They stormed out of the dressing room firing pucks at Jonathan Quick.
With the NHL's hottest goaltender standing between them and a berth in the Stanley Cup Final, the Blackhawks are determined to get as many shots on net as possible during the Western Conference finals against the Kings.
In Game 1 on Saturday at the United Center, the strategy worked when Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa solved Quick as the Hawks skated and shot their way to a 2-1 victory over the Kings to draw first blood in the best-of-seven series.
"He's the quickest goalie in the league," Hossa said afterward. "We need to put lots of shots on him and hope for rebounds. That's what we tried to do, just put the puck at the net."
The Hawks did that - 17 shots in the first period alone - as they finished with 36 shots to seize momentum heading into Game 2 on Sunday night. While Quick was under fire all game, Hawks netminder Corey Crawford calmly was turning aside 21 of 22 Kings shots - allowing only Justin Williams' first-period score.
"(Quick's) tough to beat," Hawks winger Patrick Kane said. "Both goals we scored were tough work at the net to get rebounds and traffic on him. It's definitely going to be a challenge to get pucks by him. We had a few chances and maybe even more we could have buried. Huge win."
Quick was solid in the first period, with two of his best stops coming on Kane chances from in close. Both times, Kane had room to work but Quick made lunging saves.
At the other end, Crawford had a stroll in the park in the early going, not facing a Kings shot until Dustin Penner got one on goal with 8 minutes 11 seconds remaining in the first.
Crawford stopped that one but didn't have as much success on the Kings' second shot as Williams beat him in close. Brad Richardson's intercepted Crawford's attempted clearing pass and the puck bounded into the slot to the stick of the Hawks' Dave Bolland. The center couldn't control it and Williams swooped in to chip it in.
After one period, the Hawks had a 17-2 shot advantage but trailed 1-0.
Sharp took care of the deficit midway through the second when he carried the puck into the Kings zone and dropped a pass to teammate Johnny Oduya. The defenseman fired a long shot that Quick kicked into the slot where Sharp banged it home.
"We skated well all three periods," Sharp said. "When you score (your) first goal, the crowd gets into it and you have the momentum going. We can be happy with the 60 minutes we played, but we know it's going to be tougher as the series goes on. Every series we've been a part of gets more physical and more difficult as it goes on."
The Hawks continued their onslaught on Quick and it paid off 3:53 later when Duncan Keith rifled a shot from the point that Hossa got a stick on to deflect past the goalie. In the third, the defenses tightened and the Hawks hung on.
"We played a great game," Crawford said. "Our transition defense to offense was great, so quick (and) caught them flat-footed a couple of times."
The Hawks' puck possession game and strong defense kept the Kings off their game throughout.
"They were on their toes," Penner said. "We were on our heels. When you spend so much time in your defensive zone, you won't have enough energy to score against a team like that. In the neutral zone, we were too sloppy and allowed their transition game to take over. They were better, plain and simple."
Twitter @ChrisKuc