Coyotes Head Up, Ducks Slide Down

Deep down, the Mighty Ducks had to be envious.

Their hopes and dreams are being lived by the Phoenix Coyotes. Both teams missed the playoffs a year ago. Both teams made moves to change that. The disparity in results was never more apparent than after the Coyotes’ 4-2 victory over the Ducks on Wednesday.

The victory solidified the Coyotes’ spot in the playoff race. The Ducks’ postseason hopes were dashed several months ago. What is left for them is a final run to get out of the expansion heap and finish ahead of Minnesota, Nashville and Columbus.

An announced 11,297 at the Arrowhead Pond saw a game of unusual occurrences. Duck defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky was a no-go because of a strained groin, ending a 363 consecutive-game streak. Also rare was German Titov’s power-play goal, his second in two seasons with the Ducks, who rank last in the NHL on the power play.

Titov smacked home a rebound to give the Ducks a 2-1 lead 13 minutes into the second period. It didn’t last.

The Coyotes, who have surged from a .500 team to playoff contention, rallied on goals by Todd Simpson, Daniel Briere and Branko Radivojevic to improve their record to 12-3-2-1 in their last 18 games. They are sixth in the Western Conference.

The Coyotes weren’t expected to make the playoffs. They reeked of a fire smell during the off-season, but things have heated up in the desert the last two months

The Coyotes sent packing Keith Tkachuk, Jeremy Roenick, Keith Carney and Nikolai Khabibulin, among others, since last season.

“They made a lot of changes and no one expected much from them this season,” Carney said. “But they kept good players, Sean Burke, Claude Lemieux, and some of their younger players have stepped up, like Daniel Briere.”

Those three figured prominently Wednesday.

Burke wasn’t exceptional, but he did stop 25 of 27 shots. He reacted quickly to block Jeff Friesen’s redirect attempt in the first period. He stoned Mike Leclerc, who burst in uncontested on a first-period try. He stopped Andy McDonald’s point-blank shot in the third period.

Lemieux broke a scoreless tie by capitalizing on a Duck defensive gaffe in the first period. Krystofer Kolanos led a rush into the Duck zone and defensemen Jason York and Vitaly Vishnevski converged on him. Kolanos passed to Lemieux, who smoked a shot past goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere three minutes into the game.

Briere gave the Coyotes a 3-2 lead with a power-play goal 26 seconds into the third period when his shot went off Carney’s stick. He also had an assist, giving him 29 goals and 52 points on the season.

“I think it is a lot more fun coaching a team like Phoenix this year than maybe it was in the past,” Duck Coach Bryan Murray said. “You had to worry about certain stars on your hockey team and now you don’t. They have stars, but they are stars-in-the-making type of thing.”

And there are stars that have aligned right for the Coyotes as well. They got one shot on goal in the second period, and it wasn’t even a real shot. But, it resulted in a goal.

Ladislav Nagy fired a shot toward the net that struck teammate Todd Simpson in the midsection and went in for a goal, tying the score, 2-2, 15 minutes into the second period.

Duck luck was a bit different.

They had to do without Tverdovsky, who missed his first game since Dec. 26, 1997.

Not that it matters. The Ducks were officially eliminated from the playoff race after Edmonton defeated Columbus on Tuesday night, which gave the Oilers 82 points in the eighth and final playoff spot. The Ducks, who have eight games left, are 20 points back.