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Stars fall to Coyotes, lose Boucher Thursday, March 06, 2008 The Phoenix Coyotes may not be considered one of the big three of the Pacific Division, but they have established themselves as a pretty solid number four. The Coyotes, who are the best team within the division at 16-7-0, improved to 4-2-0 against Dallas this season with a 2-1 win over the Stars at the American Airlines Center Wednesday night. "They just basically outworked us tonight," said Stars defenseman Stephane Robidas. "They have a lot guys, who are hard and playing their system. Their goalie is playing well. That's their recipe for success. We've got to match their work ethic and we didn't do that tonight." Said Stars coach Dave Tippett: "They are a desperate team. They are paying the price to work. They are doing to us what we did to them last year." The loss was the second straight for the Stars, who fell behind San Jose, an overtime winner over Ottawa Wednesday night, in the Pacific Division based on points percentage. The Stars lead the Sharks, who have three games in hand, by three points. Brad Winchester scored the goal for Dallas. Marty Turco made 14 saves on the night. The Stars lost defenseman Philippe Boucher on the first shift of the game to a shoulder injury after he was nailed by Phoenix forward Craig Weller near the Dallas bench. It was not the same shoulder that Boucher had surgery on earlier in the season, forcing him to miss 38 games. "It's not the one he had surgery on," said Tippett. "He'll be re-evaluated tomorrow, but he's on a week-to-week probably. Early indications are week-to-week." Phoenix, which got a 20-save performance from goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, improved to 6-3-1 over its last ten games and moved to within three points of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. "Our goaltending has to be strong if we're going to make the playoffs," Phoenix captain Shane Doan said. "Bryzgalov has given us a chance. Our goaltending has been strong all year. That's why we're in this position." The Stars missed on two power play chances early in the period, generating little on the two advantages, and that opened the door for the Coyotes to grab the earlier momentum. "The key was when we killed those two penalties in the first period," Bryzgalov said. "That gave us a boost and we kept it going." The Coyotes took the lead at 9:26 of the first when Joel Perrault got the rebound of a Peter Mueller shot behind the net and sent the puck back to Mueller, who put the puck into the top corner of the net from the bottom of the left faceoff circle. The Coyotes extended the lead to 2-0 early in the second. Just after Phoenix's second power play of the game expired Radim Vrbata centered the puck to a wide open Shane Doan, who scored from close range at the 59 second mark. The Stars began to push late in the second and cut the lead to 2-1 with a goal late in the period. Toby Petersen put a shot on net on a two-on-one break and Winchester knocked the rebound past Bryzgalov with 2:22 remaining in the period. 'It felt good to contribute," said Winchester, who scored his first goal as a Dallas Star. "Unfortunately, we didn't win." There were just a total of nine shots in the third period, with the Stars getting five and Phoenix getting four. The Stars pulled Turco late in the game for the extra attacker, but couldn't get the equalizer.
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