Boyd scores twice as Coyotes snap Canucks' 5-game win streak
Pettersson collects goal and assist for Vancouver in 3-2 road loss
The Arizona Coyotes held a team meeting following the all-star break in hopes of finding some kind of a spark during another disappointing season.
Whatever was said worked, shaping the Coyotes into one of the NHL's better team since the break.
"We kind of hit the refresh button and ever since then we've been, positive each and every day and playing the right way," said Coyotes forward Lawson Crouse, who scored in the third period. "That's what's led us to all these wins and points streaks."
Prosvetov helped the Coyotes withstand a string of early penalties in his second start this season and Boyd had his second multi-goal game this month after going five seasons without one.
WATCH | Boyd leads Coyotes past Canucks:
Arizona is 5-0-2 since losing to Carolina on March 3, has won five straight home games and its 25 points since the All-Star break is seventh-best in the NHL.
"We've just got a lot of belief in each other right now," Boyd said. "We've proven to ourselves that if we play the right way, any given night we can be at any given team. I think that's what you're seeing right now."
Vancouver's Elias Pettersson had a goal and an assist, and Andrei Kuzmenko scored for the second straight game. Thatcher Demko had 24 saves for the Canucks, who went 0 for 5 on the power play to see their five-game winning streak end.
Prosvetov was sharp on short notice his first start of the season, turning away 39 shots in a win over Nashville on March 9 after learning he had been recalled from Tucson of the AHL just before noon.
The Russian rookie stood little chance of stopping the puck when Coyotes defenceman Michael Kesserling made a bad pass in his own end midway through the first period. Kuzmenko, the NHL's most accurate shooter at 27.3 per cent, finished off the tic-tac-toe passing from Pettersson and Anthony Beauvillier just outside the crease.
The Coyotes gathered some steam after a penalty-filled first period, including Zack Kassian's game misconduct, and tied it on Boyd's wrister from the left circle with 30 seconds left.
The Canucks committed another penalty early in the third period and Crouse cashed in, flipping in a sharp-angle shot over Demko's stick shoulder.
"You're down by two going in the third or whatever, they score the first or second shift, you're not going to come back every time," Canucks defenceman Quinn Hughes said.
They tried.
Vancouver turned up the pressure after that and Pettersson beat Prosvetov from the left circle to make it 3-2.
The Canucks pulled Demko for an extra attacker the final two minutes, but Prosvetov made a couple of late saves to preserve the win.
Vancouver faces the Kings in Los Angeles on Saturday night.
