The Blackhawks hosted the Los Angeles Kings at the United Center on Friday, March 15th. Chicago had two straight wins, exciting ones too, but took an unfortunate 5-0 loss when they played the Kings. This shutout is the 10th one the Blackhawks faced this season. Los Angeles scored four goals in the first period and Arvid Soderblom was replaced early. Two out of the five goals scored by the Kings were scored by Anze Kopitar and Cam Talbot recorded his third shutout of the season, as well as the 31st of his NHL career.
Kings lineup against the Blackhawks:
Turcotte – Kopitar – Byfield
Moore – Danault – Fiala
Laferriere – Dubois – Kempe
Lizotte – Lewis
Anderson – Doughty
Gavrikov – Roy
Englund – Spence
Moverare
Talbot
Rittich
Blackhawks lineup against the Kings:
Foligno – Bedard – Kurashev
Blackwell – Dickinson – Anderson
Athanasiou – Johnson – Raddysh
Slaggert – Entwistle – Donato
Vlasic – Jones
Korchinski – Megna
Tinordi – Zaitsev
Soderblom
Mrazek
Putting Los Angeles ahead 1-0 early into the first period at 16:50 – Pierre-Luc Dubois scored his 15th goal of the season with a power-play goal. Dubois sent a wrister past Arvid Soderblom after a shot from the blue line by Jordan Spence rebounded off the end boards, then came to Dubois in the left-face off circle. Alex Laferriere recorded his 10th of the season for a two-nothing lead when he deflected in a wrist shot from Matt Roy, soon after Dubois scored. Anze Kopitar increased the Kings’ lead to 3-0 at 11:57 from the right circle with a wrist shot after receiving a cross-ice pass from Quinton Byfield. With just 5:41 remaining in the first, Kopitar went for his second of the game to give Los Angeles a four-nothing lead for his 20th goal of the season. He scored near the left post after being fed by Byfield with a backhanded shot from the right circle.
Chicago fell behind in the first frame with the early four goals by Los Angeles, which had put the game out of reach for the Blackhawks.
Jordan Spence struck his first goal of the season early into the middle frame at 17:27 to give the Kings the 5-0 final. He banked a shot off Petr Mrazek, who had replaced Arvid Soderblom in the first period, at the near post off a rebound below the right circle. For the remainder of the second period and through the third, the score stayed the same at 5-0.
The Blackhawks were unable to put the puck in the back of the net, regardless of their four power plays, and the 28 shots they had on goal.
Landon Slaggert on his NHL debut: “The guys did a great job making me feel comfortable, specifically my line-mates, ‘Twisty’ and Donato. They really just gave me some pointers out there and just allowed me to play my game – There’s always nerves and a little more energy, kind of built up going into it… I felt like I held my own and it’s definitely a game to build on,” – “It was a really cool experience. I actually forgot the pucks when I was going out, so I didn’t get a rookie shot, but it’s cool. When I was wandering around the net, I got to see all the guys supporting my jerseys too. So it was definitely awesome to have them support me here in Chicago.”
Jason Dickinson on losing 5-0 against the Kings: “If we don’t learn from it, then what was the point of losing 5-0? It’s something that we can use as a lesson to say, ok, this is what beat us. If we do the same, they’re going to beat us again. So I think we have to look at the video and say, ok, these are the openings, this is what works.”
Notes:
– Arvid Soderblom made 10 saves on 14 before he had been replaced by Petr Mrazek, who made 22 saves for Chicago.
– Connor Bedard had three shots in 22:47 of ice time. He had eight points in his previous two games – three goals and five assists.
– Both Ryan Donato and Jacob Tinordi had four shots on goal.
– Landon Slaggert made his NHL debut for the Blackhawks, no shots on goal in 10:32. He signed a two-year, entry-level contract on Sunday after recording 31 points in 36 games with the University of Notre Dame this season (20 goals, 11 assists)
– The Blackhawks recalled Lukas Reichel from Rockford (AHL) and assigned Zach Sanford.
– Cam Talbot made 28 saves in his third shutout of the season. Alex Laferriere, Jordan Spence, and Pierre-Luc Dubois each had a goal and an assist… Both Quinton Byfield and Adrian Kempe recorded two assists.
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