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SENATORS 5, Coyotes 2
Sens stand tough against sleeping Coyotes
OTTAWA - Patrick Lalime looked down at his sweat-soaked t-shirt.
"How'd you get so sweaty?" the Senators goaltender was asked.
"It was the pre-game warmup," said Lalime, who faced but 12 shots in the Senators' 5-2 win over the Phoenix Coyotes Thursday night at the Corel Centre.
The Coyotes, who went into the game tied for the lead in the Pacific Division, simply didn't show up for this one, though the Senators deserve some share of credit for taking advantage of their disinterested opponents.
"We were sleeping tonight. A junior team could have beaten us," said Coyotes winger Rick Tocchet, who scored both his club's goals.
"Going into the third period, some of the guys were saying maybe this is one game we could steal, but you know nine times out of 10, the team that plays well the whole game is the one that's going to win."
Despite having just eight shots in the first two periods, the Coyotes did have a chance to take this one as the clubs entered the third period tied 2-2.
Maybe it was the lack of work, but Lalime didn't look particularly good on Tocchet's first which was struck while the puck was rolling. It dipped on the Senators goaltender and matched the goal scored by Ottawa's Marian Hossa to tie it 1-1.
Ottawa's Vaclav Prospal was told by the NHL before the game he will have to undergo more "diversity training" in the wake of offending Montreal defenceman Patrice Brisebois with a slur Dec. 27, but that didn't seem to distract him.
He continued his strong play of late, scoring his eighth of the season at 10:57 of the second period to give the Senators the lead again, but Tocchet erased that lead with less than three minutes to go in the period.
Senators defenceman Igor Kravchuk decided the issue just 30 seconds into the third period when his shot from the point on the power play got past Phoenix goaltender Robert Esche.
Senators defenceman Jason York made it 4-2, again on the power play, with less than three minutes to go in the game on one of the seven shots he directed at the Phoenix goal.
Shawn McEachern closed out the scoring with his 16th of the season less than a minute later with his eighth shot of the night.
Between York and McEachern, they outshot the Coyotes 15-12.
"We worked well away from the puck," said Senators coach Jacques Martin. I've always said when you play well defensively, you are going to create offensive chances. We're not going to sit back. We like to forecheck. When you spend a lot of time in the opposition's end, you're not going to give up that many shots."
Lalime has now won two games in a row as a starter since relieving Ron Tugnutt in back-to-back games.
Summary
-----------------------------
Phoenix 1 1 0--2
Ottawa 1 1 3--5
-----------------------------
FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, Ottawa, Hossa 14 (Arvedson, Juneau), 15:04.
2, Phoenix, Tocchet 7 (Letowski, Numminen), 17:46.
SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: 3, Ottawa, V Prospal 8 (Mceachern,
Alfredsson), 10:57. 4, Phoenix, Tocchet 8 (unassisted), 17:44. Penalties:
Neckar, Pho (holding stick), 7:06; Emmons, Ott (slashing), 15:23; Carney,
Pho (interference), 19:43.
THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: 5, Ottawa, Kravchuk 4 (power play) (Alfredsson,
Redden), 0:30. 6, Ottawa, York 2 (power play) (Dackell, Hossa), 17:08. 7,
Ottawa, Mceachern 16 (Alfredsson), 18:02. Penalties: Neckar, Pho (cross
checking), 15:19.
Shots on goal:
---------------------------------
Phoenix 4 4 4--12
Ottawa 9 13 12--34
---------------------------------
Power-play Conversions: Pho - 0 of 1, Ott - 2 of 3. Goalies: Phoenix,
Esche (34 shots, 29 saves; record: 1-4-0). Ottawa, Lalime (12, 10; record:
11-7-2). A:17,484. Referees: Kimmerly, B Mccreary. Linesmen: Amell,
Brisebois.
INDIVIDUAL PLAYER STATISTICS
Phoenix Ottawa
G A +/- Shots G A +/- Shots
Alatalo 0 0 -1 1 Alfredsson 0 3 even 0
Carney 0 0 +1 2 Arvedson 0 1 +1 1
Debrusk 0 0 even 0 Dackell 0 1 even 0
Doan 0 0 +1 2 Dineen 0 0 even 0
Drake 0 0 -2 0 Emmons 0 0 even 0
Gill 0 0 even 0 Forbes 0 0 even 1
Green 0 0 -1 0 Hossa 1 1 +1 4
Letowski 0 1 +1 0 Juneau 0 1 +1 1
Lumme 0 0 -1 1 Kravchuk 1 0 -1 2
Neckar 0 0 even 1 Laukkanen 0 0 even 0
Numminen 0 1 even 0 Ledyard 0 0 even 1
Oliver 0 0 even 0 Mceachern 1 1 even 8
Roenick 0 0 -2 1 Redden 0 1 +2 1
Suchy 0 0 -2 0 Roy 0 0 even 0
Sullivan 0 0 +2 0 S Van Allen 0 0 even 3
Tkachuk 0 0 -2 1 Traverse 0 0 even 2
Tocchet 2 0 +2 3 V Prospal 1 0 even 3
Ylonen 0 0 -1 0 York 1 0 +1 7
Quint Healthy Phillips Ankle Injury
Adams Nose Injury Salo Wrist Injury
Daigneault Healthy Zamuner Knee Injury
Fisher Knee Injury
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