GLENDALE—The Arizona Coyotes haven’t had many nights like this one. Same for the Blackhawks, at least before this season.
Max Domi, Clayton Keller, Alex Goligoski and Tobias Rieder each had a goal and an assist, and the Coyotes pounded the slumping Blackhawks 6-1 on Monday.The Coyotes ended a nine-game losing streak to the Blackhawks and the sent last-place Hawks to their season-high sixth straight loss.Antti Raanta had 37 saves for Arizona. The Coyotes’ six goals were their highest total of the season.
”Sometimes you’re a little bit lucky and you can make the saves,” said Raanta, who had 40 saves in a shootout loss to Philadelphia on Saturday night. ”Play a couple of years, you kind of have a taste for what they can do.”
Domi put Arizona ahead to stay just 92 seconds into the game. Zac Rinaldo provided a screen in front of Blackhawks goalie Anton Forsberg, and Domi’s shot went in for his fourth goal of the season.The 22-year-old Domi stopped a 21-game drought with his first goal since Dec. 16.Keller’s 16th goal made it 2-0 at 9:22 of the first. Keller passed from behind the net to Derek Stepan, and Stepan’s shot bounced off Forsberg’s pads to Keller for a backhand follow.No punches were thrown in a scuffle between Jakob Chychrun and Wingels after Wingels leveled former Blackhawks defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson with a check early in the second. But Chychrun and Domi were given two minutes for roughing and the Blackhawks got a power play.Alex DeBrincat then scored the 20th goal of his rookie season, trimming Arizona’s lead to 2-1 at 4:33.But the Coyotes responded with two more goals in the second. Goligoski’s shot went underneath Forsberg at 7:06, and Rieder tipped in a power-play goal at 9:33 after Jeff Glass took over.
”We’re just trying to find something positive to build off of and just can’t do it right now,” Patrick Kane said. ”If we get down in a game right now or get behind, sometimes it’s deflating.”
The Coyotes finished off the rout with Nick Cousins’ redirection of Goligoski’s shot at 7:11 of the third, and Christian Dvorak’s ninth goal with 4:22 to play.
”You lose the game without even giving yourself a chance to get two points,” Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. ”That’s what we play for. We’re in the winning business and that’s what’s frustrating right now.”
NOTES—It was the 3,000th game in the history of the former Winnipeg/current Arizona NHL franchise. … Blackhawks G Corey Crawford took the ice and faced some shots during the morning skate. Crawford has been out since late December with an upper body injury. … The Blackhawks are 4-4-3 in the first game of back-to-back sets this season. They complete their 11th back-to-back set of games when they play Vegas on Tuesday. … Most fans in the crowd were in Blackhawks gear, and they booed at the playing of a song in the arena that contained the lyrics ”I hate Chicago.” … NBA Hall of Famer and former Phoenix Suns great Charles Barkley performed the ceremonial puck drop. He was given a standing ovation.