Kings Find Power Play Luck With Senators

Who knew afternoon games could be so exciting? In the first period alone there was a major boarding call, two resulting goals, two fights resulting in four major penalties for fighting, two minor penalties and a broken stick that almost took out section 102. Plus it was a Heritage ‘Night’ – Mike Murphy came back for the ceremonial puck drop and the Kings wore their special 50th anniversary jersey. Their undefeated jersey.

Despite my sadness over Nick Dowd being scratched I was happy to see the line of Anze Kopitar-Marion Gaborik-Trevor Lewis making an impact on the ice. It was nothing compared to the impact Mark Borowiecki made smashing Tyler Toffoli‘s face into the boards at 2:38. The infraction sent Toffoli back to the locker room for the majority of the first period and Borowiecki to the penalty box for five minutes. Jeff Carter took particular offense to his linemates condition in the form of scoring the Kings first power play goal. The pass came from Drew Doughty (Peter Budaj picked up the second assist – what you thought Sutter would put Jeff Zatkoff back in?) Carter maneuvered his way to the front of the net and snap! Puck went past Mike Condor. Despite the three shorthanded attempts the Kings almost allowed, the power play was a thing of beauty. Goal number two came from Alec Martinez, a shot from the point that whizzed though a few defensemen before also wizzing by Condon.

It took 36 seconds from being released from the box for Borowiecki to end up back in it. Matt Greene, standing up for teammate Toffoli, threw down gloves and ended up pummeling him into the ice. Both got five for fighting. Andreoff joined Greene for two minutes but the Kings were in top form on the penalty kill. (Of course it helped that a potential one timer from Karlsson instead snapped his stick in half and it ended up in the crowd.) I guess Jordan Nolan didn’t want Greene to feel lonely because 30 seconds after Andreoff was released, he dropped gloves with Chris Neil (who was suiting up for the 1000th time in the NHL). Toffoli made it back for the last few minutes of the period and somehow managed to get a penalty on his second shift back. Again the Kings were in top penalty killing form. They almost ended the period on a Kopitar goal as his first shot almost got by Condon, then popped out of his glove, but he snuffed out Kopitar’s second chance.

The second period tilted towards the Senators. Tilted so much that I’m not sure the Kings even knew where their offensive zone was. As soon as I saw the turnover from Jake Muzzin I knew it would end in a goal, and sure enough 2 minutes in the Senators were on the board. 8 minutes or so into the period the Senators were called for a penalty but by the time the media time out was over it had been recalled, so any chance for some offense was quickly stuffed out by a surging play from the opposing team. A good 17 to 18 minutes were spent by Budaj, who fended off quite diligently the Senators attack. It didn’t look like the Kings were going to make it out of the second period, yet somehow the last couple of minutes they fought back against the onslaught and even managed to score another goal with 1.8 seconds remaining. While Condon was prepared to stop Derek Forbert’s shot, he was then out of position for Trevor Lewis’s rebound that snapped by him easily.

The Kings of the first period came back for the third – for the most part. After successfully killing a penalty Jeff Carter was also called to the box, though if that was roughing then I’m a monkey’s uncle. The Kings killed that penalty just as easily, and found themselves on one of their own after Tanner Pearson streaked down the ice impeded by three Senators, one of them called for interference. (If I were the other team I wouldn’t want Pearson alone by my goaltender either!) Remember when the Kings couldn’t score on the power play if their lives depended on it? Not so much any more – for the third time this game (though the first on a minor penalty) another goal was added to the Kings score, this time from Marion Gaborik. Technically  his first of the season, it was a stunner. He wristed the puck top shelf up and around the inside of the net for the Kings fourth. The Senators were never going to catch up – the Kings made sure of it. They couldn’t even pull their goalie because of the Kings pressure. It was Daryl Sutter’s 200th win as the Kings coach and Dean Lombardi’s 400th win as the Kings GM. Thanks for the good times guys!