The Chicago Blackhawks picked the worst possible time for their worst offensive output in nearly five months.
Nick Cousins scored a power-play goal early in third period to break up a scoreless game and Darcy Kuemper stopped 31 shots to give the Arizona Coyotes a 1-0 victory Tuesday night, the third time this season and the first time since Nov. 10 the Hawks have been shut out.
The Coyotes' win moved them into a tie with the Avalanche for the final Western Conference wild-card spot. The Hawks didn't move any further back after the loss, but because the Avalanche and Coyotes play each other later this week one of the teams is guaranteed at least two more points, effectively putting the Hawks' seven points behind with six games to play.
The Hawks failed to score more than two goals for the sixth straight game and completed a three-game stretch against the Colorado Avalanche and Coyotes with a 1-2 record.
The game-winner was set up when Brent Seabrook took a tripping penalty with 15:25 left in the third to give the Coyotes their first power play of the game.
During the penalty kill, Marcus Kruger cleared the puck out of the Hawks' zone but instead of sending it all the way down, he was able to send it only a few feet past his own blue line.
The Coyotes' Oliver Ekman-Larsson carried it back into the zone and was able to get it to Cousins, whose first attempt was stopped by Crawford. But Cousins grabbed the rebound and sent it in just to Crawford's right for his seventh goal of the season.
The Hawks put forth another strong defensive effort, but it should be taken with a grain of salt as the Coyotes offense hasn't been scoring against anybody lately. Cousins' goal was their first in 168 minutes, 9 seconds.
The Hawks' best chance to score in the first two periods came when Artem Anisimov corraled a pass from Slater Koekkoek just over the Coyotes blue line and was able to go in alone on Kuemper when Jakob Chychrun fell down. But Anisimov's backhander went wide to keep the game scoreless.
