Coyotes take bite out of Sharks

(Reuters) - The Phoenix Coyotes broke out of an extended slump in form with a confidence-boosting 5-3 home win over Pacific Division rival San Jose on Saturday.

The Coyotes (23-21-8) won for just the fourth time in their past 13 games and halted the division leading Sharks' three-game win streak in the process.

"San Jose is one of the top teams in the conference, and this is a quality win," Phoenix defenseman Keith Yandle told reporters.

"We harped for three days in practice of being a better and more consistent team and we did a great job of execution."

San Jose (29-15-6) opened the scoring early in the second period with a goal from the red-hot Logan Couture, who extended his point-scoring streak to six games, a span which includes four goals and five assists.

The lead was short-lived, however, Raffi Torres responding within a minute and Finland's Lauri Korpikoski put Phoenix ahead before the middle of the period.

Jamie McGinn leveled the score for San Jose on the powerplay three minutes later redirecting a shot by Brent Burns.

Czech center Martin Hanzal's deflected shot in the final minute of the second period to give the Coyotes a 3-2 advantage, despite being outshot 12-6 in the second period.

"The puck bounced our way a little bit," said Phoenix coach Dave Tippett. "I thought we competed hard. I thought we did some things better than the other night, but ultimately, we got a couple of good bounces that went our way."

Korpikoski scored his second eight minutes into the third period to give the Coyotes a two-goal cushion only for Partick Marleau to narrow the lead to 4-3 in the final minute.

But it was too little, too late as Radim Vrbata scored into an empty net with one second remaining to close the scoring.

"A tough night," Sharks captain Joe Thornton said. "We outshot them and had our chances to win. But we had some fluke things happen, and we lose the game."

(Reporting by Mike Mouat in Windsor, Ontario. Editing by Alastair Himmer)