at 22, and has six points
SUNRISE, Fla. Pooh Richardson Jersey . -- Radim Vrbata is peaking at the right time. Vrbata had a goal and two assists to lead the Phoenix Coyotes to a 3-1 victory over the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night. Vrbata also had the lone shootout goal in Mondays 4-3 win at Tampa Bay. Vrbata is second on the team with 19 goals, trailing Antoine Vermette at 22, and has six points in the last four games. "When the puck is finding the back of the net for him, it just seems like hes got that extra step," Phoenix coach Dave Tippett said. Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Mike Ribeiro also scored for the Coyotes. Mike Smith made 31 saves. "Sometimes we struggle to score goals, we need our goal scorers to be putting the puck in the net," Smith said. "Vrby has played well as of late." Phoenix won its second consecutive road game for the first time since Nov. 27 and Dec. 3. The Coyotes are one point behind Dallas for the last playoff spot in the Western Conference. Brandon Pirri scored and Roberto Luongo stopped 23 shots for the Panthers. Florida has lost 10 of 13. The Panthers have only six goals in the last four games. Phoenix opened a 3-0 lead when Vrbata scored at 5:52 of the third. Vermette fed Vrbata in the right circle and he sent a wrist shot into an open net. "You score that one and you start feeling good about yourself," Vrbata said. "You get a couple of lucky bounces." The Panthers closed to 3-1 on Pirris power-play goal at 8:54 of the third. Pirris shot from high in the right circle touched several Coyotes players sticks and went over Smiths glove high in the net. It was Pirris first goal with Florida since he was acquired in a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks on March 2. Smith had been stellar before Pirris goal. "Where we are in the standings and the desperation we should be playing with, your goaltender has to take a big part of that," Tippett said. "But its great to see everybody else chip in." The back-to-back games appeared to have little effect on Phoenix. "They played last night. I think we jumped on them early on," Panthers captain Ed Jovanovski said. "We had our chances, we just couldnt solve their goalie." The Coyotes took a 1-0 lead on a power-play goal in the first. Ribeiro fired a one-timer from above the right circle that got past Luongo on the glove side at 17:43. Keith Yandle got the assist and leads the Coyotes with 45 points. He has seven points in his last seven games. The Coyotes scored again in the second. Ekman-Larsson shot from just inside the blue line on the left side and it went by a screened Luongo at 9:43. "Theyre a very disciplined team, theyre patient, they wait for the other team to make mistakes and obviously theyre fighting for a playoff spot right now, every game is important to them," Luongo said. "We saw that desperation tonight, guys blocking shot, and finding the net. They did whatever it took to win." NOTES: Coyotes F Martin Erat left in the first period with an upper-body injury. ... Panthers L Sean Bergenheim left in the second period with a lower-body injury. ... The Panthers recalled F Joey Crabb and D Mike Mottau from San Antonio of the AHL. ... Panthers D Erik Gudbranson and C Jesse Winchester each missed the game with lower-body injuries. Doug West Jersey .J. Fair didnt have many chances to be the main option for Syracuse last season. Fake Timberwolves Jerseys . The Redblacks are taking on the Edmonton Eskimos in their second regular season game Friday night. Catch the game live on TSN as the back end of a doubleheader starting at 10pm et/7pm pt.Sochi, Russia (SportsNetwork.com) - The queen is still on top, but her reign has some worthy challengers. South Koreas Kim Yuna began her quest for a second straight Olympic gold medal by posting the top score on Wednesday in the womens short program at the Sochi Olympics. But Kims advantage is slim. She scored a 74.92 as the 17th performer and her lead held solid until Italys Carolina Kostner put together a routine that netted her a score of 74.12. Russias Adelina Sotnikova then sent the home crowd into a frenzy with a routine that scored at 74.64, putting her a mere .28 behind Kim, known in her home country as Queen Yuna. Canadas Kaetlyn Osmond damaged her short program with a heavy stumble en route to a score of 56.18. She is currently 13th. Kims score on Wednesday was good enough to put her first going into Thursdays free skate, with medals awarded following that event. Kim, a two- time world champion, is aiming to become the first repeat gold medalist in the ladies singles since Katarina Witt in 1984 and 88. The 23-year-old used a score of 78.. Minnesota Timberwolves Shirts. .50 in the short program en route to gold four years ago in Vancouver and was solid in Sochi despite a foot injury suffered in September that held her out of action until December. Japans Mao Asada, who won a silver four years ago, fell during her routine and was 16th with a score of 55.51. The U.S. saw its three skaters finish in the top seven, led by Gracie Golds score of 68.63 that landed her in fourth. Ashley Wagner was sixth following a score of 65.21, putting her behind 15- year-old Russian fan-favorite Yulia Lipnitskaya. She earned a score of 65.23 despite a fall during her routine on a triple flip. Another 15-year-old had a solid showing in American Polina Edmunds, who set a new season-best with a score of 61.04 to put her in seventh place. The American woman have something to prove after failing to win an Olympic medal for the first time since 1964 four years ago in Vancouver. In fact, theres only been one U.S. medalist in the ladies singles in the past two Olympics and that was a silver by Sasha Cohen in 2006. ' ' '