Comeback Kings Strike Back, Beat Columbus 3-2

By Jeff Duarte
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Updated: December 9, 2015

If I’m doing this recap for the Los Angeles Kings’ game then that means only thing, which of course is (Star Wars : The Force Awakens hasn’t been released yet and I’m still waiting anxiously to finally see it … um I mean) the Kings are back on their Eastern road swing!!! (In other words, they are playing in my time zone! What? WHAT???!!!) After winning four games in a row, playing in their third game in four days and traveling across the continent to the state of Ohio (and without the injured and beloved Trevor Lewis), the Kings dominated the rejuvenated Columbus Blue Jackets, only to find themselves in a 0-2 hole before making another (vintage) comeback to win the game 3-2 in overtime! (Oh Hockey Gods, you kill me).

Things got off to a rocky (not Balboa) start when it was announced just before the game started that forward Kyle Clifford was scratched from the roster due to an upper body injury! (WHAT???) Kings’ color commentator (and former player) Jim Fox speculated and said (what everyone was thinking) that this “upper body injury” MAY have been from the hit Clifford received to his head from the previous game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Clifford bounced back from Victor Hedman‘s illegal elbow and played the rest of the game and did make this Eastern trip before feeling ill during yesterday morning’s practice. The NHL has not mentioned anything about reviewing the dirty hit but they may have to look at it now if it is the true reason that “Cliffy” was injured and pulled from this game. Here’s a look at the play.

With Trevor Lewis out with a undisclosed injury, the Kings’ couldn’t afford another injury before being able to call up a replacement from the Ontario Reign, especially after flying to the other side of the country, (of course this wouldn’t be an issue if the Kings still had their AHL affiliate as the Manchester Monarchs in New Hampshire! DAMN IT! NOTHING IS EVER EASY FOR THE KINGS!) Minutes after the first period started and coach Darryl Sutter had to jumble the lines and give certain players extra ice-time to make up for Clifford’s missing minutes (which led to Fox saying that Drew Doughty might have to be “double shifted” (oh oh), maybe even “triple shifted” (Oh man) or even “quadruple shifted!” (GASP!) Which was then followed by Hall of Famer Bob Miller saying that maybe Doughty should just “play the whole game!” (…*THUNK!*… Okay I’m back after passing out from SEVERE ANXIETY!), The “Mayor” John Hoven of MayorsManor.com (or at least that’s who I first noticed had said this), reported that the Kings had called up Ontario Reign superstar (and Manchester Monarchs’ Calder Trophy winning stud) Michael Mersch up to the main roster! (WOOOO!) Despite the obvious concern over “Cliffy’s” well being (and we all wish him a speedy recovery), Mersch’s call up to the main roster might be a blessing in disguise. Simply put, this kid can play!

Back to the game, nothing of real note really happened during the first period except that the Kings broke with the current protocol by not getting penalized during the entirety of it! Instead they had a power-play after Blue Jacket Gregory Campbell was charged with roughing *cough* football tackling *cough* Kings’ defenseman Christian Ehrhoff, after he cleanly checked (as my colleague and regular LA Kings’ game recapping Queen Emily Redenbach would say) “some Blue Jacket guy.” Nothing came from the man advantage. That’s about it for the first period of play … Oh and the Columbus fan(s) did their best “Philly” fan impression by booing Jeff Carter every time he touched the puck (but didn’t boo whenever the other former Blue Jacket Marian Gaborik touched the puck. WHAT’S UP WITH THAT? Oh right, Carter hated his time in Columbus and wanted out. Right. Right). This seemed to have no effect on “Carts” whatsoever (OR DID IT???) but more on that later.

In the second period, all was right in the world when Kings’ defenseman Derek Forbort took a holding penalty and the Blue Jackets scored on their only shot of the power-play (and 12 seconds into having the man advantage) when (pest) Scott Hartnell scored top corner on Jonathan Quick at 2:32. Seconds later the Kingdom almost had a heart attack when the birthday boy Drew Doughty seemed to have fallen hard on the ice and appeared hurt. “Dewy” was slow to get up but was able to resume play. Replays showed that Doughty had been slew footed (and NOT happy about it!) No penalty was called on the play. Former King (and Manchester Monarch) Andrew Bodnarchuk took a high-sticking call at 6:45. The Kings were stronger on this power-play but Columbus goaltender Sergei “Bob” Bobrovsky was solid, (I guess he regained his confidence back?) and kept the Kings off the score sheet.

Things got worse at 14:17 when Matt Calvert beat Quick with a wrist shot to make it 2-0 Columbus and he celebrated like he had just won the Stanley Cup! (Oh silly Blue Jacket player and your impossible dreams). Near the end of the second period, I had a sick feeling that this may be “one of those games” as the Kings were out shooting the Blue Jackets 23-11 but had nothing but a 0-2 deficit to show for it. If this was the 2014-15 Los Angeles Kings then it would have been but luckily for all of us (well, except for the Columbus Blue Jackets and their fan(s), this is the 2015-16 LA Kings, who like to play like the 2013-14 “Comeback” Kings (but can also dominate a game like the 2012 playoffs Kings, stay with me here!) A new hope (STAR WARS REFERENCE) emerged when “Dewy” dug the puck from the boards, found open ice and wrist shot the puck towards the Blue Jackets ‘ net but it was deflected wide and bounced off the backboards and right onto the stick of Jacket defenseman David Savard. Trying to clear the zone, he instead accidently turnovered the puck to Ehrhoff and he shot a canon (see what I did there?) into the net at 17:38 to cut the lead in half. The second period ended with the Blue Jackets on another power-play after Milan Lucic tripped Brandon Dubinsky.

Then the third period happened. Starting with the man advantage, the Blue Jackets lost their power-play when Ryan Murray slashed Jeff Carter when Columbus’ (and Philadelphia’s) favorite son creatively dashed an offensive play at the Blue Jackets’ net. This made things even with 4 on 4 play until the Kings’ had a short power-play which led to nothing, but more importantly, this led to Jeff Carter smiling a toothless grin after the Columbus fan(s) cheered the illegal infraction on him, (inspiring him to want to “GET REVENGE AND MAKE THEM PAY!)” Before that could happen (spoiler alert) the Blue Jackets came close to scoring another goal when William Karlsson walked through the LA defense and got a clear shot at the net but was stopped by the athletic Quick at 9:26. The Kings attacked right back and came close to tying things up when Stanley Cup hero Alec Martinez hit the post at 10:17. The Blue Jackets were all like, “Oh yeah? We can do that too!” by counter attacking but they hit the post at 12:00 after Quick had made another huge save but had left a juicy rebound, (or was this due to a Jonathan Quick “Jedi Mind Trick” when his “Force was Awakened???” DAMN IT STAR WARS, GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!)

With the clock ticking down and almost running out on the (comeback) Kings, an olive branch was extended in their direction when Sergei Bobrovsky (who had been amazing all game) seemed to be hurt (and lost his confidence again???) and had to be replaced with backup goaltender Curtis Mcelhinney with around 5:35 left to go in the game. Like a shark (not San Jose) that smells blood (definitely not San Jose, unless the blood is their own), the Kings commenced a relentless (FULL SURFACE) attack! (AND YES THAT WAS ANOTHER STAR WARS REFERENCE! I CAN’T HELP MYSELF!) Under siege, the Blue Jackets tried with all their might to hold the Kings back but like I said earlier, these are the 2015-16 Kings (who play like the … oh forget it. YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!) and no lead is safe against these guys. In a perfectly written script by the Hockey Gods, Columbus’ favorite son Jeff Carter finally got his revenge by scoring the tying goal with 1:27 left in the game (and after Jonathan Quick was pulled for the extra attacker).

It seemed the Kings were going to get away with at least a point tonight but the Blue Jackets came back strong and ferociously attacked the Kings’ net but Quick was having none of that. Any less of a “clutch” goaltender and the Jackets would’ve scored and won this game but Quick isn’t a mere human being. As my friend Sacco once said to me, “Quick isn’t elite. He’s the guy that BEATS THE ELITE!” Well said, Sacco.

Now to 3 on 3 overtime we go and it’s mostly dominated (okay, completely dominated) by the Kings! After some insane puck possession and relentless attacks, the Hockey God scriptwriters decided to add a “cherry” on top and have the Kings’ Captain Dustin Brown channel his inner childhood hero Wayne Gretzky and razzle and dazzle the Blue Jacket defenders with the puck (which tired them out) before expertly passing to Nick Shore, who quickly passed it past former King Jack Johnson and to the wide open Alec Martinez for the “tic-tac-toe” game winning overtime goal (something Martinez knows A LOT ABOUT!) to seal the comeback and another 2 points for their fifth straight victory!

Defeated, this is what the Blue Jackets’ head coach John Tortorella had to say about his team’s performance,

“That was men against boys tonight. We should be embarrassed. I am. I am. Obviously I’m not doing a good enough job to get the team ready in these type of situations. I’m totally embarrassed by the way we played.”

Never change “Torts”, never change.

Here is what coach Darryl Sutter, (a man who doesn’t like to offer too many compliments) had said earlier today about Jonathan Quick to LA Kings insider Jon Rosen during this mornings practice,

“So, how important is the goalie? I’ve said it lots of times. If I had to pick one goalie to play in a big game that I’m coaching, I’m taking Jonathan Quick.”

Well said coach.

The Kings continue their Eastern road trip with a re-match against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday at 7 pm est. But before that game, I picture the Columbus fan(s) sadly driving back home while Jeff Carter is smiling a well earned happy toothless grin, while Bobrovsky lost his confidence again and Drew Doughty is throwing himself a birthday party while Columbus coach “Torts” looks for someone to beat up!

But most importantly, I forget about Star Wars : The Force Awakens (for now, which is hard since I’M SO PUMPED FOR THIS FILM!) and go to the mystical Westeros from Game of Thrones and picture the great Ned Stark (Sean Bean) reminding us in the Kingdom of what’s to come …

Okay I’m out of here, GO KINGS GO!!!

Stay with us at Calisportsnews.com as we will keep you up-to-date on all things Los Angeles Kings and the rest of the LA sports teams! All Cali, All the time!