Before boarding their charter for St. Louis on Tuesday, the Blackhawks will practice at the Staples Center, which proves true an old adage: Criminals always return to the scene of the crime.
The Blackhawksgenerating woefully little offensestole a couple of points Monday, beating the Los Angeles Kings 2-0 to run their unbeaten streak to six games.
Jocelyn Thibault made 33 saves for his 32nd career shutout. The Hawks managed just 14 shots.
Defenseman Nathan Dempsey put the Hawks on the board at 2 minutes 21 seconds of the second period when he busted through the slot, took a pass from Kyle Calder and slipped a stoppable shot through the pads of Felix Potvin.
Perhaps Potvin was napping on the play. Who could blame him? Dempsey's shot was just the third the Hawks had managed up to that point in the game, while the Kings were peppering the Hawks' goal with 18.
On just their eighth shot of the game, compared with 27 for Los Angeles, the Hawks made it 2-0. Eric Daze chased down a loose puck and found Steve Sullivan standing alone in the Los Angeles crease for an easy tap-in.
Los Angeles coach Andy Murray saw enough, waking up Potvin long enough to replace him with Jamie Storr.
The Kings dominated the first period despite being decimated by injuries. Jason Allison, Adam Deadmarsh, Erik Rasmussen, Eric Belanger, Ken Belanger, Aaron Miller and Steve Heinze are all on injured reserve for the Kings.
As a result, the Kings have called up 10 players from Manchester of the American League and have played a league-high six rookies this season. Hawks coach Brian Sutter wasn't impressed, however.
"That lineup they have is a Hall of Fame lineup compared to the ones I had in Calgary," Sutter said.
The Kings, with seven out of 18 skaters beginning the season in the minors, outshot the Hawks 18-2 in the first period.
The two shots was the second-lowest total of the season for the Hawks, the lowest being the one shot they managed in the third period Nov. 30, the last time they were in Los Angeles.
So in 40 consecutive minutes played at the Staples Center, the Hawks had a total of three shots on goal. They didn't hit double figures in shots Monday until midway through the third.
Thibault apologized to his teammates for giving up a bad goal that resulted in Saturday's 3-3 tie in San Jose. His teammates should have apologized to him after the first 20 minutes Monday.
The Kings had a 5-on-3 power play for 40 seconds when Mark Bell was called for cross-checking and then Lyle Odelein was sent off for holding.
Hawks defenseman Alexander Karpovtsev returned to the lineup after missing the last half of Saturday's game. Defenseman Jon Klemm missed his fourth straight game with a broken finger.