About Dustin Brown’s Four Goal Night…

The Kings are in the playoffs! So are their opponents the Minnesota Wild. So in a very Who’s Line is it Anyway game, where everything is made up and the points don’t matter, there were three goals in the first five minutes. Dustin Brown tipped in a Tanner Pearson shot for his 25th of the season 55 seconds in on the first shot of the game! 2:17 later, however, Murphy tied it up on the Wild’s second shot of the game, followed closely by Dumba cleaning up through traffic at 5:02. In the meantime the Kings couldn’t get out of their defensive zone for a solid half of the first period, getting outshot 7-0 after their initial goal. (Anyone else having nervous flashbacks to 2016 where the Kings were the second team to clinch a playoff spot then lost 15 games essentially in a row going into the playoffs?) It appears Brown was the only one who was gong to step up, almost equalizing when he passed through three Wild to himself but just hit the crossbar. He was incredible, all over the ice, boosting anyone he was on the ice with (not that Anze Kopitar needs the help, hello Hart candidate potential.) Tyler Tofolli got into the swing of things, as the period waned and the Kings remembered they still had to play 45 more minutes this evening. Kopitar got a questionable penalty that left the shorthanded for the last 1:24 of the first, but the Kings were more than up to the challenge.

The second was much more entertaining. Lots of special teams, a hat trick… Did I mention Brown was having a hell of a game? The period opened with some remaining penalty kill but as the Kings iced the puck in the final second Kopitar was out of the box to pick up the puck and snap it off to Trevor Lewis, streaking down the left wing but he couldn’t quite handle it and not for the first time I wondered how they didn’t score. (Brown had 5 major scoring chances before he actually picked up a couple more goals.) Some more special teams action followed; 2 minutes of a Kings power play, then some 4-on-4 for 2 minutes as Tanner Pearson crosschecked and Nick Sealer roughed him up a little. Not to be outdone, the Kings then ended up with 1:19 of some 5-on-3 action thanks to Mikko Koivu’s puck over the glass. They didn’t get that long thogh, as Brown notched his second of the evening, once again parking himself at the net for the redirect. Drew Doughty notched his 50th assist of the season, the first time he’s reached that plateau and the fourth time in franchise history a defenseman has accomplished the feat. Several more good chances followed, but it was Tobias Reider who got the go ahead goal, parking himself in Brown’s spot at the front of the net. It was Brinkley’s first NHL goal, as the Kings brought up a few players to see the NHL action now they’ve clinched. Phew! After 12 minutes of crazy, the pace slowed as the period continued, but closed with a bang. As Dave Joseph announced the McFlurry minute, Brown streaked down the right side and snapped off his third goal, picking up one of the many hats that reigned down on the ice and putting it on over his helmet. I don’t know who’s happier about his resurgence this season – him or me. Or he whole fan base. *sniffs* so proud.

Going into the third, we weren’t really concerned. I mean, the Kings had outshot the Wild 14-4 and were up 4-2. How hard could it be to keep a lead like that? Well, the Wild ended up outshooting the Kings 13-5 in the third and I don’t know how many of the 18 giveaways the Kings had came in the third but I’d wager at least half. 5:42 in the first blow came – on a delayed penalty that never happened Eric Staal shot it straight past Quick (and Doughty) as he was still lunging to the other side. Less than 5 minutes later a shorthanded goal from Nick Prosser had the game tied, not even half way through the third. I’d say we didn’t see it coming except that the Kings had stopped playing in the third and their power play was abysmal, so… Not sure how the ‘fight’ between Kyle Clifford and Prosser happened, but it was less than 30 seconds after Prosser tied it and seemed to be an attempt from Clifford to change the momentum, if nothing else. He got 2 for charging Prosser, 2 for roughing Marcus Foligno, and Foligno got a double minor for roughing Clifford. The game was getting crazier and crazier. The Kings were lucky to make it 10 more minutes, despite having two more power plays and despite those power plays overlapping for 1:09 of 5-on-3. (The second of those was a bench minor for too many men. They had seven on the ice, not the four they were allowed. I tried not to laugh.) But in 3-on-3 overtime the Kings are King; and Dustin Brown is the classiest of them all. In his post game interview he said “It’s up to secondary guys like me.” If Brown can have a four goal night and still consider himself a secondary player, then we have the luckiest team in the world.

(Featured Photo by Mark J. Terrill AP)