Penguins suffer 1st loss to Coyotes

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Petr Prucha was knocked off his skates in front of the net but still pushed the puck into the net while sitting on a Penguins player’s back in the second period, and the Phoenix Coyotes took advantage of nine power plays to beat Pittsburgh 3-0 on Wednesday night.

Coyotes goalie Ilya Bryzgalov made 24 saves, only a handful of them difficult, as the Penguins played a flat, error-filled and uninspired game before leaving on a difficult five-game road trip that begins Thursday in Philadelphia.

Ed Jovanovski also scored on a power play for Phoenix, which is 2-0 with one game remaining on a season-opening road trip that began with a 6-3 victory at Los Angeles. Last season, the Coyotes managed only 30 points on the road, the fewest in the Western Conference, and won successive games away from home only twice.

Pittsburgh tried but failed to start a season 3-0 for the first time since 1995, giving little support to Brent Johnson. He made 22 saves in his first start for the Stanley Cup champions, and hardly could be blamed for one of the Penguins’ worst efforts under coach Dan Bylsma.

The Penguins were constantly a step behind the play, drawing unnecessary penalties while allowing Phoenix to grab the early momentum and never give it up. Pittsburgh drew the first three penalties, and Jovanovski took advantage of Evgeni Malkin’s double-minor high-sticking penalty to beat Johnson on a hard wrist shot from the right circle off Shane Doan’s pass at 9:07 of the first.

Pittsburgh couldn’t respond, and Bryzgalov didn’t have to make his first tough save until stopping Ruslan Fedotenko’s shot off a rebound in the final minute of the second period. Seconds before that, Malkin was open at the side of the net but fumbled the puck and couldn’t get a shot off.

Earlier in the period, Prucha improvised to score an odd goal. Skating toward the net, Prucha collided with Mark Eaton and was knocked off his skates, but, landing on Eaton’s back in front of the net, controlled Radim Vrbata’s pass and steered the puck past Johnson at 10:47 of the second. Pittsburgh’s Brooks Orpik was off for hooking.

Vrbata scored into an empty net with 54 seconds remaining — his third goal and fourth point in two games.

Phoenix was 2 for 9 on the power play while the Penguins were 0 for 5.