Injuries Continue To Plague Kings Hopes

By Emily Redenbach
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Updated: November 11, 2016

https://youtu.be/sDv-kS5SgYE

Ah, the second night of a road trip back to back. Traditionally, the Kings are actually quite good on the second night – their record was 10-3-1 going into tonight’s matchup against the Senators, though tonight they just couldn’t make it work. With Zatkoff back from injury and Peter Budaj in net last night, he drew the start, his first since October 18. He was still looking for his first win with the Kings, and is still looking (though technically the loss was credited to Budaj… You’ll see.)

Zatkoff had little to do in the first half of the first period. The Senators got off the first shot, but followed up by turning over the puck consistently and giving the Kings 10 chances to 2 at the period’s half way mark. A Kings power play 5:33 into the contest certainly helped; chances anyway, the Kings were 0-24 until Tyler Toffoli’s power play goal last game and didn’t manage to improve their power play stats. As the minutes trickled on with few plays of note, shot attempts reached 22-6 in favor of the Kings, including a stunning chance from Nick Shore that beat Anderson but sprung off the crossbar. The Senators began to fight back, increasing their shot volume with some quality chances Zatkoff managed to stop. Truthfully he looked shaky to me but he had solid defense in front of him and made the saves he needed to. The period ended relatively even, and the Kings were happy with their performance, as they considered it a bounce back from yesterday’s Canadien’s game.

They opened the second with a great chance on the rebound for the Senators to score, which Zatkoff smothered. Not to worry though, 56 second in Jeff Carter did his thing and backhanded a puck sent from Teddy Purcell to the back of the net. (The goal was later credited to Dwight King for the redirection; the play was all Purcell on the forecheck smartly getting the puck to a relatively open Carter who placed his shot beautifully.) Of course being the LA Kings, they immediately gave the Senators several great chances to tie the game up. Another Kings power play came from a delay of game (my least favorite amateur hour penalty) less than 5 minutes in, filled with some beautifully slick passing and some good chances, though neither of the two shots that made it to him got past Anderson. Again, being the Kings, it didn’t take long for them to make life harder for themselves, when Muzzin made his way to the box for interference at 7:34. With 22 second remaining in that penalty, the Kings took the other most amateur penalty too-many-men-on-the-ice. Drew Doughty was the main contributor to killing that penalty, and Erik Karlsson (Doughty’s Norris Trophy competitor) was the main reason Anze Kopitar couldn’t make a play to his lineman Toffoli on his shorthanded breakaway. (He could have made the shot himself and he did, but just as he does in many shootout scenarios, couldn’t pick the right spot to beat the goalie.) Zatkoff followed up by doing some acrobatic saves that left a few worried he may end up back on the IR list. He needed to keep his composure as Trevor Lewis also found himself in the penalty box with 3:24 remaining. The period had degenerated into the second period the Kings had hoped to get away from, the slump of sloppy play that has plagued them this season, and it was a relief for it to end.

Less of a relief than Kings fans expected however, as to start in net for the third was Peter Budaj. In itself not an issue except that it meant Zatkoff had indeed injured himself on that play at the end of the second. To add insult to injury, though really injury to injury, Anze Kopitar left for the dressing room early in the third, and the Senators took their opportunity to completely dominate play. Budaj thankfully was up to the challenge quite efficiently, and soon Kopitar returned. (Only to play a few shifts then head back down to the locker room – where he remained for the remainder of the game.) Kopitar injury aside, the Kings were simply holding on for dear life in the third. The Senators took every chance they could get and it was only a very solid Budaj that prevented them from capitalizing on any of it. It seemed the puck was always in the Kings zone, and the Senators had all the control. Finally, with 3:54 remaining, they earned the tying goal. And I mean earned; the Kings couldn’t get a change for a very extended shift, when they finally did get the puck out the momentum never died down. The Senators got their goal off the rebound and even a coaches challenge for goaltender interference couldn’t change it. (Nor should it have – Muzzin’s momentum attempting to defend skating backwards was the source of his slide into Budaj.) It was looking less and less likely the Kings could even hold on until overtime, and wouldn’t you know it, with 6.5 seconds remaining the Senators scored the game winning goal. The Kings paid for being on their heels the whole period and at the worst possible time. They left without even a point, and possibly more two players out with injury. Both Kopitar and Zatkoff will travel with the team to Winnepeg, though the extend of their injuries are yet unknown. We’ll keep you appraised on their status.

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