In a classic battle of skill versus strength, the star power and offensive prowess of the Chicago Blackhawks were too much for the defending champion Los Angeles Kings in Game 1 of the Western Conference Final.
The top-seeded Blackhawks, led by their star forwards and stellar defense from top blueliner Duncan Keith, took the series opener, 2-1, at the United Center on Saturday to improve their home record to 7-1 during this year's playoffs.
Much of the talk before this series centered around the matchup between Chicago's superstar-laden forward group against star goaltender Jonathan Quick and the deep, physical Los Angeles defensive corps.
Quick entered the game as the playoff leader in GAA and save percentage, but he did not face an offense as talented or deep as Chicago's in the first two rounds when Los Angeles defeated the St. Louis Blues and San Jose Sharks.
As the chart below shows (NHL rank in parenthesis), those two teams' offenses don't compare to the Blackhawks'.
Team Reg. Season GF Playoff GF
Blues 2.58 (17th) 1.67 (15-of-16)
Sharks 2.42 (24th) 2.27 (9-of-16)
Blackhawks 3.10 (2nd) 2.69 ...
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Article written by Nicholas Goss
Blackhawks vs. Kings: Chicago’s Star Power May Be Antidote to Jonathan Quick
June 1st, 2013 by Nicholas Goss Leave a reply »
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