Kings End 2016 Ousting Rival Sharks
- Updated: January 1, 2017
The Kings actually came out to play for the first period. These were not the a Kings of late who’ve been content to sit back on their heels and frustrate their fans (and coach.) They came out hustling, putting three shots on goal before the first minute was complete, two of which came from Captain Anze Kopitar, who seemed to be putting many more pucks on net, and all with an accuracy he’d been missing recently. There were two broken stocks on the ice by Martin Jones for a full two minutes, only to be cleared when the action swung momentarily to Peter Budaj, but the puck didn’t stay by him for long. Nor did Kyle Clifford keep his cool for long, dropping gloves with Michael Haley for what turned out to be a disappointing fight. Then, for the first time in more games than I care to count, the a Kings struck first. Jones, who had been forced to make some great saves all period, wasn’t prepared for Pearson’s top shelf snipe that sailed by two Sharks defensemen and ultimately into the back of the net with no resistance. It was a much-needed goal for Pearson, who has been under-performing as of late, and certainly a needed goal for the Kings, who set the pace and tone early. The rest of the first felt just as frenzied, with Kings chances a plenty: 8-4 in their favor, 13 shots to 6. Sharks were being crushed into the boards, more than a few players were sliding all over the place, and the Kings were playing with gusto. The first power play of the period was theirs, and it looked good. For 1:20 the puck didn’t leave the Sharks zone. Jones lost his stick, so did a Sharks defenseman, which Doughty so slickly took advantage of. But Jones made us miss him even more by being outstanding and the power play was cut short by 10 seconds when Alec Martinez took his own interference penalty at 15:00. It was a rough start to the PK that ended fortunately with about 40 seconds of the Kings just toying with the Sharks and a very good ping. A Budaj save with 22 seconds remaining kept the score 1-0 and whole a Pearson bid with about 8 seconds left almost brought them another, it was 1-0 leaving the first period.
Brent Burns allowed the Kings to start the second almost immediately on a power play – thanks Burns! And thank you Drew Doughty and Nic Dowd – Dowd for your stunning power play shot and Doughty for tipping it in so neatly. 2-0 Kings early in the second. It wasn’t the slick ice that caused Doughty to fall a few minutes later it was a Shark, Doughty drawing another power play but alas this one wasn’t as successful – they spent more time grinding along the boards and behind the net instead of setting up plays in front of it. The Sharks finally decided to push back, sending more looks Budaj’s way but also allowing more space for the Kings to get in on the forecheck. Budaj was on point, stopping every shot he ended up facing. There still weren’t a whole lot, but neither were the Kings shooting much in the second either. The third saw the Kings with 25 seconds of a Kopitar penalty to play (it was an odd game for Kopitar, who opened the game shooting, ended up in the box, almost got in a fight and couldn’t close an empty netter.) It took the Sharks 12 of those seconds to capitalize (so when I say thanks Burns this time I’m being sarcastic). But then it only took Carter 3:44 after that to make a stunning breakaway and snipe a third Kings goal past Jones.
The roller-coaster continued with a Kings power play (Burns again), followed almost immediately by a Kings penalty kill (Carter giveth and Carter taketh away). While on the kill, Joe Thornton took down Brown after the play leaving almost everyone in the stadium up in arms. Kopitar and Doughty took so much offense to it they both tried to go after Burns while the penalty kill was still going on, practically ignoring the game still in progress. The refs assessed and put Thornton in the box too. Things barely had time to slow down before the Sharks scored their second goal, with 6:03 remaining. It was just enough time to get the Kings in trouble. With Jones pulled for the last 2 minutes there was definitely enough for the Sharks to equalize, but the Kings defense (Budaj ended the game with a .900 SV%) was up to the challenge. In fact in the last 7 starts he has a .955 SV%, 1.288 GAA and 2 shutouts. With their forwards getting their scoring touches back, 2017 could be a great year for the Kings.
Related Posts
2 Comments
About Emily Redenbach
Adrienne Whitney
January 2, 2017 at 6:03 pm
Do you know what company(ies) coordinated the show? It was fantastic!
Emily Redenbach
January 3, 2017 at 1:01 pm
They have an in house crew who coordinates all of their in game entertainment. And someone named Jennifer is coordinating all of the 50th celebration activities.