Coyotes Are Getting Weary of Road

The road remains an unfriendly place for the Phoenix Coyotes.

“We knew they’d been on a long trip and we wanted to make sure they were sent home thinking about it,” Boston Coach Pat Burns said Tuesday after the Coyotes dropped their sixth game of a seven-game trip.

P.J. Axelsson had a goal and an assist and Byron Dafoe made 28 saves as the Bruins extended their unbeaten streak to five games (4-0-1) with a 3-2 victory.

Axelsson’s seventh goal of the season came at 9:48 of the second period on a shot from the slot. It was his second game-winner of the season.

His assist came as the Bruins took a 2-1 lead at 1:45 of the second period when Rob DiMaio took a pass off the boards, left of the goal, skated to the center of the crease and flicked the puck past Phoenix backup goaltender Robert Esche.

“We still haven’t played 60 minutes of consistent hockey this season,” DiMaio said. “I know we are capable of that, but we haven’t done it yet.”

Esche, making his first start, stopped 19 shots, including one from point-blank range by Anson Carter at the 15-minute mark of the third period.

Washington 8, Tampa Bay 2--Peter Bondra had two goals, including one during a five-goal first period at Tampa, Fla.

Bondra scored on a slap shot from the right-circle at 12:16 of the first period and added a second-period short-handed breakaway goal at 12:06.

Alexandre Daigle scored twice for Tampa Bay, which has the NHL’s worst record at 13-42-5. The forward scored a first-period power-play goal and closed out the scoring with 1:31 left.

Washington needed only three shots to take a 2-0 lead 2:39 into the game on goals by Richard Zednik and Craig Berube.

Jaroslav Svejkovsky, Bondra and Enrico Ciccone also had first-period goals as Washington scored five times on 13 shots.

St. Louis 5, Nashville 1--Kelly Chase, known more for his fighting than his scoring, got two goals in a 33-second span as the Blues won their team-record sixth straight road game.

It was the first two-goal game for Chase, who has 1,871 penalty minutes and only 17 goals in 426 NHL games. He also picked up an assist.

Expansion Nashville is 0-8-1 in its last nine home games.

Dallas 2, New York Rangers 2--Mike Richter made 28 saves at New York as the Rangers remained unbeaten in three games since losing Wayne Gretzky.

The Rangers, 2-0-1 since Gretzky was sidelined Friday because of a neck injury, gave the NHL’s top team a tough test and very nearly beat the Stars when Niklas Sundstrom hit the goal post with a shot in the final six minutes.

Montreal 4, Philadelphia 1--Shayne Corson, Jonas Hoglund and Martin Rucinsky had third-period goals to lift the Canadiens at Montreal.

The Flyers’ season-high fourth straight loss left them 2-8-2 in their last dozen games. It was the fifth consecutive defeat on the road for a team that led the Eastern Conference a week ago but has since dropped to fifth place.

Ottawa 4, New York Islanders 2--Daniel Alfredsson’s tip-in goal with nine minutes left in regulation capped a three-goal Senator rally at Uniondale, N.Y.

Alfredsson redirected Lance Pitlick’s shot for Ottawa’s sixth win in eight games. The win gives Ottawa the top spot in the Eastern Conference with 76 points. Magnus Arvedson, Bill Berg and Radek Bonk also scored for the Senators.