Blackhawks vs. Kings Game 3 final score: Los Angeles wins, takes 2-1 series lead
By Josh Hill
The Chicago Blackhawks played five solid periods of hockey against the Los Angeles Kings to start this series but since then they’ve fallen hard and haven’t been able to get back up. After getting blown out in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals, the Blackhawks laid another dud in Game 3 and have given control of the series over to the Los Angeles Kings who are showing no signs of wanting to give it up.
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It was another solid game for Kings netminder Jonathan Quick, as he appears to be back to his old 2011 self and is unstoppable in net. He’s not the brick wall he was for the Kings last Stanley Cup run but he’s showing more flashes than he has all postseason long and has gotten his footing in this series a lot quicker as well.
One thing that is killing the Blackhawks though is their poor efficiency with their secondary lines. We can’t fault Toews and the top line too much as he scored the only two goals of the game for the Blackhawks but everything around him was falling apart.
The defense on all lines was suspect for the Hawks on Saturday and that’s something that will need to be immediately improved upon. The Kings came out firing in the later periods of Games two and three and they’ve seemingly picked up a late game confidence that is stifling the Blackhawks.
Chicago has let two games slip away from them now and that hasn’t seemed to motivate them much. Hopefully Game 3 has different results but the Hawks need to learn to close as the Kings have learned to come back and it’s their secret weapon that has gotten them a 2-1 series lead.