Carter Hat Trick Gets Kings Closer to Playoffs

The playoff race hasn’t felt this close in quite some time. Not since 2012 perhaps, which bodes well doesn’t it Kings fans? After the Coyotes game, the Kings have four games remaining and it’s still ‘too close to call.’ So tonight was a must win, and one of those potential trap games where the Kings play down. And as Jesse Cohen from All the Kings Men Podcast has pointed out, no game in March has ended the way the last one did. W-L-W-OTL and so on. So this had the potential to be a very disappointing game. Enter Jeff Carter.

The first period went exactly how you’d expect. No energy, giving up the first goal, nothing worth writing home about. Jack Campbell seemed nervous and a little shaky, and of course Arizona put in Darcy Keumper to torture us. He was solid and stopped the Iafallo-Kopitar-Brown line on several good occasions. (Well, good chances for us, not good occasions when they didn’t go in.) Unfortunately, no other line generated much of anything and most of the action was spent down in the Kings zone. The first goal bounced awkwardLy by Keumper 12:26 in and every Kings fan just groaned in recognition. Team statistically eliminated from the playoffs weeks ago? Of course. Of course, we can’t play them. Tyler Toffoli spent two minutes in the box and we all begged for any kind of offense. Finally, as the clock ticked down the Kings seemed to get something going, and after a few promising cycles, Derek Forbert blasted a shot from the blue line that Jeff Carter handsomely tipped in. 27.5 seconds to go in the first. Cutting it close to tie it up there boys! But an important goal before the period closed. Necessary, one might say.

Especially considering the Kings opened up the second by, you guessed it, giving up another goal. After several chances by Brown that had everyone screaming “how did that not go in?” The puck did. Down the other end. Past Campbell (though I blame his defense for swarming Max Domi and not being able to stop him elevating a rebound up over him.) That’s when things started to get rough. Schenn leveled Toffoli who got straight back up, only to be leveled again. Kyle Clifford rose to his defense, starting skirmishes that didn’t end in penalties thankfully. Kopitar was high stuck and I thought bleeding but no call, still a few plays later interference got the Kings a power play. I counted three huge power play chances, two from Phaneuf (I’m not kidding Jedi forces were working against us there, it literally makes no sense how close they were) before he finally blasted one by Keumper – tipped once again by Carter, who’s up to 12 goals in 17 games. Stick taps came to Phaneuf again on a late 4-minute power play when he broke up a Coyotes shorthanded rush. Pearson shed blood for that man advantage; like I said, Arizona was getting rough. Also, learn to power-play boys. That attempt was a waste of 3:33.

So onto the third, where the Kings still hold the record for best goal differential in the league. It took a bit for them to get started, several more attempts that left everyone screaming ‘hooooow?’ Carter almost got his hat trick early in on a breakaway, and when he didn’t Toffoli almost cleaned up on a shot I would have liked to see Toronto review (because again with the Jedi force keeping it from crossing the plane of the goal line.) Halfway through the period Thompson got a penalty and goodness how to Kings fans have any nerves left? But finally, Carter saw his cue for his third of the evening, with 4:25 remaining, taking Tobias Rieder’s pass and snapping it at an odd angle past Keumper, who actually had an incredible evening. (Carter now has 13 goals in 17 games back.) It wasn’t enough to calm the nerves, especially as the Coyotes pulled Keumper. With 1:16 remaining Phaneuf (how was he not a star of the game?!) drew a penalty, but that still wasn’t the end of it. Kempe took a penalty with 40.7 remaining so it was 4-on-4 and will the game never end already? An empty net thanks to Kopitar would seal the deal but that didn’t come until there were only 1.7 seconds left. It was Kopitar’s 35th goal, a career high. Strangely enough, the Kings had 35 shots on goal and 35 face-off wins too. Was Keumper’s old number a sign??