11’s 11th gets Bishop First Win as King

Oh Kings, just when I think I’m out you drag me back in! I was losing hope that Ben Bishop would ever win a game in a Kings uniform. I’d lost hope they were ever going to try to make the playoffs. (Not I said *try* because while I do have a lot of hope, I also have realism and that says come April 9th they’re going golfing.) I’d lost hope they were every going to score another goal. Bishop won, the Kings played actual hockey (may have only done that for the third period), and they scored 5 goals. What the what?

Of course the game didn’t start well. In the first shift Jeff Carter had a turnover in the defensive zone that almost led to a goal, then a few shifts later he stopped a Jets breakaway just before Bishop didn’t stop the other Jet (Perreault) on his wing from scoring. Wow was that 6:54 into the game? Felt like it didn’t take that long for our hopes to be dashed. It was only their second shot after all. Of course the Kings followed it up with taking a penalty, and the dumbest one of all, too many men on the ice, and my eyes rolled up so far into the back of my head I could see behind me. There were a lot of scrums by the net, including one that included scuffles beside the net after and the referee having to call no goal. (Phew!) Meanwhile at the other end when the Kings got their power play, they wasted no time (well the penalty was at 13:09 and the goal was at 14:23 so I guess they wasted some seconds, but not many) in scoring. This is the Anze Kopitar I’ve been missing all season! What a shot! From the left slot, he wristed one fast and high past Hellebuyck’s left shoulder that hit top shelf, back of the net. It was 11’s 11th goal of the season. The Kings were tied. For 4 minutes. That’s all it took for the Jets to regain the lead, though there were extenuating circumstances. It began at 16:52 with a very questionable call against Bishop for slashing, served by Tyler Toffoli (have I complained recently about Sutter’s use of Toffoli? In the box when he should be on the penalty kill is one of many situations I’ve been less than pleased with. But I digress.) It got worse 6 seconds later, when Drew Doughty made an unprecedented mistake and flipped the puck over the glass in his defensive zone, earning himself 2 minutes in the box with Toffoli and Dowd. (Dowd got into his first NHL scrap right after Kopitar’s goal, so he headed to the box for 5 minutes.) 5-on-3 for 1:54. Anyone else concerned at that? The Kings weren’t for the first, say, 90 seconds. It was an incredible display of defense, putting themselves in key positions to somehow block all 5 players, and clearing the puck numerous times. But it wasn’t to be, when with 12 seconds to go! Bishop accidentally kicked the puck in himself after a scramble, giving the Jets the 2-1 lead headed out of the first.

The second also didn’t begin well (I swear… this team will put me in an early grave.) For the first 8 minutes the Kings spent so little time in their zone we began to wonder if this was some kind of extended power play situation for the Jets no one had told the crowd about. The Kings did have a real power play 7:50 in, in which they generated such a good chance Dowd will still be kicking himself for being unable to get that shot off into an essentially empty net. Later the refs had apparently stopped calling penalties, deciding instead that Jerome Iginla had gotten the Jets stick caught in his skates of his own accord and falling wasn’t therefore the Jets fault. There wasn’t much time to dwell on that thankfully, as the Kings took offense and decided to score, just to prove they didn’t need a power play to do it. I suppose I have to give Jake Muzzin credit now, for tying the game; also credit Toffoli and Carter for setting up the play and a nice screen too.

Somehow the Kings hadn’t screwed up again, heading into the third tied. It was like a completely different team that came out for the last 20 minutes, and if that team had been playing earlier the game wouldn’t even be in question. (For that matter, had the team that came out in the third been playing more of this season, Bishop wouldn’t be looking for his first win and the Kings wouldn’t be this far out of the playoff picture.) Dowd missed the first chance, but Marian Gaborik didn’t miss his. Power play goal number 2 (goal number 3, for those keeping track at home), came when he was left wide open (which I don’t actually blame them for, I mean play the odds right?) and actually shot accurately! Woohoo! 2:01 in and the Kings were winning! And by even more with a third power play goal! Seriously the first few minutes were crazy. Doughty’s play finally paid off when he got the goal at 3:57, a blast from the blue line that made it past the screens in front of Hellebuyck. Kopitar had the chance to make it 5-2 with a chance similar to Dowd’s empty net situation, but his stick was tied. Never fear, Kings fans, even when they got a penalty, because Tanner Pearson wanted to make contract negotiations harder on Dean Lombardi come this off-season. He schooled the first Jet by checking him and skating around him, the second Jet by shooting past his sliding body, and the third by getting the puck in the back of the net for a shorthanded goal. 5-2 9:22 into the third and the crowd is going wild! By the time the final countdown started playing, it was the first time in a long time I actually wasn’t concerned the Kings would let in a late goal to force overtime, or need a goal (or two, or three) to tie it up. I miss that feeling.