After all, the President's Trophy winners were 6-1 at home in the United Center coming into Saturday's tilt while the Kings, road warriors in 2012 en route to winning the Stanley Cup, came into town a dismal 1-5 on the road this year.
That doesn't bode well for a team that's lacking home-ice advantage in this series. But what was far worse for Los Angeles was the way they were manhandled in Game 1 of the Western Conference Final by Chicago.
Sure, a 2-1 loss sounds like a hard-fought, close game on paper. But in reality, it was anything but.
With both teams coming off of Game 7 wins over division rivals and with the Kings having an added day of rest over Chicago, the visitors scored the first goal of the series just over 14 minutes into the first period. The goal came off of the stick of Justin Williams, his fifth of the postseason, after Corey Crawford mishandled the puck behind the net and Dave Bolland couldn't clear it to the corner.
Williams' fluke goal gave the Kings their only lead of the game and came on just their second (and last) shot of the first period. That stat was concerning for the Kings, who were thoroughly outplayed from puck drop to the end of the game, where the Blackhawks played keep-away in the Kings' defensive zone with the home team on the power play. Content to let the clock run out on Jonathan Quick, who was forced to stay in his net.
The Blackhawks out-shot the Kings 17-2 in the first period, which Los Angeles would, on paper, win. But no one was buying Los Angeles winning the game after that period and those doubts were reinforced in the second.
The Blackhawks came out firing again, peppering Jonathan Quick with shot after shot. The Kings' netminder was up to the task for a while but finally gave up a rebound tha...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Kings
