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BOX SCORE
PHOENIX (AP) -- After coach Bob Francis promised the Phoenix Coyotes good results if they continued to improve, goalie Sean
Burke tried his hand at prophecy.
|  | | Patrick Roy made 28 saves, including this one by Jeremy Roenick, but the three that got past him proved costly. |
"Like he said before the game, 'You give me two (goals), and
I'll take care of business,"' Francis said. "Fortunately, we gave
him three, and you just can't say enough about Sean's
performance."
The Coyotes took a page from the Colorado Avalanche's playbook,
jumping ahead quickly and hanging on for a 3-2 victory Wednesday
night to remain alive in the postseason.
Mikael Renberg got the winner 38 seconds into the second period, and Burke, who allowed 12 goals in the first three games, made 36 saves.
The Avalanche still hold a 3-1 lead in the best-of-7 Western
Conference series and could close it out by winning Game 5 Friday
in Denver.
But the fourth game was sweet redemption for the Coyotes, who
followed Francis' advice and improved their play each game after a
6-3 debacle in the opener.
It didn't pay off until this one, easily the best effort by Burke and his teammates.
Phoenix had a 3-0 lead early after goals by Trevor Letowski,
Travis Green and Renberg.
Benoit Hogue assisted on the first two scores.
"Once we got the lead, I felt we'd be tough to beat," Keith Tkachuk said. "Especially when we haven't had the lead to speak of in the series. So now we've just got to stay alive."
Burke's inspired goaltending helped the Coyotes hang on despite
intense pressure after the Avs had to abandon their series-long
strategy of sitting on a lead.
Adam Deadmarsh, who scored the winner in Game 3, made it close by scoring with 3:58 left in the game.
He stopped the puck with his chest while crossing the slot and
flipped a back-hander to beat Burke on the stick side.
"He made some big saves," Deadmarsh said. "We weren't
shooting the puck real well, so it was a combination of both, and
it didn't help us any."
Colorado took 19 shots in the second period, but only managed a
power-play goal by Dave Andreychuk, who deflected a slap shot by Adam Foote 6:03 into the period.
Burke recovered to make several spectacular stops, including a
glove save on a shot by Stephan Yelle on a 3-on-1 late in the
second and a chest rejection against Andreychuk during another
power play 8:00 into the third.
"The second period, we knew they were going to come back strong," Burke said. "That team did not want to go back and play Game 5 and we knew that, so when they started rolling at us pretty good, I felt it was an opportunity for me to step up a little bit."
The win was Burke's first in the postseason since April 24, 1998, when he was with Philadelphia, and improved his career record to 11-17.
Patrick Roy, the NHL career leader with 113 postseason wins, had 28 saves but was stunned by Phoenix's early onslaught.
"It was just one of those games where we couldn't buy a goal
when we started getting the chances, and we had a tough first
period," Roy said.
The Coyotes vowed to come out strong, and outshot Colorado 15-6
in the first period.
The offensive intensity seemed to changed their luck, too. After
complaining about strange bounces for three games, the Coyotes got
just their second lead in the series on an unusual score by Letowski.
The rookie center, battling for the puck behind the net, fired a
hard pass out toward the slot. But it hit the back of Roy's stick
at the edge of the crease and angled in 3:31 into the game.
Green made it 2-0 -- the first time Phoenix enjoyed a two-goal
lead -- when he scored with 2:28 left in the period after a
beautiful display of teamwork.
Dallas Drake took the puck from Joe Sakic along the boards and
back-handed a pass to Hogue, who sent it to Green for a one-timer
in the slot.
Renberg also scored from the slot after a pass from Tkachuk.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Colorado Clubhouse
Phoenix Clubhouse
RECAPS
Ottawa 2
Toronto 1
Washington 3
Pittsburgh 2
Detroit 3
Los Angeles 0
Phoenix 3
Colorado 2
San Jose 3
St. Louis 2
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Travis Green's wrist shot makes it 2-0 Coyotes.
avi: 961 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Mikael Renberg scores the game-winner.
avi: 833 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Adam Deadmarsh's back-hander keeps Colorado in the game.
avi: 717 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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