A Howling Success for Khabibulin

PHOENIX —  Goalie Nikolai Khabibulin and center Mike Stapleton showed their Phoenix Coyote teammates a novel approach to revenge. Instead of beating up the Mighty Ducks, just beat them.

What a concept.

Khabibulin made Stapleton’s second-period goal stand up with 27 saves in a 1-0 victory on Saturday. The 16,210 in the America West Center came to see the Coyotes bruise and batter the Mighty Ducks for past sins, and stood cheering at the end.

The victory gave the Coyotes a four-point lead over the Mighty Ducks in the race for the fourth playoff spot in the Western Conference, and home-ice advantage in a possible first-round playoff series. Not a huge cushion, but considering Phoenix had lost 11 of its last 13 games, it was worth celebrating like a playoff victory.

A month ago, the Coyotes were up 17 points, and where complaining about the Mighty Ducks’ style, defenseman Ruslan Salei in particular.

It was Salei who was responsible for Coyote rookie Daniel Briere getting a concussion in an October exhibition game. And it was Salei who opened a gash on Stapleton’s face, which needed 26 stitches, on Feb. 14.

Neither team tries to hide its disdain for the other. But so consumed with hatred were the Coyotes that, after losing to the Mighty Ducks on Feb 14, Coach Jim Schoenfeld said they weren’t out of the revenge business.

Schoenfeld left the arena without talking to reporters Saturday.

“That’s all in the past,” Stapleton said. “The important thing is we won. Tonight it seemed like our energy was high and we wanted to do the little things to win.”

Right.

Of course, that did include bouncing Mighty Ducks off the boards at every opportunity. If this was a playoff preview, the postseason will be rated “R.”

The Mighty Ducks’ Teemu Selanne spent a good deal of time on his back side. Paul Kariya was tripped by defenseman Keith Carney’s stick with 1 minute 43 seconds left. Kariya just stared in disbelief while play continued. The Coyotes, particularly Keith Tkachuk, finished off many punishing checks.

“We played with more emotion and turned a cheek when they tried to us riled,” said Coyote assistant coach John Tortorella.

Salei’s name didn’t come up, but he couldn’t have been far from the Coyotes’ thoughts.

The second period was barely under way when Salei made a poor clearing pass. Stapleton intercepted it near the red line and let loose a blast from the blue line that beat goalie Guy Hebert to the right for a 1-0 lead at 1:33.

“Everyone on the bench knew they couldn’t make a mistake on their shift to turn the momentum,” Duck Coach Craig Hartsburg said. “We made one in the second period and it cost us.”

Stapleton gave no thought to the being linked to Salei again. The last time they hooked up, Salei’s stick sliced open Stapleton’s face, from nose to cheek. This time, the pain was Salei’s.

“We were making a line change,” Salei said. “I should have iced it.”

Said Mighty Duck right wing Tomas Sandstrom: “In a game like that, the first goal usually wins it. We had our chances.”

Lots of them.

Selanne missed the best one. With a two-man advantage, his one-timer hit the post three minutes into the game.

It was one of five power plays where the Mighty Ducks failed to convert.

This was their third game in four nights, and it came on the heels of Friday’s 4-0 loss at Dallas. Still, they were strong in the third period and had several chances to tie the score right down to the finish. Khabibulin, who has a groin injury, just turned them away.

He deflected a shot by a wide-open Kariya with three minutes left and stopped a point-blank shot by Selanne with 45 seconds left.

“I haven’t had a good game in a while,” said Khabibulin. “It’s nice to have one so I can feel good better about myself again.”