Blue Jackets top Coyotes in shootout
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Cam Atkinson and Sam Gagner scored in the shootout and the Columbus Blue Jackets overcame a franchise record 56 saves from Arizona Coyotes goalie Mike Smith to post a 3-2 win on Saturday at Gila River Arena.
Boone Jenner and Alex Wennberg scored for Columbus in regulation to improve the Blue Jackets 8-1-2 in their last 11 games. Backup goalie Curtis McElhinney made 32 saves for Columbus to post his first win of the season.
Radim Vrbata and Shane Doan scored in regulation for Arizona.
It was the 17th one-goal game for the Coyotes in 23 games this season. The NHL record for one-goal (or tie) games in a season is 54 by the 1999-2000 Edmonton Oilers.
One game after scoring a goal 13 seconds into the contest, the Coyotes allowed another 15 seconds in against Columbus.
David Savard found defensive partner Jack Johnson with a stretch pass just over Arizona blue line on the left wing. Savard hit left winger Jenner streaking up the slot unmarked and the latter beat goalie Smith to the glove side for a 1-0 lead.
The Coyotes tied the game at 1-1 on a power-play goal just 1:03 into the second period. Arizona's Oliver Ekman-Larsson took a pass from defensive partner Anthony DeAngelo at the right circle and sent a backdoor feed to right winger Vrbata. Vrbata settled the puck and then beat McElhinney over the right shoulder for his team-leading eighth goal of the season.
Arizona took a 2-1 lead eight minutes later when Doan redirected Michael Stone's shot from the point past McElhinney for his third goal of the season, his second in the past five games and the 399th of his career.
NOTES: The Coyotes recalled C Tyler Gaudet from Tucson of the AHL and he was in the lineup for C Laurent Dauphin (healthy scratch). ... Saturday's game was the first of 12 in 21 days for the Coyotes. ... Blue Jackets LW Matt Calvert was back in the lineup after a five-game absence due to his second career concussion. ... Blue Jackets G Curtis McElhinney made his third start of the season and first since Nov. 21 against Colorado. McElhinney played two games for the Coyotes in the 2011-12 season. He was traded in February of 2012 to Columbus, along with a 2012 second-round pick and a 2013 conditional fifth-round pick for C Antoine Vermette. ... Blue Jackets G Sergei Bobrovsky, who has a history of groin injuries, had made 20 of the team's 22 starts before Saturday. ... Coyotes D Anthony DeAngelo returned to the lineup after a one-game absence as a healthy scratch.