Coyotes-Oilers: Bad Trip Continues for Phoenix

The Phoenix Coyotes look to rebound from a bad road trip to Vancouver and Edmontion. The excursion ended last night, with an 8-4 loss to the Oilers, in which the Coyotes gave up four goals in the third period, including two goals by Curtis Glencross.

Goaltender Ilja Bryzgalov was pulled after giving up three first-period goals in favor of Mikael Tellqvist whose luck was not much better. Tellqvist went on to give up the remaining four goals, not including the empty-net goal by Jarret Stoll.

At 4:13 of the first, Phoenix took a 1-0 lead on a goal scored from the point by defenseman Derek Morris. However just 12 seconds later the Oilers tied the score on a blast from the point by Tom Gilbert. Phoenix retook the lead at 8:20 of the first period with a goal by Shane Doan which was his 25 of the season. The first period finished with two goals scored on the power play by rookie Sam Gagner and Robert Nillsson. 

In the second period Edmontion increased its lead on a shorthanded goal by Kyle Brodziak. Phoenix closed the gap to one with 1:03 remaining in the second on a goal scored by Daniel Winnik who capitalized on big rebound given up by oilers goaltender Dwayne Roloson.

In the third period Phoenix tied the game at 4-4 on Peter Mueller's 22nd goal of the season when he cashed in on the powerplay. 3:16 seconds later Edmontion took the lead for good when Dustin Penner scored on the power play. Five of the eight goals scored by the Oilers were scored on the special teams.  

With the loss, the Coyotes remained seven points back of idle Vancover for the final spot in the western conference playoffs. With the win, Edmontion moved past the Coyotes into tenth place in the West with 79 points. Oilers rookie Sam Gagner says "We're starting to build more confidence here and a lot of guys have been really stepping up when we need it," he also adds These are all big games down the stretch and we need that from everybody."

The Coyotes have eight games remaining, which means there are still eighteen points to be had. I am not one to write off a team, so I will not count out this team for the reason of they are a never give up kind of team. The Coyotes will play host to the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night at Jobing.com Arena.