Comeback Kings Beat Sharks 2-1
- Updated: April 19, 2016
To be honest, I’m tired of it. As soon as the Kings lose a game or two these opinions pop up, almost every time. How quickly people forget that the Kings have won the Stanley Cup twice in recent times and both of those times the Kings were criticized by all or most of the same critiques. How quickly people forget that these Kings can play effective playoff hockey both at home and on the road and how quickly people forget that no lead is safe against these Los Angeles Kings, as they have perfected the art of the “comeback.” After the Sharks took a 2-0 lead in the series, these negative statements resurfaced everywhere as if these people were just hiding in the shadows and foaming at the mouth while waiting for the Kings to finally make a mistake. I wonder what they are all thinking now after the comeback Kings beat the San Jose Sharks 2-1 last night on the road in San Jose, breaking the Sharks’ series lead in half and showing the world that you can never (and I mean NEVER), count these warriors out!
Of course, things got off to a bad start for the Kings in game three. 30 seconds into the game, former Sharks’ Captain Joe Thornton wrists the puck into the net after it was deflected by Kings’ defenseman Brayden McNabb and the SAP Center went insane with celebration! Having all the momentum, the Sharks stormed the Kings net and had them heavily under siege (not Steven Seagal) but the Kings weathered through it with Jonathan Quick making huge saves against Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Tommy Wingels and Paul Martin.
Being the playoff survivors that they are, the Kings took advantage of a Wingels tripping penalty as Anze Kopitar scored to tie the game 1-1 after a nifty goal crease pass from Milan Lucic. It was Kopitar’s first playoff goal of the season. Kopitar would also go on and hit the post later in the period.
The rest of the game became a tight and hard fought slug-fest as one would expect whenever these two California rivals battle in the playoffs. Both teams couldn’t behave themselves enough to stay out of the penalty box as both had chances to take the lead in the game with a power-play before the first period ended, but nothing came of it due to both teams playing effectively on the penalty kill, especially both goaltenders.
16 seconds into the second period, Thornton tried to out quick Jonathan Quick again but Quick was prepared and made the easy save. Around the three minute mark, Trevor Lewis was called for interference and the fourth best power-play in the NHL went to work against the league’s 15th worst penalty kill (during the regular season of course). If the Kings seemed to be awfully sloppy while killing penalties during the first two games of this series (and during the entire season), one couldn’t tell in this game as the Kings had tremendously improved and cleaned up their one man short defensive game by only allowing the Sharks to have two shots on that power-play, (considering the firepower that these Sharks have, that is no easy task to accomplish!)
With 1:24 left in the second period, the Sharks’ Chris Tierney covered the puck with his hand (think Jarret Stoll) after a face off which everyone knows is a big NO NO! The Kings go back on the power-play and attacked the Sharks net with a vengeance but former LA Kings’ backup goaltender Martin Jones held firm while his teammates attempted to block every Kings’ shot. The period ended with the score still tied 1-1.
The third period went back and forth with both teams attempting to get shots on the net while the opposing team tightly checked and blocked shots. 10 minutes into the 3rd my heart stopped. Behind the play, Lucic had speared some Shark guy (who obviously deserved it) in the stomach and got penalized. The last thing the Kings needed was to kill more penalties this late in the game. Their penalty killing strategy and focus had obviously improved in this game but why take the risk?
Well whatever heart palpitations I thought I was having was all for nothing as the Kings were solid in the kill and did not allow the Sharks to have a clear shot at the net. Once the penalty was killed, the Kings came back hitting anything that moved that wore a teal blue jersey.
(Photo credit to 1010wcsi.com)
With about 5 minutes left in the game, my heart stopped again (DOH!) when Tanner Pearson was called for accidentally flipping the puck into the crowd while trying to clear his defensive zone, (man I hate that penalty!) As anxious and nervous that I was, I knew if the Kings could manage to survive and kill this penalty, especially with it being this late in the game, they could get into the minds of the Sharks players and “Inception” those guys with inner doubts. On the other side of the coin (not Two-Face), if the Sharks score, it’ll be hard for the Kings to comeback, (hard but not impossible), and win this game and series.
With their game faces on and their minds in the zone, the Kings indeed did successfully hold the fort though it wasn’t easy. In one moment during the penalty kill, Captain Dustin Brown broke his stick but was luckily able to make a line change with Kopitar but shortly after “Kopi” then broke HIS STICK TOO, (like you can’t make this stuff up) and was forced to play for a large portion of the kill stick less while the Kings struggled with clearing their zone. San Jose was firing everything they could but with a stick less “Kopi” using his body as a shield to block lanes and shots and the other Kings keeping the other Sharks at bay, the Kings completed yet another successful penalty kill, (and I’m thinking, oh oh Sharkies, is that some doubt now forming inside your minds???)
The rest of the 3rd period was chaotic at best as the Sharks pressed hard to get the game winner but Quick was having none of it. Scrums started to break out between the two teams including Tomas Hertl trying to out wrestle Captain Brown (which I thought was cute. Like I know they have a history and everything since Brown was responsible for injuring Hertl during his rookie year but who is he trying to kid? “Brownie” would cripple the poor guy if angered).
(Photo credit to www.yorktonthisweek.com)
With seconds to go before overtime, Jake Muzzin took a chance and fired a rocket at Jones with a second left (and I was asking myself, “IS HE ABOUT TO PULL A DUSTIN PENNER ALA AGAINST ST.LOUIS IN THE 2013 PLAYOFFS?!?!?! … ” ) but Jones made the save. So now we’re off to overtime and of course since this is the playoffs, the 3 on 3 format is no longer in play and we are back to the old 5 on 5 twenty minute overtime periods until somebody scores to win the game, (unless of course there is a penalty but you all know what I mean).
I’m not sure if Dustin Brown was still fuming over that scuffle with Hertl but the Captain came out with a mean streak in that overtime by crunching any Shark that moved, (think Liam Neeson in the “Taken” films. Hell, think Liam Neeson in ANY FILM!) After bulldozing over Brenden Dillon and Joonas Donskoi, Brown went after Donskoi again and HULK SMASHED him into turning over the puck! Then Brown tapped it forward to Pearson, who created a two on one with Vincent Lecavalier. Using “Vinnie” as the decoy, Pearson wrist shot the puck low past Jones and into the net for the overtime game winner! Kings win 2-1!
After the goal, the Kings celebrated on the ice while “Wooooooo”’ing Ric Flair style while the Sharks sadly walked back to the dressing room Charlie Brown style like in a scene from “Arrested Development.”
With the victory, the comeback Kings are now only behind the Sharks 2-1 in the series, (which is wayyy better than being down 0-3). Game four will be on Wednesday night at 7:30 pm pacific time in San Jose. If the Kings can keep their penalty killing effectively strong, or even better, do their best to stay out of the penalty box then they have a great chance to tie this series up but of course it won’t be easy. But then again, nothing is ever easy for the Los Angeles Kings and their fan base, so really it’s just business as usual!
Okay, I’m out of here! GO KINGS GO!!! #BELIEVE!!!
(Photo credit to NHL.com)
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