Coyotes Ice Penguins

The Phoenix Coyotes wanted to get stronger on offense, so they played better defense.

It worked Wednesday night in a 3-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins, a team that embarrassed them by holding the Coyotes to a Pittsburgh-record 11 shots the first time they met this season.

Shane Doan, Trevor Letowski and Keith Tkachuk scored after the midpoint of the game, and Sean Burke stopped 21 shots and weathered eight Pittsburgh power plays to improve to 3-1-1 with the Coyotes. Burke was acquired in a trade with Florida in November.

Jaromir Jagr, who broke up Burke's shutout bid with his 33rd goal 8:10 into the third period, agreed that was a key aspect of the game.

"When you have that many power plays and don't score any goals, you sure don't expect to win, and we didn't," Jagr said.

The goal was the 19th point in the last 10 games for Jagr, who had two goals in a 4-2 win over the Coyotes on Dec. 11 at Pittsburgh.

"They're the most talented team in the league skill-wise, but we felt if we go out there and just hit them and bang them and get in their faces, we're going to eliminate them," said Tkachuk, who scored on a penalty shot.

The Coyotes recovered from a seven-game stretch in which they were outshot by opponents by an average of 14 shots a game, bettering the Penguins 27-22.

"They took it to us in Pittsburgh, so we probabl had a little more jump today than we had on the road," defenseman Jyrki Lumme said. "They're a good team and they've been playing well, so we didn't want to give up any chances. At the same time we didn't take enough shots on the road, so that was one of the priorities."

Letowski scored on a slap shot that went off the skate of Penguins defenseman Hans Jonsson as he jostled with Rick Tocchet at the top of the crease 3:04 into the third. Tocchet, originally credited with the goal, got an assist the 480th of his career, leaving him one point shy of 900.

Tkachuk made it 3-0 just 2:16 later after Darius Kasparaitis dragged him down at Jean-Sebastien Aubin's doorstep. Tkachuk, stopped by current Phoenix goalie Bob Essensa on his first career penalty shot Jan. 24, 1998, against Edmonton, took a forehand approach to the net, then fired a sharp wrist shot between Aubin's legs.

On Monday, New York's Brad Isbister scored on a penalty shot against Phoenix during a 2-2 tie.

Aubin stopped 12 shots in the first period, one more than the Coyotes took their first game against the Penguins. Aubin made 24 saves in all.

But even though Pittsburgh had five power plays in the second period to two for the Coyotes, the pace caught up with the 22-year-old goalie.

Doan sent Phoenix into a 1-0 lead with 8:35 left in the second. He got the puck from Mika Alatalo, who fielded the rebound of a slap shot by Yuha Ylonen, and skated to his left for a 10-foot forehand that beat Aubin on the near side.

"We talked about getting some forechecking on the road in the early part, and we kick away 25 or 30 turnovers," Pittsburgh assistant coach Ed Johnston said. "They were sitting up at the blue line waiting for us to come in, and we couldn't get the puck in deep."

©2000 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed