GLENDALE, Ariz. — There was a puck waiting for Tommy Wingels at his locker stall Saturday night, taped up and scrawled on to commemorate his first goal with his hometown Blackhawks. It probably should have been a different puck, but Wingels will take it all the same.
The Hawks overcame a wild swing after an overturned goal on a Wingels penalty shot, escaping Arizona with a 4-2 victory over the winless Coyotes (0-7-1) and snapping a two-game losing streak. Lance Bouma scored his first goal with the Hawks with 4:24 left in the game, and Wingels added an empty-netter to seal it.
“The hockey gods kind of repay you,” Wingels said. “Nice to get that one at the end there.”
It was nice for Bouma, too, as he swept in a Duncan Keith rebound that deflected off Wingels’ stick first to break a 2-2 tie late in the third period. The Hawks’ fourth line of Bouma, Wingels and John Hayden had been around the net a lot lately. They finally broke through when the Hawks needed it most.
“We’ve had a few chances around the net, so definitely at that time of the game, it was a big goal,” Bouma said. “It’s a nice feeling, for sure, to get rewarded like that.”
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Christian Fischer and Richard Panik traded goals 61 seconds apart in the first period, and the Hawks killed off four penalties in a 2:08 span to keep the game tied. Patrick Kane made it 2-1 on a breakaway at 11:32 of the second period, sprung by a Toews pass that initially hit him in the right skate.
Then came what could have been a game-changing two-goal swing. Wingels was taken down on a breakaway, and appeared to beat Coyotes goalie Louis Domingue on the ensuing penalty shot, going way out wide before scoring. But the goal was reviewed, and officials determined that Domingue had made contact with the puck. The goal was overturned because a player can’t score on a rebound on a penalty shot.
“I don’t know about that one,” coach Joel Quenneville said. “I mean, they must have had a different view. We didn’t see anything that could overturn it. So they must have a different angle.”
As the blue line turns
With eight defensemen, Quenne-ville said people shouldn’t read into his decisions as benchings or punishments. Somebody simply has to sit.
“I don’t think anybody’s hurt their case at all,” Quenneville said. “That’s what makes it challenging. We’ve got eight guys that we feel every night can play, and can play against anybody. I think that’s a good situation to be in.”
Michal Kempny was scratched for the second straight game, as Jordan Oesterle earned another game after his solid effort Thursday night against Edmonton. Cody Franson was the other scratch.
“[Kempny] has been real good,” Quenneville said. “I thought he had a real good stretch. His last game [in St. Louis], he was ordinary, but I thought he had six real good games.”
Homecoming
Defenseman Connor Murphy spent four seasons with the Coyotes before being acquired by the Hawks in the Niklas Hjalmarsson deal.
“A couple of guys, it’ll be weird to match up against and play, just being roommates with them and knowing them for years,” he said. “But going into games, you just kind of get in the zone and think about winning and nothing else. That’s probably where my mind will be.”
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Email: mlazerus@suntimes.com
