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EDMONTON, Alberta — Almost a year after a big hit by Boston’s Zdeno Chara nearly ended his career, Max Pacioretty is on a roll.

The Montreal forward scored his 29th and 30th goals of the season and added an assist as the Canadiens skated to a 5-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night.

Canadiens coach Randy Cunneyworth is still amazed by how well Pacioretty has played this season after last year’s hit in a game against the Bruins [team stats] left the 23-year-old Pacioretty with a severe concussion and a broken vertebra in his neck.

“That’s a heck of a thing to come back from,” Cunneyworth said. “The dedication and the work he has had to do is something. He came back bigger and stronger. That line as a group has done a lot of good work all year.”

P.K. Subban added a goal and two assists, setting up both of Pacioretty’s goals.

“I’m happy that I could help him get to 30 goals,” Subban said. “I don’t know if that means I get dinner or something like that. For a guy that has already gone through so much in his career with the neck injury, it’s inspirational to see what he has done for our hockey club this year.”

Tomas Kaberle and Lars Eller also scored for Montreal (26-32-10), which won for the second time in nine games. The Canadiens prevented the Oilers (26-35-6) from catching them for 28th place in the NHL standings.

“You play to win,” Subban said. “As far as the players in the dressing room go, you want to win every game and you want to compete. It’s your job to go out there and try to win every game, and that’s what we did.”

Shawn Horcoff, Linus Omark and Taylor Hall had goals for the Oilers, who have lost four of five.

“We were a little undisciplined,” Oilers coach Tom Renney said. “We could have been a lot smarter. As tough as it was from a fatigue perspective, you have to play smart. Had we done that, certainly we had a shot at this game. Montreal played hard, but I think we could have had it had we played a smarter game.”

Tied 2-2 after two periods, the Canadiens took the lead for good three minutes into the third period on the power play when Kaberle picked up a rebound at the side of the net and lifted a shot over goalie Nikolai Khabibulin for his third goal of the season.

Eller made it 4-2 just two minutes later after throwing a puck out from behind the net that caromed in off Khabibulin.

Edmonton got back to within a goal with seven minutes to play. Hall showed patience to wait out a defender before snapping in his 24th goal, and earning his 50th point.

There was a mad scramble in the Canadiens’ end in the final minute, and the puck resting on the back of Montreal goalie Peter Budaj’s neck at one point before it was cleared. Pacioretty scored his 30th into an empty net with 17 seconds left.

The Oilers’ top-ranked power play got them on the board first with eight minutes to play in the opening period when Horcoff tipped a point shot from Corey Potter past Budaj.

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GLENDALE, Ariz. — The hole keeps getting deeper.

Saturday night the Sharks lost 3-0 to the Phoenix Coyotes — a struggling team that also was looking for its first March victory — and left Jobing.com Arena below the postseason cutoff line in the Western Conference for the first time since mid-October, when it hardly mattered.

Now, of course, it matters.

The loss extended San Jose’s winless streak to five games and puts the Sharks at 2-8-3 since Feb. 16. And after a strong, but scoreless first period, San Jose showed little sign of engineering the kind of turnaround the team will need if they are to avoid missing the playoffs for the first time since 2003.

Second period goals by Coyote forwards Mikkel Boedker and Michael Stone, plus another 39 seconds into the third by Raffi Torres did the damage. The Sharks did have their share of scoring chances, but were flustered by Coyote netminder Mike Smith, who had 42 saves in earning his fifth shutout of the season.

Even though San Jose lost in a shootout on the first stop of this road trip in Dallas, coach Todd McLellan was encouraged by his team’s improved play.

“We’ve climbed,” he said before the Phoenix game. “We just don’t want to slip.”

The Sharks did come out flying for this one with Thornton’s line firing four shots on net in a 24-second stretch of their first shift and Douglas Murray decking both Ray Whitney and Shane Doan on his.

But Coyote goaltender Mike Smith met the challenge, stopping all 16 shots that reached him in the first period. Antti Niemi wasn’t as busy at the other end of the ice, but he did have to stop Doan on a breakaway and Raffi Torres on the rebound that followed to keep things scoreless through the first period.

In the second, Phoenix grabbed the momentum and the lead followed with the Coyotes fourth line doing the damage.

Boedker was the first to beat Niemi after a sequence that saw the Sharks goalie face a barrage of shots, making three quick saves. But the rebound of shot by Stone from the right boards went straight up the middle to Boedker and he buried the shot at 13:58.

Four minutes later, Dominic Moore sent a puck to the middle of the Phoenix zone with no Shark in the vicinity and the Coyotes quickly headed toward Niemi.

He managed to stop the first two pucks fired at him, but couldn’t regain his position and was down on the ice when Stone scored on a 25-foot slap shot.

Torres’s goal came after the Sharks couldn’t control the puck in their own end and it popped off the boards to Shane Doan. Niemi blocked Doan’s shot, but couldn’t keep the rebound out of the back of his net.

The Sharks do have games in hand over the teams they are battling with for the final two playoff spots in the West. But with 75 points, they fell to ninth place after Colorado beat Edmonton 3-2 earlier in the day.

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CALGARY, Alberta — Even the Maple Leafs were impressed by Calgary Flames goalie Miikka Kiprusoff, who made 41 saves in a 5-1 victory over Toronto on Tuesday night.

Toronto defenseman Dion Phaneuf wasn’t surprised to see that Kiprusoff is still on top of his game.

“He played extremely well,” said Phaneuf, Kiprusoff’s teammate with the Flames until a blockbuster trade sent him to the Maple Leafs on Jan. 31, 2010. “He’s been playing very well for them all year. He was a huge part of their win. He stood on his head, that’s for sure.”

Tyler Bozak, who finished with six shots, was the lone Maple Leafs player to beat Kiprusoff. The veteran goalie stopped Mikhail Grabovski six times, and Joffrey Lupul and Phil Kessel [stats] both had five shots.

Kiprusoff earned his 26th win of the season and the 302nd of his career, moving him into a tie for 25th place with Turk Broda on the NHL list.

Kiprusoff left the dressing room without speaking to reporters.

“He’s won a Vezina,” said Phaneuf, who recorded four shots. “He knows how to win games. He’s one of the top goalies in the league. He’s had a lot of success and he played extremely well for them.”

Alex Tanguay had a goal and two assists, Paul Byron scored on a penalty shot in the second period, and Olli Jokinen, Jarome Iginla and Blake Comeau added goals for the Flames (27-22-8), who have won two straight.

“We’re feeling better about the way we’re playing as a line,” said Tanguay, who was on a line with Jokinen and Iginla that outperformed Toronto’s top trio of Bozak, Kessel and Lupul. “We feel that when we play good … that we can be one of the top lines in the league, as well.”

Calgary has gone 4-0-2 in its past six games to pull within one point of the Phoenix Coyotes for eighth place in the Western Conference playoff race.

“Every point matters now and we’re trying to make up ground to get that last playoff spot,” Byron said. “Tonight was a huge game for us, and I thought we played really well.”

The Maple Leafs (28-23-6) have lost four straight and are clinging to eighth place in the Eastern Conference — one point ahead of Washington.

“We have to find a way to get to the front of the net and get rebounds because there were rebounds,” Toronto coach Ron Wilson said. “We got shots through. They did a pretty good job of boxing out. It’s a combination. You’ve got to give them credit, and we still have to find ways to win those battles in front of the net.”

Jonas Gustavsson made 29 saves for Toronto.

Tanguay put the Flames ahead 1-0 at 4:43 of the first period when he took a pass from Jokinen and snapped a shot over Gustavsson’s blocker and into the top corner.

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Turns out, you can win for losing — but it’s not the recommended route to a title.

Three of the four No. 1 seeds in this year’s NCAA basketball tournament, and six of the top eight teams, were awarded their favored status Sunday despite losing in their conference tournaments. Meanwhile, tournament champions from power conferences such as the ACC, SEC and Big East were relegated to third seeds or worse.

"You have to make judgments based on a team’s entire body of work," NCAA basketball selection committee chairman Jeff Hathaway said, "and not just on this week."

Maybe so, but Kentucky, Syracuse and North Carolina — the top seeds, respectively, in the South, East and Midwest regions — should beware an ominous history: Only once in the past six years (the Tar Heels in 2009) has an at-large team captured an NCAA championship.

Still, it’s all but impossible to make the case that overall No. 1 Kentucky, 32-2 for the season and 16-0 in the Southeastern Conference, and Syracuse, 31-2 and 17-1 in the rugged Big East, didn’t deserve to be crowned the favorites in the South and East regions. North Carolina, 29-5 and owning its 29th ACC regular-season title, was also granted a top-seed reprieve in the Midwest Region.

Each was upset in its conference tournament — the Wildcats by Vanderbilt in the SEC final, the Orange by Cincinnati in the Big East semifinals, and the Tar Heels by Florida State in the ACC title game. Only Michigan State among the top seeds comes in on a winning streak, having taken down Ohio State in the Big Ten title game Sunday, 68-64, and awarded the No. 1 seed in the West as a reward. The Buckeyes still managed a No. 2 seed — they are in the East, along with Wisconsin — but OSU and MSU would not necessarily have switched places if the championship game had gone differently.

"We had Michigan State a little ahead of Ohio State," said Hathaway, former athletic director at UConn. "Michigan State had the No. 1 strength of schedule, and that carries a lot of weight with us."

And despite the recent trend of high-profile breakthroughs by small-conference underdogs such Butler, VCU and George Mason, those top seeds carry a lot of weight once the tournament begins; four of the past five champions have been No. 1 seeds.

This year’s edition of the 68-team tournament tips off Tuesday with first-round games in Dayton, Ohio, between Mississippi Valley State and Western Kentucky, for the right to play Kentucky as a No. 16 in the South; and Brigham Young and Iona, for the right to play third-seeded Marquette as a No. 14 in the West. Wednesday’s games in Dayton pit Lamar and Vermont for a spot opposite North Carolina as a No. 16 seed in the Midwest; and Cal and South Florida, with a 12th seed and a matchup with No. 5 Temple on the line, also in the Midwest.

The Big Ten will send six teams to the tournament, one fewer than last year. But in a sign of respect for the conference’s strength, five of the league’s berths are No. 4 seeds or better, most by any league.

"The way those [Big Ten teams] beat up on each other — every team is physical, every team likes to bang, likes to hold," said Reggie Miller, who will broadcast games for the four-channel tournament network of CBS, TNT, TBS and truTV. "Last year was tough for them, but I think this year will be different. They do have the best conference."

The 16-team Big East snagged nine tournament invitations, including defending champion UConn. Butler is the only member of last year’s Final Four not to make it; the Horizon League’s automatic berth went to tournament champion Detroit, which was handed a 15th seed and a game against Kansas in the Midwest.

South Dakota State, a 14th seed, and Norfolk State, a 15, will make their first NCAA tournament appearance, while Kansas will make its 23rd in a row, the longest current streak.

The addition of three teams to the tournament last season seems to have quieted much of the complaining about teams being left out. This year’s most controversial snubs were Colonial Athletic champion Drexel, 27-6, and Pacific-12 champ Washington, which at 21-10 became the first regular-season champion from the six biggest conferences to be excluded.

"There are 112 teams that had over 20 wins, so there’s a lot of quality out there," Hathaway said. "But Drexel, they’re being compared to Iona, which had a strength of schedule [ranking] of 44. Drexel’s was over 200. We feel we got that one right."

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MINNEAPOLIS — The Winnipeg Jets are to blame.

In what feels like an excruciating eternity ago, they started the Minnesota Wild’s tumble down the standings on Dec. 13. The Wild has lost 22 of 27 since.

Told that fact Thursday morning, Jets coach Claude Noel said, “And you want me to cry?”

Noel has got his own problems. The Wild and Jets are in parallel universes — separate conferences yet each going the wrong way in the standings.

That desperation was evident during Thursday’s rematch — an eventual 4-3 shootout victory by the Jets that seemed to be played in front of half of Winnipeg.

Thousands of Jets fans, all wearing blue and white, all screaming “Go Jets Go!” and “BACK-STROM”ing Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom in his own barn, made the trek to Xcel Energy Center. It created an intoxicating atmosphere in what turned into a fantastic game between brewing rivals. There were lots of scoring chances, scrums and one toe-to-toe Darroll Powe vs. Tanner Glass middleweight bout.

“That’s what hockey’s all about,” Powe said. “The crowd was going. Fighting in the stands, fighting on the ice. It was a hard-fought game.”

But one with a familiar feeling postgame for the Wild, which could not pull out the extra point. Its winless streak has reached six (0-5-1) thanks to an 0-3-1 homestand.

Devin Setoguchi and Evander Kane exchanged goals in both the first and second periods. Mikko Koivu scored the go-ahead goal 63 seconds into the third, only to see Alexander Burmistrov answer two minutes later.

Then, Kane won it in the shootout as Backstrom lost his fourth consecutive shootout and the Wild its fifth in the past six.

“Once again, it’s just one or two plays where we could have put one in, could have scored a goal, could have stopped one,” said Setoguchi, who had his first two-goal game for the Wild. “It’s disappointing. … You can’t get frustrated, but right now it’s tough to swallow.”

Coach Mike Yeo was proud of the effort, saying: “We’re going through a real tough time. I know a lot of other teams would not handle it the way that our guys are. We’re coming out and we’re fighting hard every game.”

Yeo said it’s just a matter of “climbing over that hurdle right now and finding that play.”

In all four games on the homestand, the Wild’s first line struck first. Twice it was Dany Heatley, twice Setoguchi.

Setoguchi finished a beautifully executed 3-on-1 pass from Mikko Koivu for a 1-0 Wild lead, but with 1:13 left in the first, Kane lost Nate Prosser and tied it after Blake Wheeler lost Nick Schultz and hit him with a goalmouth pass.

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NEW YORK — Rangers captain Ryan Callahan relished the euphoria of his overtime winner against the Buffalo Sabres while his teammates exhaled a collective sigh of relief.

The 26-year-old Callahan scored his 100th NHL goal 2:59 into the extra session, and New York snapped a rare losing streak with a 3-2 victory over Buffalo on Saturday night.

Callahan took a pass from defenseman Ryan McDonagh and broke in alone on goalie Ryan Miller before flipping a shot over Miller’s shoulder for his career-best 24th goal of the season.

“That puck will go to my parents for sure, and I know my grandma is very happy tonight,” said Callahan, a native of Rochester, N.Y., which is about 75 miles east of Buffalo. “We stayed even-keeled and kept our emotions about us. I thought it was a real solid 60-minute game out of us.”

New York was 0-1-1 in its previous two games, its first losing streak since mid-December. The team hadn’t lost three straight since the season’s first trio of games — including the opening two in Europe.

Rangers coach John Tortorella has relentlessly preached tight defense and opportunistic offense as the Rangers continue to dominate the Eastern Conference. Tortorella appreciated his team’s spontaneous joy after Callahan’s winner.

The Rangers bounced back from a tough 4-3 shootout loss at the New York Islanders on Friday night.

“We didn’t get frustrated, and stayed with it,” Tortorella said. “This was a big win for us. And I loved the celebration. So good for him.”

The Rangers got tying goals from Carl Hagelin in the second period, and Marian Gaborik in the third. New York (39-15-6) has an Eastern Conference-leading 84 points — seven more than the Boston Bruins [team stats].

“We wanted this badly. We’ve been a little bit all over the map the past two weeks,” said center Brad Richards, who assisted on Hagelin’s goal. “We were trusting and patient that we’d find a way to win it, and we did.”

Drew Stafford scored both goals for the Sabres (27-27-8), who are 11th in the East — six points below the postseason cutoff. Buffalo had won three straight. The Sabres, coming off a 3-0-1 homestand, opened a five-game road trip.

“We worked hard and we battled for a point,” Stafford said. “We just have to keep our focus and doing our best. It’s an uphill climb.”

Gaborik scored his team-leading 29th goal at 5:32 off a perfect pass from defenseman Michael Del Zotto to tie it 2-2. Playing in his 700th NHL game, Gaborik took the pass on his forehand in the left circle before streaking in on Miller and flicking a backhand over his left shoulder.

Stafford gave the Sabres a 2-1 lead 44 seconds into the third period with a wrist shot over the left shoulder of goalie Henrik Lundqvist during a power play.

Stafford opened the scoring at 15:29 of the first period off a pass from Tyler Ennis, who took advantage of a loose puck in the corner to the left of Lundqvist.

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PITTSBURGH — Evgeni Malkin, James Neal and Chris Kunitz have spent most of the last two months carrying the Pittsburgh Penguins while captain Sidney Crosby works his way back from concussion-like symptoms.

The Penguins’ top line hardly looks weary from the burden.

Malkin added to his NHL-leading point total, scoring his 30th goal of the season and dishing out four assists as the trio combined for three goals and 11 points in an 8-5 whipping of the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday.

“We talked before the game, we wanted to just move the puck,” Malkin said. “We felt great, everyone. (We were) just moving the puck. It’s an easy play.”

At least, it’s easy the way the Malkin and company are playing it. Kunitz had a goal and three assists, and Neal scored his 29th goal and added an assist as Pittsburgh roared back from an early 2-0 deficit to beat the Jets for the 10th straight time at home.

Jets coach Claude Noel lashed out at his team because of a lack of effort.

“Quite frankly, I find it disrespectful, you know, the players being disrespectful to each other, the goaltender and everything,” Noel said. “I thought it was poor. We didn’t win battles; wherever you want to go.”

Kris Letang scored twice and had an assist for the Penguins. Richard Park notched his 100th career NHL goal, and Jordan Staal scored in his first game after missing more than a month with a left knee injury.

“It was a wide-open game, and obviously we wanted to play a little bit tighter game,” said Staal, who also assisted on Dustin Jeffrey’s first-period goal. “We gave them one too many chances to get back in the game and we obviously did a great job offensively to stay ahead of them, but we’ve got to play better defensively if we want to keep winning.”

Tim Stapleton, Dustin Byfuglien and Bryan Little all had a goal and an assist for the Jets, but Winnipeg couldn’t keep up when the Penguins got going. Ondrej Pavelec stopped just 31 of 39 shots and fell to 1-9 against Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh’s Marc-Andre Fleury wasn’t much sharper, stopping 20 of 25 shots, but he had the luxury of playing behind an offense that dazzled at times.

The Jets, coming off a remarkable 3-2 shootout win over Washington on Thursday in which they scored twice in the final 3 minutes of regulation to force overtime, appeared ready to post their second major road win in three days after racing to a 2-0 lead barely 8 minutes in.

Yet there is a reason the Jets — formerly the Atlanta Thrashers — haven’t won in Pittsburgh since 2006. Burmistrov’s 10th goal of the season seemed to wake up the Penguins, who responded behind the brilliant play of Malkin.

The Russian played in his 400th regular-season game, and he appears to be getting better with age. In the midst of the finest stretch of his career, Malkin displayed all of his talents.

He set up Neal’s goal by flipping a faceoff back to the winger at the top of the circle that Neal wristed by Pavelec to tie the game at 2.

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Mike Fisher wasn’t feeling all that well when he skated with his Nashville Predators teammates on Tuesday morning.

Flulike symptoms had sidelined him for Sunday’s game at Dallas, and he took the day off on Monday, too. Uncertain if he would be able to play Tuesday night at home against Vancouver, the Predators recalled Chris Mueller from Milwaukee of the AHL for standby insurance.

He wasn’t needed.

Fisher hit the ice as though nothing was bothering him, scored one goal and assisting on two others in the Predators’ 4-1 win over the Canucks on Tuesday night.

“The last couple of days haven’t been very fun for him,” Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. “I was worried about his energy and strength.

“I thought he had good jump and good energy. He was going up against the Sedin line head-to-head, and I thought he played very strong against them.”

The Predators, who have won back-to-back games, are 11-0-3 when Fisher scores. The Canucks had a four-game winning streak end.

“I felt a lot better than I thought I was going to be,” Fisher said. “Judging by the morning I was pretty tired after a short skate.”

Fisher felt better at 5:42 of the second period when he scored a power-play goal. Fisher made a backdoor move toward the net, and Ryan Suter found him with a pass from the right circle. Fisher tipped the puck inside the left post and off of goalie Roberto Luongo’s right pad.

“Obviously, getting that goal kind of gives you a little bit of a boost,” Fisher said. “After the first few shifts I knew I would be fine. I really didn’t think it was going to be a huge issue. Everyone played well, and it was a huge win for us, so it was easy for me to fit in.”

At 13:16 of the second, Fisher assisted on a short-handed goal. Newly acquired Nashville defenseman Hal Gill took control of the puck in the Predators’ end and passed it to Fisher, who joined Sergei Kostitsyn on a 2-on-1 break. Kostitsyn shot from low in the right circle to beat Luongo.

With the Predators leading 2-0, Dale Weise scored the lone goal for Vancouver at 16:52 of the second. He scored with a backhand as he skated across the crease in front of goalie Pekka Rinne.

“I thought we played well,” Weise said. “I think my goal gave us a spark. Their goalie stood on his head.”

The Predators had several attempts to increase their lead in the third period with two shots bouncing off posts. David Legwand added an insurance goal with 2:51 left in the third period when he scored from the slot as Luongo pulled too far out of the net.

Fisher was credited with an assist on Legwand’s goal for his third three-point game of the season.

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MONTREAL — Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur has been playing his best hockey of the season with a heavy heart.

Brodeur revealed after the Devils’ 3-1 win in Montreal Sunday night that his father, Denis, underwent brain surgery Friday night.

Brodeur spent Saturday evening with Denis after the Devils flew to Montreal for Sunday’s game.

“He was fine,” Brodeur said. “He was walking around. He recognized me. So, that’s good.”

Brodeur said his father had been having some problems recently and was diagnosed Feb. 7. Brodeur went to see him on Feb. 8. He missed practice that day because of a minor right ankle injury and did not play the next night against St. Louis but was back in time for the morning skate that day.

Brodeur kept the news to himself until now out of respect for his father’s privacy.

Like his son, Denis Brodeur, 81, was a goaltender and won the Olympic bronze medal with Canada in the 1956 Games in Cortina d’Ampezzo. He went on to become the long-time team photographer for the Canadiens and the Montreal Expos and often brought a young Martin with him on his assignments.

It was a sad coincidence that Denis Brodeur underwent surgery on the day after former Expos catcher Gary Carter died of brain cancer. Brodeur called Carter “a family friend.”

The Canadiens honored Carter prior to Sunday’s game with a video tribute and moment of silence. They also wore jerseys with No. 8 and Carter on the back during pregame warm-ups.

“I grew up watching him,” Brodeur said. “I got to meet him a few times through my dad because he was the Expos’ photographer and for us he was a part of our family with a lot of discussions that we had about him and he really was genuinely a nice guy. You saw on the video, you could just look at his face and the way he conducted himself he was a class act. So, it’s definitely a sad day.”

The news about Brodeur’s father put a damper on another solid Devils’ victory. They improved to 8-1-1 since the All-Star break and climbed one point ahead of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia into fourth place in the Eastern Conference.

The Devils had been concentrating mostly on solidifying their spot in the Eastern Conference playoff race, but now they’re in position to have home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

“You think about it, but it’s not something we’re talking about,” said captain Zach Parise, who opened the scoring by deflecting in an Ilya Kovalchuk shot with 1:57 left in the first period. “But, I think it’s something now that’s definitely a possibility for us. If we keep playing the same way, I don’t see why that’s something we can’t do.”

The Devils got a gutsy effort from an injury-depleted defense corps that was missing Kurtis Foster (stiff back), Henrik Tallinder (blood clot in left leg) and Adam Larsson (bruised lower back). They had to play final 25 minutes with only five defensemen because Bryce Salvador was unable to continue playing through a stomach bug.

They were fortunate that defenseman Anton Volchenkov was able to return after missing the final 6:48 of the first period after he was struck in the mouth with a Tomas Plekanec slap shot. Volchenkov was back for the start of the second period, though, after receiving three stitches to close a cut on his upper lip.

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EDMONTON, Alberta — February is becoming a month to remember for Ray Whitney and the Phoenix Coyotes.

Whitney scored a goal, Mike Smith stopped 21 shots for his 10th straight victory and the streaking Coyotes beat the Edmonton Oilers 3-1 on Saturday to move into sole possession of first place in the Pacific Division.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Shane Doan also scored for the Coyotes, who won their fifth straight to jump two points ahead of San Jose. The division lead could have proven brief, but the Sharks lost 6-2 at Nashville later Saturday night.

Whitney said the Coyotes can’t get overconfident despite their recent run.

“We’re happy with what we have done,” he said. “We’ve played well at times and competed hard most of the time.

“But we have to be careful not to get too excited or overconfident because of how things have gone. We’ve played well, but if you look at our schedule, we have beat five teams that aren’t in the playoffs this month and caught a couple teams that were struggling. We have to keep our feet grounded.”

Martin Hanzal added two assists as Phoenix improved to 10-0-1 in February.

“We talked about making February a big month for us and it has been,” Doan said. “We’ve taken advantage of being at home a little bit more and having some time to rest. We know March is going to be a tough grind, though.”

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored for the Oilers, who lost for the first time in three games.

Phoenix opened the scoring when a shot drifting wide of the net by Eckman-Larsson hit the leg of Edmonton’s Jeff Petry and bounced past goalie Devan Dubnyk to make it 1-0 with just under 6 minutes left in the opening period.

Edmonton caught a break of its own less than a minute later.

Phoenix’s Lauri Korpikoski attempted a wraparound and the puck remained sitting on the ice between Dubnyk’s legs. Antoine Vermette poked it into the net, but it was ruled that an official had already blown the whistle and the score remained 1-0.

The Coyotes took a 2-0 lead late in the first as Ray Whitney blazed past defenseman Ryan Whitney then slid the puck through Dubnyk’s legs. It was Whitney’s 12th point in his last seven games against the Oilers, a team he served as stickboy for as a kid.

“Giving up the first two makes it a tough hill to climb against a team like that,” said Oilers forward Taylor Hall. “We made it really hard on ourselves.”

Edmonton scored about 8 minutes into the third when Ales Hemsky threw a puck in front and Nugent-Hopkins deflected it past Smith for his 14th of the season.

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