In their last game of the season, the Blackhawks put on quite a performance even though they ended up falling in overtime to the Los Angeles Kings 5-4. They took the first lead and made a huge comeback in the third after trailing 3-1, wrapping up the season with an overtime loss. It had been a back-and-forth nail-biting game, both teams putting on a show. Even though Chicago had lost in their final game to close out the season, they put in a remarkable effort to stay in the game. The Hawks’ third-period comeback with three goals marked the 12th time, overall, and the eighth since the beginning of March when they scored three goals in a single period.
Blackhawks lineup against the Kings:
Dickinson – Bedard – Kurashev
Foligno – Nazar – Anderson
Reichel – Athanasiou – Johnson
Slaggert – Entwistle – Donato
Vlasic – Jones
Tinordi – Megna
Korchinski – Blackwell
Soderblom
Mrazek
Kings lineup against the Blackhawks:
Laferriere – Kopitar – Kempe
Moore – Danault – Arvidsson
Fiala – Lizotte – Lewis
Byfield – Dubois – Turcotte
Anderson – Doughty
Gavrikov – Roy
Englund – Spence
Talbot
Rittich
Lukas Reichel opened the scoring late into the first frame with 4:21 remaining in the period to record his fifth goal of the season and give the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead. Before finishing off a breakaway to put a backhand past Cam Talbot in the crease, he had chipped the puck ahead while entering the offensive zone and deked around Talbot.
Early into the second period, Viktor Arvidsson tied it 1-1 with his sixth goal of the season at 15:23 when he struck from the left circle off Phillip Danault’s pass with a one-timer past Arvid Soderblom. Quintin Byfield put Los Angeles in a 2-1 lead later into the middle frame at 3:56 on a power play at the right post off a cross-crease pass from Danault. Soon after, Trevor Moore gave the Kings a 3-1 lead when he was found by Arvidsson with a touch pass, who had been fed by Danualt, to tap it in at the right post.
Tyler Johnson cut the Kings’ lead to 3-2 with his 17th goal of the season early in the third at 18:32. Johnson scored on a wrister on a power play from the right circle. Not much longer after, at 16:18, Joey Anderson tied it 3-3. Anderson had driven to the net after receiving a pass in the right circle, jamming the puck in at the right post after shifting it forehand to backhand around Cam Talbot. Ryan Donato gave back the lead to Chicago when he redirected a shot by MacKenzie Entwistle from the right point and in past Talbot. This had been Donato’s 12th goal of the season to close it out. Tying the game 4-4 with very little time left on the clock – Viktor Arvidsson recorded his second of the game which resulted in the Blackhawks and Kings wrapping it up in overtime.
Only six seconds into overtime, Adrian Kempe called it a wrap with a quick finish from the right circle on a wrist shot.
Lukas Reichel on the game, scoring, and being in AHL playoffs: “I think we battled hard. We came back and unfortunately, we didn’t win the game. I think the effort was there, even in the last couple of games,” – “I always want to score and have that killer instinct. I think I improved that at the end of the season here and I want to keep doing that in the playoffs – For me, I think it’s good to play playoff games, play hard, and we’ll see how it goes… I think we got a really good team to win the Calder.”
Notes:
– Arvid Soderblom made 30 saves for Chicago, and Ryan Donato recorded both a goal and an assist.
– The Blackhawks finished the season with 52 points, which is their fewest in a season where there had been at least 70 games played since getting only 50 points in the 1955-56 season.
– Connor Bedard finished his rookie season with a total of 61 points (22 goals, 39 assists).
– With his power-play goal, Tyler Johnson tied Nick Foligno for the team lead in power-play goals. Both have eight on the year.
– Jason Dickinson played in his 82nd game of the year, the only player on the team to play in every game of the season and it was the first time he’s appeared in all 82 games in a campaign.
– Landon Slaggert recorded an assist on Anderson’s goal for his fourth NHL career point in 16 games.
– Viktor Arvidsson scored twice and recorded an assist, Phillip Danault recorded three assists, and Cam Talbot made nine saves for Los Angeles.
– Adrian Kempe’s overtime winner tied for the fastest in NHL history. He had finished the season with a total of 75 points (28 goals, 47 assists), and became the first player other than Anze Kopitar to lead the Los Angeles Kings in points since Jeff Carter in the 2016-17 season.
