Freeway Faceoff Favors Ducks
- Updated: December 2, 2019
Losing to divisional rivals is the worst. And seeing as this game was played on the road, the Kings had a more than likely chance they were going to. If the Kings could pass to their own players they may have began with slightly more success than they saw. Campbell looked solid and MacDermid look necessary, as the big hits were the story, as usual with the Freeway Faceoff. The story quickly became ‘when would the Kings get a shot on goal?’ Not before Anaheim scored their first, a rebound by Grant who picked a lucky spot considering he had two Kings defending him and was shooting point blank on Campbell. Not that we’re blaming Campbell – the Kings had spent the first 5 minutes in their zone so it was really only a matter of time. 6:27 in they finally found their way out of the neutral zone but Lewis’s shot wasn’t remotely dangerous. They spent most of the opening frame playing catch up, unable to control the puck themselves and looking one skate behind. 8 minutes in Toffoli took a questionable slashing penalty (and by questionable I mean he made a safe play body to body and shouldn’t have been penalized), in which the Ducks chances looked like more than ended on the shot clock. Halfway through the period they scored on their fourth shot on goal, a power play goal Campbell wasn’t set for because the Ducks speed in passing was in no way hindered by any of the Kings on the ice. Their best chance came when Ducks goalie Ryan Miller misplayed the puck behind his net and Prokhorkin had the puck on his stick, but pressure meant he couldn’t get the shot off. All the action stayed down by Campbell; the Kings couldn’t slow them down, they were being outhit badly, and they looked lost. They just couldn’t get anything together. 5 minutes left in the period they finally found a shift in their offensive zone, though most of it was behind the net. Given how the Ducks had controlled everything the King’s were taking it though, allowing the Clifford-Amadio-Lewis line a few extra shifts to try and continue the momentum. But it was short lived and didn’t generate any dangerous shots. Despite a couple of encouraging shifts towards the end, the Kings breathed a sigh of relief as the first period ended. Somehow the shots were even at 7 by the end of 20 but that was in no way an accurate story of the period.
Two minutes into the second things were starting to look up. The Kings finally had a dangerous chance on goal, their energy spiked, and while they still didn’t look like contenders they no longer looked pathetic. Their structure was giving them chances and finally MacDermid – who likely drew into the lineup for his muscle – snapped a long range wrister off through traffic that beat Miller cleanly, 6 minutes in. But this being the period of the long change the Kings didn’t even get to celebrate for a minute (literally) before exhaustion gave way to a breakdown in coverage that led to a third Ducks goal. A power play would do nothing to help the Kings total, even with 21 seconds of a 5-on-3, when Gudbranson knocked the net off its moorings. It was only after the extended power play ended that Prokhorkin deeked his way around Miller in a fine display of stick handling that the Kings showed life again. They shot out to 15 shots on goal to 1 after the Ducks 3rd goal, again in typical Kings fashion getting all the shots but few of the goals. But it was progress. They were controlling the game and responding with gusto rather than laying down and taking it, as they would have last season. They closed the period 3-2 but all of the chances and momentum. They just had to hope they could keep that going and the hole they dug in the first period wasn’t too big.
The Kings didn’t miss a beat coming into the third, coming out strong and getting more pucks on net. For a few minutes at least, then the Ducks surged back, helped by winning a bunch of face offs, and that was much less fun. For the first time all game the play was even, which did not favor the Kings still being one behind. Neither team could gain much ground all period, but the Ducks were fine with that. As the clock wound down pulling Campbell had to be on their minds, but the Ducks weren’t making that easy either. It wasn’t until about 90 seconds to go he made it to the bench, but it was the Ducks empty net goal that came from it instead. Walker lost his footing at the blue line and after a couple of chances they capitalized on it. But it was hardly Walker’s fault that the team just didn’t show up in the first period. Another road loss hurts just that much deeper when it’s the Freeway Faceoff.
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