The Chicago Blackhawks broke their slump, with the Arizona Coyotes their victims
Going into the final game before the All Star Break, both teams had their issues.
Da Windy City
The Blackhawks had gone a rather unspectacular 5-5 in their last ten games — including a loss to the Edmonton Oilers — while the Arizona Coyotes themselves were riding a five game losing streak. Still, one team was more determined to pull out of their slump than the other — and it didn’t take long (seven minutes) for Jonathan Toews to take a perfect pass in the slot and fire a snapshot past the screened Mike Smith.
One thing you don’t want to do when you play Chicago is allow them to score first, to get their “machine” going — and indeed it did get going. Andrew Shaw scored his two goals, taking the Blackhawks into the locker room after the first period with a 2-0 lead, and things didn’t improve for the Yotes when they were outscored 3-1 in the second period.
Patrick Kane notching his 200th NHL goal en route to a 6-1 win for the Hawks, which the Coyotes would like to forget. Goalie Mike Smith said:
"“We talk about it all the time, about staying out of the box,” Smith said. “Obviously, our penalty kill hasn’t been where it needs to be. I think, you put yourself in penalty trouble against a team with high skill, you’re going to get burned. It was just another instance of it tonight. But right from the drop of the puck, we were … just got outcompeted, outworked in a lot of different areas.”"
Luckily, we’re here to give you the lighter side of the game — and with the Coyotes taking on a team they’ve done quite well against in the past on Tuesday, here’s a good way to laugh off the last big loss that came their way.