Los Angeles Kings Earn Playoff Spot after Chicago Blackhawks Beat St Louis 4-3

The Los Angeles Kings have much to thank the Chicago Blackhawks for after Chicago took on the St Louis Blues and defeated the team 4-3. This came as a result of Duncan Keith scoring while on a power play in the final seconds of the game.

Speaking about his gaol, Duncan King said,

“I just tried to do what I could there to get everything I could, all the pressure on my stick, because I knew he had some momentum coming around there and was trying to wrap it around, the lane wasn’t there.”

He continued adding that,

“A little luck too in that regard, but Berube ended up getting over there and taking the pressure off.”

Chicago’s win means that the Kings earned a spot in the playoffs. Blake Hillman, Andreas Martinsen and Alex DeBrincat each scored for the Blackhawks. Goaltender Jean-Francois Berube has thirty saves in a game that saw Chicago winning against the St Louis Blues for the first time in their last three games this year.

Speaking about strategy and focus, Duncan Keith said,

“We’re trying to win the game. At the end of the day, it’s a bigger game for them but I thought we did a good job of matching their intensity and for us it’s fun to play in a game like that. … There was something on the line so it was a little easier to get the fire going little bit.”

LA Kings

St Louis’s Brayden Schenn and Vladimir Tarasenko both scored and earned assists last night. The Blues have been struggling going into the lead up to the playoffs having lost their last four games and sit only one spot behind Colorado in the Western Conference. The Blues also saw Robert Bortuzzo scoring and goaltender Jake Allen making twenty-two saves.

St Louis will next play Chicago on Friday and then head to Colorado on Saturday. The Chicago Blackhawks will play their last regular season game against the Winnipeg Jets on Friday night. Then it is all about the playoffs as sports betting sites offering good odds on the Stanley Cup playoffs will see a hotbed of activity as punters get their bets in on who will win the Cup and who will win playoff series.

For Jake Allen, he was not pleased with his performance last night commenting,

“We played terrible in the third from myself out. It’s unacceptable especially at home against a team that really has nothing to play for except beat us.”

This season has seen five Chicago players earning their first NHL goals. Blake Hillman put away a short-handed goal, his first NHL career goal and was able to reduce the lead 3-2. Blake Hillman was playing in only his second NHL game and scored his first NHL goal last night. Commenting on the historic moment he said,

“It’s probably the hardest one-timer I’ve ever taken in my life,. I closed my eyes and it went through a couple of bodies and luckily Allen didn’t see it.”

Alex DeBrincat made the tie scoring unassisted goal at the 8:30 minute mark of the 3rd period. Then as the clock was winding down towards overtime, Duncan Keith found an opening during a power play to give the Blackhawks the win. Joel Quenneville, coach for the Chicago Blackhawks said,said

“It’s been awhile since he scored obviously, but we did some good things as the game progressed and drew the penalty and got a break. “

St Louis’s Robert Bortuzzo got the scoring started for the Blues early into the first period scoring only his 4th of the year. Andreas Martinsen tied the game for the Blackhawks as the 9 minute mark neared with a shot that flew past the legs of Jake Allen. The Blue re-took the lead with a goal by Scheen less than a minute into the 2nd period and the Blues furthered their lead thanks to a goal by Vladimir Tarasenko to give St Louis a 3-1 lead. However, Chicago was on point and managed to tie and get the game winning goal to win 4-3.