Kings Fall Again to Divisional Rival

By Emily Redenbach
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Updated: January 14, 2018

Oh, Bob Miller how we’ve missed you. It was Bob Miller appreciation day as the Kings were set for another Freeway Face-off against the Ducks, and it began outside Staples Center with the unveiling of his statue. Former broadcast partners, Kings legends and most importantly Miller’s family (Jim Fox referred to his wife Judy as the First Lady of the LA Kings and I think it’s perfect) all joined in the celebration. Moving inside Miller’s banner was raised, with Rogie Vachon, Rob Blake, Luc Robitaille and Marcel Dionne carrying it out onto the ice, and the likes of Nick Nickson, Daryl Evans, Jiggs McDonald and Jim Fox standing by. Miller gave a beautiful speech, ultimately thanking the organization, his family and the fans for being with him during the 44 years he was the voice of the Kings. If only the night could have ended there.

Oh my, what an eventful first period. You could tell it was a rivalry game when 2:29 In Kurtis MacDermid and Jared Boll threw gloves. After a minute of not too much (I really expected more from these two), the refs broke it up and to the box they went. Not a second after the puck dropped Andy Andreoff had to get his fists in the ring, so he and Kevin Bieksa got into it. A much shorter and more effective fight ensued, sending another two to the box. But we weren’t done! Another puck drop, another immediate glove drop. This time Kyle Clifford and Nick Richie traded blows; unfortunately, Clifford saw the tough end of it and six players had to fit in two tiny penalty boxes. Wait, make that seven. The Kings got the first power play of the game 3:41 in and seriously have we only played 3:41? Of course, they didn’t get much going on it and a few shifts after it was over the Ducks slapped one by Quick he’s going to want back. Not even 8 minutes in the Kings had 5 shots on goal with nothing to show for it while the Ducks had 1 shot, 1 goal. The Kings had a few breaks in the next minutes, but the Ducks were too good at breaking up their plays in the neutral zone before any real rushes could get going. Doughty had some attitude about it, knocking Richard Rakell while I thought he still had the puck but the refs disagreed and called interference. Which I would have been fine with because of the style in which Drew hit him, but less so when they scored on it. A similar situation to the first goal allowed except it was perhaps tipped by Folin. Finally, after what felt like the longest first period ever, the Kings closed it out down 2-0.

The second wasn’t any better. Less eventful, perhaps. But they still had trouble gaining the zone, getting out of the neutral zone with any effectiveness and clearly needed to get their act together. The bye week had served to set them back rather than rejuvenate – or perhaps it was the opponent. The Kings have lost 28 of their last 39 games against the Western Conference (really what you want to hear ramping up to the playoffs, isn’t it?) and have lost 15 of those to the Pacific division. They’ve lost 3 straight, 5 of their last 7, and 8 of their last 12 games. Paging Jeff Carter – how’s that foot healing? Back to this game, however, the Kings were looking discombobulated. They were having trouble getting control of the puck and when they did they had issues connecting and putting on pressure. When they finally did break through it was on a sprawling John Gibson and waved off after a video review because it was determined that Alex Iafollo batted it in with his hand. (Iafollo was arguably the best King on the ice tonight, don’t let that fool you.) While the hits were even on the scoreboard it appeared that the Kings (especially poor Trevor Lewis – who for his part didn’t let it slow him down or actually attempt plays, thank you Lewis) were on the rougher end of them. With 3 minutes left of the second Ryan Kessler found his way into the penalty box and while revenge on Kessler is always high on my list, it wasn’t on the Kings seemingly. They left the period still down 2-0.

To open the third perhaps someone should have told the Kings they weren’t on the penalty kill because they spent the first two minutes defending. And not too well as Quick tried to play the puck behind the net and got trapped, leaving the net wide open and a puck in it. The Kings had a hard time bouncing back after that; it took a while to get energy than even more to get momentum. Finally, they at least broke Gibson’s shutout, with a goal from Nick Shore, who snuck Christian Folin’s pass past him 8:32 in. Of course at 8:50 Derek Forbert was called for high sticking Corey Perry (not that I blame him, I often want to poke Perry in the face with a hockey stick) so the Kings went back on the defensive. It didn’t deter them for too long, as a surge of good play followed (beginning with a solid penalty kill) and culminated in an Anze Kopitar goal. It was just enough time remaining to give the Kings a chance. 6:14. But as it turned out, not enough to win it. With Quick pulled what should have been the winning play ended up as the empty net goal for the Ducks – a pass to an open Alec Martinez just missed connecting, instead ping-ponging into Tyler Toffoli who also couldn’t handle it and onto the stick of – who else? – Perry. It was a disappointing loss for a night that should instead be remembered for celebrating Bob Miller. To Bob.

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