Kane Tops Emotional Day With A Win Over The Kings

The most precious moment of this game came after the final horn, when Patrick Kane met with the media and grieved the loss of his grandfather, Donald Kane, earlier in the day. Kane focused his offensive aptitude to the tune of 2 goals and an assist on the night leading the way in the Blackhawks 5-3 defeat of the LA Kings.

The Kings came into the game desperately looking for a win after a stretch of losing despite outplaying their opponents. They certainly looked to be getting on the right track against the Blackhawks with a 3 goal offensive explosion after having serious trouble finding the back of the net during their losing streak. Ultimately, the Blackhawks were able to capitalize on the Kings mistakes and to bring home the win. Jonathan Quick did not look to be at his best in this game despite displaying his usual athleticism to make some flashy saves. Quick’s off night could not have come at a worse time for the Kings given that they actually managed to get 3 goals from Drew Doughty, Anze Kopitar and Tyler Toffoli.

Often meetings between the Blackhawks and Kings are sluggish affairs but this game proved to have a bit more pop and even some rather amusing moments. One such moment came when Patrick Kane actually got credited with a hit. The unfortunate receipient of this hit was Tyler Toffoli, who hopefully redeemed himself in the eyes of his teammates with his 3^rd period goal. Another strange moment came when the Blackhawks were pressuring in the offensive zone and Quick was giving up rebounds. While down in the splits, Quick made a save with the puck between his legs and Brandon Saad tried to poke the puck through before the whistle sounded. Unfortunately for Quick, the puck and Saad’s stick ended up in a rather sensitive area. Quick was understandably angry over this situation but then decided to show his displeasure by whipping the puck at Saad.

Quick’s was not the only temper on display during the game as there were multiple instances of post-whistle scrums and dust ups over hits. The Kings, as usual, laid some big hits on Blackhawks forwards. Luckily for the Blackhawks, the winner of the hit count battle is not automatically crowned the winner of the game.

Nick Leddy had a very nice game. His possession numbers were among the best on the team particularly at Score Close, where it matters the most. Leddy had two very significant shots on the night. The first was credited as a goal for Marcus Kruger, although on the replay, the puck appeared to hit Matt Green’s stick and deflect past Quick. The other important shot from Leddy resulted in a goal about 7 minutes into the 3^rd period. He was deservingly named 3^rd Star of the Game.

Bryan Bickell made his return to the ice from the comfy-chaired shame of the press box and put another goal on the score sheet in the 1^st period. Between the obscene amount of time spent on the Power Play and Penalty Kill in the first 2 periods and the fact that Coach Quenneville give little ice time to what essentially is a 4^th line, Bickell had very little ice time heading into the 3^rd. He managed to squeeze just over 8 minutes of ice time out of Quenneville, which was the lowest total on the team. In the 3^rd period, chaos around the net led to what looked to be a pretty easy shot for Bickell, but he pulled it wide. It looked to be a classic example of holding his stick too tightly, probably knowing that any mistake he made would land him back in the press box.

While the Blackhawks absolutely dominated possession in the 1^st period, the 2^nd period saw a push from the Kings that led to scoring. It was not until late in the period that the Blackhawks put together some cycles that paid off. The 3^rd period was a mix of offensive pressure from each team making for an entertaining 20 minutes. Below is the shot chart from the first 2 periods upon which I have circled the massive push the Kings made.

The Shot Chart below via www.extraskater.com shows the entire game including the response by the Blackhawks. The stats are below that for your review. It is interesting to note the Offensive/Defensive Zone Start Percentage (O/Dst%) for the Blackhawks as the values are essentially the mirror opposite of the numbers usually included in this part of the chart.

*All data retrieved from www.nhl.com and www.extraskater.com