Eager's scoring touch leads Blackhawks' rout

Former Flyer Ben Eager scored twice, and Andrew Ladd had a goal and three assists for a career-high four points in the Chicago Blackhawks' 7-1 victory over visiting Phoenix last night.

Jonathan Toews and Dave Bolland each had a goal and an assist, and Patrick Sharp, another ex-Flyer, and Dustin Byfuglien also connected. It was Sharp's 16th goal of the season. The Blackhawks scored their season-high seven goals during a span of 11 consecutive shots against Phoenix goalie Ilya Bryzgalov.

Chicago's Cristobal Huet, making his fifth straight start in goal with Nikolai Khabibulin sidelined by a groin injury and not expected back until next week, stopped 20 shots, allowing only Enver Lisin's goal on a breakaway in the final minute of the second period. Coming off a 5-4 shootout loss in Detroit on Saturday night, Chicago improved to 8-1-4 at home.

Eager scored twice in a game for the second time in his career to match a personal high. Best known for his physical play, he also fought the Coyotes' David Hale midway through the second period when Chicago had a 7-0 lead.

"The guys really came to play tonight," Eager said "Score two, beat a guy up? If I could do that every night, I would. It's a nice feeling when everyone plays well and you help contribute."

Bryzgalov finished with 21 saves in the Coyotes' second straight loss.

"We got outplayed, outscored and outhit," Phoenix coach Wayne Gretzky said. "They took it to us pretty well."

Chicago took a 4-0 lead in the first period, matching its season high for goals in a period.

Bolland opened the scoring with 8 minutes, 22 seconds left on a hard, low shot from the right circle. Toews made it 2-0 29 seconds later on a give-and-go with Martin Havlat.

Byfuglien popped in a rebound from the crease with 2:46 left, and Sharp one-timed a power-play goal 1:18 later. Eager scored twice and Havlat once in a 2:55 span early in the second to stretch Chicago's lead to 7-0.

In other games:

* At New York, Jarome Iginla and David Moss struck for the second straight game, and Calgary workhorse Miikka Kiprusoff stopped 31 shots to earn his 29th NHL shutout in the Flames' 3-0 victory over the Rangers.

Kiprusoff was much busier than Rangers counterpart Henrik Lundqvist, who faced only 20 shots but allowed three goals, the third shorthanded by Rene Bourque. Kiprusoff started for the 26th time in Calgary's 27 games - including 12 straight - and led the Flames to their fifth win in six games.

The Rangers lost their third in four games, including a pair of home shutout losses, their only two regulation blankings this season. New York has been outscored 15-4 in that span and hasn't won in regulation since topping Phoenix at home on Nov. 24.

* At Raleigh, N.C., Eric Staal broke a tie with 4:09 left and Ray Whitney scored twice to give Paul Maurice his first victory in his second coaching stint with the Carolina Hurricanes, 3-1 over the Washington Capitals.

Michael Leighton stopped Capitals star Alexander Ovechkin on a penalty shot with 1.2 seconds left in the second period, and finished with 38 saves.

Staal dug out the puck from behind the net, moved to the front and fired a backhander past goalie Jose Theodore on the short side to put Carolina up, 2-1, and Whitney completed the scoring with 2:02 to go.

Carolina had lost three in a row, the last two after Maurice took over for the fired Peter Laviolette on Wednesday. The Hurricanes beat Washington for the first time in five games this season to move within four points of the Southeast Division-leading Capitals.

* At Denver, Daniel Tarnqvist's goal with 2:50 to play in regulation tied the game, and shootout goals by Wojtek Wolski, Marek Svatos and Milan Hejduk gave the Colorado Rockies a 5-4 win over the Vancouver Canucks.

* At Anaheim, two second-period goals by Ryan Getzlaf and one by Ryan Carter propelled the Ducks to a 5-3 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets. Cherry Hill, N.J.'s Bobby Ryan scored the Ducks' fourth goal. *