So much for the luck of the Irish in Landon Slaggert’s debut for the Blackhawks. On an Irish themed night, the Los Angeles Kings set the hockey equivalent of a leprechaun trap for Chicago, who had scored 14 goals in their previous two games and were seeking a third straight win.
The Kings buried four goals of their own in the first, and then added another in the second as they cruised to a victory at the United Center Friday night. The loss put a thud in the Blackhawks’ winning streak and brought them back to earth in a game where were brought back to reality quickly and often.
Arvid Soderblom didn’t even make it out of the first period, pulled after surrendering his fourth goal in a night where help eluded him both on the scoresheet and defensively. The Kings were active all over the ice, harrassing the Hawks and forcing turnovers that would come back to haunt them later.
Blackhawks Powerless Against Kings
Los Angeles really left the Blackhawks little room to manuever around the ice, suffocating them through the neutral zone and even sealing off the speedy Andreas Athanasiou and Connor Bedard, who both rang shots off the pipe in the first period–on the same power play.
Slaggert finished checks and was active but expectedly at times, looked a bit overmatched by the faster and stronger Kings. Then again, so too did the Blackhawks. But the Kings are fighting for their playoff lives, a far cry from the previous two games that had the Coyotes and Ducks coming into the United Center.
The winning streak resets as the Blackhawks look to Sunday where they take on the San Jose Sharks in round two of Celebrini Cup.
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