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Cogliano Has Hat-Trick To Lead Ducks Over Coyotes 4-1

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) -- Andrew Cogliano scored three straight goals in the second period and the Anaheim Ducks opened the second half of the season with a 4-1 win over the Phoenix Coyotes on Tuesday night.

Phoenix had the jump in the first period, and Cogliano took it away quickly in the second, notching his first career hat trick in a 7-minute span.

His first came after Phoenix goalie Mike Smith got caught behind the net, and the second was scored on a tough-angle shot that squeezed under his armpit.

Cogliano finished off the natural hat trick -- and Smith -- at 6:10 on another soft goal, flipping a backhander between the goalie's pads for a 3-1 lead.

Teemu Selanne scored late and Jonas Hiller stopped 24 shots in Anaheim's ninth win in 11 games.

Ray Whitney scored in the first period for the Coyotes, but had a second goal waved off early in the third after Martin Hanzal was called for interfering with Hiller.

Phoenix desperately needed the All-Star break. Anaheim hoped it wouldn't kill its momentum.

The Coyotes labored through the first half of the season, a string of injuries, long stints on the road, and an inability to finish leaving them 12th in the Western Conference.

Phoenix players missed 84 games due to injury, including 18 by Smith and Hanzal, and had some brutal road trips, covering an estimated 28,000 miles in the six weeks before the break.

Tired and battered, the Coyotes struggled to score at key times, losing 10 straight one-goal games, eight times in overtime or shootouts, and ranking second-to-last in the NHL on the power play, converting 12.6 percent of their chances.

The Ducks followed a solid start to the season with a dismal stretch, losing 16 of 18 games starting at the end of October, a stretch that led to the firing of coach Randy Carlyle.

Anaheim snapped up Bruce Boudreau, who had been fired by Washington two days earlier, and followed another bad stretch with one of the best runs of the season. Relying on superb special teams, a resurgent offense and steady goaltending, the Ducks closed out the first half on an 8-1-1 spurt, second-best in the NHL since Jan. 6.

Even with that, Anaheim entered the second half of the season 13th in the West, 12 points behind eighth-place Minnesota with 34 games left.

The Coyotes were the team with the spark early, creating several good chances before Whitney scored midway through the first period. Hanzal triggered the play by creating a turnover in Anaheim's zone, and Radim Vrbata set up Whitney's 16th of the season with a nice feed to the far post.

The Ducks came out flying in the second, leading to Cogliano's three goals, but the Coyotes had a chance to cut into the lead with a two-man advantage of nearly 90 seconds that spanned the periods. Phoenix couldn't convert at the end of the second period, and had Whitney's goal waved off early in the third.

The Coyotes generated a few good chances later in the period without scoring, and Selanne put it away with his 16th of the season -- an empty-net goal.

NOTES: Ducks LW Matt Beleskey had an assist after missing three games with a hand injury. ... Coyotes C Daymond Langkow left midway through the first after being struck in the face with a stick, but returned later in the period with gauze in his nose and a bandage on it. ... Anaheim has killed 38 of 42 penalties in 16 games after holding Phoenix scoreless in three advantages.

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