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  Tuesday, Feb. 1 10:30pm ET
Coyotes' Carney sinks Sharks with OT goal
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- Defenseman Keith Carney scored the Phoenix Coyotes' first goal to help them win their season opener back in October. He scored his second four months later and it was worth the wait.

Carney broke a scoreless tie 1:32 into overtime and Phoenix beat the San Jose Sharks 1-0 Tuesday night.

"It was a huge game for us," Carney said. "We needed it and we got two points out of it. Where I was, it would have been tough making a pass, so I shot it and it just went in."

The Coyotes earned their 14th road win, second most in the league, despite being outshot 34-15. Bob Essensa had 34 saves in his first shutout this season and 17th of his career.

"Bobby was outstanding," Phoenix coach Bob Francis said. "I don't know what else to say. He gave us an opportunity to buy some time and they came at us hard. Bobby basically kept us in the game for the first two periods. We picked up our play in the third and fortunately we were able to get one by (Steve) Shields."

Carney, after getting a pass from Greg Adams, swept around defender Patrick Marleau and got off a backhand shot that zoomed past Shields for the game-winner.

"It was just a quick shot. It was one of those things," Marleau said.

It was the fifth straight loss for San Jose, the last two coming in overtime.

But the Sharks' offensive problems continued. They went 0-4 on the power play and are 0-19 with the man-advantage in four games.

"It's frustrating for sure," San Jose's Vincent Damphousse said after the team's seventh overtime loss this season. "I felt like we played good defense. We outshot them but we came up short again. This is getting costly.

"We're lucky there's a new system. We've got seven extra points. If it was last year, we would be in trouble."

Essensa made probably his biggest save of the game with 14:39 remaining. Mike Ricci dished off to Marco Sturm, who lifted a shot from just outside the crease, but Essensa stuck his glove out and snared it.

"We had a few chances, at least one that should have gone in, Marco's," Shields said. "He makes those shots in practice all the time, but I guess when it rains it pours. If we keep playing the way we did tonight, we'll win more than we lose."

The Coyotes were outshot 26-8 in the first two periods but fended off the Sharks, killing two successive power plays midway through the second, including a five-on-three that lasted for 1:06.

Both sides missed solid opportunities to score.

With just seconds left in the middle period, Jeremy Roenick skated in on a breakaway and unleashed a slap shot that Shields managed to stop with a glove save 10 feet in front of the net.

Earlier in the period, shots by San Jose's Brad Stuart and the Coyotes' Radoslav Suchy hit the post and bounced away.

 


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