RECAP: Blackhawks Fall to Kings in LA, 6-2

For the second straight meeting, a lopsided period was the difference for the Blackhawks against the LA Kings as Chicago dropped a 6-2 decision on the West Coast on Tuesday evening. 

Chicago took a 1-1 game to the locker room after 20 minutes courtesy of a Nick Foligno power-play goal. But a three-goal middle frame from the Kings, including two tallies in a span of 2:20 near the game's midpoint, propelled the home side to victory. Kevin Korchinski added a second Blackhawks goal in the third period with a point shot through traffic, but it was too late to spark a comeback effort. Petr Mrazek made 18 stops on the night in the loss.

QUICK HITS

• Scoring on a 5-on-3 power play in the first period, it was the third two-man advantage goal for Chicago this season with all three coming in the last 15 days (March 5 at ARI, March 10 vs. ARI).
• Nick Foligno's power-play goal was his seventh man-advantage tally of the season, tying Tyler Johnson for the Blackhawks' team lead.
• Kevin Korchinski scored a goal for a second straight game with his third-period tally and now leads all Blackhawks blueliners with five goals on the season.
• With a secondary assist on the opening Chicago goal, Seth Jones logged his 400th NHL point (86G, 314A).
• Wyatt Kaiser played his first NHL game in exactly four months (Dec. 19 vs. COL) after being recalled from the AHL's Rockford IceHogs on Monday. The rookie defenseman logged 15 points (3G, 12A) in 31 AHL games since his last NHL appearance, including 3 points (3A) in the three games preceding his recall.

THEY SAID IT

• "I think we had a good start. We obviously couldn't keep pace with them. I think they're a big team. They're fast. We've got to build our team up -- our play, but also our bodies and our physicality to play with a team like this. That's two games in a row, and it wasn't a freak of nature the first time. They're a good team, and they're big, and they're fast, and they're built well, and they're built to win in the playoffs. So that's a great test for us. Now we have some work to do in a couple of weeks because we have one more shot at it to show them a better showing of ourselves." - Luke Richardson on being outmatched by LA in back-to-back games. 
• "The first period was was spot on. We were forechecking well and getting pucks in and kind of getting through their neutral zone, that 1-3-1 of theirs. And then we kind of started turning some pucks over and they capitalized. That's what they do best. They're very defensive team and they boxed us out well around the net, so we didn't get much action there in front of the goalie. And they just kind of kept coming at us in waves and we couldn't put a stop to it." - Seth Jones on difference in the game.
• "I think we were pretty good on the forecheck. We were getting a lot of little puck battles and stuff, but I think, at the end, the execution wasn't there. At the end of the day, that's you have to do that is, just creating chances is not gonna win you the game. Gotta do more of that." - Philipp Kurashev on team creating chances but not being able to finish.

GAME LINKS

• Game Summary
• Full Box Score
• Highlights

WHAT'S NEXT

The Blackhawks continue their three-game west coast road trip against the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday night.

Chicago returns home on Tuesday, March 26th to face the Calgary Flames at the United Center.