PHOENIX -- Deron Quint's second goal of the game, a fluke power-play tally one minute into the third period, snapped a tie and sparked a four-goal outburst as the Phoenix Coyotes erupted for a 7-4 victory over the slumping Vancouver Canucks on Friday night.
Keith Tkachuk, Jim Johnson, Mike Gartner, Jeremy Roenick and former Canuck Cliff Ronning also scored for the Coyotes, who notched a season-high seven goals and have won six of their last eight games. Phoenix is 11-0-1 when scoring four or more goals.
"Sometimes you have to get lucky bounces," said Coyotes coach Don Hay. "You make your bounces by working hard and shooting the puck. Cliff Ronning really worked hard for his goal, he really wanted to score against the Canucks. He wanted to show them they made a mistake."
Quint, who entered with just one goal in 14 games, snapped a 3-3 tie when his wrist shot was stopped by goaltender Kirk McLean, who kicked the rebound off teammate Dana Murzyn's backside into the net.
"The puck was bouncing our way tonight," Quint said. "Proof on that was the second goal. We were just going to the net and fortunately, McLean hit it right to Murzyn. I'll take as many of those as I can get."
Quint's goal shook up McLean, who gave up two more goals in the next 5:50.
"The shot comes from the point and nobody's around," said McLean, who was making his first start since Nov. 11 after undergoing knee surgery. "I steer it in the corner and it hits your defensive man's rear end and just barely makes it into the corner. That's what I mean about funny bounces. But I felt really good. I was confident right off the bat, my knee didn't hurt, I felt good most of the game."
Gartner followed with a goal 81 seconds later and Roenick made it 6-3 with 13:10 remaining before Ronning capped the outburst with a power-play marker at 16:49.
McLean allowed seven goals on 26 shots and was activated Thursday after missing 18 games.
"Sure, it's disappointing the first game back," McLean said. "The first game back you kind of want to get off to a good start. We're going through some injuries and tough times now. I've seen some pretty funny bounces before, but nothing like this in the last two games."
Vancouver has lost three straight games and has been outscored 20-5 in the process. The Canucks have dropped seven of their last nine games, allowing 35 goals in that span.
After Quint's second of the game, Gartner extended the lead when he blasted a shot from the top of the right circle that beat McLean to his short side. It was Gartner's 17th goal of the season and 680th of his career.
Roenick slammed home a rebound of Dave Manson's shot from the right point for his ninth tally of the season.
Ronning, who signed as a free agent with Phoenix after six seasons in Vancouver, completed the outburst when he unloaded a slap shot from the top of the right circle that beat McLean to the short side.
Quint opened the scoring with his first goal since Nov. 21. Esa Tikkanen tied it with 3:11 left in the first period and Gino Odjick gave the Canucks a 2-1 lead with his third goal in five games after going scoreless in his first 28 contests.
"Cliffie told us to go low as much as we can," Quint said. "In the last two games, they haven't done very well. We wanted to keep them down as much as possible and not give (Pavel) Bure or (Alexander) Mogilny a chance to get going."
Jim Johnson pulled the Coyotes level with 13:07 remaining with his second goal of the season. Lenny Bohonos gave Vancouver a 3-2 edge three minutes later, but Tkachuk put home his 10th goal in seven games to tie it with 9:34 left.
"(McLean) struggled a little bit," said Tkachuk. "We were shooting from everywhere and you can see by the results, it worked. We know it was his first game back and we wanted to get some shots on goal. We know their forwards like to take chances, we waited for them to make mistakes and when they did, we capitalized."
Jon's 3 stars:
1. Keith Tkachuk
2. Oleg Tverdovsky
3. Deron Quint
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