In Los Angeles, Anze Kopitar hit for a double and three points on Tuesday night in a 6-2 thumping of the visiting Chicago Blackhawks.
A three-goal middle frame by the Kings spelled doom for the Hawks.
Cam Talbot made 22 saves in the win
LA improved to 35-22-11, moving two points clear of the Vegas Golden Knights for third in the Pacific division.
The Knights lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night.
“This time of the year, the most important thing is to get the two points,” Los Angeles interim coach Jim Hiller said. “We needed somebody, and we were wondering who that was going to be. Nice to see the big guys, and ‘Kopi’ in particular with the two goals.”
LA took a 1-0 in the opening stanza on a foal by Alex Laferriere at 12:03, scoring off a rebound.
Chicago tied it it, 1-1, off the power play on a strike by Nick Foligno at 14:27 of the first.
“All due respect to Chicago, but we’re going to play some better teams at the end of this stretch, and we can’t give a period away,” LA’s Adrian Kempe said. “It could be a huge, huge difference in the points and all that kind of stuff, so we’ve got to be on for 60 minutes here.”
The Blackhawks dropped to 19-45-5.
“That’s two games in a row that they showed us why they’re where they are,” Chicago coach Luke Richardson said, referring to a 5-0 loss to the Kings at United Center on Friday. “We got to make sure we continue to get better.”
In the middle frame, it was all Los Angeles, Vladislav Gavrikov restored the LA lead at 2-1 with a goal at 9:32, scoring off a shot from the blueline.
Kopitar potted his first of the game at 11:52 for a 3-1 lead, scoring off a wrister from right side.
“Really nice goal off the forecheck,” Hiller said. “Part of our game plan was to forecheck. We didn’t do a lot of it, but that one was to a T.”
Kopitar collected his double with a power play marker at 19:08, making 4-1 on a deflection.
“We were looking out there for him,” Kempe said of Kopitar. “He had some good looks and it was close (to reaching 1,200). Obviously, look forward to that next game, but it was a close one tonight. He was hot out there.”
In the third period, the Kings kept the defense tight, allowing only one goal, and scoring two of their own.
Phillip Danault ballooned the advantage to 5-1 at 5:47.
Chicago got one back on a marker form Kevin Korchinski at 14:16, to make the score 5-2.
“As a young up-and-coming guy that can shoot a puck like he did tonight and last game, we got to make sure he has more opportunities to do that in the offensive zone and not be chasing guys around the D-zone,” Richardson said.
Trevor Lewis added salt to the scoreboard with a tip in at 17:10 for the 6-2 final count on the scoreboard.
Petr Mrazek made 18 saves in the loss.
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