The Chicago Blackhawks recovered from a 3–1 loss to the New York Islanders on Tuesday night by taking care of business at home on Thursday against the Los Angeles Kings, winning 2–1 in overtime.
— The game started off even, and with little action, with only a few actual shots on goal from both teams. Jonathan Quick and Arvid Soderblom each made a few good saves to keep the game scoreless.
— More than halfway through the game, at the 12:54 mark of the second, Jason Dickinson opened the scoring, tipping in a Caleb Jones wrister from the point to put the Blackhawks up 1–0.
— It did not take long for the second goal of the game to go up on the board, with the Kings coming back less than three and a half minutes later, with Sean Walker springing Arthur Kaliyev, who beat the Blackhawks’ defense to get the puck to Blake Lizotte, who put the puck past a sprawling Soderblom, knotting things up at 1–1.
— The third period went by without incident, with the Hawks killing off the one penalty they took, and both goaltenders stopping everything that came their way. The Blackhawks’ best chance came off of a Filip Roos shot that rang off the post.
— In the overtime period, with 1:31 gone in the frame, Jake McCabe kept the puck in the offensive zone off a Los Angeles miscue and found Jonathan Toews in front of the net, who put the puck past Quick for his seventh goal of the season, giving the Blackhawks the overtime victory.
— The Hawks showed their usual brand of physicality that they have shown throughout this season thus far. They out-hit the Kings and put their bodies on the line to keep shots out of the net as well, which was good to see, putting up 23 blocks along the way.
— Improvements that could be made: The Blackhawks need to do a better job limiting giveaways, as well as winning face-offs. With guys like Toews on your team, winning only 40% of your draws is not a good look.
The Hawks will look to keep the good times rolling on Saturday afternoon in Manitoba as they take on the Winnipeg Jets. That game will be at 2 p.m. CDT on NBC Sports Chicago.