LDN - Sports

Kane line breaks out in Blackhawks' victory

[February 03, 2017] GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Moments after a morning skate at Gila River Arena, Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson was lamenting his team's inability to get all of its offensive pieces clicking at the same time.

"I don't feel like we've peaked all together in one single game," Hjalmarsson said. "It's always been one line going or some of the defense are going while some guys aren't playing their best. It's going to be fun to see how good we can be when everyone is at their best."

Chicago got a glimpse of that Thursday against the Arizona Coyotes. The line of Artem Anisimov, Patrick Kane and Artemi Panarin broke out of a scoring slump and Chicago went retro on the Coyotes in the first period with a performance reminiscent of its Stanley Cup winning teams.

Kane, Ryan Hartman and Marian Hossa scored in the first period, Panarin scored early in the second and goaltender Corey Crawford turned aside 24 shots as the Blackhawks snapped a three-game losing streak with a 4-3 victory Thursday.

"I thought we played a great first period and had a great start to the game," Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said. "And I liked how we stabilized the game in the third period."

Mike Smith made 22 saves for Arizona, surpassing Bob Essensa's franchise record of 8,056 saves in the second period (he has 8,064).

Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Christian Dvorak and rookie Brendan Perlini scored for Arizona, which totaled three-second period goals to make a game of it, but still lost its second straight contest following a season-high three-game winning streak.

"The speed we were playing at and the execution just wasn't what it needed to be early," Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said. "They came in with some real purpose. We knew it was coming. We didn't react very well."

The Blackhawks were flying from the opening faceoff, and Kane got them on the board on a power play midway through the first period with Arizona defenseman Alex Goligoski in the penalty box for high-sticking. Kane took a feed from Duncan Keith at the right point, skated to the middle of the circle and ripped a wrist shot just under the crossbar at 8:44 for a 1-0 lead. It was Kane's 16th goal of the season.

Hartman widened the lead to 2-0 only 1:12 later when his slap shot from the point through heavy traffic beat Smith between the pads for Hartman's 11th goal of the year. Hartman is tied for sixth in the NHL in goals among rookies.

Hossa increased the lead to 3-0 with a highlight-reel goal at 14:15 on another Chicago power play. Streaking up the slot, Hossa took a feed from Panarin, lifted Goligoski's stick out of the way, threw a stick fake at Smith and flipped the puck past him for his team-leading 19th goal of the season. Hossa has 21 goals in 37 games against the Coyotes.

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"It's nice to have two power play goals and give the team lots of confidence," Hossa said. "I tried to use my speed so (Panarin) could just pass it onto my stick and I could walk through them. When you have good speed going there's a good chance you can sneak between their guys."

Arizona got one back on a 5-on-3 power play early in the second period. Right winger Radim Vrbata sent a pass across the slot to Ekman-Larsson for a one-timer at 1:36 that sliced the lead to 3-1. Seven of Ekman-Larsson's 10 goals have come on the power play.

Chicago got that goal back when Kane won a puck battle with Coyotes defenseman Connor Murphy in the offensive zone and fed Panarin for a one-timer from the left circle that beat Smith for a 4-1 lead at 5:24. It was Panarin's first goal in 10 games.

Arizona answered when Chicago-area native Dvorak redirected Shane Doan's shot past Crawford at 14:24 to slice the lead to 4-2. The goal came on Dvorak's 21st birthday.

"It was kind of funny because I watched the Hawks all the time when I was a young kid and there I was playing them on my 21st birthday," Dvorak said. "It was pretty cool."

Perlini scored his eighth goal of the season to pull Arizona within 4-3 at 15:51 of the second period. His shot from the left circle eluded Crawford and squirted inside the far post through traffic. Arizona only managed seven shots in the third period.

NOTES: Coyotes LW Max Domi returned to the lineup after a 23-game absence. Domi hadn't played since breaking a bone in his hand during a fight with Calgary's Garnet Hathaway onDec. 8. ... Coyotes C Brad Richardson (broken right tibia and fibula) is out indefinitely but resumed skating. ... The Blackhawks placed D Michal Rozsival (lower body) on injured reserve, and he is expected to miss about three weeks. Rozsival was injured during a practice. Chicago recalled D Gustav Forsling to replace him, and Forsling was in the lineup. ... Arizona traded 2012 first-round pick (27th overall) and current AHL RW Henrik Samuelsson to Edmonton on Wednesday for AHL LW Mitchell Moroz. Samuelsson appeared in three NHL games, registering no points. ... Blackhawks C Marcus Kruger was in the lineup after missing one game because of illness. Kruger had played just one of the team's last 13 games. He missed 11 with an upper-body injury that landed him on injured reserve.

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