Phoenix On Umberger Shootouts

Hockey Betting Lines

Sabres forward Thomas Vanek, who leads Buffalo with 19 goals and is second on the club with 40 points, left Tuesday's tilt with an illness and is questionable for tonight.

(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Phoenix Coyotes have been playing solid hockey as of late for 65 minutes. It's the few minutes after that where the club has been struggling. The Coyotes, losers of two straight shootouts, try to get back on track tonight against the league's last-place club, the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Radim Vrbata netted his team-leading 21st goal, Taylor Pyatt also scored and Mike Smith made 40 saves. Phoenix is 11th overall in the West with 47 points, three back of a playoff spot.

The Coyotes have lost six of their last seven on the road and close out their swing tonight in Columbus against a Blue Jackets club that has lost 10 of its last 12 games and is last in the NHL with 27 points.

Columbus wrapped up a four-game road trip with only one win and will play its next four at home. The Blue Jackets have lost four straight and seven of eight at home.

Umberger joins forward Jeff Carter (separated right shoulder) and defenseman James Wisniewski (broken left ankle) on the sidelines.

The Coyotes and Blue Jackets are meeting for the first time this season after Phoenix took three of four encounters a season ago. The Coyotes have won six of seven and 10 of the last 12 meetings overall, but did have a six-game winning streak at Columbus end in the last meeting there on Feb. 25, 2011.

Washington snapped a two-game slide on Wednesday with a 1-0 win over Pittsburgh, moving into a tie with the Penguins for the eighth spot in the East with 46 points. Tomas Vokoun made 30 saves for his second shutout of the season and 46th of his career, while Jason Chimera potted the only goal.

Washington moved to 13-0-0 when leading after two periods and is now within four points of Florida for the top spot in the division. The Panthers host the Penguins this evening.

The Lightning have also been a solid club at home this season, but dropped a 5-2 decision to the visiting Hurricanes last night. It marked the third time this year that Tampa Bay has dropped five games in a row and it will look to avoid suffering six straight defeats for the first time since Dec. 7-17, 2009.

"I would say that this is the hardest [loss] to take this year," Boucher admitted. "We always talk about attitude first, work ethic and discipline. In the first period, we had none of those."

comments

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•    I remember this period of time, 2 weeks, where I had a nose bleed. Every day. 14 days.

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•    Just great. My stomach was growling & husband thought the noise was coming from coyotes in a field behind our house.

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•    #Habs Carey #Price stopped #Flyers Sean #Couturier with his back turned. With his record in shootouts, he may want to do it every time. #NHL

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•    I said the same thing.. “MontreAlTheTime: Carey should do all his shootouts looking at the guy's refdS1Y

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•    Last calls for Honestdms an shootouts ..

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•    Yall wanna see some nasty shit go to youtube and type in lion eats buffalo alive shit crazy AF

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•    i hear the coyotes howling in my back yard. #scary

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•    AND TOMORROW NIGHT ITS SEASON SIX OF DEXTER! YAAAAYYYYY

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