Glendale, AZ (SportsNetwork.com) - Brad Richards' third-period goal sent the Chicago Blackhawks to a 2-1 win over the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday night.
Andrew Shaw also lit the lamp for the Blackhawks, who have won five of seven. Corey Crawford made 17 saves.
"We've got a lot of guys in here who can score goals on a regular basis, but when guys go through tough times it hurts your confidence and it's hard to play the rest of the game," Chicago captain Jonathan Toews said. "It was great to see [Richards] get a big one there at the end. If guys like that start scoring, it makes the game a little easier on our team."
Tobias Rieder scored the lone goal for the Coyotes, who fell to 1-3-1 on a six-game homestand. Mike Smith stopped 43-of-45 shots.
The Blackhawks took the lead at 12:49 of the third when Richards put home a rebound on the power play. It was the 900th NHL point for the veteran center.
"They have a pretty good team with some pretty good players, and when you traipse them out there on the power play seven times you're playing with fire," Arizona coach Dave Tippett said. "We took penalty after penalty, and Mike allowed us to hang around. But when you take that many bad penalties it's going to catch up to you."
The Coyotes lost defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who was checked hard into the boards from behind by Chicago's Joakim Nordstrom in the final minute.
Arizona had a 6-on-4 power play after pulling Smith but failed to tie things up.
Rieder gave Arizona a 1-0 lead at 4:53 of the first period when he beat Crawford with a wrist shot from the right circle.
Shaw scored on the power play at 8:10. Duncan Keith's blast from the point was blocked in front, but Shaw was there to sweep a backhand past Smith.
Smith made 17 saves in the middle stanza to keep the game tied.
Game Notes
Chicago went 2-for-7 on the power play, while Arizona went 0-for-2 ... Blackhawks center Antoine Vermette played against the Coyotes for the first time since the Feb. 28 trade between the two teams ... Chicago defenseman Johnny Oduya returned to the lineup after missing six games with a back injury ... Arizona forward Lauri Korpikoski returned from a one-game absence due to an upper-body injury.
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