Kings beat Blackhawks 5-2 behind Quick

LOS ANGELES - It's one thing if the Blackhawks can't beat Western Conference powers Detroit and San Jose.

But Los Angeles and St. Louis?

The Hawks' 5-2 loss to the Kings on Thursday at Staples Center was the fifth time in six games they have lost to either them or the Blues, the teams that occupy 13th and 15th place in the West.

"Every team in this league is good and we have to come every night and play our game," Dave Bolland said. "We can't let down knowing its L.A., or St. Louis , or whoever."

A good third period wasn't enough to compensate for a bad first as the Hawks dropped to 1-1 on their eight-game road trip that figures to only get tougher from here.

"It was too late," Bolland said. "We waited too long. They took it to us in the first period, in the first two, and we waited until the third to come out and play."

As much positive energy as the Hawks had in winning at Anaheim, they started flat against the Kings and fell behind 2-0 after the first period.

"This one was a little different than last night," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said.

Penalty problems hurt the Hawks midway through what was a scoreless first period.

Ben Eager took a slashing penalty at 12:40 with James Wisniewski earning a delay of game penalty a minute later.

The Kings scored moments after Eager's penalty expired at 14:47 when Dustin Brown deflected a puck past goalie Cristiobal Huet.

The penalties annoyed Quenneville.

"That's what turned it," Quenneville said.

It became 2-0 less than two minutes later at 16:32 when the Hawks got caught running around their own end, and Jarret Stoll banged home a pass from Kyle Calder behind the net.

The Kings got a short-handed goal from Patrick O'Sullivan in the second period with a shot off Huet to make it 3-0.

The Hawks played better in the third, cutting the deficit to 3-1 on Bolland's goal at 7:31, but Alexander Frolov answered 37 seconds later to kill the momentum.

Patrick Sharp's goal at 11:32 made it 4-2 and was just his second in 11 games.

Quenneville started the game with the same lines that worked against the Ducks, meaning the threesome of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Sharp stayed together.

But Kane was minus-2 after two periods and played only six shifts for four minutes in the third.

The Hawks outshot the Kings 33-26 but were 0-for-2 on the power play while the Kings scored twice.

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=268275">Hawks like what they see in Beach <span class="date"> [1/30/09]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>