Kings Lose Fifth Straight Home Game

Statistically, the last time the Kings were doing this badly was in 2004, when they dropped the final six home games of the regular season. So it may be difficult to remember how difficult it was to watch back then. But I suppose if you look at the playoff statistics for the Kings since 2014, it’s actually been four years of disappointment. Still, no matter how much we’ve been prepared for it, this season is a whole new level of awful. They’ve switched out their coach. They traded Pearson (who now has 3 goals in 5 games with the Penguins. I mean congratulations because he’s a wonderful guy but seriously?!) They’ve moved lines around like a Picasso painting trying to activate players but to no avail. And yes, I know playing without your two main goalies is difficult. But there are enough players on this roster that should be stepping up in front of Peterson (because apparently, Budaj is in hockey jail) that just aren’t. Take the first period for example nothing happened. Seriously. It was 20 minutes of elite NHL players skating around and around doing nothing of note. With guys like Doughty, Kopitar, Carter, Brown, Toffoli – these are not guys who should have had a whole period where nothing could be said about their game.

6 shots in the second period should have been a death sentence for the Kings, who let in 2 goals. Yet somehow, so did the Canucks! The period started with the remainder of the Kings power play for whatever that was worth, and it wasn’t much. It looked like we’d end up with much of the same dull blah kind of plays we’d seen in the first. 5:15 in the Canucks got their first on a very obvious and inevitable play – inevitable when the defense just lets players stay that open right by the net. It was Gaudette’s first of the season, you’re welcome dude (meanwhile we facepalmed pretty hard.) However, for the first time in a long time, this didn’t set the Kings back for very long. They rallied, got a power play, and let Drew Doughty do his thing. A slapshot through traffic 16 seconds into the man advantage tied the game. It wouldn’t be a Kings game if they didn’t play terribly the next shift, relying heavily on, well, the Canucks not being very good and once a very lucky post. Again that didn’t last long when the Canucks went up 2-1 on a Clifford penalty, a tic-tac-toe maneuver that had me seriously question the penalty kill unit. They’ve allowed 4 goals in their last 5 penalty kills, 6 in the last 11. (Again remember when the Kings had a defense?) It was Ganger’s first goal this season too (insert eye roll here.) Never fear, however, as Luff is here! 3 games, 3 goals. And this one was *stunning.* He found Hagelin’s stretch pass, all alone in the offensive zone, got Maelstrom to bite and deeked around then behind him. Tied game everybody! Now if we can make sure Peterson knows where the puck is at all times (I like the kid but he makes me very nervous sometimes) the third period could prove to be interesting.

Alas, ‘interesting’ turned out to be, well, bad. For a game in which the Kings looked like contestants (and not because they were good but because the Canucks weren’t that good either), they failed at the last minute. Almost literally. Muzzin took a penalty about 6 minutes in, which actually only lasted 29 seconds. Carter got a shorthanded breakaway that made the Canucks so nervous one held Toffoli’s stick and was called for interference. So some 4-on-4 action led to a truncated power play for the Kings in which they had chances that weren’t good enough. Especially when Pettersson (who will likely win the Calder this season) was left unattended and unassisted snapped his 13th of the season. (Phaneuf took the blame for that one – his pass ended up on Pettersson’s stick instead of a  King. “I cost our team one point for sure if not two,” he said. “That’s on me. That’s a mistake that can’t happen.”) With less than half the period remaining, the way the Kings were playing it didn’t look like it would be enough. 2:52 remaining they were gifted a power play that backfired when they pulled Peterson for a 6-on-4 situation. (I could have told you it would. In fact, I did. Loudly. Desjardins didn’t hear me. He had to have heard how unhappy the fans were at that point though – half the stadium left and the ones that stayed didn’t hold back their displeasure.) So a game in which they were competing was lost again. “We weren’t at the level we need to be at to get the win,” Desjardins said. He is not wrong. And needs to fix that ASAP.