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BOX SCORE
DETROIT (AP) -- The Phoenix Coyotes have no fear in playing the
Detroit Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena.
|  | | Phoenix's Keith Carney clobbers Detroit's Tomas Holmstrom, right, preventing him from screening goalie Robert Esche. |
Shane Doan had two goals and an assist and relief goalie Robert
Esche made 25 saves for his first career win as the Coyotes beat
the Red Wings 5-2 Tuesday night.
It was the Coyotes' second straight win at Detroit this season
and fourth straight over two seasons. Doan also had two goals in
Phoenix's 4-3 win Nov. 28, Detroit's last home loss.
"It's nice to play in this arena," Doan said. "There's all
the history and all the things that have happened in the past. You
always get up to play here."
"If you can't get up against Detroit you can't get up,"
Coyotes coach Bob Francis said. "They're obviously an elite team
and they always bring the best out of teams. When you play Detroit,
you're forced to play your best game."
Juha Ylonen, Jeremy Roenick and Rick Tocchet also scored for the
Coyotes, who improved their NHL-best marks for road wins (12) and
points (26).
"There's less pressure for us on the road," Roenick said. "We
can come in and play a focused game. Tonight we played a very
strong and defensively sound hockey game. Both of their goals were
scored by defensemen, so that's a big, big effort by everyone on
our team."
Larry Murphy and Steve Duchesne scored for the Red Wings, who
have lost two straight and are 0-2-1 in their last three.
"We have to tighten up defensively," Detroit's Brendan
Shanahan said. "We might be one of the high-scoring teams in the
league, but you can't play from behind all the time and that's what
we've done the last three games.
"We came back and tied Chicago, but in the other two, the teams
held onto the lead even though we outshot them."
Esche replaced starter Bob Essensa, who strained a hamstring,
right after Murphy gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead late in the first period.
"All of a sudden he's hurt and I've got to get the popcorn out
of my teeth," Esche joked.
Phoenix scored the next four goals, and Esche stymied the Red
Wings until Duchesne tallied with just 2:20 remaining.
Tocchet scored an empty-net goal 25 seconds later.
"When a rookie goalie goes in, a lot of times he stands on his
head," Detroit's Martin Lapointe said. "Give credit to him, he
did that tonight."
Esche, who turns 22 on Jan. 22, was the Coyotes' fifth choice in
the 1996 draft. He was 0-4 with a 3.77 goals-against average in
seven appearances before his first win.
"It's unbelievable, unbelievable," Esche said. "I can't wait
to call my old man. He's going to be excited."
Chris Osgood, who made 19 saves, lost his second straight start
since missing 15 games with a broken hand. But his teammates were
blaming their defense for this one.
"Defensively we've been lacking," Lapointe said. "We don't
usually give up a lot of scoring chances, but tonight we did and
they capitalized."
Murphy scored on the game's first power-play after Roenick went
off for interference. Murphy took a centering pass from Sergei
Fedorov and lifted it over Essensa's left shoulder with 32.2
seconds left in the period.
Phoenix went ahead on second-period goals from Doan and Ylonen,
the latter while short-handed.
Osgood made a stick save on Dallas Drake, but the rebound went right out front to Doan, who easily put the puck over Osgood at 12:28.
With 1:59 left in the period, Ylonen put a shot between Osgood's
legs after skating in short-handed with a giveaway near center ice.
"It was a key one," Francis said. "It obviously gave us a
lift and took some wind out of their sails."
Phoenix added two quick goals to start the third. Doan scored at
the 33-second mark and assisted on Roenick's score that made it 4-2
just 1:36 later.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Phoenix Clubhouse
Detroit Clubhouse
RECAPS
Atlanta 5
Buffalo 4
Washington 6
Montreal 1
Ottawa 2
Carolina 1
Phoenix 5
Detroit 2
Boston 7
NY Islanders 3
Los Angeles 2
St. Louis 2
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Shane Doan scores the easy goal for Phoenix.
avi: 687 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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