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Sabres edge Coyotes in physical affair
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Thomas Vanek (center) (AP Photo/ David Duprey)
In the late stages of tonight’s game, the Phoenix Coyotes looked like a tired team.
Thomas Vanek scored a go-ahead goal with 3:53 left in the third period to give the Buffalo Sabres a 2-1 victor over the Coyotes Thursday night at the HSBC Arena in Buffalo.
The game had its fair share of physical play. The most notable incident took place early in the second period when Patrick Kaleta laid a big hit on Petr Prucha, which sparked a fight between Kaleta and Coyotes forward Martin Hanzal.
Hanzal was charged with two instigator penalties, a fighting major and a misconduct penalty while Kaleta received a fighting major.
In total, Phoenix committed nine penalties for 29 minutes of penalty time while Buffalo was penalized four times for 11 minutes of penalty time.
As far as the scoring goes, neither team made a dent in the scoreboard until the third period, when the Coyotes took the 1-0 advantage off Matthew Lombardi’s second goal of the season at the 2:37 mark of the third period.
The Sabres evened the score with 15:46 left in the period when Clarke MacArthur scored his first goal of the season. Vanek’s go-ahead goal late in the period was the first time this season the Coyotes didn’t have the lead in a game.
Anthony’s three stars
1. Thomas Vanek (scored game-winning goal)
2. Matthew Lombardi (goal)
3. Adrian Aucoin (assist, six shots)
Final thoughts
Despite only being three games into the season, the Coyotes look like a close-knit group. A lot of that has to do with the fact that Martin Hanzal stood up for teammate Petr Prucha after he took a questionable in the second period. Team toughness is a characteristic of a good hockey club, and the Coyotes displayed just that tonight.
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