Anze Kopitar manhandled the Blackhawks again in the Los Angeles Kings 6-2 victory over Chicago at the Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday.
The Kings crunched Chicago again.The Blackhawks weren't dominated from the opening faceoff in this one as they were by the Kings in a 5-0 loss in Chicago on Friday. But Kopitar set up Vladislav Gavrikov, then the Los Angeles captain connected for two goals himself in Los Angeles' three-goal second period to put his team in charge.
Kopitar also was stopped point-blank by Petr Mrazek twice in the game.
Blackhawks Can't Stop Him
The 36-year-old Kopitar scored two goals Friday at the United Center. In his last nine contests overall, he has four goals and all are against Chicago.
The Blackhawks have had no answer for the 6-foot-3, 225-pound Slovenian, who's still a force — and has 22 goals and 58 points in 68 games — in his 18th NHL season.
Kopitar is the Kings all-time leader with 1,360 games. His 1,199 points are second only to Marcel Dionne in franchise history.
The rest of the bigger, stronger Kings rolled past rebuilding Chicago too.
"I think we had a good start. We obviously couldn't keep pace with them," Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson said. "They're a big team and they're fast. We gotta' build our team up; our play but also our bodies, our physicality to play with a team like this.
"They're built to win in the playoffs. So that's a great test for us." See video.
Only A Dash Of Chicago Offense
Nick Foligno's 16th goal tied the game late in an evenly played first period. Rookie defenseman Kevin Korchinski scored late and has goals in consecutive games, but the 19-year-old was minus-3 on the night along with D-partner Jaycob Megna.
Connor Bedard picked up a point, but missed the net a lot.Blackhawks and NHL rookie leading scorer Connor Bedard assisted on Korchinski's goal from the blueline with 5:44 left. The 18-year-old center is up to 21 goals and 54 points in 55 games.
Bedard was held to one shot on goal, but fired five attempts wide and had three blocked.
Bedard's linemate Philipp Kurashev finished with two assists.
Alex Laferriere, Phillip Danault and Trevor Lewis also connected for the Kings. Kopitar's linemate Adrian Kempe had three assists.
Mrazek made 18 saves. Cam Talbot blocked 22 shots.
Top Chicago defenseman Seth Jones echoed Richardson in saying the Kings have been just too much for the Blackhawks to handle. See video.
Game Flow
Laferriere opened the scoring at 12:03 of the first on a rebound through a scrum from the doorstep,
Bedard fired a shot over a wide open net from a sharp angle on the right side about a minute later. The rookie buried his face in the ice for a moment after the miss.
Rookie D-man Kevin Korchinski (55) and partner Jaycob Megna were on the ice for four goals-against.Foligno tied it 1-all with 5:33 left in the period on a 5-on-3 power play. The Blackhawks de facto captain was parked in the slot and Philipp Kurashev's pass from the right side deflected in off his skate.
Kopitar was in alone about 4 minutes into the second period, but couldn't lift the puck after Mrazek sprawled and the Chicago goalie blocked it with his right pad.
Gavrikov put Los Angeles back ahead 2-1 at 9:32 of the second on a rising screened shot from the left point.
Kopitar upped it to 3-1 just 2:20 later. Korchinski slapped Mrazek's feed along the boards, but Kempe snared it and passed to Kopitar in front.
Kopitar was parked at the edge of the crease and knocked in a power-play goal with 52 seconds left in the period. Kempe fed him.
Mrazek robbed Kopitar again, this time with a glove save, about 2:30 into the third. Danault made it 5-1 from in front at 5:47.
Korchinski's fifth goal, off Laferriere's hand, made it 5-2. Lewis completed the scoring with 2:50 left.