Sedin twins combine to sink Phoenix Coyotes

Defenseman Keith Ballard, right, of the Phoenix Coyotes gets in the face of center Henrik Sedin of the Vancouver Canucks in Vancouver, Canada, on Monday. PHOTO: AFP

Henrik Sedin scored two goals, both on rebounds of shots by twin brother Daniel, and the Vancouver Canucks defeated the Phoenix Coyotes 3-1 on Monday.

Taylor Pyatt also scored on the power play and Roberto Luongo stopped 25 shots as the Canucks moved into a tie with Calgary and Colorado for sixth place in the Western Conference.

Daniel Carcillo scored for the Coyotes and Ilya Bryzgalov finished with 25 saves. Phoenix, 10th in the West, dropped seven points behind Vancouver for the final playoff spot with nine games left.

Wild 3, Avalanche 1

At St. Paul, Minnesota, Brent Burns and Branko Radivojevic scored, Niklas Backstrom stopped 29 shots and Minnesota took over sole possession of first place in the Northwest Division.

The game began a final stretch that features four teams with division title aspirations.

"It's exactly like a playoff game," Minnesota forward Brian Rolston said. "The good thing about all of us being around the 84 [point] mark is we'll all be playoff ready. These last nine games will be a playoff game every night because we're all fighting, scratching and clawing to get into the playoffs."