GLENDALE, Ariz. — One look inside Arena and it was obvious the vast majority of Arizonans had New Year’s Eve plans that didn’t involve seeing the Phoenix Coyotes play the Avalanche.
But those who did venture to the building saw a very entertaining game, won by the Coyotes, 4-3 in a shootout. The Avs not only lost the extra point, they might have lost another star player for a while, as left wing Ryan Smyth needed help from teammates from his locker stall to the trainer’s room with what could be a severe ankle injury.
The game’s best player was Phoenix goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, who unquestionably has been the NHL’s biggest waiver-wire steal of the season so far.
The former Anaheim goalie — who beat the Avs in four straight games of a 2006 playoff series — stopped 42-of-45 shots. He made numerous saves on what looked like sure goals, and almost stole Phoenix a regulation victory.
Said Coyotes coach Wayne Gretzky: “Our goaltender was definitely an all-star tonight. He made some saves, when it was 3-3, that were truly spectacular.”
The Avs avoided losing in regulation for the third straight time thanks to rookie Cody McLeod’s tying goal late in the third.
“Would have been nice to get the win,” Avs coach Joel Quenne- ville said, “but we’ll take a point and move on. (Bryzgalov) made some great stops. They got the bounces tonight, too.”
Phoenix won the shootout 2-0 on goals by Peter Mueller and Radim Vrbata, who was the other Coyotes star with two regulation goals. The Avs’ first shootout attempt, by Wojtek Wolski, failed after Wolski lost the puck off the end of his stick after beating Bryzgalov with a deke. The second miss, by Marek Svatos, came when he hit the post with a backhander.
“It’s frustrating that we didn’t get the win, but we did battle back to get something,” Avs defender Scott Hannan said. “We definitely had a lot of scoring chances, but (Bryzgalov) played well stopping us.”
McLeod, looking like one of the NHL’s better minor-league call- ups so far — scored the tying goal after a superb play by linemate Ben Guite. Playing a puck to himself off the net, and ridding himself of checking pressure, Guite found an open McLeod in the slot. Guite’s pass to himself was something Peter Forsberg used to do all the time with the Avs, but no way was Guite going to compare himself to No. 21.
“It’s something I’ve tried in practice before, but really I just got lucky,” Guite said. “It was easy to get the puck to Cody because he did such a great job of getting open. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get that last goal to win the game.”
Avs goalie Peter Budaj was good, although Vrbata’s second goal of the night that made it 3-1 was a bit of a softie, from the short side. Otherwise, Budaj kept the Avs in it with some big stops, and the Avs got to within 3-2 with 49 seconds in the second period, after Brett Clark scored off the rush after a nice crossing pass from Ian Laperriere.
Avs Recap
Three stars
1. Ilya Bryzgalov.
Former Anaheim goalie continued his mastery of the Avs with a great 42-save performance.
2. Radim Vrbata.
Former Avs forward scored twice in regulation and once in the shootout.
3. Ian Laperriere.
Avs winger had two assists and played well in the Avs’ end, finishing plus-2.
What you might have missed
Avs veteran Andrew Brunette played only 11:15 of the 65-minute-plus game, despite being healthy.
Up next
Phoenix, Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Pepsi Center.
Adrian Dater: 303-954-1360 or adater@denverpost.com
