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Yet another tie vs Blackhawks
Another tie for Coyotes
7 penalties rankle coach
Bob McManaman
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 29, 2003 12:00 AM
Coyotes report
CHEERS
Phoenix did a much better job on faceoffs than it did in its previous three games.
JEERS
Though he probably won't face suspension, Ossi Vaananen had his elbows up dangerously high on a few hits before getting ejected for boarding Scott Nichol.
OUR THREE STARS
1. RW Branko Radivojevic, Coyotes, game-tying goal.
2. LW Mark Bell, Blackhawks, two assists.
3. RW Shane Doan, Coyotes, extra effort again.
•_Coyotes - Blackhawks box score
This time, it wasn't the Coyotes' fault.
That was coach Bobby Francis' explanation after his team skated to its third consecutive tie Tuesday night and, once again, had to ask its penalty killers to work overtime during a 2-2 draw with the Chicago Blackhawks.
Phoenix put Chicago on the power play seven times, and although the Hawks scored on it only once, it was enough to peeve Francis. He thought the officiating at America West Arena was, at best, terribly inconsistent.
"I am so tired of talking about penalties, especially because I don't think we were responsible for a large part of it tonight," Francis said. " . . . I'd say more, but it would cost me (in fines)."
Branko Radivojevic scored the game-tying goal for the Coyotes early in the third period, beating Jocelyn Thibault (35 saves) on a backhander while plowing through the slot. A few minutes later, he took a puck above the left eye and needed seven stitches after the game to close the wound.
"He's been outstanding," Francis said of the second-year right wing. "He started off slow the first couple weeks of training camp, but since then, he's been right up at the top of the list in terms of work ethic and effectiveness. . . . He's a player who got better as the game went along."
So did the Coyotes as a whole after a slow start. They came at Thibault in waves in the final 25 minutes, got excellent goaltending from starter Zac Bierk (26 saves), and the short-handed staff did its job once again.
Still, this was a game the Coyotes had to win, plain and simple.
The Blackhawks were skating without their two biggest offensive weapons in injured forwards Alexei Zhamnov and Eric Daze.
"Ties are not something we want," said center Chris Gratton, who scored his first goal in 35 games for the Coyotes. "We want to come away with some wins. But the type of games we have been playing have showed a lot of character - coming back after being down by a couple goals in some games."
After Gratton and Chicago's Igor Radulov scored first-period goals, the game changed when Phoenix defenseman Ossi Vaananen was ejected and handed a five-minute major for boarding Scott Nichol.
The Coyotes were forced to play with just five blueliners after that, resulting in extra minutes for the rest of a young defensive corps.
Vaananen's penalty gave the Blackhawks five minutes to score as many goals as they could with the man advantage. Before the penalty expired, Ville Nieminen scored on a pass from Mark Bell for a 2-1 Chicago lead early in the second period.
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