LDN - Sports

Blackhawks ride Kane hat trick to rout of Coyotes

[February 24, 2017] CHICAGO -- Given how well Jonathan Toews and the rest of the Chicago Blackhawks' top line has performed of late, Patrick Kane doesn't feel like he has carry too much of the offensive load.

But even with how much firepower the Blackhawks have spread throughout their roster, sometimes it just works that way. The Arizona Coyotes learned that lesson the hard way on Thursday night.

Kane registered his third career hat trick, and Toews had two assists as the Chicago Blackhawks won for the eighth time in their last nine games, beating the Coyotes, 6-3, at the United Center.

Kane's third-period goal capped the scoring and finished off the hat trick, which came two days after Toews had a hat trick in a five-point effort against Buffalo. Corey Crawford made 34 saves for the Blackhawks (38-18-5), who inched closer to the first-place Minnesota Wild win the win.

"You can look across the board at that (top) line -- they've been playing awesome," Kane said. "I'm just trying to contribute in any way I can and hopefully, let them lead the way and just follow up after that."

The Blackhawks' balance was evident in their latest win. Nick Schmaltz, Ryan Hartman and Michal Rozsival also scored for Chicago, which jumped out to a 3-1 first-period lead only to see Arizona (21-31-7) battle back.

But after the Blackhawks watched the two-goal advantage disappear, Rozsival gave Chicago a 4-3 lead in the opening minutes of the second period. Rozsival, playing the first time since before the All-Star break, tallied his first goal of the season when he took a pass from Schmaltz and fired a shot past Arizona goalie Mike Smith, who made 23 saves in the loss.

Kane extended the lead to 5-3 later in the period with his second goal of the night and 22nd of the season.

"Tonight, pucks went in," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "I thought we were a lot looser than in recent games but we like the balance in our lines and we get scoring from (Toews) line and (Kane) comes up with a hat trick. We're getting scoring from across the board and there are stretches this year where one line was doing most of our production and seems like the balance is great."

While the Blackhawks continue to surge, the Coyotes' struggles continued. After falling behind in the opening 37 seconds, Arizona had too many turnovers and couldn't shut down Chicago's momentum once the Blackhawks took the lead.

Jakub Chychrun, Ryan White and Radim Vrbata registered the goals for Arizona, which got two assists from Alexander Burmistrov.

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Despite mounting the first-period comeback, Arizona coach Dave Tippett didn't like the effort, across the board. He singled out his veterans for the Coyotes' issues despite entering the final period within striking distance.

But the Coyotes couldn't take advantage of a four-minute power play that carried over into the third period.

"Our execution was so poor, we didn't give ourselves a chance," Tippett said.

"It was a poor game right from our goaltender out."

Trailing 3-1, White beat Crawford to get the Coyotes to within a goal before Vrbata scored on a tap-in goal 57 seconds later. Chychrun also scored in the opening period for Arizona, which scored three times on its first nine shots. But once Rozsival gave Chicago the lead, Arizona saw the wheels come off in an effort that the Coyotes will need to put behind them before facing Dallas on Friday night.

"We expect to win -- we know how we have to play and tonight, we didn't do that," Chychrun said. "It's frustrating, it's tough and it's part of the learning process for us in here. Now that we know how we have to play, we realize what we have to do. Tonight, it wasn't good enough. New start tomorrow."

NOTES: Coyotes G Mike Smith was back in action Thursday after leaving the Monday game against the Anaheim Ducks under the concussion protocol. ...D Anthony DeAngelo played Thursday after being recalled from Arizona's AHL affiliate to bolster the Coyotes' defense when Michael Stone was traded. ...Coach Dave Tippett said injured LW Lawson Crouse (lower body) might return Friday when the Coyotes play at Dallas. Crouse was placed on injured reserve Feb. 18, but Tippett sounded encouraged that Crouse could be ready to return. ... C Peter Holland and D Kevin Connauton were scratches. ... Blackhawks D Michal Rozsival played for the first time since injuring his foot in practice before the All-Star break. ... Chicago D Niklas Hjalmarsson (upper body) played in the first period but did not return following the first intermission. It was unclear whether the ailment that knocked him out of the game was the same one that kept him out of the morning skate. ... Chicago C Andrew Desjardins, RW Jordin Tootoo and C Vinnie Hinostroza were scratches. Arizona scratched D Kevin Connauton and C Peter Holland.

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