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Blackhawks score early and often in rout of Coyotes

Dec 8, 2008 - 3:54 AM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Ben Eager netted a pair of goals as six different players scored to propel the Chicago Blackhawks to their fifth straight victory with a 7-1 triumph over the Phoenix Coyotes on Sunday.

Andrew Ladd had a career-high four points with a goal and three assists as the Blackhawks scored a season-high seven times with four in the first period and three in the second.

"It was a night where I just seemed to be on the puck all night, and had the time and space and was lucky to make some plays," Ladd said. "Things seemed to be clicking."

Jonathan Toews, Dustin Byfuglien, Patrick Sharp and Dave Bolland also tallied for Chicago.

Chicago goaltender Cristobal Huet won for just the second time in six games, stopping 20 shots.

Bolland beat Ilya Bryzgalov to open the scoring at 11:38 of the first period with his fifth goal of the season. Toews scored just 29 seconds later and Byfuglien and Sharp also tallied late in the period for a 4-0 lead after the opening 20 minutes.

Sharp's power-play goal was his fourth consecutive game with a tally, tying him with Phil Kessel of the Boston Bruins for third in the NHL with 16 goals this season.

"We needed the two points," Sharp said. "You look at the standings and while we have played well all year, we are just hanging on to the eighth spot. It looks like it will be a tight race all season."

Bryzgalov allowed seven goals on just 28 shots to fall to 1-6-1 in his last eight games.

"There isn't much to react to, we were outplayed, outscored and out hit," Phoenix coach Wayne Gretzky said. "They took it to us pretty well. We handled the first 10 minutes OK, then a couple of turnovers and a penalty and it was 3-0 very quickly."

The four first-period goals tied a season-high for Chicago, which also scored four times in the third period against the Colorado Avalanche on November 3.

Eager's tallies came 2:55 apart in the first half of the second period and Ladd also scored in that span for the Blackhawks, who improved to 3-0-0 against the Coyotes this campaign. The teams conclude their season series on January 6 in Phoenix.

A scrum between Chicago rookie Kris Versteeg and Phoenix rookie Kyle Turris in the final seconds of the third left Gretzky fuming after the game.

"I am not happy to see an 18-year old kid (Turris) get pulled out of a pile in the last five seconds of a 7-1 hockey game and take a beating (by Versteeg)," Gretzky said. "There is no room for that and I don't think I have seen that before. We will see what happens the next time we play them."

Enver Lisin got the Coyotes on the board with 43 seconds left in the second with his fifth goal of the season.

Martin Havlat and Colin Fraser recorded two assists apiece as 13 players notched at least one point for Chicago.