Dr. Jekyll reared his ugly head again Thursday night.
The Blackhawks followed up one of their best performances of the season Wednesday with two of their worse periods Thursday. It cost them as the Los Angeles Kings held on for a 4-3 victory before 10,303 at the Forum.
How the Hawks (8-13-2) can beat Anaheim 4-0 one night then turn around and fall behind 3-1 in the first period against Los Angeles “is the big question we all have right now,” a disgusted coach Craig Hartsburg said.
Sharp as a tack one night, stale as month-old bread the next. Yuck.
“Obviously we haven’t learned this is a tough league and every night you have to be your best to win hockey games,” said Hartsburg, whose club’s six-game road show heads to Vancouver Saturday night. “If you’re not focused and prepared, you’re going to lose hockey games.”
The Kings (10-8-4) had countless odd-man rushes and breakaways in the first period, and goals by Glen Murray, Vladimir Tsyplakov and Ian Laperriere offset Jeff Shantz’s first-period tally.
“I guess we thought it was going to be easy,” defenseman Keith Carney said. “We just weren’t ready to match their intensity.”
Tony Amonte closed it to 3-2 at 2:56 of the second on a shorthanded goal, but Rob Blake’s rebound goal at 12:55 of the second proved to be the crusher.
The Hawks closed within 4-3 on Sergei Krivokrasov’s power-play goal at 5:20 of the third, but could not cash in on several chances down the stretch.
“There has to be a lot more individual preparation,” Hartsburg said. “You can’t just show up and put your skates on and think all of a sudden you’re ready to play.”
