Kings stun Blackhawks with 6 unanswered goals
For nearly two full periods Wednesday night, you couldn't blame the Kings if they were thinking to themselves, “Well, here we go again.”
After all, they were trailing 2-0 to the defending champs, in a building in which no other team has won this postseason and a building where the Kings seemingly haven't won in forever.
But a funny thing happened over the final minutes of that second period: the Blackhawks suddenly didn't seem so invincible.
It all started when Kris Versteeg and Brent Seabrook sailed in on a 2-on-1. Versteeg sent a perfect saucer pass to a wide-open Seabrook, who looked to have a sure goal, but somehow, some way, Kings goalie Jonathan Quick got an arm on it and deflected it away.
And just like that the momentum began to turn.
“He does that all the time,” Kings defenseman Drew Doughty said of Quick. “He makes those big saves when we need them. That's a huge save for us.”
It looked even bigger when, with just under two minutes left in the frame, Justin Williams and his skate put L.A. on the board.
Williams' sixth goal of the playoffs was not only an omen of things to come, it also cut the Hawks' lead in half and sent the Kings to the locker room feeling pretty darn good about themselves.
“We knew we could win this game,” Doughty said. “We knew we hadn't had our best effort. We knew the third period was going to be our best period of the series thus far.
“We were just adamant in here about coming out, getting a goal early — and we did that.”
Did they ever.
The Kings not only got that goal, but 4 more over the final 20 minutes as they took it to the Hawks late for a 6-2 victory that tied the Western Confernce Final at 1-1 with the series heading back to L.A. for Games 3 and 4 this weekend.
“I really liked how we played for 38 minutes,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “We did everything we were looking to do. They got a little momentum at the end of the period, scoring a big goal for them on an innocent play and that gave them some life.
”We took a couple funny penalties and they were both in our net … and that was it.”
The Kings erupted for 5 third-period goals, including consecutive power play goals by Jeff Carter and Jake Muzzin over a three-minute span.
“It's pretty frustrating,” Patrick Sharp said. “We got off to a good start through 40 minutes. We were skating well and drew a few penalties and then obviously things unraveled during the third.
“It just goes to show you what can happen when you take your foot off the gas. You make a few mistakes when you let up for a few shifts.”
Carter led the way in the third, finishing off his hat trick with L.A.'s final 2 goals.
“It's too many. It's too many,” Hawks goaltender Corey Crawford said. “It's going to be tough to win a hockey game when you give up that many goals in a short amount of time.”
“Can't be giving up that, or how many goals it was in the third. You'll definitely lose a hockey game giving up that many goals up in one period.”
Peter Regin almost gave the Hawks a 1-0 lead early in the first when he was cross-checked into the net, but somehow the puck never crossed the line.
On the ensuing power play Nick Leddy got his first goal of the postseason on a sweet backhand over Quick's left shoulder.
Ben Smith made it a 2-0 game early in the second, but then the resilient Kings did what they always do — they fought back.
“We never gave up,” Doughty said. “It's tough to win in this building. I don't think anyone in here had ever won a playoff game in this building. That was kind of our goal coming in here — at least steal one.”