Toews' OT goal helps Blackhawks snap losing streak

According to Sir Isaac Newton's third law of motion, for every action in nature, there is an equal and opposite reaction. What goes up must come down. But if that also means what goes down must come up, the Blackhawks are just following the laws of physics.

Jonathan Toews converted Jake McCabe's pass into an open-net goal in overtime, and the Hawks (5-4-2) topped the Los Angeles Kings 2-1 on Thursday night.

“It's nice to see the puck luck,” said Toews, who is off to the best scoring start of his career with 7 goals in 11 games. “It's definitely a good feeling and something I just want to keep going.”

The Blackhawks snapped a four-game winless streak and dropped the Kings to 2-2-1 in their last four.

It was another tight contest on Thursday night at the United Center as the score was either tied or separated by a goal for half of the game.

“There are going to be a lot of close games,” Blackhawks head coach Luke Richardson said. “And we have to get very comfortable with that. We have to get comfortable (when) we have a one-goal lead and comfortable and confident that we can come back from being one goal down late in the game, which we have done before.”

For the most part Thursday, not much was going right for either team — and that's why it went into overtime tied 1-1.

Although they had been working on protecting the puck all week, the Hawks still handed out 13 giveaways. But they also blocked 23 shots, not allowing the Kings to get going offensively.

The tight-checking contest featured few good scoring chances until the Kings took 3 shots at Hawks goalie Arvid Söderblom within five seconds midway through the second. Adrian Kempe, Gabriel Vilardi and Mikey Anderson were all turned back.

But both teams were able to muster up a goal in the second period.

Hawks Jason Dickinson finally opened the scoring at 12:54 in off a picturesque tip play, with the shot coming from the point by Caleb Jones.

But the Hawks 1-goal lead did not last long.

It seemed as if the Kings were just waiting for someone to start the game, as they scored a mere three minutes later.

Blake Lizotte flew down the center about a head ahead of the Blackhawks' backcheck, and Arthur Kaliyev crossed one right on his stick. Söderblom couldn't move across the crease quick enough, and the Kings had it tied at 1-all.

The NHL's replay review system wiped out a four-minute Kings power play early in the third period, the review detecting Kaliyev lifting the stick of Jones, which in turn hit Lizotte in the face.

Take a shot:

The Blackhawks are second-to-last in the NHL for shots per game (25.7), and Thursday won't help. They finished the game with 19 shots on net, 14 less than the Kings.

They have finished only one game this season with more shots than their opponent (the home opener against the Red Wings) and have had more than 30 shots just once (36 vs. Oilers).

Solid Söderblom:

In just his fourth career NHL start, Söderblom recorded his first win, with 32 saves on 33 shots.

He gave up some juicy rebounds at times, but for the most part he played extremely well, especially for a third-string goalie.