The Hawks (8-4-5) got just their second shootout win in eight tries this season, defeating the 8-8-1 Phoenix Coyotes to start their annual circus trip.

Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp scored in the shootout and Nikolai Khabibulin denied attempts by Kyle Turris and Peter Mueller, giving Chicago the win. Shootouts have been the albatross for the Hawks this year, but the win gives them a huge two points in game one of their six-game road trip.

Both the Blackhawks and the Coyotes came into the game desperate for a win, and when two teams are desperate, things are bound to get a little chippy.

Yes, tempers were short for the Chicago Blackhawks, hoping to halt a three-game losing streak, and the Phoenix Coyotes, looking for a W after two straight losses. Several scrums broke out, the most notable being a small skirmish between Jonathan Toews and Martin Hanzal. (So hot right now. Hanzal.)

Toews rarely seems to be out for blood, but tonight he was determined to battle someone, picking fights almost from the first drop of the puck. He admitted after the game that he didn’t quite know what to do with himself while he was wrapped up with Hanzal, but was glad to get out of it without getting hurt. That makes two of us, Tazer.

In the first, Patrick Kane was a victim of circumstance, knocked down by a legal hit but then kneed in the head by another Coyotes player skating by. The collision was the cause of one skirmish, as Kane stayed down on the ice for a few moments. Later in the game Brent Seabrook also went down, suffering a knee to the hip. Both players returned to the game.

More detrimental to the Hawks than the constant squabbling was their seeming inability to stay out of the sin bin. Bad penalties have been the story for the Hawks all season and tonight wasn’t any different. The team easily could have been down 5-2 after the second period if not for a couple lucky bounces and some excellent saves by The Bulin Wall.

After going up 2-0 in the first on goals by Kris Versteeg and Sharp, Chicago looked to be giving away the game in the second and third. After one of many Hawks penalties, Zbynek Michalek scored on a power play wrister to put the ‘Yotes on the board in the second.

Then in the third, Shane Doan, playing in his 900th NHL game, netted the tying goal for Phoenix, a power play tally from the left side. Phoenix’s two come-from-behind goals forced the game into overtime—the first extra session for the Coyotes all season.

The Hawks had a few good chances to score on a power play late in the extra session, but Phoenix netminder Ilya Bryzgalov kept a lid on the ‘Yotes net. Chicago’s shoddy record in shootouts this season was surely on the minds of the Hawks when the overtime clock hits zeroes, but fortunately the team managed to pull of the big win.

Thursday night Chicago continues its road trip with a visit to Dallas, where they’ll take on the Stars.