Stalock gets 1st shutout for Blackhawks in win against Coyotes

CHICAGO --Alex Stalock made 22 saves for his first shutout with the Chicago Blackhawks, a 2-0 win against the Arizona Coyotes at United Center on Friday.

It was Stalock's 10th NHL shutout and first since Feb. 28, 2020, when he was with the Minnesota Wild.
Jake McCabe and Tyler Johnson scored for the Blackhawks (9-25-4), who had lost five straight and 13 of 14.
"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."

Connor Ingram made 30 saves for the Coyotes (13-20-5), who finished 0-4-0 on their road trip, including a 6-2 loss at the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday. They have lost 12 straight on the road (0-10-2) dating to Nov. 25.
"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."
Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny called the loss Thursday "probably the worst game we've played in two years." He was happier with the effort Friday.
"Great effort, the guys worked really hard," he 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."

McCabe gave the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead at 11:55 of the second period, taking pass at the blue line from Seth Jones, moving into the slot and sending a slap shot past Ingram. It was his first goal since Oct. 30 (29 games).
Jones was named to the
2023 Honda NHL All-Star Game
on Thursday.
"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 had another good scoring chance at 17:21, but Ingram stopped Reese Johnson on a breakaway.
The Blackhawks held a 26-13 shots advantage after two periods.
Johnson scored an empty-net goal with 46 seconds left in the third period for the 2-0 final.
"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."

The Blackhawks played without forward Patrick Kane, who sustained a lower-body injury on a hit by Evgeny Svechnikov in a 5-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Sunday. It was the first game Kane missed since Feb. 24, 2015, when he broke his clavicle against the Florida Panthers and did not play the rest of the regular season.
NOTES:It was Chicago's first shutout since Jan. 15, when Marc-Andre Fleury made 37 saves in a 3-0 win against the Anaheim Ducks. ... The Blackhawks recalled forwards Lukas Reichel and Brett Seney from Rockford of the American Hockey League on Wednesday. Reichel played 15:05, was plus-1 and had one shot on goal; Seney played 17:06 in his Blackhawks debut after signing a one-year contract July 13. They were in the lineup because of injuries to Kane, Jujhar Khaira and MacKenzie Entwistle. Reichel, the No. 17 pick of the 2020 NHL Draft, played his second NHL game of the season and 13th in the NHL.