Toews back in line to help Blackhawks usurp Kings

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Captain Jonathan Toews scored on his return to the lineup as the Chicago Blackhawks romped to a 4-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Monday.

Toews, who had been out with concussion-like symptoms after suffering a hard body check against the Vancouver Canucks on October 21, tallied one of the team's three third-period goals as the Blackhawks (9-5-2) moved top of the Central Division.

"His presence, the way he plays the game, the way he competes every shift, that's why he's the captain," Chicago center John Madden told reporters after he opened the scoring with a goal in the second.

"He leads by the way he plays. If we just follow along and compete as hard as he does, everybody will be all right."

Chicago's Troy Brouwer broke a 1-1 tie with a tip-in at 1:33 in the third, Toews followed with a backhand to extend the lead at 5:04 and Andrew Ebbett scored his first goal of the season halfway through the period to complete the scoring.

NHL leading points scorer Anze Kopitar had tied it 1-1 at 9:10 in the second period for the Kings (10-6-2).

Kopitar joined Washington's Alex Ovechkin for the league lead in goals scored but his strike was not enough to keep Los Angeles from losing a second consecutive game.

The Blackhawks used two power-play conversions to take control while killing off two chances from the Kings.

Toews, who had a team-high 34 goals last season, sparked the team in his return.

"I felt great on the ice," he said. "If you look at a lot of our games in the past couple weeks, they were low-scoring. We struggled a bit on the power-play. That was the difference tonight."

(Writing by Jahmal Corner in Los Angeles; Editing by John O'Brien)