Kings Go Undefeated in Back to Back Cup Victory Reunion Tour

(Featured photo from Arizona Daily Star)

I was never a big fan of famous celebrities, especially musicians and athletes that decide to retire, make a big fuss about it by doing one last farewell tour around the world, or around the league, before they call it quits. Only to comeback a few years later like they were only on a holiday. It always rang like false advertising to me. For example, how many times have The Rolling Stones retired. And then came back for a reunion tour. Then retired again. Then came back again. The legendary boxer Muhammad Ali did it as well, and sadly it cost him in the beatings he took in his last few fights. Evander Holyfield and Sugar Ray Leonard too. In MMA, just look at the careers of Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell, BJ Penn or even Anderson Silva, who didn’t know when to stop, or stay retired before deciding to come back and fight, only to hurt themselves and their legacy. Fortunately though, we are here to talk about the Los Angeles Kings, and even though this current east coast road trip that they are on isn’t really a farewell tour of any kind, after the Kings defeated the Rangers two days ago, and then defeated the New Jersey Devils last night, (who of course are the two teams the Kings defeated to win the Stanley Cup back in 2012 and 2014), I like to think of this trip as the Kings’ “back to back Stanley Cup victory reunion tour!” And like in those victorious Stanley Cup Finals, the Kings were successful with this trip down memory lane, going undefeated after thrashing the Devils 5-1! (Take that Mick Jagger!)

The game started with … okay I didn’t get to see the beginning of the game (again) because I was still at Joslin’s MMA (another shameless plug) training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu when the game started, so I had to rush home (again) to catch the midway point of the first period. (It’s funny how I LIVE in the eastern time zone, but I am so used to the 3 hour difference of the pacific time zone, and the Kings playing late in the night over here, that when they do come over here and play, it completely throws me off in everything I do! And I can only imagine how the time difference affects all of you out there in SoCal and in the west coast!) My wife of course had the game on when I got home (she’s a keeper!) and I was pleasantly pleased to find out that the Kings already had a 1-0 lead from an Adrian Kempe goal at 6:21, for his 8th goal of the season, and third goal in two games! (It’s about time this #ElKempe/#KidKempe provided some offense!) Carl Hagelin got his 6th assist with the play, and second assist in two games.

As I settled into my favorite comfy chair to watch the rest of the game, (and I wish I could say that the chair looks exactly like a Zamboni but sadly, it’s just a regular comfy, reclining chair), I noticed that Jeff Carter was not in the game, (as I suspected in my last article, the link for it is up above), due to the lower body injury he sustained in Monday night’s game against the Rangers. Word from the LA Kings Insider Jon Rosen is that Carter may still return to the line-up during this road trip, so that is definitely great news. In his place is healthy scratch and the tough as nails, Nate Thompson. And Jack Campbell is between the pipes for the Kings, giving Quick a rest after the OT victory from the night before.

Campbell made some key saves throughout the first period (and the game), but New Jersey, (which is the home of rocker Jon Bon Jovi AND the MTV Jersey Shore gang, (what a combo!) Devil’s goaltender Keith Kinkaid brought out his spirit animal Martin Brodeur (well, at least until the 3rd period, but more on that later), by robbing Alex Iaffalo’s deflected slap shot.

In the second period, New Jersey took advantage of the Kings’ kryptonite, (which is during the first and last 5 minutes of EVERY period as that is when the Kings are the most vulnerable because … reasons), tied it up 1-1 at 3:31 by Pavel Zacha. The Kings had a hard time clearing their defensive zone because the puck was bouncing all over the place like “Tigger” from “Winnie the Pooh”, (I know, I know but my wife will LOVE that reference!), and the Devils welcomed that opportunity to score.

Later, there was a scary moment when (O’Captain, Always and Forever My Captain, Downtown) Dustin Brown was cross-checked point blank in the face by Blake Coleman, and “Brownie” didn’t even have the puck. This was done behind the play. Brown was escorted to the bench, but then went back to the locker room/quiet room due to the NHL’s concussion protocol.

 

Brown goes to the locker room after high sticking penalty from Coleman: https://t.co/7W9VHK6Jsi#LAKvsNJD #NJDevils #GoKingsGo #LAKings pic.twitter.com/ockjCDlA4R

— Eric (@Kingsgifs) February 6, 2019

Coleman had already been a pest all night and earlier in the game he gave Campbell a few jabs with his stick after Campbell had already covered the puck to end the play. That led to Kyle Clifford losing his mind and trying to get at Campbell but the refs held him back. Now this happens. Luckily Dustin Brown did return later on in the game after passing all the tests, but concussions are tricky, (I’ve suffered about 5 that I know of, including recently last summer), and sometimes the symptoms don’t reveal themselves until a day, week or even weeks later. Hopefully Brown truly is okay.

Another observation was that the Devils’ fans were REALLY giving it to their former star, Ilya Kovalchuk, (and to be honest, rightfully so). This is Kovalchuk’s very first game back in New Jersey since he left (abandoned) the organization back in 2013. So whenever he touched the puck in this game, they would BOO the heck out of him and even chant, “Koval-SUCKS! Koval-SUCKS!) If it bothered “Kovi” one couldn’t tell, as I saw three possible outcomes out of how he was handling the crowd’s abuse.

Possible outcome number 1 ;

Or number 2 ;

Or number 3, which is the one that actually happened, but more on that and Kovalchuk later.

So here we go into the 3rd period, and all hell breaks loose. And by hell I don’t mean where the Devils come from, (or the state of New Jersey, ZING!), but the hell the Kings brought to THEM in a complete shellacking during the first 2 minutes of the period! (I know that we are only playing the lowly New Jersey Devils, but we are also the lowly Los Angeles Kings, so I had to slap myself hard just to make sure I wasn’t dreaming about this offensive onslaught that the Kings just unleashed). It started just :32 seconds in with the Kings on a power-play when Tyler Toffoli blasted a one timer into the net, with the assists coming from Captain Anze Kopitar, his 22nd, and Drew Doughty, his 24th, to make it 2-1 Kings! This was Toffoli’s 10th goal of the season, and 3rd point in two games, and he wasn’t done yet. A mere :40 seconds or so later, Toffoli struck again when the Kings won the face-off in their defensive zone, moved the puck up the ice with Brenden Leipsic flicking the puck to a streaking Mike Amadio, who was able to control the “Tigger” like bouncing puck to get a pass to Toffoli, who stopped the bouncing puck with his skate before passing it to his stick and banking it in the net for his second goal of the game, 11th goal of the season, and 3rd goal and 4th point in these two Cup reunion tour games! 3-1 Kings! (Now the fact that Toffoli finally scored a goal during 5 on 5 play, which is something he seems to struggle with, and was a fact that was brought to my attention earlier in the day by my esteemed colleague and good friend Rebbi Rabbs, I had to run to the window to see if pigs were flying in the sky! This was unreal! Like are we playing in the “Upside down” dimension from “Stranger Things?” Oh and by the way, I CAN’T WAIT FOR SEASON 3 OF STRANGER THINGS!!!) Amadio got his 4th assist of the season, and second in two games, while Leipsic got his 10th.

Then the impossible happened. Things were already surreal as it was with this offensive outburst by our Kings and Toffoli scoring during 5 on 5 play, but what happened next made me question my sanity. Forget about hell freezing over, pigs flying or being in the “Upside down” of “Stranger Things,” as now we either have signs of the apocalypse for the end of the world coming our way, OR I am still severely concussed and this whole game is just a fever dream that I’m having, because less then a minute after Toffoli’s second goal, Dion Phaneuf, yes I repeat, Dion Phaneuf finally scored his first goal of the season, after having his slap shot from the point deflected into the net by a Devils’ player. Boom! 4-1 Kings just like that. (Things have gotten SO BAD with Phaneuf this season, after being such a promising addition to the team last season, that when I’m talking hockey with some of my friends and family, who mostly are Toronto Maple Leaf fans, therefore they are very familiar with Dion as he was the Leafs’ Captain for many horrible seasons, they had to remind me that Phaneuf was still playing on MY team! I sometimes honestly forget that he did! That is NOT good). Captain “Kopi” got the assist, his 23rd (and second of the game and he wasn’t done yet either), after winning the offensive zone face-off that got the puck to Phaneuf to begin with.

And now let’s get our attention back to Kovalchuk. As mentioned earlier, the Devil fans were really on his back by heavily booing and chanting “Koval-SUCKS” at him every time he touched the puck. And here is the 3rd possible outcome of how “Kovi” was going to handle all the chirping he was receiving, and that was by scoring a goal against his former team of course! Which he did at 17:36 for his 11th goal of the season, and 3rd point in two Cup victory reunion tour games, (which he actually was a part of back in 2012 but in a losing capacity)! Now that shut up the sparse New Jersey crowd instantly. 5-1 Kings! Also, Captain “Kopi” got yet another assist, his 24th of ths season, 3rd of the game and 4th point in two games. (Way to go “Cap!”)

Now it’s great and all that Kovalchuk scored and stuck it to his former team BUT, it made me wonder how long before Kovalchuk does that to us too, especially since it has been revealed that “Kovi” has waived his no trade clause, which would allow Kings’ GM Rob Blake to trade him to a “contending team”. Hmm. The reason why the Devil fans are so angry and hard on him is because, and let’s be honest here, he BAILED on them after only 4 seasons, illegally breaking the 17 year, $102 million contract (back when such contracts were still allowed to be made with the old CBA agreement), he signed with the team, (over the Kings who were also trying to land him but thankfully didn’t), so he could go back to Russia and play in the inferior KHL league. Now imagine if he did that to the Kings back then? We all would be losing our minds too! And in hindsight, (which is always 20/20), if we did get him, that would have meant we would not have been able to get Jeff Carter and Mike Richards due to the salary cap, which means NO 2 Stanley Cup victories for us in 2012 and 2014. So to me, what he did to Jersey was a betrayal and a half and I can’t blame the Devil fans at all. In fact, it is well known that I was not a fan of Blake signing Kovalchuk last summer to begin with, so if he wants to be traded, then good riddance.

But for now, he is still a King, and speaking of the Kings, they achieved another Cup winning reunion tour victory by beating their 2012 Stanley Cup Final rival, the New Jersey Devils 5-1, with Campbell being outstanding in net and getting the win after making 29 saves out of 30 shots. Now here’s the funny thing. With the Kings being as terrible and hard to watch as they have been all season, (minus these last two games), and they are mostly dead last in the Western Conference and sometimes even in the entire NHL, AND Blake is “re-tooling” (more like rebuilding) the team, AND the Kings have a great shot at landing a top 3 to 5 selection spot in this years NHL entry draft, AND the Anaheim Ducks, Vancouver Canucks, Arizona Coyotes and Edmonton Oilers keep finding new and impressive ways to lose, that our lowly 2018-19 LA Kings are now only 6 to 7 points, I repeat again, only 6 to 7 POINTS away from a wildcard playoff spot! Isn’t that Wild? (Not Minnesota). So here’s the dilemma. Do the Kings keep pushing for victories and points so they can squeeze into the playoffs, which would hurt their entry draft selection standings of drafting the top talented young prospects like Jack Hughes or (who I want) Kaapo Kakko? Or do the Kings just write off this season, not worry about losing most of the games, and secure a high drafting spot, or maybe if the hockey Gods are kind, possibly even win the lottery for the number 1 pick overall??? Decisions, decisions. I still think Blake is going to be making some more big trades for more draft picks and prospects, as it seems that Blake and the powers that be with the Kings have a 2 year “re-tooling” (more like rebuilding) plan of getting the Kings back into the playoffs in 2021. (Sigh) I guess time will tell, but if the Kings do continue to play better and keep winning, this also means that the value of certain players will start rising upwards, like how Toffoli’s, Hagelin’s and Kovalchuk’s has in the last few games, making them more appealing as trade bait. Because you already know there are teams out there already salivating from their mouths to make a deal or two with LA.

But that’s a worry for another day. The Kings have now won 2 games out of their last 3 on this eastern swing road trip and will play the Philadelphia Flyers next in “Philly” tomorrow night at 4:00 pm pacific, 7:00 pm eastern time! And hopefully, the G.O.A.T. of professional sports team mascots, our very own Bailey, will also make the trip to the “City of Brotherly Love”, (and home to Rocky Balboa and ECW), so he can “Dustin Brown Wrecking Ball” the crap out of the abomination of the Flyers’ new mascot Gritty! Because why not? It’d be fun. And Bailey can totally take him!

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

GO KINGS GO!!!

Stay with us at Calisportsnews.com as we will keep you up-to-date on all things Los Angeles Kings and the rest of the LA sports teams! All Cali, All the time.

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