So Close! Kings vs. Lightning

It was the battle of the 2008 Draft Picks. Personally I’d like to thank Tampa Bay for taking Steven Stamkos first because that gave my LA Kings the chance to grab Drew Doughty, the player I’m most thankful for every year at Thanksgiving. (Not only Thanksgiving, pretty much always. Tyler Toffoli comes in a very close second.) Stamkos may have two 40 goal seasons and the Maurice Richards Trophy for leading the NHL in goals over a regular season, but Doughty has two Olympic Gold Medals and more importantly, two Stanley Cups. I’ll take the Stanley Cup’s any day.

Things I’m not thankful for: penalties. Well I would be if it was the Lighting that was taking them. But as history has been trending lately, you don’t have to be psychic to know it was the Kings who took them. Delay of game is my least favorite penalty and it just makes me shake my head any time it’s called. This time it was Jake Muzzin 4:47 into the game, which was not the beginning the Kings wanted. They were already being outshot (and absolutely killed in the faceoff circle – I know it’s not a hugely telling stat but when you lose the first six in a row, it’s not good) and the puck had rarely made it out of the Kings zone. Ironically enough the PK was what gave them the chance to clear it out of there; there were no shorthanded bids or anything but being clear of icing meant the puck got close to Ben Bishop and away from Jonathan Quick. Perhaps it the fact that the Kings have taken so many penalties recently that they’ve gotten so much practice at it, but when Marian Gaborik took a penalty for tripping behind the Lightning net at 12:26, the Kings killed that easily too. It seemed to give them a little momentum; not a whole lot but enough to slow the Lighting down, who’d dominated the pace and puck for at least the first half of the game. Kudos to Quick and Bishop for keeping the score nil-nil at the end of the first.

Have I mentioned how much I hate the delay of game penalty? Yeah. Brayden McNabb took another 6:05 into the second, and I hung my head. Yet again the Kings practice at it paid off rather than hurt them, and they managed to kill it easily, even when defenseman Christian Erhoff lost his stick and had to take Jeff Carter’s. (Erhoff is a left-handed defenseman, Carter a right-handed forward. Not the greatest situation but none-the-less.) The second period was much better for the Kings, evening up a lot of the stats, but they didn’t go up in the one that’s important – the score.

No, Tampa Bay would do that 5:57 into the third. Tyler Johnson managed to elevate the puck over Quick’s blocker side and into the back of the net. In a game as tight as this one has been, hope seemed scarce for the Kings. Tampa wasn’t giving up many quality chances. The Kings weren’t either and their patience paid off less than 10 minutes later. Officially it was Lucic (what’s the name of that line? Line of many sevens? Whatever.) whose shot hit a few bodies before officially trickling in, but who care how slowly it sent over the goal line it did! (Credit Toffoli with the screen in front of Bishop. Also credit Toffoli and Carter with the sequence leading up to the goal.) Tied game, less than 6 minutes to go.

It was still tied at the end of regulation and we got my favorite thing ever: 3-on-3 overtime. There’s so much empty ice it makes for some exciting hockey. Anze Kopitar, Gaborik and Doughty began the OT, Doughty and Gaborik didn’t leave the ice for a good minute. Carter, Alec “jazz hands” Martinez and Toffoli managed to release them eventually, poking away a nice Lightning chance before it made it’s way to Quick. They didn’t generate many chances until Trevor Lewis and Lucic made their way out, but Lewis’s shot was deflected wide, as was Lucic’s. The Lightning made their bid next, or at least tried to but Doughty was on the ice so it never happened. Quick poked a way the puck up to center ice where Kopitar, all alone, gained possession and almost ended the game right there, but deked one too many times. A scary moment where Quick didn’t see the rebound almost ended the game too, but thank you Kings defense. With one minute to go the Kings had possession, but for the next 30 seconds the puck stayed in the neutral zone. The teams traded chances but ultimately it went to a shootout.

Carter denied, Jonathan Marchessault scores. Kopitar scores, Nikita Kucherov  denied. Toffoli denied, Valtteri Filppula  scores. Tampa win 2-1. What a well-earned point though. Happy Thanksgiving, Kings fans. They’ll be back at Staples Center to battle the team that shall not be named Saturday.