Ray Whitney scored in overtime to give the Phoenix Coyotes a 4-3 win over the Nashville Predators Friday as the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs began in Glendale with yet another extra-time thriller. After an opening round that featured a record 16 games decided in overtime, the trend continued in the second with Whitney sending the capacity crowd home happy when he backhanded the puck past Nashville netminder Pekka Rinne while falling with just under six minutes remaining in the first overtime period. “I held for a second and then went hard to the net, I was a little bit fortunate on the bounce but certainly we will take that for sure,” said Whitney. The clash between two teams with defense first philosophies was expected to be highlighted by a goaltending duel between the Predators' Vezina finalist Rinne and the Coyotes' Mike Smith but instead it produced some wide open, end-to-end action. Smith had to be particularly sharp as the Predators outshot Phoenix 42-24. The Coyotes, who have had six of their seven playoff games going into overtime, opened the scoring on a powerplay goal from Radim Vrbata that brought the crowd to its feet. Vrbata, who led Phoenix in regular season scoring, whipped a shot from close range past Rinne for his first of the playoffs. The Predators leveled the score on a lucky bounce when the puck deflected off the glass to Brandon Yip, who slammed it into the vacant net when Smith left the crease thinking he would make the play behind his own net. Phoenix regained the lead early in the second on a goal from Rostislav Klesla but Nashville answered again with Andrei Kostitsyn beating Smith. The Coyotes took a 3-2 lead into the second intermission when Mikkel Boedker converted a two-on-one before Nashville's Martin Erat converted a power play with less than five minutes to play in the third to force overtime. Game Two of the best-of-seven series is on Sunday in Glendale. Champs Bruins pack up The Bruins tried every tactic possible to avoid the dreaded “Stanley Cup Hangover.” They didn't work. Different lineups, different travel schedules, extra rest, you name it. But Boston still slumped through certain times of the regular season, and though they won the Northeast Division and snagged the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs, there they were on Friday, packing up at the TD Garden after a first-round loss to Washington some 10 months after hoisting the Stanley Cup.
