Campbell, Iafallo Shine Against Detroit
- Updated: October 8, 2018
I’m having serious Deja vu. It’s 2016. The Kings played their home opener only to find the next day Jonathan Quick has a groin injury and is placed on IR. Peter Budaj is recalled from the AHL. Wait, is it 2016 or was that today? If you missed the news and tuned into the Kings game to see Jack Campbell in net, you may have been confused. If you watched the Doctor Who premiere earlier and thought you had traveled back in time, you might also have been confused. If you heard earlier, hopefully, you got all your wailing and despair out of the way before the game started. Because Campbell is quite good.
The Kings opened the game with a power play 1:33 in, and thanks to Dion Phaneuf shedding a few drops of blood, it was 4 whole minutes. Yes, 4 whole minutes because the Kings couldn’t seem to get their act together and actually generate some good chances on it. Thankfully it didn’t go exactly like last game where they gave up a goal immediately following a disappointing power play, because Campbell was sharp. In fact, I forgot momentarily that it wasn’t Quick in net and was happy to see he’d brought his A-game. Daley of the Red Wings took an awkward fall into the board and play halted while he struggled to get up. He was escorted back to the locker room by a trainer and okay resumed. Alec Martinez took a rare penalty; the Kings penalty kill is exponentially better than their power play. More two minutes like that, please! No danger near Campbell, and when there was, he was more than up to the task. Really thank goodness the Kings have a stellar defense because they couldn’t get much of anything going offensively. Austin Wagner‘s speed continued to bring him good chances; it’s only a matter of time before he buries one of them. Sadly not for the first period, which ended anticlimactically 0-0.
It didn’t take long for the Kopitar-Iafallo-Kovalchuk line to accomplish great things. Their chemistry is palatable; their line combined for 5 points and 3 of the 4 goals. Kopitar got the first, an elegant writer as he skated by almost nonchalantly that sailed up past Kings alum Jonathan Bernier. Jake Muzzin followed up by killing a guy. That was an exaggeration, but he did level a Red Wing, and in retaliation, Nick Jensen sought a fight. They both got in quite a few good punches then sat for five. A little more than a minute later Iafallo followed Muzzin into the box, but sadly not for 2 whole minutes, as Larkin capitalized and sailed a shot right past Campbell’s blocker side. 13:40 in the Kings got their chance on the power play again but alas weren’t as successful as the Red Wings, as 7 seconds in Jeff Carter was called for high sticking. (A facepalm emoji would be completely appropriate here.) Even Drew Doughty was playing sloppily – his giveaway leads to a clear-cut breakaway only foiled by Detroit’s own misfire. A particularly awful sequence showed Campbell coming up big three times in rapid succession. Thankfully for the Kings, Paul LaDue made it 2-1 with 3:46 remaining in the period, a similar shot to Kopitar’s but it ended up sneaking under Bernier in confusion.
Even more, confusion came in the third when 5:05 in Phaneuf abandoned the puck to beat on Bertuzzi, who had just slashed him. LaDue responded to Hronek as Phaneuf was skating away in a way that garnered him an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, with one for Hronek too. Between the four of them, six penalties were awarded but evenly distributed so the game remained 5 on 5. Iafallo and Kovalchuk combined for the third Kings goal 9:15 into the third, as a mishandled puck behind the Red Wings net, led to an open Iafallo who’s wrister gave him his first of the game. The Kings would need it, Wagner and Sulak on a collision course, made contact at the skates and Sulak went down. Wagner went to the box; I understood the call but I didn’t agree with it. Even more so when the Red Wings made it 3-2, killing the King’s penalty kill percentage and making the last four minutes of the game much more terrifying. Bernier was pulled and a timeout called by Detroit; but once again Iafallo to the rescue – as Martinez wrestled possession, Toffoli took the puck as far as he could before passing to an open Iafallo in the neutral zone who completed the empty net goal. And with only 21 seconds to spare! The Kings came away with 3 of 4 points their opening weekend, and are scheduled to hit the road on Tuesday.
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