Kings #Lost On the Island

It was going to be hard to top the last game, where the Kings came out and slaughtered Boston’s defense, getting 2 points with a quite convincing 9-2 win. They continued their Grammy road trip with a visit to the Barclay Center for the first time ever to take on the New York Islanders, and it seemed they’d used up all of their goals and saves in Boston.

Star goalie Jonathan Quick sat the game out after a dodgy looking collision on his leg with 15 seconds remaining in the Boston game, and is listed as day-to-day, putting Jhonas Enroth, our lone Swede on the team in net. Also going the Kings for his NHL debut was Kevin Gravel, who wore Alec Martinez’s old number 53 and skating as his defensive partner.

The opening was a very even contest, with no great chances until suddenly, 6:05 into it the Kings allowed a bad turnover in the neutral zone, allowing Jonathan Tavares to get the puck to an open Johnny Boychuk who scored off the near post on the far side of the net. McNabb took a rather awful tripping penalty with 11:21 remaining in the first period that the Kings killed easily with huge credit going to Drew Doughty (can we get him the Norris Trophy locked up this trip please?) The Islanders didn’t even get a shot on goal. But once the penalty expired and they did, they made it count, going up 2-0 on a fat rebound easily wristed home by Casey Cizikas. Somehow Andy Andreoff screened his own goalie instead of defending his man. (Yes I know Andreoff is a forward but it was not his finest moment on the ice.)

An Alec Martinez penalty lead to the Islanders third goal, this one tipped in by Anders Lee on a shot from Nick Leddy. And the period was only 13:36 minutes old. Kopitar and Brown made a great play during the Kings next penalty (a collective ‘stay out of the box’ groan could be felt throughout California) but no go for a shorthanded goal. However, the penalty seemed to generate more chances for the Kings than the Islanders, as their play seemed to get the chemistry they’d been missing for most of the first. As the penalty expired Jeff Carter’s shot pinged loudly off the post; it appeared the Kings were out of luck during the first period.

13 times the Kings have come back from allowing the other team to score the first goal. The second period cemented that this wouldn’t be game 14. The Kings began attempting to chip away at the Islanders, even drawing a delay of game penalty but were out of sync on the resulting power play and couldn’t even get a shot on goal. Their (almost) best chance about halfway through the period pinged off the crossbar too, though Brown celebrated like he’d scored. (He wasn’t thrilled to see it bounced out without ever crossing the goal line.)

The Kings finally did score, with a goal from Kyle Clifford. He and Jordan Nolan worked hard being the boards; eventually Clifford made the shot and somehow their goaltender Thomas Greiss kicked in behind him. Ironically enough no one was sure that was a goal and the celebration was somewhat lackluster. As was the next few minutes when the Kings allowed the 3 goal lead to return; Tavares beat Enroth short side with a blast from the point with 6:30 remaining. A Drew Doughty penalty didn’t lead to any goals but did stop any momentum the Kings were trying to get back. They ended the second the same as the first – down 3 goals.

A power play 5:52 into the third on the Islanders saw Nikolay Kulemin get a better shorthanded chance than anything the Kings got with the man advantage. Finally, it seemed, with 10:09 remaining, the Kings closed the gap by 1 with a goal from Milan Lucic, who tapped in a Jeff Carter rebound, who’s speed outpaced any Islander on the ice at the time. The remaining play seemed to be all Kings, Doughty in particular trying anything and everything to make good plays happen. But none of them could convert into a goal. With a little over 5 minutes remaining the Islanders took a ‘playing with a broken stick’ penalty (when’s the last time you heard of that penalty being called?) Coach Sutter even pulled Quick for most of the penalty, but that backfired with 31 seconds remaining in the power play when the Islanders scored on the empty net.

The Kings were on the first night of a back-to-back; they’ll follow up with the Rangers Friday evening. Who wants to take bets on who’ll be in net?