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LOS ANGELES - The bend-but-don't-break Phoenix Coyotes were muchbetter as a team in Game 4 of the West final. Sure they were outshot for the 13 th time in 15 playoff games this spring, but they solved the LosAngeles Kings' "hound the puck" forecheck and backcheck withcrisper puck movement and an increased level of determination foran entire three periods. But as much as the Coyotes were better as a unit in their 2-0 winover the Kings, it was difficult to ignore the contributions of twoelder statesmen in captain Shane Doan and defenceman Adrian Aucoin,and their money goalie Mike Smith. Doan scored both goals. Smith made 36 saves for his third shutoutof the post-season. Aucoin returned to action from an undisclosedlower-body injury that kept him out since May 7, but he stabilizedthe Coyotes blue-line and was a big reason why they moved the puckbetter out of their own end. "[Aucoin] helped a lot," Doan said. "He's a guy we count on. We'refortunate that we have seven or eight [defenceman] that we canplay. Having him back there, the experience that he's brought hasbeen invaluable for us. "I think a big thing is we were able to make that first pass overand over again. As a group we made that first pass better. We gotit past the blue-line. Too many times we were trying to make thecute pass just short of the blue-line. The next guy was havingtrouble handling that pass. They were able to turn it over. If wecan make the pass over the blue-line, it opens up a little moreice." Whether the 38-year-old Aucoin will be available for Game 5 back inPhoenix on Tuesday night (CBC, CBCSports.ca, 9 p.m. ET) remains tobe seen. He only played three shifts in the third period and theCoyotes didn't have an update on his status following the game. Meanwhile, prior to the game The Coyotes gathered for a teammeeting on Saturday evening. Head coach Dave Tippett's message wassimple: there was plenty of room for improvement. "We hadn't played as well as we'd like in this series," Tippettsaid. "We'd been through a lot of battles together. We might aswell continue battling for a while. That was what the mindset wasgoing in. "We put too much work in to let this slip away. It's time to see ifwe can work back a little bit. We put that work in tonight and wegot ourselves one, and now we're going to strive to do that and seeif we can up that for two." Doan described the Coyotes dressing room prior to Game 4 as quiet.Other than some encouraging words from defenceman Keith Yandle, RayWhitney and Derek Morris, not much was said. "The right guys saidthe right things," the 35-year-old Doan said. Tippett, however, praised his captain for the right things, too. "You don't see all the things that happened behind the scenes inthe dressing room, inspiration for the guys there, how much hecares about this team and winning," the Phoenix coach said. "When you can do that behind-the-scenes stuff, bag it up with theon-the-ice stuff, it speaks volumes for who he is. We don't have tosit here and talk about Shane Doan. Our players know, the leagueknows how strong-willed a guy he is. He went into this gamethinking 'we don't want to be swept.' That was the effort he putforth. Great to see." Doan has been around for a long time, but this is his first trip tothe conference final. He wants to remain in Phoenix for the rest ofhis career, but with the uncertainty of whether Greg Jamison'sownership bid will be successful the next best thing for Doan wasto make sure the Coyotes at least extended their season by a game. "We recognize we put ourselves in a tough position," Doan said. "Wealso know it has been done. I guess that's what sports are allabout, trying to do something that someone hasn't done for a while,try to do things that the odds are kind of stacked against you.Nobody wants to be in the position we're in, but everybody wants toprove they can kind of answer that call. "We got an unbelievable group of guys in our room. It soundsclich -ish, every team that reaches this point says the same thingabout their guys, but I really think our guys are special. We gotjust a good group and I like it." End of Story Content Back to accessibility links. I am an expert from acrylic-displaycase.com, while we provides the quality product, such as Acrylic Candy Display Cases , Acrylic Photo Frames Manufacturer, Acrylic Jewelry Display Case,and more.
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