An icing call proved costly for the Coyotes with less than a minute left in the period. Patrick Kane took a shot that went through a multiple players, and finally past Mike Smith with 29 second left in the period. The shot was originally credited to Kane, but was later changed to Andrew Brunette.
Brunette's goal would be the only one of the period and gave the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead going into the first intermission.
The Coyotes have been the dominant team for 19 minutes in almost every period, but they need to start finishing them.
Tempers got heated between the two teams at the midway mark of the first period after Raffi Torres took out Marian Hossa with a huge center ice hit. Hossa left the ice in a stretcher.
There was no call on the hit, and the Coyotes actually ended up on the power play. Brandon Bollig jumped Torres after the hit and received a two minute roughing penalty and a ten minute misconduct.
Expect Torres to be involved in a scuffle or two in the coming periods. Teams do not take their leading scorer being sent off the ice in a stretcher lightly.
Smith started in net, despite being a game-time decision, but Martin Hanzal and Lauri Korpikoski remained sidelined for Game 3 with injuries. Hanzal took the pregame skate but did not feel fit enough to play in what has been a very physical series.
Paul Bissonnette and Gilbert Brule, who were healthy scratches in Game 2, took the places of Hanzal and Korpikoski in the lineup.