PITTSBURGH -- The Phoenix Coyotes opened their season on Saturday with an impressive 6-3 win over a Los Angeles Kings team that many are predicting as a playoff team in the Western Conference this season. On Wednesday, the Coyotes were perhaps even better in what was a rather surprising 3-0 win over the defending Stanley Cup Champion Penguins, in Pittsburgh -- a fact that was mentioned multiple times in an excited Coyotes locker room following the game.
"I think it's a very important two points for us," said Coyotes goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov, who stopped all 24 shots he faced for his ninth career shutout. "Especially since we're facing the defending Stanley Cup champion it was a big challenge for us. I think we played very well."
The Coyotes did play well, and they spent much of the night on the power play, converting on two of their nine chances throughout the game. They had three power play opportunities in the first period alone, including a four-minute advantage after Evgeni Malkin was sent off for high-sticking Keith Yandle in the offensive zone. Ed Jovanovski scored what proved to be the game-winner on the ensuing power play.
"I'm sure the people in Pittsburgh didn't like to be on the penalty kill for seven-and-a-half minutes in the first period," said Phoenix coach Dave Tippett. "But I thought our speed and our competitiveness drew some of those penalties. That's a credit to the players. They came out and they really fed off the energy of playing against the Stanley Cup champions and they did a lot of good things."
Pittsburgh looked off its game for much of the night, struggling to connect on passes, not generating much of a forecheck, and taking multiple penalties, including an interference call on Matt Cooke in front of the net that negated what would have been Alex Goligoski's first goal of the season.
"We competed hard," said Tippett. "We did a lot of the little things well. I didn't think we gave them a ton of chances. The penalty kill was much better tonight and Bryzgalov was excellent. We had a couple of power play goals that gave us the lead and then we just competed with hard, simple strong hockey to get the win."
Phoenix continues its season-opening three-game road trip on Thursday with a game in Buffalo.
"Another team that has ogood quickness and we'll have to go in there and play a similar kind of game," said Tippet. "A very disciplined game. "Make sure we're doing little things well, find a way to get a couple of goals and see if we can make this a great road trip.
Quotable
Dave Tippett on the possibility of Phoenix "sneaking up on teams" this season: "There's no sneaking up on anybody in this league. We have a very competitive group right now and we'll go into every game and compete as hard as we can and try to get the results that we want."
Dave Tippett on building confidence: "We talk about how confidence is earned all the time, when you come in here and beat the defending champions it continues to push our group going the right way."
Loose Pucks
Czech Connection. The line of Martin Hanzal, Petr Prucha and Radim Vrbata has been off to a fast start for the Coyotes, as the three countrymen have combined for four goals and three assists through the first two games of the season.
"It's great, it's just great," said Prucha following Wednesday's game. "We know each other and we're obviously playing with some great chemistry and scoring some goals. Vrby is the best so far and he can make some plays. Marty is great at backchecking and helping defensively in our zone and I can do whatever we need. So far it's been good."
Both players scored on Wednesday, including Prucha's highlight reel goal that was scored while sitting on the ice to give Phoenix a 2-0 lead.
"I was just waiting for a rebound in front of the net and I fell down," laughed Prucha. "Vrby tried to score from the goal line and the rebound just came to me when I was sitting on the ice."
Welcome home. Wednesday's game turned out to be reunion of former Penguins. Coyotes head coach Dave Tippet played for the Penguins during their Presidents Trophy winning season in 1992-93, while assistant coach Ulf Samuelsson won two Stanley Cups with the team during the 1991 and 1992 seasons. Also in attendance -- as a guest -- was former Penguins forward Gary Roberts. While he only played 57 games in Pittsburgh over two years, he still received a lengthy standing ovation from the sellout crowd when he made an appearance on the video board early in the first period.
Penguins sign first-round pick. The Penguins announced prior to the start of Wednesday's game that the team had signed first-round pick (No. 30 overall), defenseman Simon Depres, to a three-year entry level deal. Terms of the contract were not disclosed.
In the faceoff circle. Penguins center Jordan Staal started the night winning his first 10 faceoffs, until he lost a shorthanded draw to Matthew Lombardi midway through the third period. He finished the night 12 of 13 on draws. Sidney Crosby, who entered the game was one of the top faceoff men in the league this season, won just five of 17 on the night.
