Kings vs. Habs, or really Doughty vs Subban

Ben Scrivens became a fan favorite almost instantaneously as Jonathan Quick’s backup in 2013.  He bailed out the Kings when Quick went down in Buffalo and helped us to the Jennings trophy (of course we also won the Stanley Cup that season.) He was nicknamed ‘The Professor’ for his college degree from Cornell. He was almost more famous amongst fans for his off ice antics; photobombs and whatnot. His tenure was short-lived however, when Martin Jones stepped up and Scrivens saw himself traded to the Oilers. Wherever he and his lovely wife Jenny went, Kings fans followed him. Now with the Montreal Canadiens, fans were less enamored with him, though considering he let the Kings score twice in the first five minutes I’m really not sure why.

For the second game this season the Kings welcomed a former Blackhawk into their ranks; while Rob Scuderi was a favorite from his time with the Kings Kris Versteeg was new and untested. (Scuderi coincidentally played 19:05, absorbing some of Drew Doughty’s heavy minutes, reducing his TOI to a ‘mere’ 26:18. Considering playoffs are just over a month away and the Kings easily had this game, it was a relief more than anything to see Doughty get a little rest.)

Within a minute of the initial puck drop the Kings scored. Anze Kopitar was the main playmaker on this, with the puck rarely leaving his stick in that opening minute, bringing the puck into the zone, battling to keep it there and eventually out to Alec Martinez, who blasted the puck straight to Kopitar who easily tipped it in past Scrivens. It was clear Canadiens’ captain Max Pacioretty wasn’t going to have a good night when the play leading to the goal involved his skate being broken. The Kings were on fire when 3:33 into the first period the Kings scored their second on four shots. Again a text book play; win the draw, skate a few strides and shoot. Jeff Carter found Pearson who tipped it past (a possibly screened by Versteeg) Scrivens.

Play continued to favor the Kings all period. Vincent Lecavalier in particular had some great moves on the ice. It was 9:56 before the Habs even recorded a shot on goal. Mike Brown and Lecavalier opened the roughing penalties (by my count there were three instances of coincidental roughing minors accrued after the whistle blew.) During the 4-on-4 Pacioretty had a completely open stretch of ice but had just broken his stick and could do no more than kick it into the Kings zone before he was surrounded by defense. (Like I said, not his night.) Versteeg took his first penalty as a King (welcome to the team!) which like all penalties tonight didn’t end up helping either team. He did however come out of the box straight to a free puck in the neutral zone, but over skated before he could get a good shot off. Of course with all this amazing Kings play the Habs would score on their 4th shot on goal. Yes, 4th. And yes, it was P.K. Subban. Of course. (Truthfully it was the Kings who had settled into complacency before the play that led to the goal.)

Jonathan Quick, who otherwise had a solid game, had at least two instances of stick handling almost leading to a goal, one at the end of the first and one early in the second where his speed on his knees was the only thing keeping the game from being tied. The second period featured some more coincidental minors, where Dustin Brown was the one to clear the Kings out of a potentially dicey situation, where the Habs actually managed to sustain some zone time. The Kings first power play (again, Pacioretty) wasn’t anything to write home about. Neither was most of the second period, which ended with a whimper, not a bang.

Onto the third, where Scrivens used some of the skills he learnt from Quick during his tenure here (they were much more endearing when he used them for us!) But it wasn’t enough to stop Dwight King. Wait what? Yep, Dwight King jumped over a fallen Subban to score what would be the game winning goal unassisted, beating Scrivens blocker side. (That’s a sentence I never expected to write and I assume never will again.) The Kings got two power plays in a row they couldn’t convert, despite the second being 5-on-3 for 1:27. (This was the point in the game where Dustin Brown needed to pick up his game. He had at least 3 plays handed to him in beautiful gift wrapped packages he couldn’t convert into goals.)

So of course the Kings, who were dominating every aspect of play except the face-offs (might be time to work on those again because they were atrocious), gave up another goal, and not even a good one at that. With a little over 7 minutes remaining the Kings now had a 1 goal lead to defend, which, it turns out, they did easily. With 1:40 remaining the Habs pulled Scrivens, but as soon as they did Tanner Pearson singlehandedly kept the puck in the Habs zone for almost a full minute of that. The Habs managed to get off maybe one good play before t he puck was out of their zone again. With 1.5 seconds remaining the Kings iced the puck for the final time, the Habs called a time out and tried to make one last play. It didn’t go. The Kings pulled off the series against them 2-0, gaining a much need 2 more points. They play the Ducks Saturday, who now share the same amount of points, the Kings taking the top spot in the division because of secondary factors (most wins in regulation.)

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