The Kings will have some roster decisions to make, but will return plenty of talent. (Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

By Allan Muir

Say this much about the Los Angeles Kings: They went out fighting.

They scrapped their way back from what had to be a spirit-crushing 2-0 deficit n the first minutes of Game 5. They battled for the equalizer after Patrick Kane scored what looked to be the clincher with just over three minutes remaining in the third. And then they traded punches with the Blackhawks for more than 30 minutes of extra time before Kane drove home the dagger on a gloriously executed two-on-one with Jonathan Toews.

They fell short of repeating as Stanley Cup champs, but this was a gutsy performance from a team that ends the season knowing it had completely emptied the tank.

“It’s not easy to repeat, but we came in, we gave ourselves a good chance,” said defenseman Rob Scuderi. “We were stopped here in the Western Conference Finals, but overall I’m pretty proud of the team, especially considering tonight in that early 2-0 hole. It looked like we folded up shop and called it a season to a better team on home ice, but we battled back. We stayed with it, and at least we gave ourselves a chance.”

The loss ended a streak of six consecutive playoff series victories for the Kings, adding up to 25 postseason wins over the past two years. No one should hang their heads after that. But questions about what went wrong — and what to do about it — are inevitable.

MUIR: Penguins at crossroads after loss

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Chicago’s Patrick Kane secured a hat trick with a winning goal in double overtime. (Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

By Allan Muir

Let’s just describe Patrick Kane’s arrival in the Western Conference Final as “fashionably late.”

Kane, who’d been lambasted for his lack of involvement earlier in the series, completed a hat trick 11:40 into the second overtime period to give the Blackhawks a 4-3 win over the Los Angeles Kings in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals. The win sent Chicago back to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 2009.

The clincher came off a pretty set-up by Jonathan Toews. Kane finished off the two-on-one with a one-timer that cleanly beat a sprawling Jonathan Quick.

“I knew it was coming as soon as he picked up the puck,” Kane told NBC Sports Network. “[Bryan Bickell] made a great chip, and Johnny made a great pass, I just tried to get it off as quick as I could.”

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Relying too heavily on goalie Jonathan Quick is proving to be the Kings’ Achilles heel. (David E. Klutho/SI)

By Sarah Kwak

After coasting through last year’s postseason with nary a nick on them, the Los Angeles Kings are now staring at the edge of a cliff for the second time this spring. They made it through a Game 7 against San Jose, but now, down 3-1 to Chicago, the Kings have no room for error during the rest of the series. They’ll need three-straight wins just for the chance to defend their Stanley Cup title, long odds for a team that looks worn and weary.

First, there were the bruising six games against St. Louis that would only serve as a prelude to the hard-fought seven-game series against San Jose, which seems to have taken its toll on Los Angeles. Against Chicago, the Kings have not looked at all like the team that made its impressive run through the Western Conference last year. Only Jonathan Quick, their Conn Smythe-winning goalie of 2012, has been as sharp. And therein lies the issue.

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Patrick Kane scored the game-tying goal at the end of the second period in the Blackhawks’ win. (Getty Images)

By Allan Muir

The Chicago Blackhawks almost lost Game 4 because of one missing star. They ended up winning because another finally showed up.

Hobbled by the absence of suspended defender Duncan Keith, the Hawks gave up a pair of early goals to the Los Angeles Kings. But a tip-in from a crease-crashing Patrick Kane tied it up late in the second period, helping Chicago to win the game 3-2 and take a commanding 3-1 lead in the series.

The loss snapped the Kings’ 15-game winning streak at the Staples Center and pushed them to the brink of elimination.

Marian Hossa scored the winner off a sensational feed from Michal Handzus 70 seconds into the third. It was Hossa’s seventh goal of the playoffs and the fifth to come with the game tied. Bryan Bickell scored his team-leading eighth goal in the first.

Slava Voynov and Dustin Penner scored for the Kings, who will play for their postseason survival on Saturday night when the series resumes in Chicago.

“We know it’s not finished yet,” said Hossa. “We need to win one more. We have to make sure we’re ready at home.”

Here are some thoughts and observations from Thursday night’s pivotal Game 4:

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Brent Seabrook (left) must play smart and the Hawks could use some points from Jonathan Toews. (Getty Images)

By Allan Muir

It doesn’t take much to shift momentum during the NHL playoffs.

The Chicago Blackhawks dominated the Los Angeles Kings through the first two games of the Western Conference Finals, controlling the neutral zone and picking apart LA’s defense with a series of quick precision passes that allowed them to test goaltender Jonathan Quick repeatedly and with great success.

But the Hawks weren’t a particularly good team in Game 3 on Tuesday night. The energy wasn’t there. Neither was the puck possession that left the Kings spinning their wheels in Chicago. And so instead of knocking out the defending champs when they had the chance, they allowed them to crawl up out of the ditch with a 3-1 win.

And all of a sudden, the wind has changed direction.

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SI’s two NHL covers this week. (Photos by David E. Klutho/Sports Illustrated :: Gregory Shamus/NHLI/Getty Images)

In this week’s Sports Illustrated, award-winning writer Steve Rushin offers a hypothesis on which hockey enthusiasts are sure to agree: There’s no postseason like the NHL’s postseason. From the shaggy beards to the thrilling Game 7s to the enduring institution that is the handshake line, the NHL playoffs bring traditions with which other sports simply cannot compete.

“And so it goes,” Rushin writes, “on a nightly basis for eight consecutive weeks, the speeding and the bleeding, making the Stanley Cup playoffs the most intense short-term spectacle in all of sports, a symphony for foghorn, swallowed whistle and dentist drill.”

The national cover story is accompanied by two SI covers featuring action shots from the Eastern Conference Finals matchup between the Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins as well as the Western Conference Finals showdown between the Chicago Blackhawks and Los Angeles Kings. See both full covers below.

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Bryan Bickell had another great game, but couldn’t score on Jonathan Quick when it mattered. (Getty Images)

By Allan Muir

You know that old saying, “A change is as good as a rest”?

The Los Angeles Kings looked like a team desperate for some serious downtime in dropping the first two games of the Western Conference Finals in Chicago, and playing their third game in four nights seemed like a recipe for disaster.

But ditching the United Center for the friendly confines of the Staples Center, along with a bit of creative line juggling by coach Darryl Sutter, helped them find their legs. The loose, energized Kings reversed the whip on the Blackhawks, beating them 3-1 in Game 3 and trimming their series lead to 2-1.

This was the Kings at their best. They played the body, controlled the neutral zone, limited Chicago to just 20 shots and, finally, capitalized on their chances against Corey Crawford.

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The Kings desperately need Anze Kopitar to find a way to get going offensively. (Bill Smith/NHLI via Getty Images)

By Allan Muir

No team has ever won a best-of-seven series in three games, but the Los Angeles Kings know their season, and their hopes of defending their 2012 Stanley Cup, comes down to tonight’s home game against the Chicago Blackhawks.

“Obviously it’s not do-or-die, but it is,” said Kings forward Justin Williams, channeling his inner Yogi Berra on Monday.

A win tonight at the Staples Center, where they’re on a 14-0 run, and the Kings silence the doubters and earn a chance to even it up on Thursday night.

Lose and Game 4 becomes a wake.

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Anze Kopitar (left) has struggled to keep up with Bryan Bickell and the rest of the Blackhawks. (Getty Images)

By Adrian Dater

Remember when the Chicago Blackhawks were “panicked” about their playoff situation, and how their exit visas from the postseason seemed imminent? Down three games to one against Detroit in the Western Conference semifinals, tee-time jokes about the Presidents’ Trophy winners abounded.

Five straight Blackhawks victories later, the Red Wings have been playing golf for a few days and unless the defending Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings win four of the next five games, they’ll be free to make reservations at the country club, too.

Chicago easily beat the Kings, 4-2, in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals on Sunday at the United Center to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. The action now shifts to the Staples Center for two games.

While the Blackhawks keep getting stronger after facing their big moment of adversity against Detroit, the Kings look like a fatigued, beaten-up squad that’s in sudden disarray.

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A bearded Patrick Sharp (left) netted Chicago’s first goal in Game 1 against the Kings. (Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images).

By Adrian Dater

Chicago Blackhawks fans had every reason to feel down after the first period of Saturday’s Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals at the United Center.

The Hawks had a 17-2 edge in shots on goal, including the first nine of the game. Even so, Kings netminder Jonathan Quick had hung yet another zero on the scoreboard while the defending Stanley Cup champions managed to put one past Chicago counterpart Corey Crawford for a 1-0 lead. But there was one statistic that had to be of some comfort: 1-5, the road record of the Kings in these playoffs.

Make it 1-6.

Winners of 10 of 11 playoff road games last year, the Kings lost 2-1 to Chicago in the opening chapter of this best-of-seven series, with Game 2 on Sunday in Chicago. Here are some thoughts and observations from Saturday’s game:

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