The Chicago Blackhawks lost to the Los Angeles Kings on Monday night, dropping their third straight game. The Blackhawks now trail the Dallas Stars and St. Louis Blues in the Central Division standings as the playoffs draw closer.
The Blackhawks are in a bit of a slump heading into the middle of March and that continued on Monday with the 5-0 loss to the Kings. Former Blackhawk Kris Versteeg had two points in the game, while Jonathan Quick had 32 saves to record the shutout. The matchup between the Kings and Blackhawks could be a potential playoff preview and that added some intensity to the game.
The Kings got goals from Milan Lucic, Vincent Lecavalier, Dustin Brown and Tyler Toffoli along with Versteeg to get the victory on the road. They have been playing very well lately, losing just two of the past 11 games in regulation. The team is currently leading the Pacific Division standings. The Blackhawks, on the other hand, have gone 4-5-1 over the past 10 games and have lost four of five.
"It seems like for whatever reason, the season's been up and down throughout the whole year," Patrick Kane said. "You go on stretches where you win 12 in a row, and we've got this little stretch going right now. Obviously we want to shore that up before playoffs, and make sure we're going in there feeling consistent about our game."
The Blackhawks remain one of the best teams in the league heading towards the playoffs, but the team would like to enter the postseason with more momentum. The team lost important games over the past week within the division to the Dallas Stars and St. Louis Blues, which pushed the Blackhawks into third place in the standings. The team previously had a 12-game winning streak this season, but since that time the team has only won nine of 19 games.
The team has 12 games left on the schedule this season, and they will play the Stars again later in the month. Dallas and St. Louis are currently leading the standings with 91 points, while Chicago has 88 points coming out of Monday night. The Blackhawks will next play against the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday night before visiting the Winnipeg Jets on Friday. The team will be looking to snap its losing streak.
