Kings Keep Coming Up Short in Loss
- Updated: January 24, 2017
The Los Angeles Kings continue to fall behind in games the team seemingly dominates only to fall short in scratching back. The latest drama played out Monday night in a 3-2 loss to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. The 22-21-4 Kings, still in 6th place in the Pacific Division, give it another go tonight, Tuesday, January 24 against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center in Newark.
Monday the domination was clear as the Kings, which ultimately outshot the Rangers 38-17, came out firing on all cylinders. Dominating play for most of the match, a few untimely mistakes allowed the opponents to find the net and the win column.
Limiting its opponent to only one shot in the first half of both the first and second periods, the Rangers second shot of the game found the back of the net, as an errant pass by Brayden McNabb to Nick Shore skipped on over to Brandon Pirri who buried a wrist shot at 11:31 of the opening period. The first also saw uber-scorer Jeff Carter stymied twice at point-blank range, the latter instance on a shorthanded breakaway.
The second started slowly but opened up enough to see each team ring a shot off a post. Another Kings mistake led to the Rangers second goal. After a turnover, the Rangers two-on-one outnumbered attack saw Derek Stepan pass a shot over to Matt Puempel who buried a wrister in the unoccupied part of the net.
Cutting the lead in half, Jordan Nolan – who previously hit the post – sent his next slap shot top shelf over Henrik Lundqvist at 18:01. The Kings definitely had the momentum at the end of the second with a few madcap flurries that resulted in just another example of madcap flurries. No goals.
Losing the momentum during the period break, the Kings got a break with a power play in the third only to give it up when Carter took a penalty at 5:31. On that 4-on-4, clumsy play by goalie Jeff Zatkoff sent a lackluster pass intercepted by J.T. Miller who set up Mats Zuccarello for a point-blank score.
More madcap flurries by the hyper-enthused Kings raised the blood pressure of many a fan, and even resulted in a goal by Kyle Clifford with an extra skater on the ice. However that goal came at 19:58.400000. Just enough time for the ref to drop a puck for the faceoff and the Kings to skate off with another one of the L’s they keep accumulating.
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