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 The timing of the Blackhawks resurgence could not be better.
Toews had a goal and two assists and rookie Artemi Panarin continued
his torrid points pace with three assists as the Blackhawks beat the
Arizona Coyotes 6-2 on Tuesday night at the United Center.
Panarin, the NHL's rookie points leader, has 11 points (three goals,
eight assists) in his previous three games as the Blackhawks won for
the fifth time in their last six games.
But as explosive as Chicago's offense has been with 17 goals in its
last three games, the Blackhawks defense -- primarily on the penalty
kill -- has also played a major role.
"It's good to build our confidence in that way that we can play
smart at our end and kill penalties and do what we have to do and
we're going to score goals in different ways," Toews said. "So it's
a great feeling to have this time of year."
 The Blackhawks built a commanding 5-0 lead in the second period,
scoring three straight power-play goals. Andrew Ladd scored a pair
of goals to finish off the scoring barrage, which was fueled by a
five-minute penalty and game misconduct to Coyotes center Antoine
Vermette, who drove Chicago's Artem Anisimov into the boards.
Anisimov did not return after the hit. Blackhawks coach Joel
Quenneville said Anisimov is day-to-day after sustaining an
upper-body injury on the hit.
Arizona coach Dave Tippett didn't feel the hit justified a
five-minute major.
"I've always been a believer of the player that gets hit has to take
some accountability also," Tippett said. "(Vermette) kind of let up
on him."
Coyotes defenseman Connor Murphy, right winger Brad Richardson and
Blackhawks left winger Andrew Desjardins all had third-period goals
to round out the scoring.
"We know we can score," Quenneville said. "That's going to be the
ongoing challenge." Arizona lost for the fourth time in five games
as the Blackhawks penalty kill unit remained flawless (17-for-17)
over the last six games.
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Chicago took a 3-0 lead at 6:24 of the second period when Patrick
Kane scored a power-play goal. The Blackhawks used two goals in the
first period to jump out to an early advantage. Toews scored his
250th career goal with Chicago playing short-handled after Toews
found right winger Richard Panik in the slot just in front of
Domingue to give Chicago a 1-0 lead just more than five minutes into
the game that set the tone for another big offensive night.
"We were bound to break out," Kane said. "It was one of those
stretches when things really weren't going the right way. But you
could see the bounces starting to come and once you get one or two
to go in the net, they start coming a little more."
NOTES: Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said G Corey Crawford will
"absolutely" start Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Crawford, who
skated Tuesday morning and said he is "literally day to day," has
been out since March 14 with an upper-body injury. ... Chicago F
Marian Hossa (lower-body injury) missed Tuesday's game, but
Quenneville said Hossa will return before the regular season ends
Saturday. ... Blackhawks F Andrew Shaw (upper-body injury) missed
his second straight game. ... Chicago D Duncan Keith served the
third game of a six-game concussion after hitting Minnesota's
Charlie Coyle last week. ... Coyotes D Niklas Grossman was scratched
again and remains away from the team because his wife is having a
baby. ... Arizona C Martin Hanzal (upper body) remains out and, like
Grossman, did not make the trip with the team as the Coyotes finish
the regular season with four games on the road.
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