Duncan Keith's go-ahead goal helps Blackhawks beat Kings 3-1 in Game 1
The Chicago Blackhawks continued their recent dominance over the Los Angeles Kings with a 3-1 win in Game 1 of the Western Conference Final Sunday afternoon.
Duncan Keith’s goal via a double deflection beat Jonathan Quick 11:54 into the second period to snap a 1-1 tie after the Blackhawks had a goal taken away earlier.
As captain Jonathan Toews drove toward the net the with Chicago holding a 1-0 lead, the puck went off a stick and then off Kings defenseman Slava Voynov’s skate past Quick. The call on the ice was “good goal,” but after the officials conferenced, it was determined that Toews interfered with the Kings netminder and the goal was reversed:
LA would take advantage of the call just 1:13 later when Tyler Toffoli tied the game. The Blackhawks regained the lead just over seven minutes later when Keith took a cross-ice pass from Brandon Saad, who scored the game’s opening goal, and fired a shot that took two fortunate bounces for Chicago:
The Kings fired 17 second-period shots at Corey Crawford, who finished with 25 saves on the afternoon, but their best chance to even the score a second time came in the third period.
Looking for his second goal of the game, Toffoli broke in on the Chicago goal all alone and had Crawford beat, but his backhanded cruelly clanked off the post. Before Kings coach Darryl Sutter could swap Quick for a sixth attacker late in the third period, the Blackhawks put the game away with Toews capitalizing on a 3-on-1 to ensure an opening-game victory.
Chicago has now won seven of its last eight games against Los Angeles, dating back to last season’s Western Conference Final. The Blackhawks have also been unbeatable at home this postseason sporting a 7-0 record and have won 18 of their last 20 playoff games at United Center.
Game 2 is Wednesday night.
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is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Sean_Leahy
