Bishop Still Without A Win As A King

Oh Kings… Sometimes I just can’t. Especially considering each game doesn’t mean a whole lot any more, the first period was, dare I say, boring. We finally had Ben Bishop back in-goal (that is to say while I adore Quick , Bishop is hardly a ‘backup,’ and certainly not one we couldn’t rely on.) He had a little more to do than one might expect from a team also destined to miss the playoffs, but was easily up to the challenge. Meanwhile at the other end I’d be surprised if the Kings made more than 2 controlled zone entries, choosing instead, as always, to dump and chase. While yes I understand this is their bread and butter it was getting stale, predictable, and ultimately ineffective. Drew Doughty was of course making an impact, as was Adrian Kempe, being part of 2 of 3 Kings chances in rapid succession. Dustin Brown was camped out by the net looking for a rebound he was unable to get unfortunately, but progress! At least they’re trying for that whole rebound thing. They do need better screens on the goalie, but one thing at a time. By the time Brown was called for slashing at 13:44 I was almost happy for a break in the monotony. It helps that I have complete confidence in the Kings ability to kill off a penalty, which they did admirably. When Anze Kopitar was similarly called with a little over 2 minutes left in the first, I was slightly less amused. It was 0-0 as the first drew to a close, but discipline is a necessary skill boys.

The second proved to be more exciting; 44 seconds in the Kings had their first power play, which turned out to be a fruitless endeavor. But 5:03 in Tyler Toffoli had a stunning rebound; unattended dead center in front of the net, it wasn’t hard for him to shoot one directly over a lunging Domingue’s body. Kings are on the board let’s celebrate! (It’s national pie day but Toffoli is Cupcake – which should we celebrate with?) the Yotes didn’t take it lying down however, giving us a great look a Bishop’s reflexes. While he gave up a few too many rebound chances for my liking he mostly had great control and saw every shot cleanly. He looked solid. At the other end the Kings continued to try to literally shove pucks under Domingue to no avail, and I was getting less and less comfortable with only a 1 goal lead. Thankfully they made it out of the second period alive and in the lead.

Sadly they didn’t make it out of the third in quite the same way, despite completely being able to do so. 5:49 into the period the Yotes scored their first, equalizing the game and making a lot of people groan in frustration. Not with Bishop, who had been solid and deserved a better game from his teammates, but at how the puck somehow managed to find every single space and no bodies or body parts in its course to the back of the net. In a game where the Kings ended up with 46 shots on goal, they should have been leading by far more than 1 with less than 15 minutes remaining. And they shouldn’t have needed almost all of those 15 minutes to get their go ahead goal. (Andy Andreoff had a nice chance, I could go on listing chances but I would basically go through the roster.) The Kings were making Domingue look much better than he perhaps is. Finally the Kings were gifted with a power play, with 2:34 remaining. A power play Toffoli managed to capitalize on for his second point of the evening – a perfectly placed shot from the slot that rocketed past one of Domingue’s weak spots that had the crowd on its feet. 1:32 remaining the Kings have won the game! Right?

Wrong. The absolutely disgusting part is that Doughty had a chance couldn’t have been more than 5 seconds before they tied the game, again, at an empty net goal that hit the post on the wrong side. The Yotes called a time out, pulled their goalie, won a face-off, and got a goal. 44 seconds remaining. Are. You. Freaking. Kidding. Me. (I may have said other words too. They’re not appropriate.) It was not the Kings best overtime either, despite Bishop standing on his head, yet again, and the Kings couldn’t close. (Unlike them in OT, which leads me to lose even more hope than I previously had.) Even Carter got a penalty with 42 seconds remaining, but Bishop led them to the inevitable shootout. After 11 agonizing rounds, in which only Carter could score for the Kings and I was one shooter away from sending Quick out to do the job – scoring not defending – the Yotes got one past Bishop and I could not have felt worse for him. He did everything he could to get his first win as a King. It will have to wait for next time.

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