LOS ANGELES — The Kings padded their stats and, more importantly, secured two points, giving them 81 through 68 games, handling the beleaguered Chicago Blackhawks, 6-2.
Less than a week after a 5-0 romp in the Windy City, the Kings returned to L.A. with the Western Conference playoff race coming into clear focus ahead of a three-game homestand.
The first stage of back-to-back games left the Kings third in the Pacific Division standings, five points in front of the Minnesota Wild for the final wild card spot.
The Wild visit Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday night, when Kings captain Anze Kopitar can make more history.
Kopitar netted a pair of goals and added an assist against Chicago, leaving him one point shy of becoming the 52nd player in NHL history – and the second Kings skater behind Marcel Dionne – to record 1,200 career points.
In 419 fewer games, Kopitar passed Patrick Marleau (the league’s leader in games played at 1,779) on Tuesday, ranking 51st on the league’s all-time points list.
Kopitar’s next point will place him alongside Stan Mikita and Evgeni Malkin as the third player born outside North America to collect 1,200 career points with one franchise.
Joining Kopitar on the score sheet against the last-in-the-Central Division Blackhawks, Alex Laferriere, Vladislav Gavrikov, Phillip Danault and Trevor Lewis bested goaltender Petr Mrazek, thanks in part to three assists by Adrian Kempe.
Kings goalie Cam Talbot denied 22 shots for his 21st win of the season, while Mrazek stopped 18 of the Kings’ 24 attempts on goal.
The Kings (35-22-11) took a short-lived lead when Lafferiere cleaned up a rebound inside the left circle at 12:03 as the big-bodied Pierre-Luc Dubois occupied space around Mrazek.
Lafferiere’s 11th score of the season was his second in less than a week against the Blackhawks (19-45-5, 43 points), who lost for the 24th time in their past 25 road games.
Unlike their runaway contest last Friday, which saw the Kings tally four first-period goals, the Blackhawks managed to put one on the board early and keep it close for the first 20 minutes.
Down two men after successive penalties seven seconds apart in the 15th minute, the Kings’ league-best penalty kill conceded a deflected shot that bounced off Nick Foligno’s left skate for the visiting winger’s 16th goal of the season.
Overall, the Kings killed three of Chicago’s four power plays.
Whatever chance the Blackhawks had of hanging around disappeared in the second period.
Assists by Kempe and Kopitar set up Gavrikov’s snap shot from just inside the blueline, which fluttered above Mrazek’s stick at 9:32, giving the Russian his fifth goal of the campaign.
Kempe’s next assist came when he intercepted a pass from behind the net by Mrazek and fed Kopitar inside the right circle for the Slovenian’s third goal in three games.
The Swede added his third point late in the middle frame, taking a pass from Kevin Fiala and dishing it across the front of the Blackhawks’ net, where the puck bounded off Kopitar.
In the third period, a beautiful pass from Fiala to Trevor Moore freed up Danault for his 16th of the season.
Chicago got one back when Kevin Korchinski scored his fifth. Heralded rookie Connor Bedard, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, tallied an assist on the play, but the 18-year-old Chicago center missed a handful of opportunities and was otherwise held in check.
At 17:10, Trevor Lewis put an exclamation point on the result with his eighth goal of the season, redirecting a slap shot from Dubois past Mrazek.
More to come on this story.
Continue reading...
Less than a week after a 5-0 romp in the Windy City, the Kings returned to L.A. with the Western Conference playoff race coming into clear focus ahead of a three-game homestand.
The first stage of back-to-back games left the Kings third in the Pacific Division standings, five points in front of the Minnesota Wild for the final wild card spot.
The Wild visit Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday night, when Kings captain Anze Kopitar can make more history.
Kopitar netted a pair of goals and added an assist against Chicago, leaving him one point shy of becoming the 52nd player in NHL history – and the second Kings skater behind Marcel Dionne – to record 1,200 career points.
In 419 fewer games, Kopitar passed Patrick Marleau (the league’s leader in games played at 1,779) on Tuesday, ranking 51st on the league’s all-time points list.
Kopitar’s next point will place him alongside Stan Mikita and Evgeni Malkin as the third player born outside North America to collect 1,200 career points with one franchise.
Joining Kopitar on the score sheet against the last-in-the-Central Division Blackhawks, Alex Laferriere, Vladislav Gavrikov, Phillip Danault and Trevor Lewis bested goaltender Petr Mrazek, thanks in part to three assists by Adrian Kempe.
Kings goalie Cam Talbot denied 22 shots for his 21st win of the season, while Mrazek stopped 18 of the Kings’ 24 attempts on goal.
The Kings (35-22-11) took a short-lived lead when Lafferiere cleaned up a rebound inside the left circle at 12:03 as the big-bodied Pierre-Luc Dubois occupied space around Mrazek.
Lafferiere’s 11th score of the season was his second in less than a week against the Blackhawks (19-45-5, 43 points), who lost for the 24th time in their past 25 road games.
Unlike their runaway contest last Friday, which saw the Kings tally four first-period goals, the Blackhawks managed to put one on the board early and keep it close for the first 20 minutes.
Down two men after successive penalties seven seconds apart in the 15th minute, the Kings’ league-best penalty kill conceded a deflected shot that bounced off Nick Foligno’s left skate for the visiting winger’s 16th goal of the season.
Overall, the Kings killed three of Chicago’s four power plays.
Whatever chance the Blackhawks had of hanging around disappeared in the second period.
Assists by Kempe and Kopitar set up Gavrikov’s snap shot from just inside the blueline, which fluttered above Mrazek’s stick at 9:32, giving the Russian his fifth goal of the campaign.
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Kempe’s next assist came when he intercepted a pass from behind the net by Mrazek and fed Kopitar inside the right circle for the Slovenian’s third goal in three games.
The Swede added his third point late in the middle frame, taking a pass from Kevin Fiala and dishing it across the front of the Blackhawks’ net, where the puck bounded off Kopitar.
In the third period, a beautiful pass from Fiala to Trevor Moore freed up Danault for his 16th of the season.
Chicago got one back when Kevin Korchinski scored his fifth. Heralded rookie Connor Bedard, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, tallied an assist on the play, but the 18-year-old Chicago center missed a handful of opportunities and was otherwise held in check.
At 17:10, Trevor Lewis put an exclamation point on the result with his eighth goal of the season, redirecting a slap shot from Dubois past Mrazek.
More to come on this story.
Continue reading...
