DALLAS Coyotes force tie with late surge

Stars coach Dave Tippett is out after having emergency neck surgery.
DALLAS (AP) -- It turned out Jan Hrdina saved the Phoenix Coyotes' night, not Branko Radivojevic.
Hrdina knocked a loose puck past goalie Marty Turco after Phoenix pulled goalie Brian Boucher for an extra attacker, giving the Coyotes their second late rally in two nights, this time for a 3-3 tie with the Dallas Stars on Friday night.
"What can I say, these are the cardiac kids," Coyotes coach Bob Francis said. "You work hard to make things happen and you get what you deserve. Our guys were resilient. They kept scratching and clawing until we got one."
Official's decision
Radivojevic, who scored in the second period and got the winner in overtime against Colorado on Thursday night, was originally given credit for the goal. But after the game, the official scorer awarded the goal to Hrdina.
"The puck hit off my butt, Hrdina hacked at the rebound and it wound up in the net," Radivojevic said. "Dallas is a really good team and we were able to battle back twice against them. You can't say enough about our effort."
The Stars still snapped their longest losing streak since March 1996 -- they had lost four in a row since Nov. 2.
"It's a step forward," Stars defenseman Richard Matvichuk said. "We had a game plan to keep it simple. The Dallas Stars have always had that to fall back on and that's what we did tonight. We played good for 50 minutes, but a couple of bad bounces ended up in our net. We're happy with our effort."
So were the Coyotes, who rallied to avoid defeat for the second straight night. Hrdina scored with 49.5 seconds left in regulation to give the Coyotes a point for the tie.
Coach absent
The Stars were without coach Dave Tippett, recuperating at home after emergency neck surgery earlier in the day.
Tippett awoke Friday with numbness in his right shoulder and arm, and had surgery to remove a disc from his neck Friday afternoon. Associate coach Rick Wilson ran the team against the Coyotes, and Tippett is expected to be back Monday.
"We put our coach in the hospital," joked Matvichuk. "He's been banging his head on his desk, which probably caused the neck injury."
Rob DiMaio's short-handed goal with 7:26 left put the Stars in front, 3-2.
Bill Guerin's 11th goal of the season gave Dallas a 2-1 lead with 12:18 remaining, but Radoslav Suchy tied with 10:32 to play, converting a behind-the-net pass from Krystofer Kolanos.
Radivojevic opened the scoring on a power play midway through the second period, and Scott Young tied it on another power play with 4:18 left in the period.
Notes
Stars RW Aaron Downey will be out four to six weeks with a hairline hip fracture. Downey is already on injured reserve. ... Wilson was Dallas' head coach for the last 32 games of the 2001-02 season. Tippett got the head coaching job the following summer. ... Wilson's son, Landon, is a right wing for the Coyotes. ... Stars RW Jere Lehtinen is expected to be activated next week. Lehtinen has been on injured reserve due to back spasms and has played in only two games this season. ... Dallas D Teppo Numminen had an assist against his former team. Numminen played 15 seasons for the Winnipeg/Phoenix franchise before joining the Stars this season.