Phoenix Coyotes' Ray Whitney, from left, Radim Vrbata, of the Czech Republic, and Shane Doan celebrate Vrbata's goal against the Vancouver Canucks during the third period of an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, B.C., on Friday March 18, 2011.DARRYL DYCK
The Vancouver Canucks seven-game winning streak came to a halt Friday thanks to some splendid goaltending and questionable officiating.
Phoenix Coyotes goalie Jason LaBarbera was outstanding, making 46 saves in a 3-1 victory at Rogers Arena. The former Canucks backup was under fire for 70 seconds during a second period five-on-three advantage for the NHL's best team, yet was only beaten by Christian Ehrhoff in the late stages of the third.
"I felt great tonight," LaBarbera said. "That's the second game I've played in two months, and the first real game because the last game I played, I got absolutely lit [up]in Tampa."
The Coyotes have won five consecutive games, and are now in terrific shape in the Western Conference playoff race, sitting in fourth place with a seven point cushion over the first non-qualifier. They are just one point back of the San Jose Sharks for first place in the Pacific Division, and just two of their remaining nine games are on the road.
"LaBarbera gave us an excellent game," head coach Dave Tippet said. "We hung around the game until we got a chance to win."
The sides played to a scoreless draw for 50-plus minutes until Canucks winger Alex Burrows was assessed a five-minute boarding penalty and a game misconduct. Burrows slashed Coyotes forward Vernon Fiddler, then nudged him into the boards with his elbow. Fiddler appeared woozy, and was taken from the bench area as per the NHL's new protocol on suspected concussions. He returned 10 minutes later and played.
"I was dazed at first, but that's part of the game," Fiddler said. "I was going in on the fore-check and I don't remember what happened after that...I went through a protocol, they asked me a bunch of questions, just a typical neuro-psyche test."
Burrows, who has a long and contentious history with NHL arbiters, said the incident merited a two-minute penalty but went no further. Head coach Alain Vigneault offered mild protest, though not as strong as the chorus of boos that showered down from Rogers Arena as the referees left the ice.
Shane Doan and Radim Vrbata scored on the ensuing five-minute power play, and Lee Stempniak added one into an empty net for the victors. Roberto Luongo made 27 saves for the Canucks, who went 0-for-5 on the power play.
The Canucks had several gripes with the officiating, including a roughing call on Mikael Samuelsson in the second period.
While Samuelsson was clearly mixing it up post-whistler, he was doing so after receiving two gloved punches from Coyotes. He said he was surprised that he was the only competitor sent off. Then there was Daniel Sedin, who appeared to be tripped by Eric Belanger in the dying minutes before the empty-net goal, when the home team trailed 2-1.
Vigneault said the Canucks "must have had 30 chances," but LaBarbera is a Burnaby, B.C. native who admittedly gets up for games against his hometown team.
"Anytime you play in this building, it's an unbelievable atmosphere," he said. "For a guy like me, who grew up watching the Canucks...I've had success in here."