Early struggles still vexing Coyotes
2nd-period rally not enough to stop 4th loss in past 5 games
If only the game began with the second period.
Then the Coyotes might have been able to mastermind a win against the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks, who arrived at Jobing.com Arena after playing the night before and at the end of a seven-game, 13-day road trip.
Instead, the Coyotes couldn’t recover from a sluggish first period and lost 5-2 Saturday in front of an announced over-capacity, standingroom-only crowd of 17,321.
The Coyotes have now dropped four of their past five games, and it was the second time they fell into a 3-0 first-period hole in three games.
“It’s so foreign from how you want to play or how you have to play to compete with a team like that,” coach Dave Tippett said. “It’s so foreign to what you have to do that it’s almost inconceivable we could do it, but we did.”
The Coyotes bobbled their first line change of the game and wound up in the penalty box with a toomany-men penalty 49 seconds after puck drop.
What’s worse, defenseman Derek Morris was called for holding 25 seconds later, handing the Blackhawks a five-on-three power play.
At 2:34, winger Patrick Kane was left all alone on the back post with the Coyotes shorthanded and he redirected a shot from winger Marian Hossa to make it 1-0.
Amid a scramble in front of goalie Mike Smith’s crease, center Andrew Shaw whacked a backhanded shot at the puck and it trickled between Smith’s skate and the post at 9:18. Smith finished with 31 saves.
“Give them a five-on-three early just to make sure they get going, and then we give up a poor goal, a goal that should be stopped,” Tippett said.
The Blackhawks went up 3-0 1:46 later when defenseman Niklas Hjamlarsson’s shot slipped under Smith’s arm, capping off a fast start for the Blackhawks that saw them score three goals on12 shots and finish the period up 15-7 in shots.
The Coyotes have now been outscored 28-16 in the first period.
But it was as if a different team appeared for the second.
A point shot from defenseman Michael Stone went off the end boards, and winger Rob Klinkhammer was in front of the net for the put-back past Blackhawks goalie Antti Raanta at 5:52.
The Blackhawks got into penalty trouble after that, and the Coyotes had a golden opportunity to make their poor start a bad memory.
They were awarded a four-minute power play, and center Martin Hanzal redirected a pass from Blackhawks D Niklas Hjalmarsson made it 3-0 at 11:04 of the first period when his shot snuck under the arm of G Mike Smith. 3 First-period goals from the Blackhawks on 12 shots.