Battle of Quick’s Backups: Jones Beats Budaj

There are just some teams that it’s no fun to lose to. The Sharks, who have the pleasure of having our ex Martin Jones in net, are such a team. (If you recall when I covered the Stanley Cup Final for them the Shark Chomp was unbearable.) It’s been difficult for the Kings to find that winning formula against them; the Sharks have won 8 of the last 10 and have points in the last 9. They’ve won 6 consecutive games at Staples Center, including those that eliminated the Kings in round 1 last season (admit it, Kings fans, you hate me a little right now for bringing that to your attention. I felt the need to share my pain upon discovering this statistic.)

You could tell it wasn’t going to be a good game when the Sharks scored 3:32 into the contest. Especially considering the shot should have been the Kings but between Anze Kopitar and Dwight King they Kings couldn’t handle the puck, gave up an offensive zone turnover and had one player back so they gave the Sharks essentially a 4 on 1. It wasn’t surprising, therefore, to see the puck hit the back of the net, however disappointing it was. This seemed okay for the Kings following the goal, however. They keep up the pace, made some nice plays and even some on the power play. Marian Gaborik is hitting his stride after being back in the lineup for a few games, and is indeed looking quite sharp. He had 2 shots on goal in the first 10 minutes and 3 attempts on net. I spent the whole period wishing that Sutter would pull Dwight King from the top line and put the winning chemistry of Gaborik and Kopitar back together. (He did end up with Dustin Brown and Nic Dowd – that was quite lovely.) The first fifteen minute of the first period went by quickly. The last five seemed to drag on forever. Matt Greene could have gotten to the puck but he skated away so politely to let the Sharks have it instead. Consequently they scored their second goal of the period, and it wouldn’t even be their last. They couldn’t clear any rebounds, so Logan Couture got his second point of the evening clearing a puck straight past a shaky Budaj at 19:95. Assuming that would be the end of the period apparently the Kings slacked off and allowed another goal literally 30 seconds later. To put the period in perspective: the Sharks had 7 shots and 3 goals. The Kings also had 7 shots but 0 goals.

Whatever Daryl Sutter said to them must have sparked something because the Kings came out alive (or at least less stunned than they were in the first.) Yet it seemed the net was impenetrable – even when Jones was behind it the Kings still couldn’t get the puck in. A rush towards the net 1:23 in led to a Kings power play in which Brown scored the Kings only goal. It took the referees a good 20-30 seconds to realize it however, as the goal horn didn’t go off. Toronto had to call and confirm what Brown, several of his teammates (including Gaborik and Dowd, the assists on the goal), and the whole stadium, to know – the puck had indeed snuck across the goal plane before bouncing back into play, and time had to be put back on the clock. The goal came at 3:01, though Drew Doughty could have scored before that if Tyler Toffoli hadn’t tipped his snapshot out of the line of the net (it was just one of those types of games.) Moments later Trevor Lewis got one past Jones but Burns knocked it out of the crease before it could pass the goal line. Jeff Carter and Devin Setoguchi each had their own breakaway but couldn’t get the shot off before a Sharks defenseman was all over them. In fact nothing seemed to be going despite the Kings best attempts. Jones was a brick wall after the Brown/Lewis attempts.
The third was more of the same. Kings attempts, but no go. A Derek Forbert penalty didn’t result in a goal for the Sharks but did swing the momentum further towards them. Budaj finally looked steadier but it didn’t matter. An empty net goal from Couture would seal the deal (and possibly Doughty’s fate for tomorrow’s game against the Arizona Coyotes – he skated so hard after the puck to stop it but instead ended up groin first into the net. It looked quite painful.) The post game presser assured us that the Sharks do indeed appreciate what we gave them in Jones. I’m sure more than a few Kings fans appreciate it too. It’s just more disappointing from our end.

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