For the most part, the series between the Phoenix Coyotes and Nashville Predators has been fairly tame in terms of physical play, but Friday's Game 4 has been a different story.
The physical play was early and often, and a fight between Kyle Chipchura and Paul Gaustad put an exclamation point on it. Chipchura and Gaustad dropped the gloves at center ice behind the play at the midway mark of the period. Neither seemed to get the best of each other, but Gaustad galloped to the penalty box after the fight to a shower of cheers from the crowd.
The Coyotes outshot Nashville 9 to 5 in the period, and almost every Coyote shot was a quality scoring chance.
The only Coyote goal would come off the stick of captain Shane Doan. Doan would pick up the puck from teammate Mikkel Boedker in the corner and then rip a backhand from the slot on net. The puck made its way through traffic, barley touching the post and into the net.
Lauri Korpikoski remains sidelined with an injury for the Coyotes, and Alexander Radulov and Andrei Kostitsyn are being listed as healthy scratches after being suspended for Game 3 for the Predators.