The Los Angeles Kings unleashed an early onslaught to blow away the Chicago Blackhawks in a 5-2 win on Monday that moved them to within one victory of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals.
The Kings stormed ahead with three first-period goals that whipped the home Staples Center crowd into a frenzy and held on to grab a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference Finals series.
In a match-up between the past two Stanley Cup champions, the Kings have looked the sharper of the teams in the last three contests and can eliminate the Blackhawks with a Game 5 victory when the series shifts back to Chicago today.
Photo: Kirby Lee-USA Today
“The last [win] is always the toughest one,” Kings center Anze Kopitar told reporters after finishing with two assists. “We’re going to their building and we’re going to have to bring our best. Hopefully, we can continue [to play well].”
A series victory would serve as sweet revenge for the Kings after they were defeated by the Blackhawks in five games at the same stage of the playoffs a year ago.
On Monday, Jake Muzzin, Marian Gaborik and Dustin Brown all scored in the first period, before Drew Doughty added another in the second period to carry Los Angeles into a 4-0 lead.
Photo: AFP
The first-period surge was a sequence that featured three goals in just four shots against goaltender Corey Crawford and it clearly knocked the stuffing out of the Blackhawks.
“We’re just trying to get people in front of [Crawford],” Los Angeles defenseman Doughty said. “If he can see the puck, he is going to make the saves.”
Los Angeles kept Crawford searching for the puck in the first period when he was completely shielded from Muzzin’s score and he fell victim to active sticks in front of the net.
Photo: AFP
Crawford finished with just 16 saves, while Jonathan Quick made 22 in the triumph.
Chicago fought back with a second-period goal from Brandon Saad and a Bryan Bickell effort in the third period, but that was all they could manage.
A desperate push for goals in the third led to Tanner Pearson scoring an empty-netter in the final minute to punctuate the win for the Kings.
Blackhawks winger Patrick Kane was again held without a score and he has failed to register a goal in any of the four games of the series to date.
However, the Blackhawks’ problems appear to be deeper than just Kane’s slump in form and they now face the serious prospect of losing a series after winning their previous six.
“You have to make things happen and execute,” Chicago captain Jonathan Toews said. “There are no excuses. It’s pretty simple.”
Meanwhile, the Kings are firing on all cylinders and have undergone a dramatic offensive turnaround.
They entered the post-season as the lowest-scoring team in the playoffs, but have been the most prolific throughout them.
Justin Williams added two assists for Los Angeles, while red-hot Jeff Carter tallied an assist and has 11 points in five games.
The Kings completed a series comeback from 3-0 down in the first round and 3-2 in the second, but now find themselves in the unfamiliar position of being firmly in control.
The winner of the series is to face either the New York Rangers or the Montreal Canadiens.
American rugby sevens star Ilona Maher is to join 15-a-side club Bristol next month in a bid to play in next year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup, the English club announced on Monday. Maher, 28, helped the US to a bronze medal at this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris and is the seven-a-side sport’s most popular player on social media. “This is a huge coup to be able to bring Ilona Maher to Bristol Bears on a short-term deal,” Bristol head coach Dave Ward said. “She is one of the biggest names in women’s sport, let alone rugby, and we believe she will
New Taipei Kings guard Jeremy Lin on Friday was named the Taiwan Professional Basketball League’s (TPBL) Player of the Month, the first domestic player to win the award, while the Hsinchu Toplus Lioneers are to welcome their third head coach in less than a year. Lin averaged 22 points, 5.4 rebounds and 6.6 assists over five games in October and last month, helping the Kings to second in the standings with a 4-2 record as of Friday. The Kings last night defeated the Lioneers 96-78 to move level with the top-of-the-table Formosa Dreamers (5-2), while in the night game, the New Taipei
LeBron James is in quite the shooting slump — especially from long distance, highlighted by his zero-for-four effort from three-point range for the Los Angeles Lakers in their 109-80 loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday. That return stretched the nearly-40-year-old’s skid to zero-for-19 from deep over his past four games. James’ birthday is on Dec. 30. After going four-for-16 from the floor overall with six of his team’s 20 turnovers for a season-low 10 points against the Timberwolves, James was asked to reflect on the Lakers reaching the quarter mark of their 2024-2025 schedule under rookie coach J.J. Redick at 12-9. “I
TO NO AVAIL: The Denver Nuggets’ Serbian center Nikola Jokic surpassed his 53-point performance in the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix The Washington Wizards withstood a 56-point explosion from Denver star Nikola Jokic to beat the Nuggets 122-113 on Saturday and snap their 16-game NBA losing streak. Jokic, who won his third NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) award last season, posted a career scoring high — surpassing a 53-point performance in game four of the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix and a 50-point regular-season best against Sacramento in 2021. The Serbian big man added 16 rebounds and eight assists, but it was all to no avail as Washington, buoyed by 39 points from Jordan Poole, won for the first time
RSS