Kings Keep in the Race with Win Over Caps

Big. Two. Points. With the Blues as the Kings biggest competitor for that final playoff spot consistently winning their games (and they have a much easier schedule!), the Kings need to step up in a way they haven’t much of this season and start playing like they actually want to play hockey past April.

 Maybe the Kings just like playing from behind, ’cause it seems like they’re in the habit of giving up a goal early and going from there. Against a Caps team who’s currently winning the President’s trophy, perhaps this wasn’t the best strategy, but nonetheless, it’s what the Kings went with. Drew Doughty chose to spend two minutes in the penalty box to save a goal, hoping his team could do the same for the next two minutes. They couldn’t. With 15 seconds remaining Justin Williams assisted Shattenkirk and Vrana score the Caps third power-play goal against the Kings in 51 recent chances (why Justin why? We miss you so much!) For the next 10 minutes or so I screamed ‘rebound’ a could have thousand times (so again, par for the course here). Iginla came close on a power play rebound that would have been his third in two games, in a series of penalties that gave some interesting combinations on the ice. At 10:26 Oshie went in, closely followed by Adrian Kempe at 12:32, and even more closely followed by Shattenkirk at 12:52. Finally, 15 minutes in Jonathan Quick made his first save of the game. Despite a garage of scoring chances, the Caps couldn’t get a shot on goal (despite that actual goal obviously) until 3/4 of the first had been played. It was the first on many saves only Quick can make that leaves other mere mortals wondering how on earth a normal human being can move like that. Down the other end of the ice, Anze Kopitar was helping him out by being that playmaker we’ve missed so much, doling the puck to Marian Gaborik who got what felt like the fifth rebound past Phillip Grubauer to tie the game at 1.

47 seconds into the second period the Kings did it again. A goal the Hubble telescope could have seen coming; Quick lunged left, makes the first save, but no one was on Oshie who was right in front of an essentially empty net for the rebound. Thankfully a power play was gifted to the Kings by Shattenkirk (who was off his game) and Carter made it count. Well, technically Kopitar tipped in the rebound but the gorgeous shot from the circle was all Carter. A few Quick saves (and a few post saves) followed, along with a Gaborik forecheck and breakaway he wasn’t fast enough to get a good shot off on. Nic Dowd was called for holding, but it was a weak call at best. It did give us one of the greatest moments of the game where Doughty smashed Ovechkin into oblivion, however, so it was worth it. This PK was exactly what we’ve come to expect from the Kings defensive first mentality.

For the first few minutes of the third period, it was simply a relief to know the Kings weren’t going to give up a goal. But as it closed in on the seventh minute, especially considering the Kings tend to be a ‘quantity over quality’ shooting kind of team, and they didn’t have a shot on goal, concern started to set in. Enter Adrien Kempe. His first NHL goal was the result of hard work along the boards and great chemistry with his teammates. Also a stunning shot from the slot. The Kings kept the momentum going, but the Caps are not the kind of team to lay down and die; neither were the Kings. Quick came up big, as usual. Shattenkirk took another penalty with 4:05 remaining (like I said, an off night for him), giving the Kings 2 minutes off from pressure, which of course came back when he came out of the box and Grubauer went to the bench. Evgeny Kuznetsov got called for slashing Doughty with 34.6 seconds remaining, a penalty I would have been screaming at was he on my team. They wasted no time in pulling the goalie again, giving the Kings an easier time at the empty net which Carter capitalized on with less than 2 seconds remaining.The 4-2 final score made the game look more convincing than it was, however, it was good to see the Kings fight against a good team and pull out what they needed to.