With a balanced attack and solid goaltending by Spencer Knight, who made his Blackhawks debut, the Blackhawks earned a 5-1 win against the Los Angeles Kings, giving them their second win in a row and adding to the Kings' growing list of losses on Monday, March 3rd at the United Center. Knight's performance was particularly noteworthy, as he turned aside 41 of 42 shots, showcasing a poised and confident presence in his first appearance for Chicago. Alec Martinez, Ethan Del Mastro, Andreas Athanasiou, Ilya Mikheyev, and Ryan Donato each scored to help the Blackhawks secure this victory. For Los Angeles, Anze Kopitar scored the lone goal. The Blackhawks will be hosting the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday, while the Kings head home to take on the St. Louis Blues.
Chicago Blackhawks Lineup:
Slaggert - Bedard - Nazar
Teravainen - Donato - Mikheyev
Dach - Athanasiou - Bertuzzi
Maroon - Reichel - Smith
Vlasic - Crevier
Del Mastro - Murphy
Kaiser - Martinez
Knight
Soderblom
Los Angeles Kings Lineup:
Turcotte - Kopitar - Kempe
Foegele - Danault - Moore
Fiala - Byfield - Laferriere
Jeannot - Lewis
Anderson - Gavrikov
Edmundson - Doughty
Moverare - Spence
Burroughs
Kuemper
Rittich
Alec Martinez opened the scoring with 9:03 on the clock in the first period for his fifth goal of the season when he managed to find the back of the Kings' net from the point on a wrister through a screen of three players who were in front of the net. The puck was knocked away from Connor Bedard but still found its way to Martinez, who passed it to Tyler Bertuzzi, and Bertuzzi sent it right back for Martinez to put it home for a 1-0 lead. Not long after the Chicago goal, Anze Kopitar quickly responded tying it up 1-1, recording his 14th of the season at 8:21 when a pass by Lukas Reichel had been broken up by Joel Edmundson, who passed it over to Adrian Kempe, and Kempe sent it to Alex Turcotte as he was just entering the Blackhawks' zone with Kopitar, and passed it to him from the left boards.
Early into the middle frame, Ilya Mikheyev broke the tie to put the Blackhawks back in front 2-1 for his 12th goal of the season 46 seconds in. Ryan Donato got ahold of the puck in the left corner, hitting the puck off the side of the net. It popped out to Teuvo Teravainen, who slid it to Mikheyev for the second Chicago tally of the night. With his assist on the goal, Donato recorded his 15th point in the last 10 games. Later into the second with 6:30 on the clock, Ethan Del Mastro pushed it to 3-1 from an odd angle when he threw the puck to the front of the net, deflecting off Jacob Moverare's skate and in past Darcy Kuemper right off the face-off from the left-wing boards for his second goal in three games.
Andreas Athanasiou extended Chicago's lead to 4-1 early into the final frame at 18:40 right off the face-off when Colton Dach got ahold of the puck, skating to the end boards before he spun around and found Athanasiou skating into the slot. Dach made a quick pass to him for his first goal of the season. With little time left in regulation, Ryan Donato picked up his second point of the night when he put the fifth Hawks goal home for his 22nd of the season when he put it into the empty Los Angeles net for the 5-1 final.
Spencer Knight on his debut, the win, and being part of the team/traded: "It was good... I'm glad I got to get the win with the guys. It was a team effort, a team win. Everyone battled, blocked shots, big goals. That's what it's going to take," - "I said it, no matter how smoothly things are going, the first week is going to feel like chaos. That's just the way it is. But I think I've learned to embrace that. I've been through a lot of difficult challenges in my life. It's another step in the journey. I think I'm looking to bring what I witnessed and was part of in Florida, bring it here."
Notes:
- In Spencer Knight's last start in Florida, he saw only a total of 18 shots in the entire game and stopped 17 of those in the win. In his first start for the Blackhawks, he faced 18 shots, making 17 saves in the first period alone. ...On Saturday, in a trade with the Florida Panthers, the Blackhawks sent Seth Jones and received Knight and a conditional first-round draft pick. The Panthers also received a fourth-round draft pick. ...Knight became the fourth goaltender in team history with 40+ saves in their Blackhawks debut. Ed Belfour (45 on October 18, 1988), Jeff Glass (42 on December 29, 2017), and Gilles Meloche (42 on March 16, 1971). He is also the second Hawks goalie since 2019-20 to earn a win in their first game with the club, joining Jaxson Stauber (January 21, 2023).
- Spencer Knight attempted a goalie goal in his Blackhawks debut, but it unfortunately got blocked.
- The Blackhawks previously snapped a five-game losing streak when they defeated the Anaheim Ducks 6-3 on Saturday.
- Both Ryan Donato and Ilya Mikheyev recorded a goal and an assist, and Teuvo Teravainen collected a pair of assists.
- Andreas Athanasiou had been recalled from Rockford of the AHL on February 28th. He scored his first NHL goal since the 14th of April in 2024 against the Carolina Hurricanes.
- CHI: 19-35-7, LA: 31-20-8
- Darcy Kuemper allowed four goals on 18 shots.
- The Los Angeles Kings have lost four in a row (0-3-1).
- Anze Kopitar, who scored the game-tying goal, recorded his 83rd career game-tying goal and passed Marcel Dionne (82) for the second-most in team history. He's behind only Luc Robitaille (96).
With a goalie like Knight and other young guys there, I think the Blackhawks will end up becoming more successful soon. They need more young players and they need to build around Bedard along with the other young guys there.
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