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Tuesday, Mar. 21 9:00pm ET
'Hawks fighting for playoff lives | |||||
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PHOENIX (AP) -- Chicago goaltender Jocelyn Thibault took a knee in the head. The Phoenix Coyotes took a blow to their pride. Thibault came out better, stopping 34 shots for his 14th career shutout as the Blackhawks kept their slim playoff hopes alive and sent Phoenix deeper into a tailspin, 3-0 Tuesday night. The Blackhawks are still barely alive in the Western Conference playoff scenario, but they looked robust in winning the season series against a team that once had the best record in the NHL. "We're playing a little bit like St. Louis is playing now, or like Dallas is playing, and I think that's something that is making us successful," Thibault said. "There's no secret why we're winning now. We're just playing better in our end." Dean McAmmond had a goal and an assist, and goals by Alexei Zhamnov and Josef Marha helped run Chicago's unbeaten streak to six games (5-0-1). The Coyotes, sixth in the West, couldn't get anything going despite the return of captain Keith Tkachuk after a 16-game outage to rest a sprained ankle. They lost for the fourth straight game, counting an overtime loss to Nashville on Friday, and the seventh time in their last nine games. "We're at the point right now where we're trying everything, but it's getting frustrating," defenseman Teppo Numminen said. "We just have to step back and relax and get our confidence back and remember how we played when we were a good team." Defensive breakdowns hurt Phoenix, with Sean Burke allowing three goals in 33 shots, and the Blackhawks played defense with the verve of contenders. "We've been playing pretty smart defensively," McAmmond said. "They were pushing. They had a few chances, but we got the break again and went up 3-0 instead of 2-1, so that was good." Chicago shut out the Coyotes in seven power plays. Thibault faced only four shots in the first 15 minutes of the third period, when Phoenix had a manpower advantage twice, and made four more saves before the game ended. He was dizzy after a skater's knee hit his head in the first period, but stayed in the game after a whiff of smelling salts. In the second period, he stopped 15 shots under the heaviest pressure Phoenix could muster. The shutout was his second of the season and first since he broke a finger on his left hand on Nov. 27. He missed six games. "We put the puck on net as much as we could," Coyotes forward Mike Sullivan said. "I thought we accomplished that, but we just couldn't put anything by him." Zhamnov became the Blackhawks' fourth 20-goal scorer when he swatted a rebound through Burke's legs with 8:43 left in the first period. But it took two strong plays by McAmmond to put the game away in the second period. He sent a crossing pass to Marha, who let fly from the circle 4:47 into the period. The Hawks got their 3-0 lead on McAmmond's hustle. He took the puck off the stick of Phoenix defenseman Lyle Odelein and started the rush with a pass to Tony Amonte. Amonte skated to the circle and sent a perfect feed to McAmmond for a one-timer just above the crease. "Tony made a great pass. I did the finessing part," said McAmmond, whose two points left him two short of 200 in his career. | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard Chicago Clubhouse Phoenix Clubhouse RECAPS Boston 4 Tampa Bay 0
Chicago 3
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