Coyotes Blank Stars

Mike Smith stopped 26 shots for his second shutout of the season, leading the Phoenix Coyotes to a 3-0 win over the Dallas Stars on Saturday night.

The win was the first for Phoenix against Dallas this season after dropping two games in overtime to the Stars.

Smith, who blanked the Sharks in San Jose on Nov. 12, improved to 11-4-3 this season with his 13th career shutout.

After a 5-0 loss to Vancouver on home ice the night before, Smith rebounded with a solid effort and needed to stop only 14 shots through the first two periods.

Mikkel Boedker scored in the first, Ray Whitney in the second and Taylor Pyatt in the final period for the Coyotes, who took 14 of their 22 shots in the opening session.

Phoenix took an early lead when Boedker poked in a loose puck in the crease for his fourth goal of the season with less than 5 minutes remaining in the opening period.

The goal came against reserve goalie Andrew Raycroft, who replaced starter Kari Lehtonen about 5:30 into the game. Phoenix defenseman Derek Morris's slap shot caught Lehtonen on the right knee just above the goalie pad. The play was called for an offside but Morris' shot came a just before the whistle sounded.

After being helped off the ice, Lehtonen immediately went to the locker room and did not return. Coming into the game, Lehtonen had a 1.98 goal against average in seven road games.

The Stars also lost both defenseman Trevor Daley and forward Vernon Fiddler to upper-body injuries. Neither returned.

Early in the middle period, Whitney's one-timer off a Radim Vrbata pass just over 6 minutes into the session pushed the Phoenix lead to 2-0.

Midway through the final period, Pyatt converted a rebound off Langkow's shot for his third goal of the season.

Notes: For the third straight game, the Stars were without captain Brenden Morrow (upper-body injury), who was placed on injured reserve. . Daymond Langkow returned to the Phoenix lineup after missing eight games due to a death in his family. He picked up two assists for his first multi-point game of the season. . D Keith Yandle's two assists were his sixth multi-point game of the season. . Against the Coyotes, Dallas began a stretch where its plays seven of its next nine on the road.