Today at 3:00 p.m. ET, the Los Angeles Kings and Chicago Blackhawks faceoff for Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals live from the United Center in Chicago. The game can be live streamed for free here. Los Angeles fans can hear all of the action on Fox Sports 570 while Chicago fans can do the same on 720 WGN.
Chicago enters the conference finals after rallying from a 2-0 series deficit in Round 1 against the St. Louis Blues by rattling off four straight wins and then moving on to hand the Minnesota Wild their first postseason home loss in Round 2 in a deciding Game 6 to advance. The Kings bounced back from a 3-0 series lead to defeat the San Jose Sharks 4-3 in Round 1 and then rallied from 3-2 down to defeat the Anaheim Ducks in their second straight Game 7 to get here.
The Kings and Blackhawks are the last two Stanley Cup champions. Chicago defeated Los Angeles in five games in last year's Western Conference Finals and won all three regular season meetings against them this season.
While the Kings were ousted by the Blackhawks last season, they believe they have what it takes to fix those mistakes this year.
"I think we've got a better team this year than last year. We've got some new additions," Kings defenseman Drew Doughty told NHL.com.
The Blackhawks have been firing on all cylinders, but coach Joel Quenneville doesn't think they'll underestimate the Kings.
"I think we're at the same level we were at last year," the coach told NHL.com. "So that's where we're at. But we like the momentum we have. We like the challenge that's ahead of us, but L.A. is going to be a tough opponent. I know we talked about underestimating Minnesota going into that series. There's no way we'd think of underestimating [Los Angeles]."
Forward Marian Hossa and defenseman Brent Seabrook have paced Chicago on the scoreboard with 11 points apiece through the first two rounds off of two goals and nine assists each. Patrick Kane (6-4--10) and Bryan Bickell (6-3--9) are tied for the team playoff lead with six goals apiece to tie for second in the postseason Captain Jonathan Toews is tied with Kane for second on the team with 10 points while lighting the lamp five times and adding five assists
Anze Kopitar has led the Kings and leads the NHL in points this postseason (19) and assists (14) and has added five goals while Marian Gaborik leads the entire playoff field with nine markers, while adding six helpers for 15 points. Justin Williams (five goals, six assists) and Jeff Carter (four tallies, seven helpers) are tied for second on the team with 11 points each.
In net, the Blackhawks turn to Corey Crawford, who is 8-4 this postseason while ranking first in the league with a 1.97 goals-against average and tied for first with a .931 save percentage while the Kings turn to Jonathan Quick between the pipes, who is 8-6 with a 2.72 GAA and a .914 save percentage.
The Blackhawks and Kings each look for a good start when they faceoff in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals today in Chicago.
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