Boston's penalty kill struggles reared their ugly heads once again as the special teams unit allowed two power-play goals and ultimately fell 4-1 to a hungry Coyotes team.
Adrian Aucoin and Keith Yandle netted their first goals of the season for Phoenix while Ed Jovanovski and Scottie Upshall each tallied their third. Mark Stuart registered the lone Bruins goal.
Coyotes 4, Bruins 1
Jobing.com Arena, Glendale, Ariz.
Oct. 17, 2009
Headliner: Heading into this matchup, we all heard that the Bruins had one job to do: pepper goalkeeper Ilya Bryzgalov with shots and hope that one goes in, because he's not likely to offer up many chances.
Bryzgalov stood strong against lofty expectations on Saturday. He entered the game with a 1.17 goals-against average and a .952 saves percentage, and by night's end, he allowed the Bruins just one goal on 21 shots.
Grinder: Boston native Keith Yandle tallied Phoenix's third goal of the night, victimizing the Bruins' penalty-kill unit by sending a wristshot past Tim Thomas with just under five minutes remaining in the second period. It was a big momentum-swinger, as the Bruins had just shortened their deficit to one on a Mark Stuart goal and desperately needed to get through the power play without letting the Coyotes put a tie even further out of reach.
Weak Link: After a perfect performance on Friday, the demons seemed to resurface for Thomas on Saturday night. Maybe back-to-back starts was too much for him, but whatever the case, the Vezina Trophy-form he displayed against the Stars was nowhere to be found against the Coyotes. Thomas was victimized for four goals on 36 shots and fell to 2-3-0 on the season.
Key Moment: Midway through the second period, the Bruins looked to be getting back on track after Stuart cut the Coyotes' lead to one with a wristshot from 44 feet out. The B's had just started to act like they were alive when all of a sudden, they allowed two goals in 44 seconds, letting Phoenix's lead to bloom to three.
Yandle started things off with a goal on the man-advantage with just over four minutes remaining in the second period. Forty-four seconds later, Scottie Upshall struck with a slapshot from 57 feet to take all of the wind out of Boston's sails.
What's Next: The Bruins get a few days off before they return to the (un)friendly confines of the TD Garden to take on Nashville. The Predators lost a heartbreaker to the Capitals on Saturday night, going down 3-2 in a shootout. They stand at 2-4-1, which lands them in a deadlock with St. Louis for last place in the Central Division standings.
