BLACKHAWKS GET BACK TO LOSING

One night after taking down the Canucks, the Hawks welcomed Los Angeles to the United Center for the first time this season. Chicago is known as a great city to visit and the Kings certainly made themselves at home, dominating in every way and leaving with an easy 7-2 win.

The Blackhawks couldn't have made it much easier for their opponent. They had a couple of big mistakes that L.A. capitalized on, including a goal from the center face off dot and a futile 1 for 12 showing on the powerplay. The long range goal was scored by Luc Robitaille on Rick Tabaracci immediately after Joey Kocur netted his first of the season. Dave Reid cut the lead back to one before the first intermission.

The Kings had an even stronger 2nd period, scoring three more times while giving up only one to take a 5-2 lead into the 3rd. Robitaille, Adams and Richer found the back of the net for Los Angeles while Petr Nedved had a powerplay goal for his 2nd of the year for Chicago.

The Blackhawks had lots of chances to get back in it during the 3rd period but they couldn't beat goalie Ron Hextall. L.A. took 17 penalty minutes to Chicago's 7 and killed off each and every powerplay. Zalapski and Krupp added goals to put the game to bed. The sellout crowd of 23,000 began filing out midway through the period, frustrated by the team being outscored 27-12 and losing 3 games during their season opening 4 game home stand.

"I wish I could have left early too. It would have helped save my rating," said Blackhawks defenseman Frank Musil, who was one of three Hawks players to post a minus 5 on the night. "We worked hard this summer. Thought we were going to be better. But that was a wake up call."

Chicago heads to Detroit for their next game tomorrow night. They will look to avenge the 6-2 beating the Wings laid on them a week ago.