CHICAGO -- The losses continue to mount for the Blackhawks, as are questions about what exactly is wrong with the reigning Stanley Cup champions.
The Hawks dropped their fourth consecutive game at the United Center on Wednesday night when they fell, 2-1, to the previously struggling Coyotes.
Again, the Hawks blew a lead to a team below them in the Western Conference standings in their own rink as Kyle Turris and Eric Belanger scored two goals within 35 seconds in the second period to erase an early Hawks lead.
To make matters worse, Coyotes backup goaltender Jason LaBarbera shut down the Hawks with 35 saves to win his first game of the season in his fourth appearance.
"It just seems every time we get some momentum going, we have to work hard to keep it and we give it away too easily," Hawks captain Jonathan Toews said.
The Hawks could muster only a Bryan Bickell goal in the first as goaltender Marty Turco suffered his third loss in his last four games. The Hawks' record is a mediocre 8-9-1 after they lost for the seventh time in their last 10 games. Phoenix snapped a three-game losing streak.
Bickell notched his third goal -- and first since scoring in the opening two games of the season -- to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead midway through the opening period. Bickell, who had been a healthy scratch during Sunday night's 2-1 loss to the Oilers, returned Wednesday to play on a line with Fernando Pisani and Jake Doell.
The move paid off when the winger maneuvered into the high slot and sent a shot toward the Phoenix net that hit a body in front and slid through LaBarbera's pads.
In the blink of an eye, the lead vanished when Turris and Belanger scored under remarkably similar circumstances just 35 seconds apart. In what quickly wasn't becoming Duncan Keith's night, the defenseman committed turnovers that led to the goals.
First, Turris broke in two-on-one with teammate Wojtek Wolski and the Hawks' Nick Boynton back defending. After Boynton hit the ice to prevent a pass, Wolski slid the puck into the slot and Turris tapped it in to tie it.
Seconds later, Boynton again found himself the lone defender back on a two-on-one featuring Wolski. This time, Belanger used his teammate as a decoy and blasted a slap shot from in close past Turco's stick side.
Meanwhile, LaBarbera's biggest save of the night came early in the second when he flashed his left pad to halt a one-timer from Marian Hossa.
Early in the third, LaBarbera found himself staring at an open Jack Skille in the slot. The Phoenix netminder was up to the task.
Hawks coach Joel Quenneville mixed up his defensive units in search of a spark. To start the game, the top unit of Keith and Brent Seabrook were split with Keith joining Boynton and Seabrook skating with Niklas Hjalmarsson. The third pairing was Brian Campbell and Jassen Cullimore.
"We have to take advantage of our home ice," Quenneville said. "This was a tough loss, knowing we left two points on the table after having the start we wanted."
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