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Give It Away: Kings 5, Blackhawks 2

Posted on by Shepard Price

The Chicago Blackhawks extended their losing streak to nine games on Tuesday night while facing the Los Angeles Kings at the United Center, falling 5-2 after going down 2-0 in the first period.

The Kings started the scoring as Trevor Moore scored on a yawning cage with Collin Delia and the defense pulled out of position by Phillip Danault at the front of the net, who had no Blackhawks defenders around him.

The Kings scored another goal before the first period was over, as Danault shot a puck that Delia made the initial save on but which banked off Caleb Jones and into the net, giving Los Angeles a 2-0 lead.

The Blackhawks got a goal back courtesy of Taylor Raddysh, as Raddysh scored quickly off a pass from Philipp Kurashev:

But the Kings answered quickly — 33 seconds later — as Blake Lizotte scored on the backhand after a terrific play from the Kings where Delia was unable to see who received a pass, went with the wrong guy and Lizotte capitalized.

The Kings then scored another goal to make it 4-1, as Jordan Spence scored on a shot from the point that deflected off of Sam Lafferty and into the net before Delia had a chance to respond.

With 3:18 to go, Patrick Kane scored past Jonathan Quick off of a pass from Raddysh, getting it past Jonathan Quick, late in the third period to make it a 4-2 game:

However, the Kings scored one last time, as Lizotte fired into past the stick of Riley Stillman and into the empty net for the 5-2 final.

Notes

  • That first period was atrocious and put the Blackhawks in a hole they never truly recovered from. Chicago had just nine shot attempts to 25 from the Kings at 5-on-5 and four shots to 14 against. While the second period saw the Blackhawks attempt more shots (17 against LA’s 20) they only mustered five on goal during 5-on-5 play. While the third period saw just 9:28 of 5-on-5 time, the Blackhawks mustered just six shot attempts, although five were on net. Just … bad.
  • Speaking of the word “bad”: Caleb Jones. Just play the kids already, Derek King, and stop icing this guy. Jones was arguably directly at fault for two goals against in this game, which would have been the measure of victory if not for the empty-net goal. He directly scored on Delia in the first period and then screened the goaltender during that first Lizotte goal, not allowing Delia to see who had the puck. Not good.
  • Speaking of the word “good”: Lukas Reichel. Reichel came very close to a goal several times throughout the game and if he keeps playing the way he did against the Kings, the scoring will come soon. Reichel had two shots, 0.27 expected goals (third after Kane and Raddysh) and a high-danger chance. Not bad for the kid.
  • Collin Delia wasn’t blameless in this game, although several of the goals didn’t give him the ability to do much. Delia allowed four goals on 2.05 expected, with two of the goals coming off low-danger shots. Again, hard to blame him on several of the goals scored but he still could’ve been better. Although,  if there’s anyone to blame least it may be him.
  • Or it may be Taylor Raddysh, who was the one doing the scoring for the most part for the Blackhawks. A goal and a primary assist is a good night for the recently acquired Raddysh, and Raddysh led the team with 0.43 expected goals from three shots, tied for the team lead. Raddysh also had three high-danger chances in this game.
  • Along with Raddysh, Philipp Kurashev’s two assists were also a good game for the young forward, but Raddysh and Kurashev played about 13 minutes each. Get you a coach who actually wants to play the young, talented forwards at the beginning of a rebuild. The fact those two were each on ice for less time than C. Jones in this game is a joke.
  • The Blackhawks got steadily less disciplined as this game wore on, as they took zero penalties in the first period, just one in the second, although that was quickly offset by one from the Kings, and two in the third. Luckily, the Blackhawks’ penalty kill took care of that 3:28 of shorthanded time, allowing just one shot on net, although it wasn’t as if the Kings were trying all that hard, especially on Reese Johnson’s penalty to end the game.
  • The Blackhawks’ power play, on the other hand, had 8:03 of man-advantage time to try and even up the score and just couldn’t muster much. The Blackhawks had five shots on goal, one high-danger chance and 0.74 expected goals in those eight minutes, but that could have been better.
  • Speaking of better, this whole game could have been better if the Blackhawks gave an effort that made it seem like they were trying. From just 11 shots in the first two periods to the fact that when adjusted for score and venue, the Blackhawks had just 12.26 shots on goal at 5-on-5, this whole game was not worthy of being one of the last called by Pat Foley. Foley’s last game is Thursday, and we’ll see if the Blackhawks show up to play then.
  • Might be time to reunite a few lines. None of the seven combinations that played at least 1:54 together in this game were very good, although the trio of Kurashev, Raddysh and Jonathan Toews had a goal and 72.15% expected goal share together in 2:09, so it might be worth a larger sample size. /

Game Charts

Three stars

  1. Phillip Danault (LAK) — 1 G, 1 A
  2. Blake Lizotte (LAK) — 2 G
  3. Taylor Raddysh (CHI) — 1 G, 1 A

What’s next

The Blackhawks host the San Jose Sharks Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at the United Center now looking to end an eight-game losing streak. It’ll also be Pat Foley’s last game in the booth.

Talking Points