Hawks take 9 of possible 12 points on trip
LOS ANGELES - It wasn't hockey creating the buzz in downtown L.A. on Saturday night.
Not with USC and UCLA playing football a few blocks away at the Coliseum.
The Kings remain a tough sell here behind the Lakers, Dodgers, USC and UCLA even with them looking to be one of the NHL's up-and-coming teams.
After a strong start the Kings were leveling off and the Blackhawks were trying to take advantage of the slide in the final stop on their six-game road trip.
But with the offense struggling for the second game in a row, the Hawks lost 2-1 in a shootout yet still took 9 out of a possible 12 points on the road trip.
"I thought it was a real good road trip," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "You get 9 out of 12 points in six tough buildings. At the beginning of it you would have taken that."
Trailing 1-0 after two periods, the Hawks played a solid third and got the tying goal from Jonathan Toews on a power play with 13:04 to play.
"We're just happy we gave ourselves a chance to win there after a bit of a slow start," Toews said.
A victory was there for the taking when the Hawks had a power play for the final 1:02 of overtime, but they never got any real good looks.
"We had a couple chances," defenseman Duncan Keith said. "We were trying some one-timers, but it was the end of the game and the ice was a little choppy."
The shootout was all Kings. Anze Kopitar and Jack Johnson beat Hawks goalie Cristobal Huet with dekes, while Toews and Patrick Kane were stopped by Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick.
Marian Hossa was slated to shoot third for the Hawks, but it never got to him.
The Hawks won the first four games on the road trip before losing 3-0 Friday at Anaheim and falling to the Kings in a shootout.
"Tonight we lost in a shootout and the last game we didn't play our best, which is why we lost that one," Keith said.
The Hawks come home with just a 4-point lead on Nashville for first place in the Central Division.
It was scoreless after the first period that saw the Hawks limit the Kings to 4 shots on goal.
The Kings took their 1-0 lead at 2:41 of the second period when Wayne Simmonds got behind Keith and scored on a give-and-go with Michal Handzus.
Now the schedule gets interesting for the Hawks, who play eight of their next 10 games at the United Center, starting with Tuesday's key clash with Columbus in the first meeting of the season between the division rivals.