Morris and Hanzal Goals Lift Coyotes Past Predators
2012 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs

Phoenix, AZ

Derek Morris and Martin Hanzal scored in the second period, leading the Phoenix Coyotes to a 2-1 win over the Nashville Predators Monday in game 5 of a Western Conference second-round matchup.

Mike Smith collected 31 saves for the 'Yotes who won the series 4-1 and advanced to the conference finals.

Colin Wilson scored with just six minutes left for the Predators, but Nashville was unable to net the equalizer.

Pekka Rinne stopped 17 of 19 shots between the pipes for the Preds, who had forwards Alexander Radulov and Andrei Kostitsyn back from two-game suspensions.

Phoenix will go on to play the L.A. Kings in the conference finals.

Morris and Hanzal Goals Lift Coyotes Past Predators

Tentative Deal Made to Sell Phoenix Coyotes

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announced Monday that the league has reached an agreement with a group headed by former San Jose Sharks CEO Greg Jamison to pursue the Phoenix Coyotes.

Jamison's group must formalize the purchase agreement with the league and gain approval from the Board of Governors. They also have to come to terms on a lease agreement for Jobing.com Arena with the City of Glendale before the sale can be completed.

"We had a series of meetings [Monday] with Greg Jamison and the City of Glendale and basically the status of things is we have an understanding with Mr. Jamison that we are going to proceed with he and his group to reach a formal agreement with the purchase and sale of the Coyotes," Bettman said. "While Greg is working on that with us, he's also going to be simultaneously looking to conclude an agreement with the City of Glendale.

"If both things track as we hope they will in the not too distant future -- though I won't put a specific timeframe on it -- we will be in a position, subject to board approval and council approval, to have the sale of the Coyotes finalized and effectuated."

The Coyotes were put into bankruptcy by an ownership group led by Jerry Moyes in May 2009, and the League purchased the team in October of that year.

The team has been owned by the league for three seasons, making the playoffs in each one of those campaigns. Now Bettman is eager to see the team change hands and said he hopes the timeline "can be counted in weeks as opposed to months."

"With the group that Greg has assembled, he is comfortable the financial wherewithal is there and we'll continue to do our due diligence as we do with any franchise ownership transfer," Bettman said. "This has been an extremely complicated situation that had to be dealt with on a number of tracks and while we did a deal that could have proceeded about a year ago, interference by outside third parties made it impossible for that to proceed, so we had to start over again."

Jamison said the the principals of his ownership group will eventually be unveiled, but he didn't want that announcement to overshadow Game 5 of the Western Conference Semifinals at the arena Monday night.

"You have to have goals. You have to believe that things can get accomplished," Jamison said. "We firmly believe that we can continue on a path, a good path that has been started the last couple of years, and we want to build on that path.

"It is basically just good, hard work. It is exciting and this is a product we believe in. We want to thrive, continue to thrive here in Glendale. It really comes down to hard work, believing in a set of goals and executing them."

#3 Phoenix vs. #4 Nashville

Date	Time (ET)	Matchup
Phoenix Coyotes win series 4 games to 1
Friday, April 27, 2012	9:00 p.m.	Phoenix Coyotes 4 - Nashville Predators 3
Sunday, April 29, 2012	8:00 p.m.	Phoenix Coyotes 5 - Nashville Predators 3
Wednesday, May 2, 2012	9:00 p.m.	Nashville Predators 2 - Phoenix Coyotes 0
Friday, May 4, 2012	7:30 p.m.	Phoenix Coyotes 1 - Nashville Predators 0
Monday, May 7, 2012	10:00 p.m.	Phoenix Coyotes 2 - Nashville Predators 1