I still have a lot of hard work to do in order for myself to stick around here," the 20-year-old Mason said. "This is a good wakeup call for everybody. We have to come to play our best game every night."

"The one thing that concerns me is, we hung our young guy out to dry," Hitchcock said. "The breakaways and 2-on-1s we gave up, we haven't done that all year."

Columbus avoided being shut out when team captain Nash scored with 8 1/2 minutes remaining, firing a shot from the slot that beat Bryzgalov high to the stick side.

"We have got to be a lot better," Nash said. "It took the first period to get our legs back, but that's not the excuse we have tonight."

Rookie Derick Brassard added his seventh goal of the season with 3:18 to go for the Blue Jackets, who absorbed their first regulation loss in seven games (5-1-1).

Hanzal sealed the win with a shorthanded empty-netter in the final minute.