CHICAGO _ This one was a sure thing for the Blackhawks, right?
Of course not. There is no such thing in the NHL.
But if you can't beat the NHL's worst team on your home ice when their goalie is making the first start of his career in his second NHL game, well, you're not going to get dealt much of a better hand than that.
The Kings had other ideas as they marched into the United Center and beat the Hawks, 2-1, in a shootout Friday night. The Hawks dropped to 7-8-5 while the Kings improved to 6-11-1 but still have a league-worst 13 points. Ilya Kovalchuk and Anze Kopitar scored on Corey Crawford in the shootout while the Hawks were blanked by Cal Peterson.
With their top two goalies injured and third-stringer Peter Budaj out sick, the Kings turned to the 24-year-old Petersen, a former Notre Dame goalie whose last college game was at the United Center in the 2017 Frozen Four.
For the second straight game the Hawks played a penalty-free scoreless first period that saw precious few scoring chances from either side. It wasn't completely without excitement _ Corey Crawford had to make a couple of good saves to keep the Kings off the board _ but it was a far cry from the thrilling hockey these teams used to play just a few short years ago.
The specter of their recent combined dominance cast a bit of a shadow over the game, which arrived with both teams struggling, dealing with head coaching changes, and unsure of what the future holds.
"For awhile there ourselves and L.A. were the teams to beat in the (Western Conference)," Patrick Kane said. "When you look at the top guys, the top guys are still pretty much there on both teams. Kind of going through a little bit of a different phase for us as organizations and franchises. But there are still big names, they're trying to turn it around and they have a new coach there, same thing with us."
The game's first penalty didn't come until the Kings' Michael Amadio was called for holding with 11 minutes, 50 seconds remaining in the second period. The Hawks mustered two insignificant shots on goal, then 19 seconds after it ended the Kings went up 1-0 when Tyler Toffoli's shot deflected off Duncan Keith and past Crawford.
Jonathan Toews drew another penalty a couple of minutes later, and at least this time the Hawks were able to set up in the Kings' zone during most of the power play but failed to convert.
Less than a minute later came a third straight power play and _ any guesses? _ the Hawks came up empty. All told, the Hawks put six shots on goal during the six minutes of power-play time and dropped to 8-for-61 (13.1 percent) for the season.
The Hawks collected an even-strength goal at the 17:21 mark of the third period to tie it at one when Toews threw a pass to Brandon Saad in front of the net, which he buried for his fifth goal.
No matter the outcome, it doesn't appear the Hawks will run away with many games this season no matter the opponent. That's one thing you can be sure of.
