LOS ANGELES – Captain Dustin Brown, Marian Gaborik and Jake Muzzin scored in a dominant first period, and the Los Angeles Kings beat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-2 on Monday night to take a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference finals.
Drew Doughty and Muzzin each had a goal and an assist, and Jonathan Quick made 22 saves, as the Kings moved to the brink of their second trip to the Stanley Cup final in three seasons with their third consecutive win over the defending champion Blackhawks.
Bryan Bickell and Brandon Saad scored, and Corey Crawford stopped 16 shots for the Blackhawks, who didn’t get rolling until they trailed 4-0 late in the second period.
One year after Los Angeles lost the conference finals in five games to Chicago, the Kings have their own chance to close it out in five.
Game 5 is Wednesday in Chicago.
Tanner Pearson added an empty-net goal for the Kings, who have been to the NHL finals just twice in franchise history, winning their only title in 2012.
Two days after the Kings gritted out a 4-3 victory over Chicago in Game 3, they won again at Staples Center by scoring three goals on six shots in the first 16 minutes, capping an incredible three-game offensive performance by the lowest-scoring NHL team to make the postseason.
After trailing 2-0 late in the second period of Game 2, the Kings scored 13 goals in less than 100 minutes
