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Kings Top Stars 2-1 Deep in the Heart of Texas

(Featured photo by DailyHerald.com)

Okay, maybe this Los Angeles Kings’ game wasn’t played deep in the heart of Texas, as the city of Dallas is located more like the left collar bone of Texas, but darn it, I can’t help but think of this clip from the classic Tim Burton film every time I think about this large state.

Heart or collar bone, either way, Kings’ goaltender Jack Campbell got the call to be in net and was able to exact some revenge on his former team and organization, the Dallas Stars, with a solid performance of 29 saves and seal a 2-1 victory. Campbell once was a highly touted prospect after he led Team USA to a Gold Medal victory, (which still makes me a sad panda because it was against Team Canada) at the 2010 IIHF World Junior Championships. The Dallas Stars organization then drafted “Soupie” 11th overall in the first round of the 2011 NHL entry draft, with intentions that Campbell would be their future number 1 franchise goaltender. Which for many reasons, did not happen. Not even close. Campbell spent most of his time with the Stars’ AHL affiliate, the Texas Stars, where he struggled badly with injuries, depression and a lack of confidence. He did finally get the call to come up to the NHL and make his debut with Dallas, but it was only for one game against Anaheim, and let’s just say that he played very poorly. Forgotten about in that organization, the Kings were able to acquire him with a trade back in 2016 for Manchester Monarch/Ontario Reign regular Nick Ebert. And it was playing in the AHL with the Reign and under the tutelage and full support from the world class goalie whisperer, Dusty Imoo, Campbell was able to correct his weaknesses, regain his confidence and get his career back on track. So this victory over the Stars must have been an incredible and satisfying feeling as a conclusion to all of those difficult years and distracting drama Campbell suffered during those years, and a positive reassurance to him that he is indeed back on track with his career. Plus, like what film director/writer Quentin Tarantino once wrote/said in one of his “Kill Bill” films, “Revenge is a dish best served cold.” Okay, so he took that from Star Trek and admitted it so in the film, but you get the point.

Speaking of drama, the Stars are still rife with it as there has been some recent major in-fighting and tension between Dallas’s CEO Jim Lites, with support from the team’s owner Tom Gaglardi and two of the Star’s best players, Captain Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin. It all started when Lites bashed the two players in public to the media about how “terrible” they have been playing and it is making the owner very “frustrated.” Lites apparently requested to discuss this interview with the media, feeling that the Stars’ fans should be more critical about their two player’s “underachieving” play. He was pretty much saying that Benn and Seguin, (who are very talented players), were being lazy and playing without passion. Once Benn and Seguin heard about these criticisms, they were both shocked and angry, as neither Lites or Gaglardi approached the players to talk to them about it in person. They also agreed that they haven’t been playing as well, but Benn made sure he told the media, so Lites and Gaglardi can hear him loud and clear, (and I’m paraphrasing), that they do not play for the owners and executives. They play for their teammates and coaching staff. They are proud to be Dallas Stars and they are proud to go out every night and battle with his teammates. Seguin admitted that he’d prefer that Lites had called him on the phone at least to discuss these issues, instead of making this public knowledge. The issues should have stayed in house. Now WHY am I bringing up this Dallas drama? Well because all of this nonsense is making the Stars ripe for the picking, and was a perfect opportunity for the Kings to exploit. Or at least try to exploit it.

Interim head coach Willie Desjardin, who once led the Texas Stars to the 2014 Calder Cup, made some minor adjustments to the Kings’ line-up by bringing Austin Wagner and Sean Walker back into the line-up, therefore making Matt Luff and Oscar Fantenberg the healthy scratches, (I honestly prefer to have both Wagner, Luff and Walker in the line up, all the time but whatever), moved Carl Hagelin up to the top line with Captains Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown, which dropped Ilya Kovalchuk to the 3rd line with Adrian Kempe and Tyler Toffoli and as mentioned above, Campbell got the call to be between the pipes.

The game started very slowly and defensively. So defensively that I was starting to have some violent flashbacks of the “dead puck” era of the late ’90’s and early 2000’s? (I still shiver when I think about those times). Almost immediately, Kovalchuk was placed back on the top line with “Kopi” & “Brownie,” (which I believe would make a GREAT title for a buddy cop show where they solve crimes during the day, and play hockey at night. Trust me, it’d be a hit!), and they gelled together rather quickly, (not Jonathan). Nothing much was happening as much of the battle took place in the neutral zone with Campbell and Star’s goaltender, (and former (short term) LA King), Ben Bishop not having much to do. Things finally started opening up when Dallas defenseman John Klingberg got a penalty for hooking. And as the Kings’ power-play began, in a blink of an eye, (O’ Captain, Always and Forever my Captain, Downtown) Dustin Brown tipped in a point shot from Drew Doughty, for his 12th goal of the season at 18:04. 1-0 Kings! (Originally it was thought that Doughty had scored the goal, but later in the game, it was revealed that the puck had bounced off of “Brownie’s” glove and into net. Doughty then later joked that Brown had stolen his goal.

 

 

 

Things picked up in the second period and we had ourselves some back and forth, attack-counter attack hockey! Campbell held the fort much like Quick had done in the last game against the Wild, by stopping some A quality scoring opportunities from Klingberg, Roman Polak and Tyler Pitlick.

 

Speaking of Pitlick, Brown “Hulk smashed” him into another dimension with this hit.

 

Things got worse for the Dallas Stars and former Kings’ goalie Ben Bishop when “Bish” failed to control the rebound from a Tyler Toffoli shot, allowing the returned from injury Carl Hagelin to poke the puck into the net at 4:39 for his first ever goal as a King, and second overall goal so far this season. 2-0 LA!

 

Shorty after, the speedy Wagner almost made it 3-0 but the puck hit the post.

 

The Kings seemed to be rocking and rolling. Well at least until the 3rd period where they once again sat back and got stagnant. If this was 2011-2014, the Kings could easily just “park and ride” themselves to a victory. But since those days are long gone and we are in the year of 2019, this only means trouble. And trouble is exactly what the Stars started throwing at the Kings. Luckily the Kings’ had Campbell, and darn it, he was gonna shine in this game whether Dallas liked it or not!

 

And shine he did and then some! Facing 19 shots, yes that’s right, 19 shots in the 3rd period and only allowing one goal in by Esa Lindel for his 7th, right near the end of the game, ending his opportunity to shut out his former team.

The buzzard sounded and the Kings celebrated with a 2-1 victory and Campbell’s revenge was complete.

 

The Kings have now picked up 3 points in two road games, with the final game of this current trip to be against the struggling Colorado Avalanche on Saturday at 12 noon pacific time. (Oh yay, another afternoon game. Sigh) The Avalanche are 2-6 2 in their last 10 games so maybe, hopefully, wishfully, our LA Kings can exploit them as well and grind out another victory.

So until then, I have been JD Stylz and now I am out of here from …

GO KINGS GO!!!

*Special thanks to Eric from @Kingsgifs and to the Dallas organization for dropping the ball (or puck) with Jack Campbell, so we could rebuild him and help him reach his full potential. (Ya snooze you lose!)

 

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