Sunday Night’s Alright For Fighting; Kings Win Second In A Row
- Updated: October 19, 2015
The Avalanche were coming fresh off shutting out the Ducks (which admittedly until this point didn’t mean as much as it used to) and the Kings were coming off their first win of the season. Berra had over 200 minutes going since the last goal he let in and the King hadn’t lost a game to the Avs in regulation in over two years. The game could have gone either way. Thanks to Jonathan Quick, it went the Kings way!
The Avs began the night with an early power play five minutes in; Dustin Brown went to the box for slashing Nate Guenin. Going into the game the Avs had the best power play in the league, averaging 41.7%. It didn’t go their way this time, with the Kings clearing the puck easily for the two minutes. A few minutes later Brayden McNabb earned his nickname McSmash (maybe that’s not really his nickname, that’s just what I call him) by knocking Mikko Rantanen to the ground (at 6 foot 4, 211 pounds that’s no easy task.) The Kings were generating a lot of chances but there was more fanning (on shots) than in the stands at a horse race. The Clifford-Andreoff-Nolan line looked impressive, hustling for the puck and making smart and dirty plays with it. It was a play from Drew Doughty that turned the game, gaining the zone cleanly. The puck found its way to Brown who fed an open Gaborik in the slot; he snapped it from the top of the left circle cleanly past Berra’s right shoulder.
If the first was even in everything but the goal, the second was tipped a little towards the Avs. A scuffle behind the net 2:44 into the frame became much more when Colorado’s Jack Skille and Jordan Nolan threw their gloves down. Before the announcement of their five-minute major penalties could even be announced, Andy Andreoff and Cody McCloud traded blows, each receiving a five-minute major, a ten minute game misconduct and an automatic ejection from the game. Doughty spent a good amount of time chirping every ref on the ice but to no avail. At 9:25 Tyler Toffoli went off for hooking, followed by Milan Lucic at 14:44 for tripping. It was the fifth and sixth offensive zone penalty in a row, and less than the span of a game – a trend the Kings likely need to curb if they want to continue winning. It was Matt Duchene who took advantage of Lucic’s penalty, burying a pass from the low slot into an open net. Tofolli answered 23 seconds later, with a sick breakaway and a backhand/forehand move that sent the puck over Berra’s glove.
The third period brought some strange occurrences. Doughty stopped an Avalanche breakaway but the player didn’t stop from barreling into the net and knocking it off its mooring; Quick was displeased to say the least. Toffoli had a shot that Barra thought he stopped; instead it kept trickling in behind his legs – in fact had it not been for the crowd behind him gasping, he perhaps wouldn’t have noticed until after it crossed the goal line. The Kings had a power play from Nikita Zadorov holding Jordan Nolan but couldn’t get any traction. Matt Duchene made his way to the box a few minutes later for interference on Tanner Pearson. Anze Kopitar was playing with the puck, dangling it around the Avs – a few plays materialized and the puck always ended back to him – a cross net pass to Jake Muzzin came the closet but Muzzin’s shot only just missed the net. Shore got his second penalty of the evening for hooking half way through the period. Bad enough; then Drew Doughty joined him in the box for 49 seconds. Easily our best penalty killer, it looked like the game would have to be tied, yet the Kings held on and within seconds of killing the 5-on-3, Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog found himself in the box and there was some evenly played 4 on 4 for 1:10.
Going for the penalty hat trick, Shore found himself in the box once more at 14:40, for interference. It was a contested call – Zadarov should have been called for interference on Shore, but Shore knocked his stick out of his hands seconds later. At the very least it should have been a 4-on-4, but c’est la vie. Shore came out of the box like he was going to make up for the call right then and there. The Kings spent the next few minutes trying to keep possession of the puck more than anything – knowing Coach Patrick Roy is known for pulling his goalies early. They were successful until 46 seconds remained – there was an odd play with missed chances for the Kings to score an empty net before the puck even made its way out of the Avalanche zone, but ultimately the Kings held on. With 8 seconds to go play was stopped and the Avalanche called their time out, but to no avail.
It was a fairly even contest, but there was much room for improvement. Tofolli has literally half of the Kings goals (stick tap to him for only taking five games to get his trifecta – a shorthanded, even strength and power play goal). It’s wonderful to see him produce (and it’s beautiful to watch), but we need more from other sources. Quick was much more on his game but Derek Forbert only played 1:12 in the final frame, suggesting the blue line isn’t as solid as Daryl Sutter would like. I like Andreoff but perhaps if he spent more time proving himself on the ice than proving himself by fighting it’d be an improvement. And they need to stay out of the box. They play the Sharks Thursday, and they need to be on their game to avoid a disaster like their last contest.
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