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  Wednesday, Apr. 5 10:00pm ET
Phoenix 3, Nashville 2
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE

PHOENIX (AP) _ No Keith Tkachuk, no problem for the Phoenix Coyotes.

Mikael Renberg scored his 150th career goal as the Coyotes, missing an injured Tkachuk, beat the Nashville Predators 3-2 Wednesday night for their fourth win in five games.

The Coyotes pulled even with the Los Angeles Kings for fifth place in the Western Conference.

Mika Alatalo and Shane Doan also scored for Phoenix, which plays host to San Jose on Friday before ending the regular season Sunday at Dallas.

Goalkeeper Sean Burke preserved the win with 13:54 remaining when he stopped Scott Walker on a breakaway after the defenseman had stolen a lazy pass at the top of the Predators' zone.

Greg Johnson and David Gosselin scored for the Predators, who have lost six of their last eight.

The Coyotes have made their late-season run without Tkachuk, who practiced on Wednesday but was scratched for the fourth straight game with a sprained left ankle.

Tkachuk originally sprained the ankle Jan. 31 in a 5-3 victory over Detroit, sat out one game, then aggravated the injury Feb. 12 against Calgary and has appeared in just three games since.

Tkachuk also was given a two-game suspension for high-sticking Colorado Avalanche defenseman Aaron Miller on March 23.

Tkachuk, who recorded consecutive 50-goal seasons in 1996-97 and 1997-98, also has missed time because of a sore neck and neck and back spasms. The 28-year-old left winger has missed 29 games this year and 49 games over the past three seasons to injury.

Phoenix is 13-15-2 without Tkachuk in the lineup.

Nashville took a 1-0 lead at 8:23 of the first period when Vitali Yachmenev passed the puck to Johnson, who was standing alone in the low slot. After a couple of fakes, Johnson pulled the puck to his forehand and flipped it over Burke's right shoulder.

Renberg tied the game five minutes later on a hard shot from between the circles. Nashville goalie Mike Dunham got a piece of the shot with his right skate, but the puck trickled behind him to give Renberg his first goal since March 11.

Alatalo used a fortuitous bounce to put the Coyotes ahead 2-1 at 3:15 of the second period. Louie DeBrusk bounced a 60-foot wrist shot off the far post, the puck rolled softly onto Alatalo's stick, and he scored into an open net.

Doan extended Phoenix's lead to 3-1 when he fought off a check by Karlis Skrastins and scored midway through the second period.

Gosselin pulled the Predators to 3-2 with 1:54 left in the period when he redirected Skrastins' knuckling shot past Burke.

 


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