LOS ANGELES — There was no “Sweet 16” for the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center.
The Kings had their 15-game home winning streak snapped with their 3-2 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 4 of the Western Conference final at Staples Center on Thursday.
More importantly, the reigning Stanley Cup champions find themselves in a deep hole, trailing the series, 3-1, heading back to Chicago for Game 5 on Saturday with the season now on the line.
“It was a tough one to lose tonight but we knew we were going to have to win at least one in their rink so we’re looking forward to the next challenge,” defenseman Drew Doughty said.
“We’ve got to find a way to get more pucks to the net,” said captain Dustin Brown, who has just four points this postseason. “They played their game well, especially in the third. They limited opportunities and pushed it to the outside. We have to find a way to get into the inside. We have to get our shots by the first guy and they had a lot of blocked shots tonight.”
The Kings had leads of 1-0 and 2-1 thanks to goals from Slava Voynov and Dustin Penner. But both times — Bryan Bickell in the first period and Patrick Kane in the second — the top-seeded Blackhawks answered. Just 70 seconds into the third period, and only 10 seconds after the Kings killed off a penalty to Robyn Regehr, Marian Hossa put home the game winner, leaving Kings frustrated with their inability to even up the series.
“Turnovers in the neutral zone, untimely goals against. We kill off a big penalty and then give up a two-on-one because of a bad line change,” Penner said.
Considering the Blackhawks took the ice without their best defenseman, Duncan Keith, who was serving his one-game suspension for his high stick on Jeff Carter in Game 3, many would consider Thursday night a missed opportunity. But Doughty said the absence of Keith meant little, if anything.
”With him or without him in the lineup, I think it doesn’t really make a difference to us,” Doughty said. “He’s obviously a key guy on their team but at the same time whether he’s in there or not, we just had to win the game and we didn’t.”
The Kings are now faced with having to win three in a row, something they did twice during the regular season. The bigger task: winning twice on the road, where they are 1-7 in this year’s playoffs.
“We’ve been through a lot as a group. We’ve never been faced with a situation like this,” Brown said. “We’re leaning on each other at this point. It’s not going to be one individual or one guy, it’s going to be us as a group if we’re going to be successful. That’s been the strength of this team for a few years now ... really relying on each other and trusting each other when you get in a tough spot.”
“It’s a big game Saturday night and it’s a must win obviously, so we have to have everyone rise to the occasion and be a good team,” Doughty added.
Kings fans are hoping that good team has enough left in the tank for Saturday night to stave off elimination — and start a new winning streak at Staples Center in Game 6 on Monday.
