Kings vs Blackhawks came down to another tied third period that the Los Angeles Kings could not close out. Wyatt Kaiser scored his first goal of the season at 7:17 of the third, and the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Kings 2-1 on Tuesday night at the United Center. The loss ended Los Angeles’ five-game road trip at 3-2-0 and dropped the Kings to 3-6-2. Head coach Peter Laviolette framed it as a recurring problem, not a one-night lapse.
“Too many times in the third period”
“We’ve been here too many times in the third period, 1-1, with a chance to win a game and we don’t get it done,” Laviolette said, according to LA Kings Insider. “It’s on us. We’ve got to get that done. The record could be a lot different if we’re closing out third periods.”
The numbers back up his read of how the game drifted. According to the ESPN play log, the Kings outshot Chicago 10-9 in the first period, played even at 9-9 in the second and were outshot 9-7 in the third. Adrian Kempe saw the same arc. “Back-to-back (games), obviously hard on the body, hard mentally,” Kempe told NHL.com. “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.”
Laviolette did not accept the schedule as an excuse. This was the second half of a back-to-back, one night after a 6-3 win over the New York Rangers. “Everybody has back-to-backs,” he said. “We’ve gotta handle it better. The bottom line is, we’re in the game in the third period and it’s an opportunity for us.”
The winning goal started with a breakout
Chicago’s winner came from exactly the kind of play Laviolette and Kempe described. Quinton Byfield tried to send the puck to defenseman Erik Gustafsson behind the Los Angeles net, Chicago picked it off, and two passes later Kaiser had room in the left circle and beat Anton Forsberg. Frank Nazar and Patrick Kane assisted. It was Kane’s 899th career NHL assist, and it was only Kaiser’s 11th goal in 187 NHL games.
Byfield took responsibility afterward. “There was just a little miscommunication. When I looked, I thought Gus was in that spot, and I mean, it happened so fast, I feel like he took a step back and it just worked perfect for them,” he said. “Obviously, I want to make a better play there. It happens fast. It’s just a quick play like that and it ends up being the game.”
“The game was kind of like that all night for us,” Laviolette said of the goal. “We weren’t sharp on breakouts, just through the entire game, we couldn’t get any rhythm going. It didn’t seem like we were as connected as we were last night, we weren’t as crisp or as clean.”
The fourth line delivered early
The Kings’ only goal came from their fourth line, 2:31 into the game. Andre Lee got a shot through from the point, Spencer Knight stopped it, Jared Wright’s rebound try sat in the crease, and Samuel Helenius jammed it in for his first goal of the season. Helenius, Wright and Lee all played less than 8:20, and they produced the night’s only even-strength goal for Los Angeles:
- Helenius: goal, 7:22 time on ice.
- Wright: assist, his first point of the season, 7:59.
- Lee: assist, his second of the season, 8:19.
The top of the lineup did not add to it. Artemi Panarin played a team-high 23:54 without a shot on goal. Alex Laferriere had five shots and Byfield had six, but Knight stopped 25 of 26 overall.
Special teams tipped it
Chicago tied the game at 16:40 of the second period. Joel Armia was called for tripping at 14:26 and then interference at 16:29, and Roman Kantserov scored on the second power play off a feed from Connor Bedard, with Teuvo Teravainen also assisting. It was Kantserov’s fifth goal, which leads all NHL rookies, according to the Associated Press.
The Kings went 0 for 3 on the power play. That included a four-minute double minor to Sam Rinzel for high-sticking, against a Chicago penalty kill the AP noted had allowed just four goals on 39 chances this season. “Score more 5-on-5, you score on the power play, you kill penalties, everything factors into winning and losing,” he said. “I don’t think it was one of our more clean games.”
Drew Doughty and Corey Perry scratched late
Doughty, who had three points against the Rangers one night earlier, and Perry were both late scratches. Laviolette said before the game the team was “sifting through a couple of bumps and bruises,” and LA Kings Insider reported he had no update on either player afterward. Without Doughty, the defense minutes were split this way:
- Gustafsson: 22:25.
- Brandt Clarke: 22:17.
- Joel Edmundson: 18:40.
- Mikey Anderson: 17:10.
- Cody Ceci: 17:10.
- Brian Dumoulin: 16:49.
Chicago was missing defenseman Bowen Byram (upper body) for a fifth straight game.
Where the Kings had the edge
The loss was not one-sided. Los Angeles won 57.9 percent of its faceoffs, with Erik Haula going 10-4 and Byfield going 9-7. The Kings were credited with 28 hits to Chicago’s 15 and blocked 16 shots. They also had 15 giveaways to Chicago’s 12, and one of those decided the game.
Forsberg was good enough to win. He made 25 saves on 27 shots and was pulled late for an extra attacker. LA Kings Insider noted the Kings have scored just one goal in each of Forsberg’s last three starts.
The view from Chicago
The Blackhawks (4-8-0) snapped a three-game losing streak, and Kane did not hedge. “I thought we were the better hockey team tonight. We deserved to win,” he said. Chicago is now 3-4-0 on its seven-game homestand and visits Detroit next.
Road trip verdict and what’s next
Byfield summed up the trip. “It sucks not winning the last game. From our start, going 3-2 is still a little bit of a positive for us. Obviously, it would be a lot better 4-1, so it stings on the way back here, but from where we started, I feel like it’s getting a lot better,” he said. Laviolette was sharper about it. “We lost a big game today,” he said. “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.”
The Kings will not practice Wednesday. They return for a morning skate Thursday before hosting the Ottawa Senators at 7 p.m. PT.
Notes and conflicts
The “It sucks not winning the last game” quote is attributed to Byfield, following LA Kings Insider’s transcript; it was not confirmed on video. No reason was given for Doughty’s or Perry’s absence, and their status for Thursday is unconfirmed. Shots by period come from ESPN’s play log and include goals.
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