In Chicago, it was a battle of teams teams struggling for identity and consistency. 
It ended in a lackluster effort on both sides with Alex Stalock making 22 saves in a 2-0 win for the Blackhawks over the Arizona Coyotes.
“Yeah, it was great to get back in the win column,” Stalock said. “I think it gives a lot of life to this group and brings … anytime you win it brings fun back to the game, and in sports you love winning.”
Jake McCabe scored for the Hawks in the second period to give them a 1-0 lead.
“Yeah, I think me and Seth as of late as a pair have been playing pretty solid,” McCabe said. “I thought we played really well tonight, and we moved pucks quick, and we didn’t spend too much time in our [defensive] zone, and we were just solid throughout the game with good gaps and reading off each other and getting more comfortable with each other the last couple weeks.”
Chicago moved to 9-25-4.
Tyler Johnson hit an empty-net goal with 46 seconds left on the regulation clock for the 2-0 final.
Arizona dropped to 13-20-5.
“Great effort, the guys worked really hard,” Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny said. “We competed, could not execute. We could not make a play. We were a little bit slow [with] execution. I can live with that when we work like we worked tonight. It was not a matter of effort. Credit to Chicago; they came ready. They have speed. They play hard. I don’t know how many times we made two or three passes in a row. We could not do it. It’s hard to win a hockey game in this league when you don’t execute, but it was not a lack of effort or a lack of desire from our players.”
The Coyotes are an active nine-game road losing streak, they are 0-4-0 on their current roadie.
Neither tram scored on their limited power play chances.
“Had four lines going, our defense played very solid and played their position,” Chicago coach Luke Richardson said. “We had a goaltender kicking, but the power play, I know we didn’t score, but they really zipped it around and gave us some momentum in the first period. And the penalty kill, when we needed it the most in the third period, the one we had to kill, I thought they were very sharp and just desperate to make sure they didn’t give up any glorious chances.
“Then just solidify it with a really smart couple little plays to get out of the zone for an empty-netter. From start to finish, I was pretty happy with the performance of the whole team.”
Chicago had a 70-30 advantage in face offs.
Connor Ingram made 30 saves in the Coyotes loss.
“It’s obviously a lot better than last night in Philadelphia,” Ingram said. “It was a good response by everybody, just putting the effort in. Sometimes it doesn’t go your way. You’re going to have nights like that. I think it was a good response.”
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