Coyotes 3, Wild 1: Radim Vrbata scored a pair of goals as visiting Phoenix held on to snap its three-game winless streak.
Mikkel Boedker also tallied and Thomas Greiss turned aside 28 shots for the Coyotes, who had gone 0-2-1 over their previous three contests.
Dany Heatley scored and Niklas Backstrom made 23 saves for Minnesota, which was without leading scorer Zach Parise due to a foot contusion. The Wild had been a perfect 6-0-0 at home this month.
Boedker opened the scoring at 8:13 of the first period, beating Backstrom to the glove side from the left faceoff circle during a 2-on-1 rush. Vrbata doubled the lead at 3:42 of the second as he converted a feed from behind the net by Tim Kennedy for his seventh goal.
Minnesota halved the deficit midway through the third, when Heatley deposited the rebound of Nino Niederreiter's rising wrist shot from the blue line past Greiss. But Vrbata sealed the win - and capped his first multi-goal effort since registering a hat trick against the New York Rangers in the season opener - for the Coyotes by firing the puck into an empty net during a power play in the final minute.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Coyotes captain Shane Doan was in the lineup after exiting Monday's loss to Nashville with a lower-body injury and notched an assist. ... The Wild, who fell to 10-2-2 at home this season, have allowed more than two goals only once in seven games at Xcel Energy Center in November. ... Phoenix D Derek Morris had his second assist of the night taken away after the game, denying him his second multi-point performance of the season.
Phoenix | Minnesota | |
Radim Vrbata 2 | Points | Dany Heatley 1 |
Radim Vrbata 2 | Goals | Dany Heatley 1 |
Shane Doan 1 | Assists | Kyle Brodziak 1 |
Radim Vrbata 1 | Power Play Goals | N/A |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Thomas Greiss .966 | Save Percentage | Niklas Backstrom .920 |
Thomas Greiss 28 | Saves | Niklas Backstrom 23 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Phoenix | 26 | 3 | 1-2 | 2-2 | 6 | 23 |
Minnesota | 29 | 1 | 0-2 | 1-2 | 6 | 34 |