GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Mike Smith stopped 29 shots for his first shutout of the season, Antoine Vermette had a power-play goal in the first period, and the Phoenix Coyotes beat the Vancouver Canucks 1-0 on Thursday night. In a game full of penalties and killed power plays, the Coyotes got stellar goaltending and just enough offence while the Canucks continued to struggle on the offence. Phoenix also got a break on a reviewed goal in the third period. Vancouver lost for the eighth time in nine games as an apparent goal from captain Henrik Sedin near the midpoint of the third was waved off after a replay review. Smith stopped Kevin Bieksas shot but the rebound came to Sedin, who knocked the puck into the net with his body. The Canucks have one goal in their last three games and lost all three on their road trip to Southern California and Arizona. Still, Vancouver had a chance to draw even after a high-sticking double-minor against centre Martin Hanzal. The Canucks were on a power play for all but the last 4 seconds of the game, with six attackers for the final minute, but failed to score. The teams combined for five power plays in the first period, three for the Canucks and two for the Coyotes. Phoenix scored on its second man-advantage situation with 7:09 remaining in the period. Keith Yandle faked a shot from the point and passed to Vermette in front of the red line almost directly to goalie Eddie Lacks left. Vermette took the tough-angle shot and the puck glanced off a Canucks defender and past Lack. Earlier, Lacks reflexes kept the game scoreless when he turned away a good opportunity for Oliver Ekman-Larsson at the 6:18 mark. The Canucks started the second period on a power play that didnt produce results. Daniel Sedin had an open net 4:32 into the period, but his shot sailed high and over the goal. The Coyotes had a 3-on-1 chance with just over 8 minutes left in the second, but Lack stretched out to stop Radim Vrbatas shot and the Canucks cleared the puck, to the delight of a large contingent of blue-clad Vancouver fans inside Jobing.com Arena. Ekman-Larsson hit the post with a shot with 24 seconds left in the period and the Coyotes on their fifth power play of the game. Vancouvers penalty minutes were an improvement from the 142 combined from the Canucks previous two games. The Canucks had several good chances in the third period but Smith turned them away each time, including a save on Brad Richardsons wrist shot with no defender in front of him at the 1:20 mark. NOTES: The Coyotes improved to 16-7-3 this season when scoring first. ... Phoenix waived D Rostislav Klesla before Thursdays game, and activated D Zbynek Michalek from injured reserve. It was the first game action for Michalek since Dec. 17 at Montreal, when he suffered a lower body injury. ... Canucks G Roberto Luongo missed his sixth straight game with an ankle injury. ... Phoenix and Vancouver meet twice more this season, once in each city. https://www.tennesseeshopfootballshop.com/17-Jersey .ca look back at each of the Top 10 stories of 2013. Today, we look back at LeBron James and the Miami Heat winning their second straight NBA championship. https://www.tennesseeshopfootballshop.com/77-Jersey . Jimmy Howard made 44 saves and Henrik Zetterberg scored two goals, leading the Detroit Red Wings to a 5-1 victory over the Dallas Stars on Saturday night. https://www.tennesseeshopfootballshop.com/51-Jersey. Replay backed him up. Adeiny Hechavarria immediately followed the ruling with a go-ahead sacrifice fly for the Miami Marlins, who held on to beat the Seattle Mariners 3-2 on Sunday completing a three-game sweep. https://www.tennesseeshopfootballshop.com/81-Jersey . Red Sox outfielder Jonny Gomes, the bandleader of the beard brigade during Bostons run to the 2013 World Series title, said he will be shaving his off before spring training so that he can file it "in the archive" with his memories of the teams improbable championship. https://www.tennesseeshopfootballshop.com/34-Jersey . -- Pinch-runner Rajai Daviss decision to steal third base just as Oakland catcher Derek Norris was throwing the ball back to the pitcher caught most everyone by surprise -- including several of his Detroit teammates.TORONTO -- Ken Hitchcock has a theory on how to deal with his team not scoring a lot of goals. "Just not talk about it," he said. "Talk about something else." Thats the approach the Stanley Cup-winning coach is taking with his St. Louis Blues, who have gone through a mini scoring slump. Of course they still lead the Western Conference, which is based on large part on being one of the NHLs stingiest defensive teams. "Ive always believed, like a lot of coaches, if youre not scoring, talk about checking. If you check better, youre going to get more chances," Hitchcock said Monday at Air Canada Centre. "The structure of our game, were just going to weather the storm. The structure of our game has got to stay solid like it is right now, and then well weather it and well come out on the other side fine." An 82-game regular season is a totally different animal than the Olympics, but a similar philosophy guided Team Canada to gold. Worries about a lack of offence from star forwards -- at least externally -- lasted well into the playoff round, but those were quieted by dominant play on the puck. "Its about controlling the hockey game. And you dont control the hockey game with offence, you control it with checking," said Hitchcock, who was one of Mike Babcocks assistants in Sochi. "We were tied or leading by one goal -- we werent concerned with the way we were playing that we werent scoring. It doesnt matter if youre leading 5-4 going into the third period or 1-0 as long as you have the lead youre in good shape." Like with Canada, Hitchcock said he feels comfortable seeing the Blues checking well because it means theyre "committed to the right things." One of those things hes proud of is that for a couple of games in a row St. Louis has displayed a high work standard. To Hitchcock, thats a bigger deal -- the way the Blues play -- than having ann offence thats always rolling or a power play thats constantly clicking at a high rate.dddddddddddd As far as special teams go, hes more concerned about the penalty kill and what that could mean come playoff time. "Ive seen a lot of (teams) who have had bad power plays do really well in the playoffs, but Ive never seen any team play worth a damn if you cant kill penalties," Hitchcock said. "Its more on can you kill the penalty at the right time because you can live with poor power plays and still win hockey games. But you cant survive if you cant kill penalties because your whole game falls apart, youre nervous, youre uptight, you panic and weve got to be great killing penalties." That would also follow Canadas blueprint. The gold-medal-winning Canadians converted on just 16.67 per cent of their power plays in six games, middle of the pack in the tournament, yet led the Olympics with a 93.75 per cent penalty-killing rate, giving up one goal on 16 chances. Hitchcock, though, must guide the Blues through choppier waters than Canada endured at the Olympics. Sixteen playoff victories are required to win the Stanley Cup, and most of those wont be by large margins. Perhaps thats one way the Blues balance plays in their favour. The have no one player in the top 35 in the league in scoring, but 10 with at least 30 points, led by Alex Steen and T.J. Oshies 54. St. Louis isnt built on scoring, which means they could be built to withstand droughts like this. "Youre going to go through stages where youre not scoring, and youre still going to have to win hockey games," Hitchcock said. "If youve got to win for a week or 10 days, youve got to win 1-0, 2-1, youve got to do it until you get back engaged where youre going to score again." Until then, the Blues are happy to talk about -- and execute on -- checking well and frustrating opponents in the process. ' ' '