THE ASSOCIATED PRESS@ LOS ANGELES -- Patrick Kane learned of his grandfathers death shortly before game time, and he handled the pain in the only way he could imagine. Stevie Wilkerson Jersey . By playing his heavy heart out. Kane had two goals and an assist, Nick Leddy had a goal and an assist, and the Chicago Blackhawks snapped their recent slump with a 5-3 victory over the struggling Los Angeles Kings on Monday night. After scoring goals early and late in his first three-point game since Dec. 28, Kane choked up in the dressing room while thinking about his grandfather, Donald, who lived next door during his childhood in Buffalo. "Just a tough day overall," Kane said. "He was one of my great friends growing up. Just a really sad day. It was important to get the win, but any time you get someone taken away from you thats so close to you, means so much, its tough to hear that right before the game, for sure." Kane pointed skyward after his first goal 1:02 into the game, coming out of the corner and beating U.S. Olympic teammate Jonathan Quick during a power play. "You think about it a couple of times on the bench, but I was just trying to focus on the game tonight," Kane said. "Just play well for him, I guess." Chicago coach Joel Quenneville didnt learn about Kanes extra burden until early in the game. Kanes teammates praised him for his poise while mourning his loss. "Hes a proud guy, and I think his grandfather meant a lot to him," Quenneville said. "It was probably an emotional night for him, but he played an unbelievable game." Kane had plenty of help. Marcus Kruger scored the tiebreaking goal on a double deflection in the second period for the defending Stanley Cup champions. Bryan Bickell also scored and Corey Crawford made 31 saves as Chicago swept the three-game season series between last seasons Western Conference finalists. Kane warmed up for Sochi with his first multigoal game since Dec. 14, while Canadian Olympic counterparts Patrick Sharp and captain Jonathan Toews picked up two assists apiece for the Blackhawks, who had lost five of six. Leddy contributed his first goal and first multipoint game since Dec. 23. With Chicagos victory and Anaheims loss to Columbus, the Blackhawks pulled within three points of the Ducks for the overall NHL lead. Anze Kopitar had a goal and two assists in Los Angeles highest-scoring performance since Jan. 21. Drew Doughty and Tyler Toffoli also scored, and Jonathan Quick stopped 25 shots in the Kings ninth loss in 10 games. "Tonight, energy-wise I think, was our best night in a while," Kings captain Dustin Brown said. "Weve got to just keep plugging along. I know its a broken record, but were not going to get out of it by doing anything different. ... Theres definitely frustration. If youre not frustrated in this room, theres something wrong with you." Although the Kings scored more than one goal for the first time in seven games, it wasnt enough to beat the NHLs highest-scoring team, which had lost two of three on its six-game road trip heading into the Olympic break. Los Angeles had scored just three total goals in the last six games heading into this meeting of the NHLs last two champs. "I think that we have a couple of guys that are frustrated with their own games," Kings coach Darryl Sutter said. "Theyre having a hard time right now, whether its the schedule or just where theyre at with their own games. Thats something they need to deal with themselves, for sure." The Kings got off to a horrific start yet again: Kane scored after Doughty took a charging penalty 24 seconds after the opening faceoff. Bickell then scored on a slick pass from Kane, but Doughty kept it close with his eighth goal on a one-timer moments later. His goal was the first by any Kings player except Kopitar in nearly two weeks. Kopitar evened it with a flip of a bouncing puck on a 3-on-1 rush, for his 17th goal, but Chicago went back ahead when Leddys shot from the point deflected off Krugers blade and smacked Kings defenceman Matt Greenes stick, popping over Quicks shoulder. After Leddy scored with 12:59 to play, Sharp set up Kanes second goal moments later. NOTES: Quick has started 15 of the Kings 16 games since he returned from a seven-week injury absence. ... Toffolis late goal was his 10th of the season -- and first since Dec. 19. ... The Kings scratched F Jordan Nolan, and Matt Frattin returned to the lineup after sitting out the past four games. Bob Nieman Jersey . Completely. Two days after releasing Peyton Manning, the longtime face of the franchise, the Colts announced they were cutting four fan favourites: running back Joseph Addai, linebacker Gary Brackett, safety Melvin Bullitt and tight end Dallas Clark. Jim Gentile Jersey .L. - Defending womens champion Alberta improved to 3-0 at the Canadian junior curling championships with a 10-3 win over Ontario in Sundays afternoon draw.PHILADELPHIA - The Philadelphia Flyers had hoped to get off a good start. Even they couldnt have predicted just how dominant they would be to open the game.Sean Couturier had a goal and an assist in the first period, Jakub Voracek continued his offensive surge, and the Flyers cruised to a 4-1 victory over the Florida Panthers on Thursday night.The Flyers led 2-0 less than 7 minutes into the game. Couturier deflected in a shot from Brayden Schenn at 3:53, and Michael Del Zotto made it 2-0 less than 3 minutes later with his first goal with the Flyers.We talked about needing to get off to a good start, said Schenn, who had two assists. We tried to jump on them early, and theres a couple of plays we capitalized on.Voracek got his sixth goal of the season to pull into tie with Pittsburghs Sidney Crosby with a league-leading 19 points, and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare also scored for Philadelphia, which has won four straight at home.Nick Bjugstad scored his first goal of the season for the Panthers, who had earned at least one point in their previous seven games.Nobody was very good for us tonight, Panthers coach Gerard Gallant said. We just werent sharp enough, we werent hungry enough and we didnt battle enough.Steve Mason made 35 saves, including a big third-period stop on Bjugstad, to pick up his second straight win for the Flyers. Roberto Luongo stopped 30 shots for Florida.The Flyers dominated the first period with Couturier opening the scoring. The play developed when Schenn won the puck with a forecheck and Matt Read slid a pass from the corner to him and Schenn one-timed a shot toward net.The same line struck again at 6:38 as Del Zotto scored after rifling a tough-angle shot past an out-of-position Luongo with Schenn and Couturier getting the assists.Schenn, who started the season on the teams first line, believes that getting Couturier and Read going on the third line could turn out to be a huge boost for the team.Youre going to need some secondary scoring, the defenceman said. With the three of us, weve got some good chemistry. As long as we play good defence, the offensive chances will come.Flyers coach Craig Berube has liked what hes seen out of that line as well, saying that he wants to keep Schenn in that spot rather than move him back to the top line to replace Michael Raffl, who will miss six weeks with a foot injury. Anthony Santander Jersey. I like him where hes at, Berube said. I didnt find that (Read) and (Couturier) were shooting enough pucks and getting it to the net. Hopefully Schenn can force that a little and get to the net himself, like he should.The Flyers picked up right where they left off early in the second period with Bellemare one-timing one over Luongos shoulder following a turnover and feed from Carlo Colaiacovo. The assist marked Colaiacovos first point in two games with the Flyers.The Panthers pulled to 3-1 with 8:10 remaining in the second period on a power-play goal from Bjugstad, who pounced on a rebound. Jimmy Hayes, who split the Flyers penalty kill to put a backhander on net, and Dmitry Kulikov got the assists after Phillys Chris VandeVelde was sent to the box for high-sticking.Bjugstad, who had 16 goals and 22 assists last year, was relieved to finally get his first goal of the season.I mean, yeah, you dont really think about how long its going to take, he said. Obviously you dont want it to take that long but you just have to stay positive throughout.It was the first power-play goal the Flyers allowed at home this season, snapping their streak at 19 straight penalty kills.Just 39 seconds later, the Flyers regained their three-goal cushion when Voracek scored as Claude Giroux set him up with a perfectly executed 2-on-1 break.Voracek extended his scoring streak to seven games, with four goals and eight assists during the stretch.It was a great breakout, Voracek said. Obviously (Giroux) is one of the best playmakers in the league. So I was ready for that pass. It was an easy tap-in.NOTES: The win for the Flyers evened a 2-1 loss they suffered to the Panthers five days ago in Florida. ... Thursdays game was the second of a four-game homestand for Philadelphia. . The Panthers have totalled a league-low 16 goals all season. ... The Flyers wore fatigues during warmups for Military Appreciation Night at the Wells Fargo Center, and U.S. servicemen were honoured throughout the game. ' ' '