Coyotes top Predators in Game 1 on Whitney's OT goal

One that got by: Nashville's Martin Erat scores past Phoenix's Mike Smith in the third period of Game 1 on Friday night. The Coyotes edged the Predators 4-3 in overtime. AP

GLENDALE, Arizona — The Phoenix Coyotes have had a knack for withstanding nearly everything their opponent throws at them before landing the big blow.

They know it can't keep going like this.

Ray Whitney scored 14:04 into overtime and the Coyotes survived another late goal in regulation to open the Western Conference semifinals with a 4-3 victory over the Nashville Predators on Friday night.

"The third period they cranked it up and we didn't respond," said Phoenix's Dave Tippett, who looked more like the losing coach than the winner. "We're fortunate to get the first one under our belt, but if we expect to have a chance to win this series, we're going to have to be far better than we were tonight."

It's been like this pretty much throughout the playoffs for the cardiac Coyotes.

Phoenix was 33-1 when leading after two periods during the regular season, but has struggled to close out playoff games. The Coyotes allowed four tying third-period goals against Chicago in the first round and did it again against the Predators, giving up one to Martin Erat on a power play with 4:42 left.

Even with the Predators dominating the third period and overtime, the Coyotes wouldn't let them score, getting big saves from goalie Mike Smith and shuttling the puck out of their zone when they got tired — which was a lot.

With a rare faceoff in Nashville's end in overtime, Phoenix won its first second-round playoff game as an NHL franchise when Whitney flipped a backhander between Pekka Rinne's pads after Martin Hanzal slipped a pass to him just outside the crease.

Smith made 39 saves, Rostislav Klesla had a goal and an assist, and Phoenix won despite being outshot 25-7 after the second period. Radim Vrbata and Mikkel Boedker also scored for the Coyotes, the first team in NHL history to have six of their first seven playoff games go to overtime.

Game 2 is Sunday in the desert.

"When we are up by a goal we seem to sit back and let teams come at us," said Whitney, who also had an assist on Vrbata's goal. "It is frustrating. It is something we discussed and tried to fix, tried to change."

Nashville started slow, fought back every time Phoenix scored and mostly controlled the game after the second period.

The Predators couldn't finish it off, though, unable to beat Smith after Erat's goal to lose a game they probably should have won.

Brandon Yip had his first goal of the playoffs and Andrei Kostitsyn also scored for Nashville, which had a 42-24 advantage in shots.

"We had lots of chances," Predators coach Barry Trotz said. "We just didn't have that one extra puck that went in."

This mirror-image matchup was expected to come down to which team could play the same style best.

Both teams have superb goaltenders, smart coaches and a defense-first style — attributes they used to get by more-skilled opponents in the first round.

After winning their first division title as an NHL franchise, the Coyotes survived a rash of injuries and five overtime games to beat the Chicago Blackhawks and advance in the playoffs for the first time since 1987, when the team was still in Winnipeg.

Nashville finished six wins and seven points ahead of Phoenix, but was the Western Conference's fourth seed because the Coyotes won the Pacific Division.

The Predators beat nemesis Detroit in a five games in the first round behind Rinne, a finalist for the Vezina Trophy for the second straight year. That gave Nashville a week off, plenty of time to heal and rest up — and gather some rust, apparently.

Sluggish and out of synch, the Predators were on their heels early, leading to a power play midway through the first period. Vrbata capitalized, flipping a wrister from the left circle that skipped off Rinne's mask and over his stick shoulder.

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