Before the game Coyotes defensemen Keith Yandle was all smiles, after he was wondering how his team gave up a two-goal lead to lose to the Edmonton Oilers 4-3 with :20 seconds left in regulation.

At the 19:38 mark of the third period Oilers forward Dustin Penner beat Coyotes goalie Ilya Bryzgalov to cap off the Oilers comeback and give the Yotes their fourth straight loss at Jobing.com Arena.

The Coyotes took a two-goal lead early in the second period when Kyle Turris buried his eight of the season on a great pass from forward Ray Whitney.

“My goal was just a great play by Yans (Yandle) and Whit (Whitney) to bring the puck up and I just caught the goalie sliding across over the glove,” said Turris.

After that goal it seemed as though all the momentum shifted over to the Oilers. Edmonton went on to score the next three goals of the game and out-shot the Coyotes 12-8 in the third period.

“We turned over so many pucks,” said Coyotes head coach Dave Tippett. “The third goal, it’s a simple play that we turned it over at the blue line, didn’t defend very well. Defending is hard work. It’s commitment, attention to detail, and when you’re not focused in the game, you don’t do a very good job at it and that’s a perfect example right down to the last goal.”

Before the game Yandle, was chosen as an All-Star replacement in the 2011 All-Star game, which will take place this Sunday January 30, in Raleigh, North Carolina.

“I was pretty surprised and pretty happy when Donnie (GM Don Maloney) told me after the morning skate,” said Yandle. “I was pretty surprised to know that someone had backed out and I was pretty excited.”

You wouldn’t call a game before the All-Star break a must win, but for the Phoenix Coyotes a win against division foe San Jose would have been the Yotes fifth in a row. A win also would have keep the Yotes separated from a jumbled western conference, where teams four through twelve are separated by just seven points. Sharks forward Danny Heatley had a goal and assist to end Phoenix’s winning streak and get a much need two points in a 4-2 win on Monday afternoon at Jobing.com Arena.

You give them credit, they found ways to bury their chances,” said Coyotes captain Shane Doan. “There were a couple goals you kind of want back, but they buried theirs and we didn’t buy ours and that was the difference in the game.”

Defensemen David Schlemko’s cross checking penalty at 16:06 of the second period put the Sharks on the power play and center Logan Couture capitalized. Couture’s 20^th goal of the season also turned out to be the game winner to put the Sharks up 3-1 and moved them into ninth place in the western conference, one point behind Colorado for the eight and final playoff spot.

Things got interesting in the third period as rookie defensemen Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored his first career NHL goal with eight minutes remaining to cut the Sharks lead to 3-2. Ekman-Larsson blasted a one timer from the left circle that beat San Jose goalie Antti Niemi.

“It was a great feeling,” said Ekman-Larsson. “My first goal of course feels good. I got a good pass from (Lauri) Korpikoski and just one-timed it, it was a great feeling.”

Niemi stopped 34 shots on the day and Joe Thornton added an empty netter to set the final at 4-2 in favor of the road team.

The Coyotes are back in action tomorrow night at home as they face off against the Nashville Predators. Expect back-up goalie Jason LaBarbera to get the start in net. LaBarbera is 6-5-3 on the season with two shutouts.

The Phoenix Coyotes were clinging to a one-goal lead late in the second period when a game changing hit on defensemen Ed Jovanovski woke them up.

“I thought we were sleepy,” said Coyotes head coach Dave Tippett. “I feel bad for Jovo because it was a hard hit on him, but I think it woke the rest of the team up.”

The Coyotes woke up and responded for four third period goals (one an empty netter) after Toronto’s forward Mike Brown got away with a blatant elbow to the head of Jovanovski. The dominating 5-1 victory by the Yotes keeps them unbeaten in the month of January as they improve to 5-0-2 and have climbed to fourth place in the Western Conference.

Coyotes captain Shane Doan, who scored what turned out to be the game winning goal early in the third period on a one-timer from defensemen Keith Yandle, also acknowledged that the hit on Jovanovski really got his team going in the third period.

“We were not playing with a lot of emotion, obviously when you see it on the video (screen) it looks pretty bad. The refs said they didn’t see it, but it gave us some emotion for sure.”

The Coyotes went on to dominate the third period thanks in large part to the stellar goaltending of Coyotes goalie Ilya Bryzgalov. Bryzgalov stopped 28 of the 29 shots he faced, twelve of which came in the final period. His lone miscue came at the 16:08 mark of the third period when Toronto forward Colby Armstrong was able to get a meaningless goal.

Defensemen Keith Yandle, who leads the team in points, but was not selected to the NHL All-Star game tallied three points (two assists and a goal). Yandle now has seven goals and 27 assists to lead the Yotes with 34 points on the season.

The Coyotes now have three games in four days starting Saturday. All three games are at home and against conference opponents that are fighting to stay at the top of the Western Conference standings. Doan understands that these games before the All-Star break are pivotal in setting the team up for a solid second half of the season.

“We look now where we are at and we give ourselves a position to go into the All-Star break with a decent spot. We got to keep playing. We got seven more games until the All-Star break. We got some numbers (points) that we want to try and get to and we are trying to get there.”

Notes:

Defensemen Michal Rozsival did not suit up in tonight’s game after being acquired on January 10th in a trade for forward Wojtek Wolski.

Bryzgalov is 4-0 in his career against Toronto.

Tuesday following the Coyotes 3-1 loss to the Ducks forward Shane Doan was upset at his teams inability to score goals over the past several games. He knew that the Yotes needed to start converting on their scoring chances if they were going to beat a hot Los Angeles Kings team the next night.

“It’s a big game and they (Los Angeles) are playing really well,” said Doan. “We’re going to have to have our best game and obviously we got to get points.”

Doan lead the way Wednesday night at Jobing.Com Arena scoring two goals to earn the Yotes a much needed two points in a 6-3 win over the Kings. Winger Brett MacLean, who was called up from San Antonio to replace the injured Martin Hanzal, scored at 15:34 of the first period on his first career NHL shot, to put the Yotes up 4-2.

MacLean, has scored 112 goals in his last three seasons. Two of those have come with the Coyotes AHL affiliate, the San Antonio Rampage. Now MacLean’s goal is too prove that he belongs and work hard to be a staple in the Coyotes’ lineup.

“Yeah definitely, obviously everybody’s dream is to play in the NHL and the longer you wait you get a little more frustrated,” said MacLean of being in San Antonio. “But I think my main goal is to try and get better everyday and eventually prove that I belong up here and at least deserve a shot. Now that I got it it’s a great feeling.”

Goalie Ilya Bryzgalov stopped 23 of 26 shots to record his first win since December 11th. Winger Scottie Upsahll also added one goal and two assists in the victory.

With the win the Coyotes are now just two points out of a playoff spot in the Western Conference. Phoenix is back on the ice Friday as they travel to St. Louis to take on the Blues in another important conference match-up.

Kyle Turris scored for the first time since November 10^th. That turned out to be all the Phoenix Coyotes needed as they beat the Dallas Stars at America Airlines Center 1-0. Goalie Jason LaBarbera stopped all 29 Dallas shots to record his first shutout since December 6, 2008.

Turris scored at 10:46 of the second period after Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen couldn’t control the puck from a shot by center Shane Doan. Turris stuffed the puck in the back of the net for his fifth goal of the season and the ultimate game winner.

LaBarbera, has started the last five games in net because starting goalie Ilya Bryzgalov has been dealing with an upper-body injury. This was the Yotes first regulation win since they beat the Stars at home 5-2 on December 11^th. Since then they have been on the road for six straight and will finally return to Jobing.com Arena this Tuesday night when they host the Anaheim Ducks.

The Phoenix Coyotes have been shorthanded 31 times in the last five games, the most in the NHL. They have also been on a long east coast road trip, playing some very hot teams at the wrong time. To preserve the win the Yotes had to kill off two minor penalties, something they have had trouble doing over the past two weeks. Their first penalty kill of the night came with 16:00 minutes left to play in the third period. They killed it, and one more with 9:00 minutes left in the game.

Coyotes defensemen Ed Jovanovski also played in his 1,000 NHL game tonight. Jovanovski, who was drafted 1^st overall in 1995 by the Florida Panthers has registered 132 goals and 346 assists, for a total of  478 points during his fifteen year career.

I currently assist the Phoenix Coyotes media relations department at all home games at Jobing.Com Arena. I was back in Pittsburgh for the holidays and I had the opportunity to attend Monday night’s game at the Consol Energy Center between the Phoenix Coyotes and Pittsburgh Penguins. Here are my notes from that game. That was a 6-1 win by the Penguins.

Walking in: Walking into the Consol Energy Center, the Penguins new multi million-dollar facility, I was blown away. As a kid I grew up going to games at Mellon Arena. I know the place was run down towards the end, but this is like replacing those robots from the movie I, ROBOT with the awesome, diesel, can-do-it-all robots. WOW!

 Warm Ups: The obvious is that starting goalie Ilya Bryzgalov is not in the building. Bryz was sent back to Phoenix earlier in the week. He is suffering from an upper body injury and could miss a few weeks. Caught up with Coyotes radio and television analyst Tyson Nash. All he talked about was the Jets vs. Steelers game he was on the field for on Sunday. On a hockey note it looks like Coyotes goalie Jason Labarbera is going to be in net tonight for the Yotes. He is getting all the pre-game work. The Yotes have called up goalie Matt Climie from the San Antonio Rampage, the Coyotes American Hockey League affiliate. He will more than likely back up LaBarbera until Bryz gets back. I don’t expect him to see too much action while up here.

Starting Line-ups: Coyotes: Keith Yandle, Derek Morris, Martin Hanzal, Ray Whitney, Radim Vrbata, Jason LaBarbera. Penguins: Zbynek Michalek, Paul Martin, Pascal Dupuis, Chris Kunitz, Sidney Crosby, Marc-Andre Fleury.

First Period:

19:00: Penguins controlling early, Coyotes goalie Jason LaBarbera looks sharp.

17:00: 2-on-1 for the Yotes Kyle Turris he rang it off the post. Another chance another save by Pens goalie Fleury.

 15:00: Yotes tough time in their own end, Taylor Pyatt made a nice move just missed the net.

 14:00 The Coyotes iced the puck. Face-off in the Yotes end to the right of the goalie. Another icing Yotes can’t change. Evgeni Malkin drew a tripping penalty on defensemen Nolan Yonkman.

 13:04 Kris Letang lights the lamp. Walked right down the lane. Assist by Tyler Kennedy and Malkin. You just can’t be shorthanded against this team. 1-0 Penguins.

 12:00 Fleury plays the puck outside the trapezoid. Two-minute minor served by Malkin. Good chances for the Yotes couldn’t capitalize. Fleury was letting up some rebounds, just couldn’t stuff one in.

 10:00: The Pens Chris Kunitz crushed Scottie Upshall into the boards another Yotes power-play. They need to get pucks to net. Kunitz was called for a high stick to the face of Upshall. I’m sure that felt good.

 8:00: Nothing special on the power-play thus far. Last :10 seconds Wojtek Wolski had a chance, save by Fleury. Best opportunity of the night thus far by the Yotes.

 4:00: Penalty on Letang for delay of game. The Yotes need to capitalize on this chance with just over four minutes left in the first period. Pens win the draw and clear the puck. Another clear just under a minute left now for the Yotes. 0-3 on the power play need to capitalize against the Pens with the man advantage.

 2:34: Again not a bad first period. The scoring chances were fairly even Yotes had a chance near the end of the period, while Crosby had a chance one-on-one at the other end.

 1:00: Alex Goligoski took a tripping penalty with a minute left in the period. Another great chance early in the power play, but they couldn’t convert. Then captain Shane Doan took a penalty with :35 seconds left. Interference was the call. 0-4 in the period for the Yotes on the power play.

 :35: Malkin rips one in the back of the net with :34 seconds left in the period. Crosby had the assist and extended his points streak to 21 games I believe.

 At the end of the 1^st period the Pens lead the Yotes 2-0. LaBarbera looked good. The two goals were just perfect, nothing he could have done about either. Especially the second one Crosby to Malkin it was basically a one-timer.

Second Period:

19:00: Keith Yandle tripped behind his own net waiting to clear the puck as the Pens were on the power play. Puck went right to Crosby who found Malkin wide open in the middle with no one around and found the back of the net it for his second goal of the night.

 18:00: Wolski two-minutes for holding at 1:54. This game could be getting away from the Yotes. It could get ugly fast. Just as I typed that Malkin to Crosby his 27^th of the season. Letang also got an assist. 4-0 Pens let the blowout begin. Another power-play goal for the Pens.

 14:00: I don’t think that Crosby has come off the ice tonight. He probably hasn’t with all the power-play chances the Pens have had. This building also gets really loud!

 13:00: Another goal. 5-0. This one off the face-off to the left of LaBarbera. Again not his fault. They finally pulled LaBarbera for Matt Climie. Again not LaBarbera’s fault just awful defense tonight by the Yotes. Matt Cooke right in the slot no one around him. Assists to Malkin and Max Talbot.

 8:00 Malkin had another chance right in front of the net. Great save by Climie. Yotes need to settle down and score one. Malkin is playing like a man possessed. The crowd has starting chanting GENO GENO.

 6:00: Mike Rupp two-minutes for hocking. The Yotes need to capitalize desperately on this power play. The crowd is into this game. Matt Cooke is going to go to the box for roughing 5 on 3 for the Yotes. Pens took another penalty. Brooks Orpik two-minutes for hooking. Yotes will get a 5 on 3 then another one. Again this arena gets really really loud.

 4:00: Someone missed a wide-open net for the Yotes. And again couldn’t connect. 5 on 4 now. Pens clear nothing doing for the Coyotes. Pens look really fresh and into this game. You can tell they have had a few days off, while you can tell the Yotes are in the midst of a long road trip.

 End of Second: Pens lead 5-0.  Pens out-shout the Yotes 15 to 5 in the second period. They also scored two power-play goals. You just can’t be shorthanded against this team. I’m also surprised at how well the Pens penalty kill has been. With Jordan Stall being out other guys have steeped up on the kill. The goal now for the Yotes is to somehow win the third period. They desperately need a goal for morality purposes.

 Third Period:

 18:00: Nothing really going on early and then Taylor Pyatt and Deryk Engelland fought. This should never have happened. I respect Pyatt for dropping the gloves, but Engelland is too strong and that is his only purpose. I would have loved to see Engelland and Paul Bissonnette square off. I’m still shaking my head on that one.

 15:00: Upshall and Arron Asham were going to go and the refs steeped in before they could this game is getting chippy because the score is lopsided. They might have played together in Phily??? Not sure going to look that up.  Upshall got two-minutes for slashing and a 10 minute misconduct. I would have to see it again to judge for myself. Quietly Matt Climie has played solid since coming into the game. Not that many shots, but the young guy has played well. He is 27 so I guess he’s not that young, but still.

11:00: On the board. Wojtek Wolski took it off his knee and it redirected past Fleury. 5-1.  Derek Morris just riffled one from the point and Wolski leg happened to be in the right place. That definitely hurt. Eric Belanger also had an assist.

 9:00: Crosby two good opportunities Climie made the saves. Haven’t heard much from Malkin or Crosby in the third … not that you really needed too.

 2:00: I Was walking to the media lounge missed the goal by Chris Conner. 6-1 Pens give an assist to Letestu.

 After the game here is head coach Dave Tippett’s comments this is all you really need to hear.

 “This is unacceptable for our group. We will address some of the issues we have. This is not who we are, this is not who we are going to be, and we will do whatever we can to fix it.”

The Phoenix Coyotes are in the thick of things in the Western Conference. Their 34-points would give them the seventh seed in the NHL playoffs if they were to start today, and are just two points from being the number two-seeded team. The Coyotes now enter a stretch that could literally break their season. This weeklong east coast swing will hit four cities with two being the red-hot Rangers and Penguins.

After a November that saw the Yotes win seven straight games they have been able to keep that momentum going into December. Phoenix is 3-1-1 at the beginning of the month with victories over conference opponents Minnesota, Anaheim and Dallas. The latest coming against the Stars in a 5-2 victory Saturday night at Jobing.Com Arena.

Coyotes captain Shane Doan scored two goals and was a post away from registering his first career NHL hat trick.

“He played a strong game, shot the puck hard and got rewarded going to the net,” commented head coach Dave Tippett. “I thought our whole group, Shane included, that it was a much better effort for us. We wanted to push the pace as quick as we could, and really try to dictate the game on the forecheck. I thought we came out in the first period and did that.”

Doan now as 12-points in eighteen games this season and is starting to play the kind of hockey that the Coyotes expect from him.

Defensemen Keith Yandle has also matured and evolved into one of the best overall defensemen in the league. Yandle’s 13 assists and 18-points is second on the team behind winger Ray Whitney and he has been a staple all season on the Yotes blueline. He understood the importance of playing well on Saturday night and understands how this east coast road trip could shape their season.

“I think we stressed that going into this game,” said Yandle, “the last few days and during practice how important it is to play this team because they were ahead of us in the standings. They’re a division rival team and its good that we can come together and play as well as we did.”

After reeling off seven straight wins, the Coyotes have suddenly found themselves on a two game losing streak. The Yotes were shutout Tuesday night at Bridgestone Arena 3-0 by the Nashville Predators, ending Nashville’s four game losing streak.

The Coyotes committed seven penalties and the Predators took advantage, scoring two power-play goals. Defenseman Shea Weber scored at 3:36 of the first period, capitalizing on a David Schlemko interference penalty to take an early 1-0 lead.

It was much of the same in the second period, as Predators center Cal O’Reilly made the score 2-0 at 12:48 of the second period on a 5-on-3 advantage. Again the Predators took advantage of Phoenix mistakes as forward Radim Vrbata, defenseman Derek Morris and defenseman Adrian Aucoin all took penalties within a three-minute span. Nashville capitalized and was up 2-0 going into the third period.  Nashville came into the game ranked 27^th in the league on the power-play, scoring at just over 11% of the time. Over their last two games the Predators have scored three power-play goals (including two Tuesday).

Forward Jordin Tootoo would add an empty-netter to seal the victory. The Coyotes have won just twice in Nashville in their last eleven games.  Pekka Rinne earned the shutout victory stopping all 33 shots by the Coyotes to earn his seventh win of the season. Coyotes’ goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov stopped 20 of 22 and has lost his last two starts. Bryzgalov has allowed eight goals in the last two games, while he allowed nine goals total over his previous five starts.

The Coyotes look to rebound Wednesday night and start a new winning streak as they take on the Minnesota Wild at the Xcel Energy Center.

The positive for the Coyotes is that they have won three straight in Minnesota. Forward Ray Whitney is finally fully healthy and it shows why the Coyotes coveted him in free agency. Whitney leads the Yotes with 16 points (3 goals, 13 assists) in 20 games. He has upgraded the power-play and made everyone around him better with his ability to find the open man on the ice. Also everyone seems to be healthy for the first time all season for the Coyotes.

On the negative side, the Yotes might be over-working their star goaltender.  Bryzgalov needs a night off and I believe this is the perfect opportunity to sit him and get backup Jason LaBarbera some playing time. Vrbata has 1 goal in his last five games and needs to get back on the scoresheet if the Coyotes are going to stop this losing skid. Forward Wojtek Wolski is also -3 over his last two games and needs to contribute at both ends of the ice for the Coyotes.

The Phoenix Coyotes are 7-1-2 over their last ten games and are arguably the hottest team in the NHL. The Yotes look to close in on the franchise record of nine-straight wins in a row when they take on the Anaheim Ducks tonight at Jobing.com Arena. The Coyotes have stopped hurting themselves by taking bad penalties, Coyotes’ goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov is on top of his game and the Coyotes are the healthiest they have been all season.

“I think we were undisciplined”, said Coyotes forward Martin Hanzal. “If we don’t take penalties we have a better chance to win games and when we started doing that we started winning games, it was pretty easy.”

After their first five games of the season the Coyotes were taking an average of five penalties per game. Since then the Yotes are tied for third in the league in times short handed per game (77 times all year).

Bryzgalov, who is again having another Veniza candidate type season, is the biggest reason especially early on for the Yotes success. Bryzgalov stopped all 23 shots Tuesday to earn his first shutout of the season in a 5-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers. He has won six straight game and has allowed two goals or less in three of his last four starts.

“We have started to find our game and we’re continuing to work hard,” said Bryzgalov. Points are very valuable right now. If you see the standings it’s very tight, everyone is close to each other.”

Early on the Yotes struggles could be contributed to injuries and suspensions. Winger Ray Whitney who has battled hand and wrist injuries, has said that he deferred shooting the puck because the pain was unbearable. Coyotes captain Shane Doan was suspended for three games and then missed several games with a lower back injury. Hanzal also missed time with a lower-body injury. Ed Jovanovski is likely to return to the lineup tonight after he missed Tuesday’s game with flu-like symptoms. While fellow defensemen Adrian Aucoin is day-to-day with a lower body injury.

The Phoenix Coyotes are in the middle of a three game road trip in Canada where they play Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver in a five-day span. With a 3-1 victory on Wednesday over the Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome, the Yotes have now won four straight and are right in the thick of things in the Western Conference.

Before heading up to Canada, Coyotes defensemen Keith Yandle spoke on the importance of continuing to play well as they make their way through this difficult Canadian road trip.

“It’s going to be a good challenge and hopefully we can rise together as a team and take it head on. …It’s going to be a good challenge for us.”

The two main reasons for the four game winning streak the Coyotes are currently on can be attributed to goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov and the play of the forwards.

Over his last three games Bryzgalov has made 31, 35 and 39 saves respectively. He ranks second in the NHL in total saves with 491 and has been the only constant this season for the Yotes. Night in and night out Bryzgalov has been one of the best players on the ice, and quite frankly needs to be with the lack of defensive experience he has in front of him.

Right now the Coyotes are playing defenseman Nolan Yonkman, who is 6’6 and 250lbs. Yonkman made his Coyotes debut Wednesday night, playing in his first NHL game since the 2005-06 season. 23- year old defensemen David Schlemko has also struggled early this season, while rookie Olive Ekman-Larsson was sent down to the Coyotes AHL affiliate, San Antonio last week.

Along with the superb play of Bryzgalov the Coyotes forwards have been the second biggest reason for the Yotes four game winning streak. Last Friday against the Flames at Jobing.Com Arena center Vernon Fiddler recorded his first career hat trick, as the Coyotes escaped some late sloppy play to come away with a 5-4 victory. The very next night winger Ray Whitney registered the fourth Coyotes’ hat trick this season (Ed Jovanovski, Lee Stempniak) and added two assists in a 5-3 victory over the St. Louis Blues. Whitney, who had struggled early this season due to a hand injury, feels as though he is as healthy as he has been all season and is relived to finally be able to contribute offensively.

“There were five or six games where I questioned whether I should be in the lineup at all,” said Whitney. I wasn’t quite looking at it as fourteen games (without scoring a goal) I did the best I could. It was starting to weigh on me, but we were getting points and it’s still an adjustment for me individually.”

The team is playing its best hockey of the season and with captain Shane Doan expected to be back from a lower back injury Sunday when the Coyotes take on the Vancouver Canucks, the Yotes should be running on all cylinders for the first time all season.