Kings vs. Penguins rematch: We Win Again! (Thanks Quick)

Didn’t we just play Pittsburg? I feel like I was complaining about Sidney Crosby and trying not to make too many Fleury of goals puns a week ago. Kings forwards Trevor Lewis, who was banged up at practice right before the first Penguins game, and Kyle Clifford were injured; Clifford, who originally made the trip returned home following concussion protocol. Kings GM Dean Lombardi made a call to the Players Safety Board to discuss the elbow to Cliffy’s head, but to no avail. So welcome to the NHL (for the time being) Michael Mersch!

This game couldn’t have been more different from the Oprah style game we had 6 days ago. Things were tight; some good chances at either end but comparable plays between both teams. Just the kind of exciting, fast paced game I was expecting last time. And for once the Kings got on the board first! (The Kings have been notoriously awesome late in the game; they’re tied in the league for first with eight wins when allowing the first goal and led the league with four wins when trailing entering the third period.) It turns out Tanner Pearson isn’t just awesome when he’s paired with Jeff Carter and Tyler Toffoli, he has quick hands of his own. 7:34 in, Alec Martinez gets him the puck, he snaps it into Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, and the puck deflects off Fleury’s right shoulder and back into the net. Stunning. Penguins star Crosby made several attempts to reply with a goal of his own, but he forgot one important thing. We have Jonathan Quick. Is he ever in the zone! Brick wall.

The Penguins got the first power play of the evening (Brayden McNabb 13:05 in, tripping against Evgeni Malkin, who we’ll want to take out by the end of the evening), but to no avail. In fact, the Kings found themselves with more chances than the Penguins did! Toffoli – who would be sent down to the third line later in the game for some inexplicable reason that makes sense to Daryl Sutter and likely no one else – had the first breakaway with Carter, then Carter with Toffoli getting the second. The third I believe was technically after the penalty was successfully killed, but Marian Gaborik to Anze Kopitar who was absolutely robbed by Fleury was a thing of beauty. It’s so nice to see the two of them have the chemistry that made them a winning combo last season. In fact Kopi tonight was all over the ice. (Pay the man Lombardi!)

So we get to the second period and for a good 3/4 it’s Quick being magic. One particular sequence had the puck in the Kings zone for a good two minutes, the players were exhausted and the only reason the Penguins didn’t tie the game right then and there was Quick. Nope, that’d happen with 1:15 to go in the second. It was an odd sequence of events leading up to the goal. Gaborik took the first penalty against Crosby at 15:17. (If you’re not going to take Crosby out entirely it seems like a waste of a penalty to me, but whatever.) In the Kings zone Carter taps Malkin in the leg, and Malkin sells the hit like it’s his bid for an Oscar. (Seriously I wouldn’t have even buckled under a tap like that and I’m a total wuss who’s unstable to begin with due to the constant wearing of high heels.) This leads to a scrappy little scrum in which Malin hits Carter, more players surround them, the refs intervene and yet somehow the Kings end up on the wrong side of a 3 on 5. What’s that now? Officially McNabb got roughing against Malkin (make that count McNabb!), Carter for slashing and Malkin for slashing Carter. The Kings kill off the 5 on 3 (again Quick uses his wizard skills to deny Crosby a shot I think he even celebrated on the ice) and get set for some regular penalty killing, but Dustin Brown draws a penalty of his own, sending Olli Maatta to the box for hooking. So there’s some 4 on 4 going on, and that’s when Eric Fehr (don’t worry I didn’t know who he was either) scored. Ugh.

So the Kings enter the third period with 29 seconds of a power play; Jake Muzzin scored 5 seconds later. Literally. Absolute blast from the point, and the Kings are up by 1 goal. For most of the third period. If you think that’s not stressful, the way these teams were playing, you’re not paying enough attention. It was a tight game and it probably deserved to go into overtime. Wish it hadn’t, as much as I like the 3-on-3. Franklin Malkin. The Penguins pulled their goalie with a little over 2 minutes to go, leaving an empty net the Kings couldn’t manage to find, but Malkin did manage to find the back of ours. Quick saw the puck rolling to his left but wasn’t in a position to slide over smoothly and cover it. He reached out in a great attempt but to no avail. So into overtime we go!

The Kings started with Gaborik, Kopitar and Drew Doughty, and it was entirely in the Penguins zone, for a good period of time too. Of course as soon as it gets out David Perron almost scores, but like so many before him have discovered, when Quick is in the zone there’s no getting past him. Next up was Carter, Toffoli and Martinez who got a fair amount of sustained zone pressure too, until Malkin streaked down the ice and passed to Perron who Quick denied with his blocker arm coming up out of nowhere in the perfect position. Kopi, Doughty and Pearson almost bookended the game until it rung off the post. We moved onto Martinez, Shore and Brown who gave it up to Phil Kessel; save by Quick. Muzzin, Gaborik and Carter came out next (are you sensing a theme here with the players Sutter’s choosing?) then Kopi, Doughty and Toffoli round out the five minutes.

Aak, a shootout! The Kings were terrible with those last season. But then again, they were terrible in overtime last season too. Look what difference a few months can make! Kings were 5-0 during 3 on 3, and 1-1 in the shootout going in this season. Perron shot first, beating Quick but no worries Kings fans! Kopi also scored on Fleury! Tensions rose. Like they weren’t high enough already. Crosby denied! (See Crosby, Quick is magic.) Alas so was Brown. Malkin denied, Pearson denied (that would have also been a beautiful bookend), Nick Bonino denied… Gaborik scores! (Note: Quick’s stop on Bonino was ridiculously good. Bonino ends up shooting from almost behind the net, Quick reaches back behind his back with his left hand to stop the shot from the right. Watch the vlog.) Kings win the game! Win streak stays alive at 6 games, the Kings stay 9 points ahead of the competition in their division, and I stay happy. Join us for another game tomorrow!