Stars Vs. Coyotes: Jamie Benn Steals Win For Dallas After Silly Radim Vrbata Penalty

Dave Tippett was furious last night. Nobody blames him.

After his Phoenix Coyotes battled back from a 2-0 deficit to tie their game with the division rival Dallas Stars on a game-tying goal from Ray Whitney with less than a minute to go, Radim Vrbata took a pointless, silly hooking penalty in the neutral zone with just 13 seconds left in regulation. Jamie Benn made him pay.

Not only did the Stars steal two points away from the grasp of the Coyotes, they also robbed them of the one point that they certainly did earn late in the third period. Rusty Klesla, in his first game with his new team following the trade deadline, scored Phoenix’s first goal.

Elsewhere in the NHL....

Sabres 3, Rangers 2: Ryan Miller traveled down to the Big City to take on the Rangers at MSG, and thanks mostly to his 29 stops, the Sabres wound up on the winning side of things. As a result, they climb even closer to the stumbling Rangers in the Eastern race and just two points behind eighth-place Carolina.

Oilers 2, Predators 1 (SO): Linus Omark.

Canadiens 3, Thrashers 1: Carey Price is really all you need to know about this one. He made 40 saves as Atlanta outshot the Habs 41-23 in the game, 16 of which came in the third period.

Canucks 2, Blue Jackets 1 (SO): Scottie Upshall scored in his first game in his snazzy new Columbus threads, but after a marathon eight-round shootout, Raffi Torres’ goal stood up as the game-winner. All in all, after four one-on-one stops in regulation by Roberto Luongo, he went 10 for 12 on the night in the breakaway department.

Hurricanes 2, Panthers 1: You know what’s awkward? Getting traded, and then, in your first game with your new team, going up against your old team. That’s what Cory Stillman and Bryan Allen of the Hurricanes and Sergei Samsonov of the Panthers all had to do on Tuesday. Stillman made the best first impression, scoring a goal and tallying an assist in the first period.

Sharks 2, Avalanche 1 (SO): On the day he signed a big contract extention with San Jose, Antti Niemi didn’t have to do that much work in regulation, only needing 18 stops to get his team to overtime. In the shootout, he blanked the Avalanche to grab an extra point.