Eurolanche

Smith carries Coyotes to 4-1 win

The six-year veteran signed with the Phoenix Coyotes as a free agent on July 1 as a replacement for Ilya Bryzgalov, whose rights were traded to Philadelphia a month earlier, and he's beginning to make a name for himself.

Smith, 29, stopped 40 shots Wednesday night at the Pepsi Center and the Coyotes ran their winning streak to three games with a 4-1 victory against the Colorado Avalanche.

The Coyotes have gone 4-0-1 in their past five games to move within two points of first-place Dallas in the Pacific Division heading into Thursday night's home contest with Nashville. Smith has been in goal for all five of those games while limiting opponents to 12 goals.

The loss was the fourth in five home games for the Avs. Colorado has outscored teams 26-15 while posting a 6-1-0 record on the road, but has been outscored 15-6 at home.

Lauri Korpikoski scored what proved to be a pivotal goal for the Coyotes 24 seconds into the third period when he put the rebound of David Schlemko's shot into the net. Korpikoski's shot struck goalie Semyon Varlamov's glove, bounced off the crossbar and dropped across the goal line.

The Avalanche had drawn within 2-1 at 18:23 of the second period on a goal by Ryan O'Reilly. Daniel Winnik drove to the net and put a shot on goal from in tight that Smith stopped, but O'Reilly pulled the puck out from near Smith's pads and poked it into the net.

O'Reilly's goal came 26 seconds after Radim Vrbata lifted a rebound over Varlamov's right shoulder, beating him to the short side. The play started in the Phoenix end when Colorado's Milan Hejduk lost the puck near the boards. Ray Whitney led a Coyotes rush into the Avalanche zone and passed to Martin Hanzal for a shot before Vrbata scored for a 2-0 lead.

Vrbata added an empty-net goal with 1:33 remaining in the third period, his second consecutive two-goal game. The Whitney-Hanzal Vrbata line has amassed seven goals and 10 assists in the past three games.

Taylor Pyatt connected for the only goal in the first period on a scrambly play. Derek Morris took a shot that glanced off the skate of teammate Boyd Gordon skating to the net. The puck caromed to Pyatt, and he put it past Varlamov at 7:53.

The Avalanche began the game with the NHL's top-rated power play but went 0-for-4 Wednesday.

-by Rick Sadowski for NHL.com-