Kings Fall To Canes

The Kings hadn’t played a game in 4 days and Carolina was on the second night of a back to back where they had 3 separate 2 goal leads and ended up losing 6-5 in a shootout. So obviously the Canes were the team who showed up ready to play hockey. Or defense at least. (My team makes me want to face palm much more than a human being really should in their lifetime.)

It was 8:06 into the first period to get the first stoppage. The teams seemed evenly matched, playing a similar style and pace. Oh and Jeff Zarkoff was in-goal. Strange, I know, considering Sutter was loath to trust him in net for 20 games straight including the first period of a back to back where the second was on the road. And the first goal the Canes scored at 17:51 couldn’t really be blamed on him. A defensive breakdown where Jake Muzzin and Alec Martinez seemed to have the same man and he was behind the breakout play left Ryan all alone in the neutral zone. He deeked and Zatkoff bit, saving left while Ryan shot left and into the back of the net. The Kings were of course out hitting and absolutely killing it in the faceoff circle but behind in scoring – par for the course lately.

Second period action proved to be more exciting. (Exciting may be a stretch.) The Kings had two power plays, but considering coming in Carolina had killed off 91.7% of their penalties and the Kings have been a slump as of late when it comes to power plays, it went just about as well as you’d think. Zatkoff was making some solid saves at the other end (including one where he was already kind of sprawled in one direction but made the diving on his belly save on the other side move) but while the Kings had a few ‘how did that puck not go in??’ moments, there weren’t nearly enough. The second Kings power play was even worse; another defensive breakdown led to Ryan’s second goal, shorthanded in a tic-tac-toe sequence between him and McGinn. Zatkoff tracked the puck as well as you’d want him to and almost made the save, but it wasn’t quite enough.

The third period brought a third Canes goal, this time when Zatkoff was screened pretty thoroughly. Some more sloppiness from the Kings meant they weren’t getting many chances to even up the score, and certainly not enough in time. Drew Doughty’s goal came with 7:30 remaining, a stunning blast from the point from a Tyler Toffoli pass. And while it was a stunning shot, it was a too little too late situation. Another power play with 4:42 remaining almost hindered their chances considering how good the Canes PK was, and pulling Zatkoff with a minute or so to go did nothing either. The Kings fell 3-1, the first loss to the Canes at Staples Center since December 8, 2005. To find some positives, the Kings did stay out of the penalty box all evening, the 7th time this has happened in franchise history.