Chipchura guides Coyotes over Canucks

Vancouver, BC – Kyle Chipchura potted a pair of goals on Tuesday, as the Phoenix Coyotes defeated the Vancouver Canucks, 4-2, at Rogers Arena.

Mikkel Boedker and Antoine Vermette added a goal and an assist apiece to help the Coyotes salvage the final test of a three-game road trek.

"We had a lot of guys raise their level tonight," said Phoenix head coach Dave Tippett. "We got a couple of big goals from Chipchura and the rest of the guys stepped up. We need a team effort every night if we want to win consistently."

Mike Smith stopped 29-of-31 shots in the victory.

Jason Garrison and Henrik Sedin each scored once for the Canucks, who have dropped two straight.

"We knew what to expect here and we just didn't respond very well," said Sedin. "They played exactly the way we thought they would and just couldn't get anything going."

Cory Schneider allowed three goals on 21 shots in the setback.

Chipchura opened the scoring at the 14:22 mark of the first when he won a scrum behind the net and skated into the slot before backhanding a shot high over the glove of Schneider for a 1-0 lead.

Phoenix doubled its advantage just before the midpoint of the second when David Rundblad's shot from the right point was blocked by Vancouver forward Maxim Lapierre, but the puck ended up on the stick of Boedker in the slot before the Phoenix winger backhanded a shot high over the glove of Schneider to push the margin to 2-0 at the 9:54 mark.

The Canucks countered just over 90 seconds later, as Ryan Kesler recovered a loose puck behind the net and fed the disc into the high slot for Garrison, who beat Smith low to the glove-side to make it 2-1 at the 11:25 mark.

Vermette's wrister at the 12:32 mark of the third restored Phoenix's two-goal lead, but Vancouver again answered just over a minute later when Daniel Sedin rifled a blast from the top of the right circle that Henrik Sedin redirected through the five-hole of Smith to make it 3-2 at the 13:36 mark.

Smith was able to hold the Canucks off the board from there before Chipchura added an empty-netter with 23 seconds left to account for the final margin.

Game Notes

Phoenix has won three straight against Vancouver ... Chipchura now has four goals this season to tie his career high ... Phoenix went 0-for-1 on the power play, while Vancouver finished 0-for-2 on the man advantage.