Five Kings Goals Best Vegas Handily

Raise the trumpets, clang the bells, the LA Kings have won a game. And not just any game, one against a divisional rival with whom we share some bad blood. Some teams it just feels better to win against, you know? Considering the last time these two teams met was round one of the finals last season, it was an afternoon game, Doughty’s birthday (so the party was good, you know that), and of course it’s the Kings this season – I was not expecting a competitive game. I settled in for disappointment and loathing. Five minutes in, I got exactly what I’d expected. The Kings weren’t giving Fleury much of a battle and Quick was playing outside of his blue paint in a way that concerns me – stick handling is not his strong suit, we know this. So sure enough, 4:23 in he was out of position and Lindberg made him pay. Great. And even more embarrassing was how loud the Vegas fans were *in our house.* I don’t think that had anything to do with it, but something lit a fire underneath them because that was to be the last goal Vegas was able to score against us. Scherbak, who finally cleared immigration, equalized 8:12 into the first with a beautifully placed shot that rocketed past Fleury without hesitation. If this is what we have to expect from him this season, yes, please! It wasn’t the best first period by any means. The Kings still had possession issues, unsurprising because the Knights are the second-best possession team in the league, but when the Kings did have possession, they continued to miss passes, had cloudy movement (like who were you passing to there exactly?) and questionable zone entries. Plus it seemed like a lot of the veteran players was happy to just give up on the puck. Clifford was the obvious exception; he played with gusto and tenacity. The newbies though? Leipsic was incredible every time he skated on to the ice – he’s not a big boy but he was making big hits. He was making clean passes, creating opportunities – all things you’d want to see from a 22-year-old up-and-coming teammate. As usual, Brown-Kopitar-Iafallo had solid contributions to the game, but they didn’t manage to get into the offensive zone much.

The second period was where things took off for the Kings, beginning with a penalty kill that went spectacularly. No shorthanded chances, we’re not Arizona here (who have conceded 8 goals on the kill yet scored 11 shorthanded, can we clone their penalty kill??) But again, just solid play. Good clears didn’t let Vegas set up much. The kind of kill that was par for the course last season. Refreshing to see it back. It was around that time that Martinez headed back to the locker room, I’M NOT PANICKING YOU’RE PANICKING. He was fine. He reappeared a few minutes later after Brayden McNabb took one of those dumb penalties we remember him taking so often when he played for us, and how much did we want to make him pay for that? Well, I know this may sound crazy, but the Kings did indeed score on the power play. Yes, I know. You read that correctly – they successfully executed both special teams. It was Luff’s rocket that did it, with a wonderful Leipsic pass – remember how I was saying he was contributing a lot of clean passes? Yep! 12:30 into the second the Kings had a lead! Whoa! And in another 4 minutes of play, they’d have a two-goal lead, thanks to Jeff Carter. He’s been relatively invisible this season, so how lovely to see the sneakiest, sassiest, smartest play of the game come from him. He saw that he’d run out of room to really get a good angled shot off, but he also saw that Fleury was overextended to face him, so there was a wide-open net the other side, and a defenseman right there. So he shot into the defenseman’s skate where the puck easily deflected off into the back of the net. Jeff Carter, that goal was as beautiful as you are.

So a two-goal lead going into the third, and 47 seconds left off a penalty to kill, the third period could very easily have been questionable. Instead, the Kings took it to Vegas and widened their lead to 4 only 2:48 in. Fleury looked as shocked as we did seeing Forbert’s blast sail right past him. Again with the perfectly placed shots, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL SEASON? Seriously the offense was on point. They even killed off Kopitar’s penalty less than a minute later, squashing any comeback momentum Vegas had hoped for. They worked as a team in their defensive zone, helping out Quick when he gave up some fat rebounds but even Quick seemed much more settled in net than he did in the first five minutes. The only downside to the third was that Clifford took a big hit from Bellemare (who Jon Rosen suspects will be suspended for two games) and didn’t return. The hit looked like an elbow or shoulder to the face. But let’s not focus on that, let’s focus on how the Kings kept Vegas off the board for the rest of the period and even managed to score another – NOT empty net – goal! Honestly, I was so confused – who is this team who can score 5 goals against Fleury and can we get them to play for us all the time, please? Thompson rounded out the Kings goals with less than 90 seconds remaining, securing not only a victory but an impressive and dominating one. And boy was it necessary. Let it be a portent of things to come!