|
 Oh, and he's only 26.
"It's a cool milestone," the Chicago Blackhawks right winger said.
"Once you hit it, it's in your back pocket and you forget about it
and move on. Hopefully, I score some more goals along the way."
Chicago had all the goals it needed in a 6-1 rout of the Arizona
Coyotes.
Center Andrew Shaw scored twice for the Blackhawks, who also
received goals from center Jonathan Toews, center Teuvo Teravainen
and defenseman David Rundblad. Chicago (29-15-2) snapped a two-game
skid.
Left winger Lucas Lessio scored the lone goal for Arizona, which was
outshot 51-36. The Coyotes (16-25-5) dropped to 0-5-1 in the past
six games, and they were outscored 25-9 during that span.
Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said the game represented a microcosm of
the season, which has featured inconsistent goaltending, bad
penalties and a lack of scoring.
 "All of the above," Tippett said. "That's where we are as a team.
It's not just (leading up to) the All-Star break. It's the whole
year we've been like this."
Blackhawks goaltender Antti Raanta turned aside 35 shots to improve
to 7-3-0.
Coyotes goaltender Mike Smith made 45 saves in the loss.
Chicago opened the scoring on a power-play goal by Toews at 6:53 of
the first period. Kane slipped a pass toward the slot to Toews, who
fired a wrist shot above Smith's glove side for his 14th goal.
The Blackhawks increased their lead to 2-0 on a dazzling goal by
Shaw at 12:48 of the first period. Shaw received a pass in front of
the crease from Teravainen, spun from his backhand to his forehand
and punched a shot past Smith to snap an eight-game scoring drought.
Shaw celebrated the goal by pumping his fists and leaping against
the boards.
"It was a relief," said Shaw, who admitted that he was embarrassed
by his recent scoring slump. "I needed it for myself. I just had to
go out there and keep working and find my game, and I knew I'd get
it."
Kane made it 3-0 at 3:51 of the second period. Center Brad Richards
ripped a shot from the right circle, and Smith's kick save
ricocheted to Kane in front of the net.
Blackhawks left winger Patrick Sharp fetched the puck out of the net
to give to Kane as a keepsake. Kane has topped 20 goals in each of
his first eight seasons.
[to top of second column] |
"It was funny, I was talking to (Sharp) the shift before," Kane
said. "I was telling him that he assisted on my first goal, he
assisted on my 100th goal, and we'll see if he'll assist on my 200th
goal. We were just kind of laughing about it after because we had
talked about it the shift before. It's a good little story we'll
remember."
Smith's headaches continued when Teravainen followed his shot and
scored on a rebound to give the Blackhawks a 4-0 lead at 9:42 of the
second.
Lessio trimmed the deficit to 4-1 with his first career goal with
2:06 to go in the second period. However, Shaw answered with a wrist
shot to increase Chicago's lead to 5-1 with 51 seconds remaining in
the second period.
Rundblad capped the scoring with a slap shot that increased
Chicago's lead to 6-1 at 14:11 of the third period.
Smith said he and his teammates need to show a better effort when
they return from the break in a week against the Philadelphia
Flyers.
"When you're making the same mistakes over and over again, game in
and game out, it's frustrating," Smith said. "To come out with an
effort like that after losing five in a row is pretty pitiful, if
you ask me. Hopefully, this break will be good for our team and we
can come back with a fresh mindset."
NOTES: Coyotes LW Mikkel Boedker missed his first game since
requiring surgery on his spleen following a hit in Sunday's game
against Winnipeg. Boedker, who leads Arizona with 14 goals, is
expected to miss four to six weeks. ... Blackhawks LW Daniel
Carcillo served the second game of his six-game suspension for
cross-checking Winnipeg C Mathieu Perreault on Friday. ... Coyotes D
Zbynek Michalek did not play because of an upper-body injury. He
could return for Arizona's next game Jan. 27 at Philadelphia. ...
Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville marked his 500th game behind the
bench for Chicago. Quenneville, who coached 593 games with St. Louis
and 246 games with Colorado, is No. 7 in NHL history with 1,339
games coached. ... Coyotes D Brandon Gormley returned after missing
four games with a lower-body injury.
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
