GLENDALE, Ariz. — Remember that story we wrote last week about the Coyotes likely ending up in eighth place in the Western Conference standings? Yeah. We're gonna need to revise that projection.
A few things have happened since then. The Blackhawks are now chasing the Columbus Blue Jackets instead of the Detroit Red Wings in the Central Division. The Los Angeles Kings have gone back to being, well, the Los Angeles Kings. And the Coyotes aren't eyeballing the playoffs any more. They've got bigger plans.
"We can not be happy with where we're at," captain Shane Doan said. "We have to keep climbing."
They might get that chance. Saturday's 3-0 win over the free-falling Blackhawks was Phoenix's fifth straight victory. It was also Chicago's eighth straight loss (0-7-1), its longest winless streak since the 2007-08 season. One week ago, the Coyotes trailed Chicago by 13 points for sixth place in the conference. Now, they trail the Hawks by three.
"We had a little bit of ground to make up," Doan said, smiling.
All it apparently took was for coach Dave Tippett to wave his magic wand, tell his team at the All-Star break that it needed to "get on a little streak" and presto, results once again.
Makes you wonder why Tippett didn't do it sooner, no?
"The bigger thing about the points is how we've played," Tippett said. "We're playing better as a group. We're doing things that make you win. If you're going to be a playoff team, you have to earn the right to be a playoff team."
Saturday's game began with a touch of irony. Phoenix held a pregame ceremony to induct former Hawk-turned-Coyote Jeremy Roenick into its Ring of Honor. Roenick embodied the gritty type of play Chicago is not getting from its star players during this skid.
Once the game began, the Coyotes employed a simple formula to crush the Blackhawks' fragile psyche, after Chicago had lost the night before in San Jose.
"If you would have put a game plan down for how we wanted to start, we got some of those things done." Tippett said. "We got a lead. We got some pressure early. With them playing last night if they've got to chase the whole game it's a tough situation."
The looks on the Hawks' drooping faces after Phoenix's Radim Vrbata and Boyd Gordon each scored in the game's first six minutes made the situation look impossible.
"Giving up first goals, chasing 2-0 leads is not a way to win a hockey game," forward Patrick Sharp said. "It's really frustrating right now."
When the Blackhawks did get things rolling in the second period, Coyotes goalie Mike Smith was there to stymie them. He turned aside 38 shots for his third shutout this season, stopping Marian Hossa and Jonathan Toews on one spectacular sequence to keep Chicago frustrated.
"They can turn the score pretty quick, so I was just focused on making the next save," said Smith, who took a Sharp shot off the head in the same period. "I didn't do a Henrik Lundqvist. I don't have those kinds of skills yet."
When the Coyotes reached the All-Star break, Tippett insisted it would be good for his exhausted team. It sounded like something 29 other coaches were saying, but in retrospect, that break was just what the team needed.
"It was big for most of the guys on our team," Smith said. "We battled with a tough schedule for two months. We got five days to get away and rejuvenate. Everyone came back with a great attitude and we've played some pretty good hockey since the All-Star break."
Oh, by the way, fifth-place Nashville has lost three straight. We're just sayin'.
