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Coyotes aim for third straight win in battle of young teams

Oct 15, 2008 - 10:01 AM Phoenix (2-0-0) at Chicago (0-2-1), 8:30 pm EDT

CHICAGO (Ticker) -- As the league's youngest and second-youngest teams, respectively, the Phoenix Coyotes and Chicago Blackhawks entered the season needing their youth movements to come to fruition. So far, only one of them has responded.

Thanks to a young core of recent draft picks and the recent acquisition of a veteran scorer, the Coyotes are off to a fast start and look for their third straight victory when they visit the Blackhawks on Wednesday.

Peter Mueller, who was selected eighth overall in 2006, Martin Hanzal (17th in 2005), Kyle Turris (third in 2007) and Mikkel Boedker (eighth in 2008) have combined for three goals and three assists in Phoenix's two wins. Newcomer Olli Jokinen has a goal and two assists in his first season with the Coyotes after spending the last seven campaigns with the Florida Panthers.

The Blackhawks possess similar talent but have not clicked offensively.

Chicago has yet to tally more than two goals in game, and Patrick Kane, Martin Havlat and Patrick Sharp are the only members of its group of top six forwards to score. Captain Jonathan Toews, Andrew Ladd and Dustin Byfuglien have been held to one assist apiece in three games.

Blackhawks goaltender Cristobal Huet is 3-0-0-1 and a 2.68 goals-against average in four career starts against Phoenix, while Ilya Bryzgalov of the Coyotes is 4-2-2 with a 1.92 GAA against Chicago.