Knight makes 41 saves in debut, Blackhawks cruise past Kings

CHICAGO -- Spencer Knight made 41 saves in his Chicago Blackhawks debut, a 5-1 victory against the Los Angeles Kings at United Center on Monday.

The Blackhawks acquired Knight and a conditional first-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft from the Florida Panthers on Saturday for defenseman Seth Jones and a fourth-round pick in the 2026 draft.

“It was good,” Knight said. “I’m glad I got to get the win with the guys. It was a team effort, team win. Everyone battled, blocked shots, big goals. That’s what it’s going to take.

“I said it, no matter how smoothly things are going, the first week or so is going to feel like chaos. That’s just the way it is. But I think I’ve learned to embrace that. I’ve been through a lot of difficult challenges in my life. It’s another step in the journey. I think I’m looking to bring what I witnessed and was part of in Florida, bring it here.”

Ryan Donato and Ilya Mikheyev each had a goal and an assist for the Blackhawks (19-35-7), who have won two in a row following a five-game skid. Teuvo Teravainen had two assists.

Chicago interim coach Anders Sorensen praised Knight for his demeanor.

“Yeah, I mean he looked really good,” Sorensen said. “Calm is probably the word, right? He just looked so composed back there, so tight down low. He made even some great puck plays. So, yeah, big part of it, obviously.”

Anze Kopitar scored for the Kings (31-20-8), who have lost four in a row (0-3-1). Darcy Kuemper allowed four goals on 18 shots.

“Just, I think, a little bit of urgency,” Los Angeles defenseman Drew Doughty said about what has been lacking. “Details, giving up way too many chances against. It’s not us. We need to have guys more dialed into the D-zone, sticking to what the game plan is. Once we get away from that, we get dominated. If we don’t stick to it for 60 minutes, we’re not going to win games.”

Alec Martinez put the Blackhawks ahead 1-0 at 10:57 of the first period. His shot from the right point got past Kuemper through a screen of three players in front of the net.

Kopitar tied it 1-1 at 11:39. He took a pass in the slot from Alex Turcotte and put a wrist shot past Knight’s glove.

Mikheyev gave Chicago a 2-1 lead 46 seconds into the second period. Teravainen’s shot from the slot was stopped by Kuemper, but he got the rebound and slid a pass across to Mikheyev in the left face-off circle.

Ethan Del Mastro extended it to 3-1 at 13:30 when his shot from the left-wing boards went in off the left skate of Kings defenseman Jacob Moverare.

“The second period, that was pretty obvious,” Los Angeles coach Jim Hiller said of where the game got away from his team. “The first and third, I think, were pretty clearly in our favor. The second period was in their favor, chance-wise and shots. So, yeah, give them credit.”

Andreas Athanasiou pushed it to 4-1 at 1:20 of the third period with his first goal of the season after being recalled from Rockford of the American Hockey League on Feb. 28. He scored from the slot after taking a pass from Colton Dach from behind the net.

“Yeah, we had a play, and [Athanasiou] told me to get a pick and go from there,” Dach said. “As soon as I saw the puck shot, just try to anticipate. If it was a (face-off) loss, it was probably going to the weak side. So, try to get a stick on it, and he did a good job of finding the open area.”

Donato scored an empty-net goal at 18:30 for the 5-1 final.

Kings forward Warren Foegele gave credit to Knight.

“One hundred percent,” he said. “I don’t’ know how many Grade A’s he stopped, but he stopped a lot, especially in the first there. It could have been a 2-0 lead for us. And even at the end there, we were pressing pretty hard. He’s a [heck] of a goalie, probably super emotional getting traded a couple days ago. You’ve got to give him credit when it’s due.”

NOTES: Knight joined Jaxson Stauber (Jan. 21, 2023) as the second goaltender since 2019-20 to earn a win in his first game with the Blackhawks. He also became the fourth goaltender to get more than 40 saves in his Blackhawks debut, joining Ed Belfour (45 on Oct. 18, 1988), Jeff Glass (42 on Dec. 29, 2017) and Gilles Meloche (42 on March 16, 1971).