The Los Angeles Kings finally got a win over the Chicago Blackhawks this season as they would win 3-1 on Thursday night. This was the final meeting between the two teams and the Blackhawks had won the first two, including a 5-1 victory earlier this month.
The Blackhawks have struggled this season so it was surprising to see the Kings unable to get a win prior to Thursday night but those are two big points for a team competing for a playoff spot. With the win, the Kings not only are two points back of the Edmonton Oilers (with two games in hand) but also only five points behind the Vegas Golden Knights for the division lead.
With a win, the Kings return home for back-to-back games this weekend against the Carolina Hurricanes and Boston Bruins. Before looking ahead to those games, these are three takeaways from the game on Thursday night.
Los Angeles Kings started exactly like Jim Hiller wanted
Before the game against the Blackhawks, Jim Hiller announced there would be no lineup changes and Zach Dooley tweeted that they wanted to have a direct mindset for this game. He was quoted as saying:
"“If we can get two [goals] early, we’re pretty good.”"
Well the Kings head coach was correct and that is exactly what the Los Angeles Kings were able to do against the Blackhawks. Trevor Moore would get the first goal of the night in under nine minutes into the first period. It was a great individual effort where Moore was able to skate into position and take a quick shot that got past Spencer Knight.
Less than a minute after that, the Kings extended their lead with Alex Turcotte scoring the second goal of the night. He was assisted by Vladsilav Gavrikov and Jordan Spence on the play.
By building the two-goal lead, the Kings could really lean on what they do well and that is lean on their defense and try to control the flow of the game. There is no question that it would have been great to get another goal before the empty net goal by Joel Edmundson in the third period but it was one that the Kings didn't seem to panic and played very well with the lead.
Fourth line delivers timely goal
As mentioned previously, Alex Turcotte was able to get the quick second goal for the Los Angeles Kings but this is also a time to recognize the performance of the fourth line as a whole. Since the trade deadline, the Kings have had Turcotte playing alongside Samuel Helenius and Tanner Jeannot, who are two bigger forwards that bring some great physicality and forechecking.
After the game, Darcy Kuemper was asked about the performance of that fourth line and said:
"Yeah, that’s a beautiful goal for them and a big one for us to get it started. I thought just all game, like that was the one shift they scored on, but they were out and heavy on the forecheck all game, making it tough for the other team and providing a lot of good energy for us."
While Andrei Kuzmenko is still searching for his first point with the Los Angeles Kings, his presence has allowed the Kings to shuffle their lines and find pairings that have worked really well. That includes this fourth line.
Darcy Kuemper gets some revenge on the Chicago Blackhawks
The last start against the Chicago Blackhawks was one of Darcy Kuemper's worst of the season as he allowed four goals on only 18 shots in the game earlier this month. Since that game though, Kuemper has been incredible and allowed only six goals total in the next six starts.
On Thursday night, Kuemper would stop 17 of 18 shots and the Blackhawks only goal was on a power play in the second period. With David Rittich's recent struggles, Kuemper has started the last five games for the Kings but he will probably get a night off this weekend with back-to-back games.