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Hawks give even better than they get

Simply put, the Los Angeles Kings are a pain in the butt to play against.

If you're going for a loose puck along the boards against these guys, just assume you're going to take a big hit.

You want space, time?

Forget about it.

Pretty much wherever the puck is, a big guy in silver and black will be lurking.

Blackhawks defenseman Michal Rozsival found that out when he was sent airborne over the boards between the two benches midway through the first period as the Kings came out a crunching and never really stopped.

“It was frustrating us,” Hawks winger Bryan Bickell admitted. “When teams come out like that it kind of fires you up and gets you wanting to do the same thing.”

“We knew they were going to be physical — they have a lot of big, strong guys who skate hard,” defenseman Duncan Keith said. “I think it was just a matter of weathering that storm and sticking to what works for us.”

And that's exactly what the Hawks did against the big, bad Kings, upping their own physical play behind guys like Bickell and Andrew Shaw (game-high 9 hits), riding an early goal from Brandon Saad, and then relying on red-hot rookie goalie Antti Raanta to eke out an impressive 1-0 victory.

“We like to play our own game,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “I know certain teams try to get you out of it but you've got to stick with it.

“Some games are going to be low-scoring affairs. You have to be willing to play that game.”

The Hawks were more than willing to play that way against an L.A. team that entered Monday night's game as the top defensive team in the NHL.

And it showed in the lone goal of the evening which was the direct result of Keith and Shaw each taking a hit to advance the puck and Bickell sliding it through a defenseman's stick to Saad, who drove home his 14th of the season.

“The win was huge,” Saad said. “We blew a couple of two-goal leads the other night and we know we're going to have to win tight games in the future and into the playoffs.”

Raanta made sure 1 goal was more than enough as he recorded the first shutout of his young NHL career, though it wasn't without some tense momemts down the stretch.

“There were a couple times in the last two minutes, I was like, ‘Oh my god, it's like the same kind of thing like last time we played against LA and they're going to score in the last two minutes,'” Raanti said with a smile.

Across the way there were anything but smiles.

“We have to be better. That's it,” Kings defenseman Matt Greene said. “We have to beat these guys if we want to get out of our conference, so we've got to start doing it right now.”

Crawford ‘feels great’

The BlackhawksÂ’ Brandon Saad celebrates after scoring the only goal of the game Monday at the United Center. Associated Press
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