Blackhawks at Kings
By earning a split in the Windy City, the Los Angeles Kings wrested away home-ice advantage from the reigning Stanley Cup-champion Chicago Blackhawks. The resilient Kings look to ride the momentum of their five-goal outburst in the third period when the teams reconvene at Staples Center for Game 3 of the Western Conference final on Saturday. Jeff Carter highlighted the offensive display by recording his second career playoff hat trick and adding an assist in Los Angeles' 6-2 triumph over Chicago on Wednesday.
The loss at United Center was the first this postseason for the Blackhawks, who have won three of their last four visits to Staples Center - including a split in last season's conference final. "We have to go out there and win a game in L.A., for sure," Ben Smith told the Chicago Sun-Times. "It's something we've done before (and being able to) draw from that experience is nice." Defenseman Nick Leddy, who scored on Wednesday, collected a goal and an assist as the Blackhawks posted a 5-3 triumph over the Kings in the teams' lone regular-season meeting in Los Angeles on Feb. 3.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, NBC, TSN, RDS
ABOUT THE BLACKHAWKS: Despite Wednesday's lopsided final result, coach Joel Quenneville refused to hang his head at the team's predicament. "We've been in some tough sports," Quenneville said. "Look at last year - down 2-1 to Boston (in the Stanley Cup final), down 3-1 to Detroit (in the second round), down 2-0 to St. Louis (in this year's first round) and 2-2 in the Minnesota series - there's a lot of hockey left in this series." Chicago has scored a power-play goal in three of its last four contests, although it yielded a pair after killing off 44-of-48 short-handed situations entering Game 3.
ABOUT THE KINGS: Carter's young linemates also are enjoying strong series as Tyler Toffoli has scored in each contest while rookie Tanner Pearson has notched three assists. The trio combined on a backbreaking goal that gave Los Angeles a 4-2 lead as the Chicago players appeared uncertain if the puck had sailed into the netting. "I don't think they knew where it was," Pearson said. "So I saw it, I knew (Toffoli) would be in the slot somewhere, so I just passed it out there and fortunately he was there and put it in."
OVERTIME
1. Los Angeles' Dean Lombardi joined Montreal's Marc Bergevin and Anaheim's Bob Murray as finalists for the NHL General Manager of the Year Award, the league announced on Friday.
2. Chicago expects to see the return of C Andrew Shaw, who has been sidelined for the last seven games. He suffered a leg injury when he was on the receiving end of a check from Minnesota D Clayton Stoner during the second-round series.
3. The Kings dominated in the faceoff circle (43-of-70) in Game 2 as Cs Anze Kopitar and Jarret Stoll combined to win 29-of-43 draws.