A 2-1 first period lead just was not enough for the Los Angeles Kings in Chicago on Monday night.
Alec Martinez and Anze Kopitar responded to a Jonathan Toews early goal in the first to get to a 2-1 lead.
Jonathan Quick, who made 22 saves on the night, made those two goals stand up for another twenty minutes but the final stanza was all Blackhawks.
Corey Crawford had 33 saves for the win.
“They were playing really well,” Crawford said of the Kings. “We knew it was going to be a tough game. We had a good first period. We just had two tough goals [allowed], but I thought we played well throughout the whole game. [We got] some key goals tonight, which made a difference.”
Patrick Kane, Teuvo Teravainen and Artem Anisimov scored in the third to give the Blackhawks a 4-2 win.
“I’m trying to get myself going,” said Teravainen, who has three goals and four points in 11 games. “I know I haven’t been my best lately, so I need to get focused on simple things. Get to the net, shoot to the net, skate hard and good things will come.”
The Kings dropped to 7-4-0 on the season.
“If we could’ve made it 3-1, [it] probably would’ve made a big difference,” Kings coach Darryl Sutter said. “Just couldn’t get the third goal. I go into every game like it’s the last game. I just think we couldn’t get the third goal and it was the difference in the game.”
After seven straight wins, this one was a tough loss for the Kings who were on a roll.
“We have to put this one behind us,” said Kopitar, whose goal in the first gave the Kings a 2-1 lead. “It definitely stinks. It’s not a good feeling right now. We’re going into a pretty tough building [Tuesday] night too. We have to make sure we’re better prepared and ready to go.”
Next up are the Blues in St Louis Tuesday.
You must be logged in to post a comment.