Phoenix winger
With the injured
Since winning five of their first eight games and collecting points in every one of them after Denis Savard took over as coach, the Hawks are 5-8 in their last 13.
Phoenix passed the Hawks in the Western Conference standings. The Hawks are now 12th in the West, six points out of the last playoff spot, with games coming up Wednesday night against Buffalo and Saturday night at Detroit.
January figured to be a critical month for the Hawks, with eight of their last 10 at home. But Sunday was the third straight loss at the
"I was fighting the puck quite a bit," Khabibulin said.
After the Hawks took the lead five minutes into the game on a beautiful passing play from Jeff Hamilton to Tony Salmelainen and ending with
Phoenix eventually made it four unanswered goals when Fredrik Sjostrom and Saprykin scored. Sjostrom's goal came on a floater from 36 feet that Khabibulin just missed with his glove.
"The third goal was pretty pathetic," Khabibulin said. "I thought we played very well, battled hard and didn't spend a lot of time in our zone, but I didn't provide them with any help."
Considering the number of times this season Khabibulin has given the Hawks a chance to win, Sunday could have been a day on which they bailed out their goalie.
But despite outshooting Phoenix 34-17, many of the Hawks' shots again came from long range, allowing Coyotes goaltender Mikael Tellqvist clear looks. In the second period the Hawks outshot Phoenix 16-9, but just three of those shots came inside 20 feet.
"We had enough chances to win," Savard said. "We have to stay up and stay positive. There's a long way to go yet."
One-timers
Sporting a team-worst minus-10, captain
rfoltman@tribune.com