On Saturday night, the LA Kings hosted the Chicago Blackhawks for the second time in three days, hoping the result would be different than their 2-1 loss on Thursday night. Potentially changing their luck, Los Angeles wore their alternate crown uniforms on Saturday for the fifth time this year.
The Kings have been mired in a goal-scoring drought as of late, having failed to score more than two goals in five of their six games entering tonight. However, LA finally got off the schnide tonight, scoring six goals, its best offensive output all year at Crypto.com Arena.
This came after a first period that pretty much matched the Kings’ playing style over their last couple of weeks. The first 20 minutes were extremely low-event, and finished scoreless. It was a pretty evenly played period; however, despite Chicago having an 11-to-7 lead in shots on goal.
Early in the second period, a bad Blackhawks turnover in their own zone led to an abbreviated odd-man rush, Warren Foegele blasted a one-timer past Chicago goaltender Spencer Knight, making it 1-0 LA. With the primary assist, Trevor Moore continues his little hot streak, as he now has seven points in his last eight games.
A struggling Kings power-play unit even broke through in the second, as Andrei Kuzmenko snuck one over the goalie. From there, the floodgates opened, as LA would score four more times.
“When we scored our second goal, something changed. Felt like the players got 10 pounds lighter. It was quicker and more fluid,” said head coach Jim Hiller postgame.
First star of the game, Brandt Clarke, had one of the best games of his career, as he scored twice in the win. The young defenseman has been rewarded with more ice time lately by Hiller, and his two-goal performance against Chicago will certainly help his case for even more.
“Sometimes they just go in, tonight they did,” said Clarke postgame.
A change that seemingly helped the Kings tonight was the involvement of their defensemen on offense. The defensive core as a whole totalled six points, with a goal and assist coming from Mikey Anderson and two assists from Drew Doughty. For a team that has been struggling to generate scoring opportunities, continued production from LA’s backend would be a huge asset.
Hiller praised the depth scoring postgame, giving kudos to Alex Turcotte and Kuzmeko in addition to the blueliners. “We will take it from anybody, but it’s nice to have it all the way through the lineup,” said Hiller.
Turcotte found a unique milestone tonight as well. His great, individual-effort third-period goal, which gave LA a 6-0 lead, was his first goal at home in his career. “It felt like forever. Definitely a relief to get it over with,” said Turcotte.
Lost in all the scoring, goaltender Darcy Keumper was perfect, pitching a 23-save shutout. It seemed to come at relative ease, as the Kings gave up very few high-danger scoring chances.
Los Angeles couldn’t have asked for a better result to close out their homestand. Their 13th win of the season comes before a six-game stretch in which five will be away from Crypto. They will hope for continued offensive success in Utah on Monday night.