• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Nagy's five points led Kings in rout of Blackhawks

Jan 2, 2008 - 8:25 AM By Joel Bergman PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- It did not take Ladislav Nagy and the Los Angeles Kings long to build a rout.

Nagy had a hat trick and assisted on two others and Alexander Frolov scored two goals, including the 100th of his career, to lead the Kings to a 9-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks at Staples Center on Tuesday.

The win gave Los Angeles, which set a season high in goals scored, a sweep of the home-and-away series with Chicago and stretched its winning streak to three games.

"It's a lot easier to play when you're more assertive," Kings coach Marc Crawford said. "We're feeling good about ourselves at the right time."

Los Angeles can feel really good about its play on the power play, scoring on three of its first four attempts en route to a 5-for-7 effort.

"Our power play worked very well for us. We're doing simple things, shooting the puck and looking for rebounds," Nagy said. "We just played like a team and are winning games."

Nagy scored twice in the first period and picked up his third career hat trick with a tally just 16 seconds into the third, making it 7-2.

The first period was a power-play frenzy, as four man-advantage tallies were recorded on as many opportunities - three for the Kings and one for the Blackhawks.

Chicago came out with a flurry of early shots, attempting the first eight of game. It jumped out to a 1-0 lead on the eighth shot, as Rene Bourque brought the puck around the net from left to right and slid a pass through the crease to an unchecked Martin Lapointe on the left wing side. Lapointe tapped in the puck just inside the left post his third goal of the season with just 2:54 expired.

"They had a great start, but we knew we would beat them," Frolov said.

The Blackhawks' Patrick Sharp was whistled for hooking just over a minute later. The Kings did not need long to take advantage, with defenseman Tom Preissing picking up a power-play goal just 10 seconds later.

Frolov moved the puck from the left side off the leg of Nagy to Preissing in the slot. The blue-liner took a wrist shot from between the circles and found the net to the right of Chicago goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin, with Los Angeles left wing Kyle Calder providing a screen in front.

The Blackhawks regained the lead with 11:01 expired on Sharp's power-play tally, his 20th of the year. However, the Kings knotted the game back up just 13 seconds later when Nagy knocked down a puck that was headed out of the Chicago zone and fired a shot over Khabibulin's blocker for his first goal of the night.

When Chicago defenseman Danny Richmond was sent off for tripping with 8:09 remaining in the first, Los Angeles had its second power-play opportunity of the evening.

Before Richmond could return, the Kings capitalized for another goal and a 3-2 lead. Dustin Brown took a pass from Anze Kopitar, and carried it through the left circle before sending it to center Patrick O'Sullivan, who fired a shot under Blackhawks defenseman Andrei Zyuzin as he was falling in the crease and past a stretched out Khabibulin on the left side.

"It was just an off night for everybody," Chicago coach Denis Savard said. "Lots of guys not playing to their potential, and we made a lot of mistakes."

The third Chicago penalty of the period led to yet another power-play goal by Los Angeles and a 4-2 lead. The puck came out of the right corner from Preissing to Nagy in the center slot. The left wing fired the puck before Khabibulin could get set, and it went under the netminder's left arm for the score.

The tally ended the night for Khabibulin after only nine shots, four of which found the net.

"We gave them some power-play chances, and you can't do that," Lapointe said. "They have a good power play, and we were undisciplined all over the ice tonight."

The Kings added two more goals, both by Frolov, in the second period to pad their lead to 6-2. Frolov's first of the evening was a 15-foot slap shot in front of a screened Patrick Lalime, who replaced Khabibulin, with just 28 seconds expired.

"With the fifth goal, we just gave up," Savard said. "We just didn't battle as hard as we could have and should have, and the result is pretty simple."

Frolov's second marker, his 100th, with 4:25 left in the middle stanza.

"We moved the puck well. We were sick and tired of losing," Frolov said. "We were just ready to win."

"It's nice when you get a game where your goaltending is better than the other team's goaltending," said Crawford, referring to the club's recent eight-game losing streak where goaltending had been a recurring problem.

The five power-play goals set a season high for the Kings, who fell short of the club record by one.

"Our power play was really special tonight, and I thought that Frolov and Nagy had the puck on a string," Crawford said. "We took advantage of some shoddy coverage."

Los Angeles goaltender Jason LaBarbera stopped 32 of the 34 shots he faced - 17 in the first period - for the victory.