Predators 4, Coyotes 3, SO
Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -When it comes to shootouts, eight was finally enough for the Phoenix Coyotes.

David Legwand scored the shootout winner in the Nashville Predators' 4-3 victory over Phoenix on Thursday night. The Coyotes entered the game with an NHL-high 12 shootout victories, including wins in their last eight games that advanced that far.

Steve Sullivan, Patric Hornqvist and Dan Hamhuis scored for Nashville in regulation, and Lee Stempniak, Wojtek Wolski and Keith Yandle countered for Phoenix.

Nashville has won seven of its last eight, while Phoenix has lost two straight after winning nine in a row.

With the victory, the Predators jumped up two spots to fifth in the tight Western Conference standings.

After each team scored once and missed once in the shootout, Phoenix's third shooter, Radim Vrbata, had Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne beaten, but his backhander rang off of the crossbar and bounced away.

Legwand won the game with a wrist shot between Ilya Bryzgalov's pads.

"It's always tense going into overtime, and any way that I can help out is great," Legwand said. "I beat him earlier in the year and that kind of went through my head, too, so going down, I saw him make the move first."

Nashville coach Barry Trotz was confident Legwand would score.

"If you look at a lot of our shootouts, Leggy has a lot of times been the clutch guy, the guy that has kept things alive when we were down," Trotz said. "I felt that he was going to be clutch again, and he was."

Phoenix entered the third trailing by two, but goals by Wolski and Yandle 2 1/2 minutes apart late in the period drew them even.

"In the last 20 minutes, we were just looking to throw everything out there and see what happened," Phoenix coach Dave Tippett said. "We hadn't played very well until that point. We were able to sneak a point out of it, so we'll take that."

Yandle also had two assists in the game.

"We sort of regrouped before the third period," Stempniak said. "You need to give yourselves a chance late in the game. We got a big goal from Wolski, and we were able to tie it up."

Rinne earned his 29th victory of the season. In shootouts this season, Rinne has a 5-2 record.

"Obviously, we still have to bite down and have to keep going," Rinne said. "If we start looking too far ahead, it is going to cost us."

NOTES: Nashville captain Jason Arnott missed his third straight game with an upper-body injury. ... Rinne has started Nashville's last eight games. ... Stempniak has 10 goals and two assists in 11 games with Phoenix following a trade with Toronto.


Three star selections
1st:   PATRIC HORNQVIST
2nd:   KEITH YANDLE
3rd:   DAVID LEGWAND
Winning Goaltender
Pekka Rinne

Losing Goaltender
Ilya Bryzgalov

SCHEDULE

HOME
AWAY
PROMOTIONAL

STANDINGS

WESTERN CONFERENCE
  TEAM GP W L OT GF GA PTS
1 p - CHI 48 36 7 5 155 102 77
2 y - ANA 48 30 12 6 140 118 66
3 y - VAN 48 26 15 7 127 121 59
4 x - STL 48 29 17 2 129 115 60
5 x - LAK 48 27 16 5 133 118 59
6 x - SJS 48 25 16 7 124 116 57
7 x - DET 48 24 16 8 124 115 56
8 x - MIN 48 26 19 3 122 127 55
9 CBJ 48 24 17 7 120 119 55
10 PHX 48 21 18 9 125 131 51
11 DAL 48 22 22 4 130 142 48
12 EDM 48 19 22 7 125 134 45
13 CGY 48 19 25 4 128 160 42
14 NSH 48 16 23 9 111 139 41
15 COL 48 16 25 7 116 152 39

STATS

2012-2013 REGULAR SEASON
SKATERS: GP G A +/- Pts
S. Weber 48 9 19 -2 28
D. Legwand 48 12 13 -6 25
M. Fisher 38 10 11 6 21
C. Wilson 25 7 12 1 19
R. Josi 48 5 13 -7 18
G. Bourque 34 11 5 6 16
S. Kostitsyn 46 3 12 -5 15
P. Hornqvist 24 4 10 -1 14
K. Klein 47 3 11 -1 14
N. Spaling 47 9 4 -10 13
 
GOALIES: W L OT Sv% GAA
P. Rinne 15 16 8 .910 2.43
C. Mason 1 7 1 .873 3.73

 


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