The NHL playoffs are in full swing and after winning the first two games at home, the Chicago Blackhawks were looking to try and take a 3-0 series lead in the Western conference finals as the series shifted to California, the Los Angeles Kings won 3-1 in Game 3 to get the series to 2-1.
The series has been a hard fought one on both sides and after a tough game in Game 2 for the Kings, the team is ready to rebound and rally for the series. Goalie Jonathan Quick has mostly been excellent through the postseason for the team, but after making just 13 saves in Game 2, he will need to get better. Corey Crawford continued his string play these playoffs with 29 saves in the 4-2 win and Chicago clearly got some momentum from winning three games in a row after being down 3-1 to the Detroit Red Wings.
The Blackhawks have gotten scoring from up and down the roster and after getting four goals from four different players in the Game 2 win, they will be ready for more as the series goes on. Brent Seabrook had the winner in Game 7 against the Red Wings and he added another goal in Game 2 along with ones from Michal Handzus and Bryan Bickell. The Kings are defending champions after winning the Stanley Cup with the number eight seed in the playoffs last season and now they will need to rally to win the series after dropping the first two games.
Jeff Carter and Tyler Toffoli came through with two goals for the team with one in the second and one in the third period and the team will need a boost from Mike Richards and others as the series goes on. The struggles for the Kings are similar to the Penguins, as the team was utterly demolished on Monday night against the Bruins to go down 2-0 in the series after losing both games at home. Sideny Crosby struggled mightily and Boston came through with four goals in the first period and two in the second.
The Penguins could only muster up one goal from Brandon Sutter and the Bruins got scoring from Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Nathan Horton and Brad Marchand, who added two in the game. Tuukka Rask was excellent again and allowed just one goal on 26 saves while Tomas Vokoun was not his usual self and was pulled at one point for Marc Andre Fleury after making just nine saves. Crosby and the Penguins will now have to rally from behind big time to win the series as the next two games are in Boston.
