FINAL – Kings 3, Blackhawks 1 – Turcotte, Kuemper, Hiller

The LA Kings made it six wins from their last seven games, as they skated to a 3-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday evening at United Center.

Just shy of nine minutes into the game, forward Trevor Moore opened the scoring to put the visitors ahead. Moore took a stretch pass from forward Warren Foegele, as he gained the offensive zone down the right wing. Moore delayed and slowly worked his way into the high slot before he beat Chicago goaltender Spencer Knight clean with a wrist shot, off the post and in, for his 14th goal of the season as the Kings pulled ahead 1-0.

Just 59 seconds later, the Kings doubled their advantage as the fourth line got in on the offensive action. Forward Alex Turcotte worked his way into the low slot and got a deflection on a point shot from defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov, sending the puck past Knight and in for his eighth goal of the season. The goal gave Turcotte points in all three games against Chicago this season as the visitors opened up a 2-0 lead going into the second intermission.

Midway through the second period, Chicago pulled a goal back on the power play, cutting the Kings’ advantage to 2-1. After Los Angeles nearly scored shorthanded at one end, the Blackhawks came back the other way to set up in the offensive zone. Forward Tyler Bertuzzi fed forward Connor Bedard and the Chicago sophomore forward hit a one timer that beat Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper, pulling the hosts within one.

With just 19 seconds remaining in regulation, defenseman Joel Edmundson hit the empty net to put the game away with a 3-1 victory. Edmundson’s tally was his sixth of the season, as the Kings secured two points on the road.

Hear from Turcotte, Kuemper and Head Coach Jim Hiller following tonight’s game.

Alex Turcotte

Darcy Kuemper
On finding a way to get the two points tonight on the road
Yeah, I think these can be challenging games. Obviously, they’ve given us some trouble this year, they’ve got a lot of skill and they kind of wait for you to make mistakes and you’ve got to you got to be patient. Their goalie was making a lot of saves, so you’ve got to stay patient offensively and not take too many chances, because that’s what they’re waiting for. I thought it was a really mature win, because two goals early and then that’s it until the empty net, but we didn’t change the way we were playing and made sure we were defending hard all game. So, that’s a big road win for us.

On if the loss here earlier this month was still fresh
I mean, we definitely owed these guys. Like I said, they’ve given us trouble, so we wanted to come out and give them our best tonight. It doesn’t really matter who you’re playing, they’re going to be tough games this this time of year. Those are two huge points for us.

On the team’s play in the first period tonight
I think we came out with good energy. We were on the forecheck, on the body, which was making it tough for them. It led to a lot of time down in their zone and we were getting lots of chances. It was nice to be up 2-0 but I give them credit, they probably made some adjustments and more importantly, they just came up to our work ethic and our work level that we brought in the first and made it tough for us the rest away, but we stuck with it and like I said, found a way to get the win.

On seeing the fourth line get rewarded with a big goal
Yeah, that’s a beautiful goal for them and a big one for us to get it started. I thought just all game, like that was the one shift they scored on, but they were out and heavy on the forecheck all game, making it tough for the other team and providing a lot of good energy for us.

Jim Hiller
On the notion of a “mature” victory tonight
We didn’t give them that many quality chances, I think that was the difference, it’s probably what [Kuemper] is referring to. The third period, he had to make the one really good save, but outside of that, they didn’t have much. We would’ve liked to get three or four, make it a little bit easier, but we hung in there.

On what he liked from the first period tonight
First period was good. If you actually go back to the first period in here last time we played, we had way more quality chances in that period and came up with zero. That’s the way hockey is at times, so it was nice to see a couple go in. I think that was really important. If we were to come out of there without any, after playing that well again, it would have been hard for us. It was just good to see the puck go in.

On the goal from the fourth-line being a long time coming with their hard work
We’ve talked about them quite often in the dressing room. They’ve set the tone for us. We talk about forechecking and getting in there, playing in the o-zone, that’s what they do. Another strong game for them and Turc got rewarded with the goal.

On the timely nature of Darcy Kuemper’s saves in tonight’s game
We talked about this maybe a couple games ago, to me, that was a great example. There were others too, they had three or four really quality chances, found one on the power play. You’ve got to make that save, it’s just what it comes down to. You can make a lot of fluffy saves on the outside, your saves percentage is high, but when it comes right from the middle of the slot, you’ve got to make that save and he’s done that for us all year.

On winning six of the last seven and the team’s push towards the playoffs
I think so, yeah, I mean six of seven, you’re not going to complain, right? The Minnesota game was close right to the end close, again, that’s how we’ve played them and they’re close games. They take a lot of energy and mental stress, mental concentration. That’s what it’s going to be like in the playoffs, so hopefully we just continue that moving forward.

Notes –
• Forward Trevor Moore (1-0=1) scored his 14th goal of the season, his fifth point (2-3=5) in his last five contests against Chicago, dating to March 19, 2024.
• Forward Alex Turcotte (1-0=1) scored his eighth goal of the season to double the Kings’ lead in the first period. The native of Elk Grove, Ill., has now found the score sheet (1-2=3) in all three games against the Chicago Blackhawks this season.
• Defenseman Joel Edmundson (1-0=1) scored his sixth goal of the season and is now within a single tally of tying a career high he has set twice previously (2017-18 with STL; 2019-20 with CAR).
• Defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov (0-1=1) picked up his 21st assist of the campaign, his fourth point (1-3=4) in his last six games, dating to March 9 in Las Vegas.
• Defenseman Jordan Spence (0-1=1) contributed his 19th helper of the year, his fourth point (2-2=4) in as many all-time visits to United Center.
• Goaltender Darcy Kuemper turned aside 17 of the Blackhawks’ 18 shots on goal to improve his record to 23-9-7 on the season.

The Kings are currently scheduled to practice tomorrow at 11 AM at Toyota Sports Performance Center.