Nikolai Khabibulin stopped 26 shots for his first shutout in nearly a year and Jeremy Roenick scored twice as the Phoenix Coyotes blanked the Vancouver Canucks, 4-0.
Roenick opened the scoring with eight seconds left in the first period when he banked the puck off goaltender Corey Hirsch's skates. He added his 14th of the season midway through the second period and Khabibulin made it stand up.
Khabibulin came up with a pair of spectacular saves on slap shots from the slot in the third period. He gloved the first one midway through the period and got his blocker on the other with just over five minutes left.
Mike Gartner added a goal and an assist for Phoenix and is two assists shy of becoming just the fifth player in NHL history with 600 goals and 600 assists.
Former Canuck Cliff Ronning capped the scoring by breaking in on Hirsch and beating the Vancouver netminder high to the glove side. Ronning has three goals in his last two games and nine goals and eight assists in his last 14.
The win enabled the Coyotes to pull into a sixth-place tie with Vancouver in the Western Conference. Phoenix has won two straight following a three-game losing streak.
The Coyotes won for just the third time in their last nine games, but beat the Canucks for the second time in as many meetings this season.
Jon's 3 stars:
1. Nikolai Khabibulin
2. Jeremy Roenick
3. Mike Gartner
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