The Chicago Blackhawks had to rally to beat the Los Angeles Kings in Game 1, but they were in the pilot’s seat in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals. They won 4-2 and hold a 2-0 series lead.
The teams played a tight Game 1 and Chicago was set on proving why they won the President’s Trophy. Andrew Shaw scored just 1:56 into the game to make the powerful statement that Chicago is the team to beat. Marian Hossa showed again he can play with anyone on any line when he set up Brian Seabrook with less than a minute remaining to make it 2-0. Even though Chicago was dominant, L.A. managed 13 shots in the period and only Chicago goalie Corey Crawford prevented L.A. from tying the game or even taking the lead.
Nothing could stop Chicago and they kept going in the second period. Bryan Bickell scored a power play goal at the 7:11 mark and just two minutes later Michal Handzus scored to make it 4-0. The sold out crowd jumped to their feet and rocked the arena while belting out “Chelsea Dagger” as the team celebrated on the ice.
That was the end of the night for goalie Jonathan Quick. He stopped 13 of 17 shots when Jonathan Bernier replaced him. Jeff Carter finally did put L.A. on the board.
LA came out in the third period playing no better than the previous periods. In fact, frustration started to boil over and with only 8:45 left in the game L.A.’s Dustin Prenner got into a fight with Chicago captain Jonathan Toews. Crawford helped out his captain by pulling off Prenner, but more L.A. players joined in. Bernier even looked like he was ready to skate down the ice to handle Crawford. In all it resulted in five penalties, four for roughing and one for cross checking. L.A. was given a power play, but did not score on it.
The one bright spot on L.A.’s night was the power play goal Tyler Toffoli with just over a minute remaining in the game after Chicago’s Duncan Keith was in the box for a delay of game penalty. Chicago has the best penalty kill of the playoffs and was 27 for 27 at the United Center and now are 46 for 48 in the playoffs.
The teams head to Los Angeles and will play Game 3 Tuesday night at 9PM ET on NBC Sports Network.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.