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Turris, Bryzgalov lift Coyotes past Stars

Jan 11, 2009 - 5:40 AM GLENDALE, Arizona (Ticker) -- The Phoenix Coyotes finally were rewarded with two points after playing beyond regulation.

Rookie Kyle Turris scored the decisive goal in the fifth round of the shootout and Ilya Bryzgalov turned aside 38 shots as the Coyotes claimed their first win after more than 60 minutes of play this season with a 1-0 triumph over the Dallas Stars on Saturday in a battle of Pacific Division rivals.

Peter Mueller and Steven Reinprecht also were successful in the bonus format for Phoenix, which improved to 15-6-2 at Jobing.com Arena this campaign.

Bryzgalov made nine saves in the first period, 11 in the second, 13 in the third and five in overtime for his second shutout of the season and seventh career.

"I thought that Bryzgalov was no question our best player tonight," Coyotes coach Wayne Gretzky said. "When your goaltender is the best player, it makes life a lot easier for everything."

"It's the NHL. Nothing's easy here, but we did an extremely good job in front of the net, limit as much as possible the opportunities and let me to see the puck more clearly," Bryzgalov said. "I just react with the play and follow the players."

Marty Turco finished with 28 saves for Dallas, which ended its four-game road trip with a 1-2-1 mark.

Turco turned aside six shots in the first period, 12 in the second, eight in the third and two in overtime for his first blanking of the season and 34th career.

"When you get a shutout, you think that you should get the win. We didn't," Dallas coach Dave Tippett said. "We're in the winning business. We're not in the just-about business."

"It certainly felt like we deserved better," Turco added.

The Coyotes lost all five of their previous games which extended beyond regulation - and both of their shootouts as well.

In the fifth round of the bonus format, Turris skated wide right before issuing a deke and backhanding the puck past Turco to seal the win.

"I've practiced it," Turris said of his approach. "I just kind of thought about it when the other guys were shooting and thought I'd try it out."

"From a pure hockey point of view, it's just a hard pill to swallow to lose a game on contests, so to speak," Gretzky said. "It is what it is. Everybody has to deal with it. Probably the people who don't enjoy it the most are the coaches."

Mueller scored in the second round by wristing the puck just inside the left goalpost, but Mike Ribeiro leveled the shootout in the third round.

Rookie James Neal improved to 2-for-2 in the bonus format by wristing a shot past Bryzgalov in the fourth round, but Reinprecht evened the contest by unleashing a backhander that beat Turco and remained lodged in the netting.

Turco kept the game scoreless with 3:14 remaining in the third period with a succession of saves. The veteran netminder made the initial stop on rookie Mikkel Boedker's shot from the slot and then made a glove save while laying on the ice to deny Turris from the doorstep.

"It (stinks) to get to overtime with these guys when you had a chance to win in regulation," Turco said.

"We played better as a team," Dallas' Brad Richards said. "Early in the game, we had chances. We'd like to have a few opportunities back, but I'm sure they would, too. We just didn't find the play to put the puck in the net."