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Blackhawks take down playoff-hopeful Kings

Mar 31, 2015 - 4:33 AM Chicago, IL (SportsNetwork.com) - Scott Darling turned aside 31 shots and four different players lit the lamp as Chicago claimed a 4-1 victory over Los Angeles at United Center.

Bryan Bickell, Duncan Keith, Niklas Hjalmarsson and Marian Hossa scored for the Blackhawks, who have won two in a row and finished the month of March with a 9-3-1 record.

"Excellent game from the outset, thought we had good jump," Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said.

Jake Muzzin supplied the lone offense for the Kings, who failed to make up ground on Calgary -- which won at Dallas -- in the Pacific Division. In addition, L.A. remained two points back of idle Winnipeg for the final wild- card spot in the West.

"Got to wins games, got to win it," Kings coach Darryl Sutter said.

Jonathan Quick took the loss despite making 36 saves in the defending champs' first and only regular-season appearance in Chicago since winning Game 7 of the Western Conference finals last June 1.

Keith's blast on a power play made it 2-1 for Chicago just 1:37 into the second period and Hjalmarsson's blistering shot from distance provided a two- goal cushion at 2:41.

Hossa picked up an errant Kings pass near his own blueline, circled briefly into the neutral zone before crossing back and beating Quick with a harmless wrister on the right wing at 13:06 of the third period.

Bickell put the hosts on top 5 1/2 minutes into the contest, but the Kings responded with 31.1 seconds left before intermission when Muzzin's try from the left-wing boards somehow eluded Darling.

Game Notes

The Kings finished a five-game road trip at 3-2-0 and return home to entertain Edmonton on Thursday ... Chicago has won three straight home games against Los Angeles and 10 of 13 on Madison Street since March of 2009.