In Chicago, the Los Angeles Kings downed the Blackhawks, 5-2, on Tuesday.
Blake Lizotte hit for a double in the win.
“I think you look at this game and that’s a must-win game for us,” Lizotte said. “I think everyone kind of knows where we’re at in the locker room. The attitude was definitely urgent. We needed this one.”
Jonathan Quick made 18 saves in the LA win.
Taylor Raddysh and Patrick Kane were the Chicago strikers.
“Everything is all about the team,” Raddysh said. “I’ve had bad games. I’ve had good games. We’re all in it together and right now it’s kind of frustrating the way the games have been going. But I feel like we have to keep going day by day and keep getting better and better together.”
The win ended a three-game skid for LA, and they improved to 39-26-10.
The Kings hold the third spot in the Pacific Division and are just two points back of the Edmonton Oilers who lost to the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday, 5-1.
“You saw some of it in Minnesota, the first 10-12 minutes of the game,” Lizotte said. “We just veered off from that. Tonight we had a similar start and emphasized us playing the way we play for a 60 [minutes] instead of just bits and pieces of the game, and I felt like we did that tonight.”
The Blackhawks dropped to 24-38-11, and have lost eight straight.
“It’s physical, but I think mentally we’re gassed,” Chicago coach Derek King said. “Then you add on a losing streak, we can’t get out of it and the teams we’re playing that are coming in here. It’s not going to get any easier because these guys are looking for points, too. There are some desperate teams out there that want to get into the playoffs.
“It’s going to take a lot of hard work, pretty solid effort and almost a perfect game for us. We have some young guys in the lineup, which is great. It’s given them an opportunity to see where they’re at, but you can see the mistakes at times.”
Trevor Moore and Phillip Danault put LA up 2-0.
“In my mind, there’s no such thing as a perfect game, but we eliminated a lot of the errors we were making in games prior,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said. “We limited shots. I thought we gave them some momentum on the power play in the third. Whether they were good calls or not, they were made. Good to get back in the win column. It gives us a little bit of confidence and get us ready for tomorrow. We know what we’re up against there.”
Jordan Spence also scored for the Kings.
Lizotte’s second goal was an empty-net strike for the 5-2 final.
“First of all, he had a tremendous game,” McLellan said of Brown. “To come in and be injured as long as he was, practiced as little as we’ve practiced, I think that’s a story we’ve told a million times. But to come in and give us the type of game he had was huge.”
Collin Delia made 31 saves in the Chicago loss.
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