Arizona Coyotes beat Blackhawks after falling behind early

The Arizona Coyotes found a way to get it done last night on the road against the Chicago Blackhawks. Last night’s game included the Blackhawks relying heavily on their goalie, something the Coyotes usually do.

Arizona refused to give up last night. They gave up two goals early to the Blackhawks. Jonathan Toews deflected a shot past Darcy Kuemper early in the game. The Blackhawks’ goals were primarily off the rush and involved system breakdowns for the ‘Yotes. For the future, I believe it is imperative that the Coyotes limit the scoring chances off the rush and try to avoid any odd-man rushes.

One key to the Coyotes coming back after falling behind 2-0 in the game would be the 30 hits the Coyotes put on the Blackhawks. Arizona relied heavily on their feisty gameplay to beat the Blackhawks on Sunday night. One play stood out in particular to me, Vinnie Hinostroza found a way to get under Brent Seabrook’s skin. He kept checking him and every opportunity he got he laid the body on Seabrook. This led to Seabrook taking an interference penalty when he fought back. The following period Arizona capitalized on the Blackhawks’ bad discipline.

When Dennis Gilbert fought Jason Demers during the second period, he was trying to send a message that Arizona should not mess around with the Blackhawks. Well, that backfired because we scored on the ensuing power-play opportunity. Chicago had one player to thank for their trip to OT last night.

Chicago was lucky to get a point in this one. Robin Lehner played out of his mind. However, he has struggled in the past in the shoot out and that continued last night. Lehner could not stop Schmaltz or Conor Garland and for that reason, the team lost in OT.

Arizona was lead primarily by Nick Schmaltz in this game. He had 2 great assists and was a big for the Coyotes come back. Last night was a testimony to what special teams can do for an NHL team. Arizona was successful on two power-play opportunities last night, and that was a big reason why we got back into that game.

Arizona played a pretty good game last night, they just ran into a hot goaltender. Be happy ladies and gentlemen we are once again on top of the Pacific Division!