The Los Angeles Kings took their anemic show to the Windy City on Sunday night and left with a 5-1 loss.
The Kings have lost six of eight and seemed to have settled into a less than mediocre routine.
“I don’t know what the reason is,” Kings captain Anze Kopitar said. “It’s a combination of everything. Sometimes, a little bit of fatigue, sometimes it’s just flat-out sloppiness, sometimes it’s just flat-out stupidity. Sometimes, it’s just being caught in between the old system and the new system (under first-year coach Todd McLellan). That combines into a lot of goals-against that we can’t give up in order to win games.”
Dylan Strome struck twice for the Blackhawks in a 5-1 decision over LA.
“I think finding ways to get the puck, that’s the biggest thing,” Strome said. “Obviously, as a center, you have the puck probably the most of any guy on the ice. And when you’re a wing, you don’t get it as much, so you’ve got to kind of create ways to get the puck.
“Feel like I’m trying to do that a little bit better. Once you just get a little bit familiar with it, you can do it. I’ve never really played wing before — maybe a few times last year and a few games [with the Arizona Coyotes]. But probably five games, under, combined in my life. So I’m trying to get used to it. Felt pretty good tonight.”
Robin Lehner made 38 saves in the win.
“It’s a jolt of confidence to see the puck go in the net,” Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton said. “To our credit, I thought we were pretty good defensively throughout. They got a few chances in the third.
“I thought we weren’t quite as good in the third as we were in the first two periods, but we got a goal and we built on it and we kept playing. We had multiple lines that were giving us positive shifts. I thought habits were quite good playing in the offensive zone. That’s what we need.”
Sean Walker scored the Kings’ lone goal after the game had stretched to 4-0 in favor of Chicago in the third period.
Alex DeBrincat, Drake Caggiula and David Kampf also scored for Chicago.
“It’s a little bit of a reset I think,” DeBrincat said. “We know what we can do together, so trying to play some good, smart hockey and the bounces went our way today.”
[WATCH: All Kings vs. Blackhawks highlights]
Jack Campbell made 21 saves in the loss.
“This (four-game) trip was good because it let us know that there are some players that probably can’t play in the League right now, so maybe we’ll have to make some changes,” LA head coach Todd McLellan said. “There are some veterans who really have to pick up their play. We have to have a chat with them. The good sign about tonight’s game was the will stayed with it in the third period. The woe-is-us and the big, fat lips that were on the bench in the second, they disappeared. So that’s a good sign.”
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