Hawks end Circus trip by beating slumping Kings

LOS ANGELES—Patrick Kane once again was bailed out by a favorable video review. Only this time, there wasn’t nearly as much at stake.Kane, who scored the Stanley Cup-winning goal in overtime last season after a lengthy video review, had to wait through another review before his fifth goal of this season was upheld. The insurance marker, along with Patrick Sharp’s fifth goal in six games, helped the Blackhawks beat the Los Angeles Kings 2-1 on Saturday.Tomas Kopecky made a blind backhanded pass toward the crease from the right corner, and the puck glanced off the oncoming Kane before caroming off the right post and across the goal line. The ruling was that Kane didn’t intentionally knock it in with his hand.Corey Crawford started consecutive games for the second time this season and made 21 saves, after stopping 26 shots Friday in a 5-2 victory in Anaheim. He lost his shutout bid with 5:02 remaining when Anze Kopitar beat him high to the glove side with a screened 45-foot slap shot in the slot during a 5-on-3 power play.This was the 25th time the Hawks played back-to-back road games against Kings and Ducks, and only the third time the Blackhawks have won both. It also happened March 9-11, 1994 and Feb. 4-6, 1996. They completed their annual “circus trip” 4-2-0.The Blackhawks capitalized on a fortuitous break to score their first goal. Los Angeles defenseman Jack Johnson attempted a one-timer from the high slot after one of his teammates’ shots was blocked in front of the net, but Johnson fanned on the puck and the Blackhawks took off on a 2-on-1 rush against Drew Doughty as Johnson was caught up ice.Kane held the puck as long as he could after drawing Doughty toward him, then slipped the puck to Sharp, who had a wide-open net to shoot at and easily one-timed it past Jonathan Quick’s glove at 10:36 of the second period.Sharp has 15 goals in his first 25 games. Last season, he didn’t get his 15th goal until his 45th game and finished with 25.

NOTES—Los Angeles has killed all 38 short-handed situations at Staples Center, and is the only team that hasn’t allowed a power-play goal at home this season. Sharp hit the right post with a 25-foot wrist shot from the slot while Michal Handzus was off serving an interference penalty early in the second period. … Kings C Jarret Stoll won 11 of 12 faceoffs, after coming in with an impressive 56.5 percentage. …The Hawks are 5-2-0 in the second game of back-to-back sets. Last season, the Blackhawks were 15-1-3.