Blackhawks finish season series with Coyotes in style
GLENDALE, Ariz. - The Blackhawks are done with the Phoenix Coyotes for the regular season. What a shame.
The Hawks pounded the Coyotes again Tuesday night 6-0 at Jobing.com Arena in a game nearly identical to their 7-1 rout of coach Wayne Gretzky's team last month in Chicago.
The Hawks swept the four-game series, outscoring the Coyotes 20-4.
"It's just one of those things where we seem to match up well against them," James Wisniewski said.
In last month's drubbing of the Coyotes at the United Center, the Hawks scored 4 goals in the first period. They followed the same script Tuesday, jumping on the Coyotes 4-0 after the first period with 2 goals coming from fourth-liners Adam Burish and Colin Fraser.
The 4 goals came in a span of 4:36 and had those Coyotes fans in the half-empty arena jeering the home team.
Kris Versteeg got his 13th goal and Ben Eager his eighth, skating in the injured Patrick Kane's spot on the Patrick Sharp line.
Jonathan Toews had 2 goals and an assist and Burish had a goal (his first of the season) and 2 assists as the Hawks won for the 11th time in their last 13 games.
Cristobal Huet, looking to rebound from a loss to Detroit in the Winter Classic, didn't have a lot of work but was sharp in posting his second shutout of the season.
"Obviously it's great to play behind a team that can score that many goals," Huet said.
If the Coyotes were unhappy with Versteeg for fighting Kyle Turris in the game last month, they didn't bring that anger to the rink and basically rolled over for the Hawks.
It wasn't until five minutes remained, down 6 goals, that Todd Fedoruk tried to act tough by cheap-shotting Huet behind the net and earning a major penalty for charging.
Burish celebrated his 25th birthday in style with his career-best 3 points.
"It's nice to get your first goal on your birthday," Burish said. "The guy I feel bad about right now is Kaner. I don't know how he's going to get his spot back."
Burish opened the scoring at 11:46 with a wicked shot from the left side under the crossbar and past goalie Mikael Tellqvist.
Versteeg made it 2-0 at 14:22 on a Toews rebound that dropped into the crease behind Tellqvist.
Fraser's goal off his skate came at the 15-minute mark with Eager scoring at 16:22 came on a Duncan Keith rebound.
Tellqvist was pulled after the first period and replaced by Ilya Bryzgalov.
The Hawks, who outshot the Coyotes 41-22, had 12 players with at least 1 point. It was the second game in a row in which they had five different goal scorers.