Los Angeles • The Los Angeles Kings know all about the creeping inevitability that sets in when a team gets behind 0-3 in a playoff series. After all, that's where they put every opponent they faced on the way to the Stanley Cup title last year.
With more big points from their Siberian defenseman and even more big saves from their champion goalie, Los Angeles stayed safely out of that hole in the Western Conference finals.
Slava Voynov had a goal and an assist, Jonathan Quick made 19 saves, and Los Angeles beat Chicago 3-1 in Game 3 Tuesday night, trimming the Blackhawks' series lead to 2-1.
"This is kind of what I expected this to be when we did it last year," captain Dustin Brown said. "Last year, we were playing at a level few teams ever play at. This year, it's taking that extra effort out of us, and we're coming up with it."
Game 4 is Thursday night in Los Angeles.
Justin Williams also scored and Dwight King added an empty-net goal in the defending NHL champions' 15th consecutive home victory since March. The Kings never trailed while ending the top-seeded Blackhawks' five-game postseason winning streak, but they had to survive a tense third period with Quick's brilliance and a strong defensive effort, avoiding that nearly insurmountable three-game deficit.
"It's not something we wanted to try and test out, so it was certainly a must-win in our situation," Kings defenseman Rob Scuderi said. "We were just able to be aggressive instead of sitting back and letting them dictate the pace this time. That's what we have to do to compete with those guys."
Schedule
R Tuesday
• Los Angeles 3,Chicago 1
Blackhawks lead series 2-1
Wednesday
• Pittsburgh at Boston, 6 p.m., NBCSN
Bruins lead series 2-0