Kaiser breaks tie in third, Blackhawks edge Kings to end three-game slide

CHICAGO – Wyatt Kaiser scored his first goal of the season to break a third-period tie, and the Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Los Angeles Kings 2-1 at United Center on Tuesday.

The defenseman moved in from the left point, took a pass from Frank Nazar and put a wrist shot past Kings goalie Anton Forsberg at 7:17 of the third period. Patrick Kane started the play from the goal line to pick up his 899th NHL assist.

“To be honest, if you guys remember last year in L.A., almost the exact same goal,” Kaiser said of a 2-1 Chicago victory on Dec. 4, 2025. “Frank bounces over in the slot and I shoot it five-hole for the game-winner. I was laughing, Frank was laughing. Just trying to creep down, keep the gap tight and it pops over, I see him sliding across. Before pros, I’d never scored a five-hole goal in my life, and now it’s where I shoot a lot of times, which is funny.”

Roman Kantserov scored, and Spencer Knight made 25 saves for the Blackhawks (4-8-0), who had lost three in a row. Chicago went 3-4-0 on its seven-game homestand.

“That was a huge one,” Kane said. “You’re down 1-0 early in the game, and (we) just kind of stuck with it, didn’t really give up much. I thought we were the better hockey team tonight. We deserved to win. Nice to see the power play come through, too. That was something we’ve been talking about, and I thought it was really good tonight, too. Keep building on that and get one late.”

Forsberg made 25 saves for the Kings (3-6-2), who went 3-2-0 on their five-game road trip, dropping two of their past three games.

“We lost a big game today,” said Kings coach Peter Laviolette. “We had an opportunity to move up in the standings and continue to climb out of the hole that we had at the beginning of the year. We didn’t get that done.”

Samuel Helenius gave the Kings a 1-0 lead at 2:31 of the first period with his first goal of the season. He jammed the puck into the net during a scramble in the crease after a shot from the slot by Jared Wright slid under Knight’s pads.

Kantserov tied the game 1-1 on the power play at 16:40 of the second period. Kantserov scored in the slot while going to one knee, taking a pass from Connor Bedard at the goal line after the Blackhawks captain carried the puck down the right side.

The Kings were coming off a 6-3 victory at the New York Rangers on Monday.

“Tough one,” said Kings forward Adrian Kempe. “Back-to-back (games), obviously hard on the body, hard mentally. First period, I think, was probably our best. Kind of got away from us a little bit in the second and third. Wasn’t connecting on the breakouts. Everything felt a little bit off tonight. It (stinks). We feel like it’s a game that we played good enough in the first, and if we would have kept it that way, we would have had a good chance to win the game. Yeah, it got away. Obviously frustrating.”

Chicago coach Jeff Blashill said it was important for the Blackhawks to take advantage of the Kings playing the previous night.

“A lot of times, the team that played the night before has jump early, you're battle-tested, and then you wear out,” he said. “I thought it was obviously important to take advantage of a team that comes in here on a back-to-back. Obviously, we're in a spot (where) we need wins. But I thought we did it in a way that was conducive to continuing to win, in a sense that we didn't give a lot up, we stayed on top of them, and that's the way we need to play to be successful.”

NOTES: Kings defenseman and captain Drew Doughty and forward Corey Perry were late scratches. Before the game Laviolette said the team was “sifting through a couple of bumps and bruises” following the game on Monday. He did not provide an update on either player’s status when asked after the game. … Kantserov leads NHL rookies with five goals. … Kane factored on a go-ahead-goal in the third period for the 66th time with the Blackhawks, which passed Denis Savard (65 times) for the second-most instances in franchise history behind Stan Mikita (71).