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'Hawks seek to stay on a roll, send Coyotes to third straight loss

Feb 27, 2011 - 4:03 PM (Sports Network) - They say what goes up must come down, but the Phoenix Coyotes are hoping they don't drop any further in the conference standings.

The Chicago Blackhawks, meanwhile, are a team that looks like it will keeping moving up the ladder.

The Blackhawks try to match a season high with a fourth straight victory while the Coyotes hope to avoid losing three straight in regulation for the first time this season in tonight's meeting at the United Center.

The defending Stanley Cup-champion Blackhawks have certainly had their ups and downs this season, but they have helped their playoff chances with a 5-1-2 mark over their last eight games. Chicago has won three straight and four of five overall, including Thursday's 3-0 shutout of Nashville.

While still 12 points back of first-place Detroit in the Central Division, the 'Hawks are just a point back of the Flames for eighth place in the Western Conference.

Corey Crawford made 31 saves for his third blanking of the season and fourth of his career, while Tomas Kopecky and Marian Hossa scored goals. Patrick Sharp added an empty-net tally as Chicago celebrated Joel Quenneville's return to the bench.

The head coach had been away from the club for the last four games due to a bout with gastrointestinal bleeding caused by an ulcer. He praised his team's defense in his return.

"Crawford was great, but I thought the whole [defensive] core played well," said Quenneville. "I thought that was the big thing tonight, how solid we were defensively."

Chicago, which last won four straight from Dec. 17-26, did lose blueliner Niklas Hjalmarsson to an upper-body injury and he is questionable for tonight. Also gone is defenseman Nick Boynton, claimed off waivers on Saturday by the Flyers, so Nick Leddy was recalled from Rockford of the American Hockey League.

Phoenix used an eight-game winning streak to move into first in the Pacific Division, but back-to-back losses since have dropped the club three points back of San Jose.

The Coyotes saw their season-best win streak end in a big way on Wednesday with an 8-3 loss in Tampa Bay, then fell to 2-2-0 on a five-game road trip with Friday's 5-3 loss to Columbus.

Ilya Bryzgalov had his career-long eight-game win streak end after allowing five goals on 34 shots, while David Schlemko, Radim Vrbata and Lauri Korpikoski all tallied.

Phoenix was shorthanded nine times in the game, yielding three goals.

"We jumped out early and we are playing a real strong road game and decided we were going to take a bunch of penalties," Coyotes head coach Dave Tippett said. "When you do that you are just giving the other team a better chance of winning and we just kept doing it until they won."

Phoenix hasn't gone winless in three straight since an 0-1-2 stretch from Nov. 5-8 and is likely to have forward Scottie Upshall back in the lineup tonight. Upshall severed the second of a two-game suspension on Friday for an illegal hit versus the Flyers on Tuesday.

The Coyotes have won five of their last six versus the Blackhawks, including both meetings so far this season. However, Phoenix's victory in Chicago on Nov. 10 was just its second in the last seven trips to the Windy City.