Three games, three shutouts. Things have never gone better for Phoenix goalie Nikolai Khabibulin.

“It’s hard to get a shutout in the NHL,” Khabibulin said Saturday night after he made 28 saves in the Coyotes’ 2-0 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks at Chicago. “We’ve played great defense and I’ve gotten lucky a little bit, maybe.”

Maybe. But he’s also gotten his body in the right place at the right time repeatedly in blanking Florida, Tampa Bay and Chicago in a 75-hour span.

“It all just happens. I don’t even think where to put my hands or my pads,” said Khabibulin, who set franchise records for consecutive shutouts, longest stretch without allowing a goal (198 minutes, 19 seconds) and shutouts in a season (six). “It’s all just in my brain now.”

Keith Tkachuk and Mike Stapleton scored for the Coyotes, who moved within one point of fourth-place Edmonton in the NHL’s Western Conference. They are four points ahead of the Blackhawks, who remained one point behind Calgary in the race for the conference’s final playoff spot.

Khabibulin, who has started 27 straight games, has proved his contention that he gets stronger the more he plays. All six of his shutouts have come in the last 20 games.

Canucks, Rangers make trade

The Vancouver Canucks tried to shake things up, trading disgruntled forwards Esa Tikkanen and Russ Courtnall to the New York Rangers in exchange for forwards Sergei Nemchinov and Brian Noonan.

The trade was announced by Vancouver general manager Pat Quinn following his team’s 5-3 loss at home to Detroit.

On the ice

Fredrik Olausson scored 19 seconds into overtime as the Pittsburgh Penguins ended a six-game losing streak with a 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers at Pittsburgh.

At Tampa, Fla., the Boston Bruins erased a three-goal deficit and scored three times in the third period to defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-4.