The last game for the 2023-24 Chicago Blackhawks season is finally here, ending with a bit of a whimper in Los Angeles as they take on the Kings.
The Kings were the last team in the Western Conference to officially clinch a berth in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, but they did so last Thursday after a 4-1 win over the Calgary Flames. They are still playing for position in the standings, though, as Los Angeles sits just one point back from the Vegas Golden Knights for third in the Pacific Division with one game remaining. The Kings need a win tonight against the Blackhawks and for the Golden Knights to lose or get only one point for them to jump Vegas, as the Kings own the first tiebreaker. The difference in position would mean the Kings face the Edmonton Oilers, who are second in the Pacific, instead of the Dallas Stars, who are first in the Central and Western Conference overall.
Regardless of the final standings scenarios, the Kings will be looking to sweep the season series with the Blackhawks to close out on a strong note before heading into the playoffs, especially as their most recent game was a 3-1 defeat handed to them by the Minnesota Wild on Monday. Blake Lizotte — which is a real name — scored the lone goal for the Kings in that loss, and the rest of the team looked pretty discombobulated throughout the night.
Recently, Kevin Fiala and Adrian Kempe have led the Kings in points with 10 (5 G, 5A) in the last 10 games. The Kings then have five players — Viktor Arvidsson, Anze Kopitar, Trevor Moore, Pierre-Luc Dubios, and Drew Doughty — with a half a point or better in the same span. This is pretty typical for Los Angeles: they have a few players who can go off offensively, but they’re more of a score-by-committee type of team.
In terms of their lineup, the Kings made at least one roster move since the last game, recalling their top prospect from the 2019 draft in Alex Turcotte, who was on a conditioning loan with the Ontario Reign. Turcotte has not played in the NHL since March 19 due to an upper-body injury, and he’ll slot onto the fourth line for the Kings. The rest of their lines stay the same from the Minnesota game:
Unlike the Kings, the Blackhawks don’t have anything to play for in this game beyond pride to finish a abysmal season on a somewhat good note. They arrive in Los Angeles on a five-game losing streak, so it’s been a downward death spiral as of late, but with the Blackhawks locked into the second-best NHL Draft lottery odds, they might as well pull out a victory for morale’s sake to end the season. They didn’t look too outpaced in their most recent loss, a 3-1 tilt against the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday, so there is always a chance the Blackhawks can win and play spoiler against the Kings.
It might be tough, though: the last time the Blackhawks played the Kings, it was their second game in four days against the California team, and it was one of the more ugly games of the season. Not only did they lose 6-2, but it felt like the Kings were playing with their food a bit and both Blackhawks goals — from Philipp Kurashev and Kevin Korchinski — were lucky deflections off of bodies in front. It wasn’t the lowest point in the season for the Blackhawks, but it was a painful reminder of how far from contending even for a playoff spot Chicago actually is in their rebuild process.
The lines will probably look close to what they did against Vegas on Tuesday, save for a few changes: Arvid Soderblom will be in net in place of Petr Mrazek, but more interestingly, Connor Murphy (lower body) has already been rules out and Nikita Zaitsev will be a game-time decision, so the Blackhawks may run with only five defensemen.
Also interestingly, Taylor Hall apparently traveled with the team and was at morning skate, but he’s not playing:
Blackhawks fans do have some postseason hockey they can enjoy as several prospects will be playing in the AHL playoffs with the Rockford IceHogs starting on April 27. They will be playing a best-of-five opening series against the Grand Rapids Griffins, the second-place team in the Central Division. It’s the first time in several years the IceHogs do not have to compete in the play-in round after they locked up their third-place finish.
And Lukas Reichel is going to join them for the playoffs:
Tale of the Tape
Blackhawks — Statistic — Kings
43.89% (31st) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 53.71% (4th)
42.61% (31st) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 54.27% (5th)
2.15 (32nd) — Goals per game — 3.07 (18th)
3.51 (30th) — Goals against per game — 2.54 (2nd)
46.6% (t-29th) — Faceoffs — 50.5% (15th)
16.2% (29th) — Power play — 22.1% (14th)
76.2% (27th) — Penalty kill — 84.9% (2nd)
How to Watch
When: 9:30 p.m. CT
Where: Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles
TV: NBC Sports Chicago
Webstream: ESPN+
Radio: WGN 720