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PHOENIX (Ticker) -- If the Phoenix Coyotes are successful in their bid for a playoff berth, then captain Teppo Numminen may prove to be the key. Numminen continued his offensive resurgence with two goals as the Coyotes maintained their perfect record in March, rallying from a two-goal deficit for a 3-2 triumph over the Ottawa Senators. Two nights after recording a career-high four assists and declaring "I'm a passer, not a goal-scorer," Numminen broke a 2-2 deadlock midway through the third period with his 10th goal of the season and 99th of his NHL career. "It's been a fun week," Numminen said. "We started the game sluggish. I don't think we were as sharp enough as we needed to be. But we believe in ourselves, we believe in our system and picked up the game and came back. It was a great show of character." Numminen's team-best fifth game-winner helped the Coyotes improve to 4-0-0 this month. Phoenix also jumped into a fifth-place tie with Los Angeles and St. Louis in the Western Conference playoff race. Numminen also redirected a pinpoint pass from Shane Doan to pick up his fourth power-play goal of the season and knot the contest at 2-2. The franchise leader for career goals by a defenseman, Numminen has five goals and seven assists in his last 14 games. The Coyotes are 9-3-1-1 during the span and are 16-5-1-2 when their captain records a point. Marian Hossa scored his 100th NHL goal for the Senators, whose three-game winning streak against the Coyotes was snapped. Hossa netted his 24th goal and Daniel Alfredsson fired home his 31st just 25 seconds apart as Ottawa grabbed a 2-0 lead 10:12 into the contest. "Down 2-0, we still feel confident that we could come back and win the games," Coyotes center Daymond Langkow said. "We kind of stuck with it and got a lucky bounce on my first goal. And it was a nice pass from Doaner on Repo's goal and we just rolled from there." After scoring twice on 13 shots, the Senators registered just eight more the rest of the way. "We just stopped shooting the puck. We passed up some real good scoring chances by not shooting the puck," Ottawa coach Jacques Martin said. "The difference in the hockey game was special teams. They got a goal on 4-on-4 and on the power play." Langkow needed just 85 seconds to halve the Coyotes' deficit. From behind the net, he banked the puck off the skate of goaltender Patrick Lalime and into the net for his 19th. The team's leading scorer, Langkow has 17 points in his last 10 games. Numminen's power-play effort came off a stunning feed from Doan with 5:48 left in the opening period. Doan unleashed a bullet pass from the left faceoff circle and bisected Ottawa's defense. The puck landed perfectly on Numminen's blade. "We were fortunate to get the goal from Lanks and from there I thought the guys responded well," Coyotes coach Bob Francis said. "I'm not sure our team would have reacted in the same manner earlier in the year. It had another 6-0 Ottawa game written all over it." On December 13, the Senators humiliated the Coyotes by that score at the Corel Centre. On this occasion, however, Numminen let go a slap shot from the top of the right circle 9:13 into the third period. "You fall down 2-0, but the guys are motivated right now, they're having fun with it," Francis said. "It's another type of adversity, it's another building block." "We got to keep on working together," Hossa said. "We played a good beginning, but I don't know how we lose our focus. That's two in a row, but we just got to regroup. We can't get down." Ottawa also wasted an early lead Thursday in a 5-2 loss at San Jose. Lalime allowed a season-high five goals in the second periodfor Ottawa. The Senators are winless in their last four games (0-2-1-1) and 0-2-1 on a five-game road trip. |
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