The Los Angeles Kings went through a bit of a funk for a couple of weeks and have come out of it with a vengeance. On Sunday night they won their fifth straight, this time a 3-1 win over the Blackhawks in Chicago.
Jonathan Quick has tightened up his game and allowed two or fewer goals in this last 
five starts; on Sunday he made 24 saves to get the win.
“We got the start that we wanted and I thought we were dictating the pace in the first period, way too big of a letdown in the second, but [Quick] kept us in it and the third period we just found a way,” Anze Kopitar said. “It’s not easy to do when you’re on a pretty long road trip and you’re going 3-0 and it’s easy to just get complacent, but we gutted it out there and we got the two points.”
All the scoring came in the third period.
Christian Folin struck for LA’s first goal midway through the final frame to give the Kings a 1-0 lead.
“We talked in the third, even before the game, we knew the first goal was going be really important in these kinds of games,” Folin said. “I saw there were two guys right in front, and one of their forecheckers were coming pretty hard at me, so I just kind of shot it in there hoping for the best. It’s fun when it goes in. I don’t score too many goals, so I’ll take it.”
In an effort to shake up the scheme, the Blackhawks skated an extra attacker with an empty cage and Dustin Brown deposited a goal at 17:57.
But at 18:14, Jonathan Toews made it 2-1 with a redirection.
“Thought we were sloppy, be it on our entries – usually that’s the strength of our team – and getting zone time off that,” Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville said. “We didn’t get too many good looks off good entries or possessions. Lose momentum in that type of situation, particularly in a game where we hand chances to get control of it.”
Kopitar finally put the game away at 19:08 with another empty-netter.
“I thought we had a really good start,” LA head coach John Stevens said. “I didn’t like the middle part of the game. I thought, again, we turned pucks over, and a lot of them were played in our zone too much. I thought we played the game the right way in the third period where we got a lot more pucks ahead that paid off for us.”
[WATCH: All Kings vs. Blackhawks highlights]
Anton Forsberg took the loss on 21 saves.
“Again, a great effort by [Forsberg], and he’s been good for us, especially in these back-to-backs where he picks up behind [Corey Crawford]. … He’s doing everything we need him to do in there. We just need to support him and create some offense and find some ways to get some wins for him,” Toews aid after the game.
The Hawks have now lost four straight after going five games with at least a point.
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