Coyotes Defeat Predators With 4-3 Overtime Win in NHL Semifinals

Ray Whitney fired a 10-foot backhand shot in overtime to give the Phoenix Coyotes a 4-3 victory over the Nashville Predators in the first game of their Stanley Cup semifinal series.

The victory gives Phoenix the advantage over the Predators in the best-of-seven National Hockey League series.

Radim Vrbata scored a power-play goal to give the Coyotes a 1-0 lead, before Brandon Yip tied the game at 1-1 in Jobing.com Arena in Phoenix.

The Coyotes were ahead 3-2 at the end of the second period on goals by Rostislav Klesla and Mikkel Boedker. Andrei Kostitsyn scored for the Predators.

Nashville’s Martin Erat tied the game with less than five minutes left in regulation play, before Whitney got the winning goal 14 minutes, four seconds into overtime.

In today’s games, the Washington Capitals visit the New York Rangers and the St. Louis Blues host the Los Angeles Kings in the first games of their second-round series.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nancy Kercheval in Washington at nkercheval@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Sillup at msillup@bloomberg.net