AP News
(2010-03-17 02:42:17)
Vernon Fiddler and Matthew Lombardi scored in a 2-minute span midway through the first period, Ilya Bryzgalov stopped 27 shots and the Phoenix Coyotes beat the Tampa Bay Lighting 2-1 Tuesday night.
The victory moved Phoenix five points behind Western Conference-leading San Jose in the Pacific Division. The Coyotes began the night tied with Vancouver for third place overall in the conference, but the Northwest Division-leading Canucks still hold the third seed.
The loss left the Lightning six points behind Boston for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Bruins defeated Carolina 5-2 earlier Tuesday.
Bryzgalov faced back-to-back Lightning power plays in the third period but held strong and turned away several scoring opportunities in the final two periods.
Fiddler's goal came on a beautiful pass into the slot from Lee Stempniak and in less than 2 minutes the Coyotes got their second goal when Lombardi took a pass in the center from Wojtek Wolski and slipped a backhand shot past Antero Nittymaki.
Todd Fedoruk scored the lone Lightning goal and Nittymaki had 26 saves.
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