After some less than inspiring performances from both squads, Monday night's Kings Blackhawks game maybe had a different feel to it than normal. Neither team were working on stretches of games where they looked like powerhouses. However, the stylistic match up that is the Kings-Blackhawks series is always a must see regardless of current form.
It is will versus skill. Grit versus and structure versus flowing creativity.
Unfortunately, at least for Chicago, only one team seemed to show up with a real purpose to get out of the funk. While the Kings are 7-2-1 in their last 10, offense has been hard to come by, and the Saturday loss to New Jersey was the pinnacle of frustration. Chicago, 5-4-1 in their last 10, have seen themselves slide down to third in the division behind St. Louis and Dallas. That slide continued Monday night as the Kings put a 5-0 wallop on the home team.
The Kings got off the mark early with goals 18 seconds apart from Kris Versteeg and Milan Lucic at just under the 17 minute mark of the first period. For Versteeg, a former Blackhawk, it was his first goal in a Kings uniform.
Versteeg has been infrequently used since being acquired from Carolina, but Sutter has given him more and more opportunity the last two games. Tonight he was featured on the top line right wing with Anze Kopitar and Milan Lucic. The trio were the Kings best possession line on the evening, and connected for two pivotal goals early on to put Chicago on their heels. Versteeg also collected an assist on Lucic's goal.
Later in the second period, Vinny Lecavalier made the best of a defensive zone scramble and lost opportunity for the Hawks as he potted his eighth as a King and 13th point in 29 games in LA. While he did get an assist on the play, the whole up ice rush was orchestrated by a penultimate defensive play by King forward Trevor Lewis. Lewis locked up a Blackhawk forward on a backdoor stuff in play, denying a for sure Hawks first goal to make it 2-1. Seconds later the play turned up ice and Lecavalier was the benefactor of a great pass from 22 for back door empty netter.
The game was further buried later in the evening with slump busting goals from Dustin Brown and Tyler Toffoli. For Toffoli it was his first even strength goal in 24 games, and for the Captain it was the snap of a 16-game goalless streak.
Quick turned aside 32 shots, and made a little history in the process.
That's Jonathan Quick's 41st career shutout, which is now the most all-time amongst U.S.-born goalies.
— Jon Rosen (@lakingsinsider) March 15, 2016
Darryl Sutter deserves a ton of credit, as he balanced the Kings forward ice time tremendously. Whereas Quenneville relied heavily on his top six forwards (Panarin, Kane, Toews, and Anisimov all played 19:30+), the Kings depth allowed Sutter to play no forward more than 19:47 (Kopitar), with every forward on the team over 11:30 in ice time except for Kyle Clifford. For comparison, Chicago had three forwards in single digit ice-time and Andrew Shaw at 11:38. For the Kings, McNabb continues his Sutter doghouse run, playing the least minutes of any Kings defenseman.
Hard to really decipher much from the corsi battle, as score effects really took over in the third period as the Kings seemed perfectly content with a 3-0 win. While the lost the overall corsi battle, the score adjusted metrics tell a different story (Rightfully)
The Kings top defensive pairing on the night was Alec Martinez and Jake Muzzin, who saw an even spread of the entire Hawks top nine and won the possession battle against all of them. Martinez led all Kings players with an even strength +8 in corsi. Carter continued to struggle as he was a -11 corsi. The next closest Kings forward was at a -6. Doughty and Scuderi also finished in negatives, but it was Schenn and McNabb who were wisely cued on by coach Quenneville. The duo saw quite a bit of time against the Hawks top six forwards, so the match up was clearly trying to be exposed.
#LaKings (5) vs #Blackhawks (0) possession.
— Sean Tierney (@SeanTierneyTss) March 15, 2016
Just Versteeg and Muzzin doing what they always do. Hey Seabrook. pic.twitter.com/PfwtZAcpmM
In the end the Kings quick strike offense got them off the mark early against a team that might be fighting their own demons at the moment. New acquisitions have yet to really slot in comfortably for Chicago, and it may be getting to a concerning level with this blowout loss.
Kings held a comfortable faceoff advantage on the evening with a 55-45% edge overall.
Nick Shore led the Kings going 9-for-13, which included going 9-for-10 against everyone not named Jonathan Toews (0-3). Kopitar was 15-27 on the night, going 6-for-9 against Toews. Shore and Kopitar combined for an 8-for-11 in the offensive zone. Anisimov had his struggles against the Kings centermen, as he went 6-for-19 on the evening (32%).
Kings got goals from five different players, and scored 5 or more goals for the 8th time this year. Beats the heck out of a 2-1 game right?
Goalscoring watch! Lucic potted his 17th, with Toffoli grabbing 25. While Toffoli has slowed considerably since earlier in the year, he is having a career year in both goals and points. Lucic, with 17 and 44, he is on pace to surpass his previous season and could crest 50 points which would be a nice benchmark in his inaugural Kings season.
With the victory, the Kings continue to hold serve over the Anaheim Ducks. With 87 points they now also sit just four shy of the conference lead behind St. Louis and Dallas with 91. A conference title is still not out of the question as we approach the final games.
The Kings are in action again tomorrow night against the high flying Dallas Stars.
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