Kings Lose Thriller In Shootouts
- Updated: February 26, 2019
(During overtime shootouts Tuesday, Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning stops a shot fired by Adrian Kempe of the Los Angeles Kings. Photo courtesy of Mark LoMoglio/NHLI via Getty Images.)
What a game! The Los Angeles Kings came so close!
Trailing, 2-0, in the third period, the Kings scored three goals to take the lead, 3-2, late in the contest. But, the Tampa Bay Lightning quickly tied the score, 3-3, and forced overtime. After an exciting five minutes of 3-on-3 hockey, the teams treated the capacity crowd of 19,092 at Amalie Arena in Tampa to watch shootouts.
The home team shot first. Steven Stamkos started shootouts by zipping a wrist shot by goaltender Jack Campbell. Ilya Kovalchuk evened the match by scoring with some quick hands of his own. Then, the Lightning’s Brayden Point missed. Anže Kopitar then deked Tampa Bay’s goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy. That put LA up, 2-1, after two rounds. Pressure was on Nikita Kucherov. If Campbell were to stop Kucherov’s attempt, the Kings would win. But, Kucherov fired the puck into the back of the net so fast Campbell probably never saw it coming. That left Adrian Kempe with a chance to give the Kings the comeback victory. But, Vasilevskiy came up with a huge pad save as shown in the above photo.
Kings went four rounds of shootouts.
That sent the shootouts into the fourth round. The Bolts sent Victor Hedman, a defenseman, to the plate. Yes, you read that correctly. In only the fourth round, Tampa Bay relied on a defenseman. And guess what? He blew a hard snap shot right by Campbell. That put all the pressure on Dustin Brown. Vasilevskiy stopped the Kings’ former captain cold to win the ballgame for the Lightning!
But hey, give the Kings credit. They picked up a hard earned point on the road against a very talented hockey club. After LA fell behind, 2-0, in the first period, the Kings could have easily given up and focused on their next game. But they concentrated on the Bolts, and behind Campbell’s solid goal tending, kept the game close heading into the final period.
That is when the Kings’ offense came alive. Alex Iafallo started the comeback by scoring his 14th goal of the season. Then, wouldn’t you know it, playing in his first game of the season, Jonny Brodzinski scored a goal! That tied the game at, 2-2, with less than 10 minutes remaining. Then, only a minute later, Austin Wagner scored to give the Kings the lead!
What a game!
But wouldn’t you know it? LA’s lead lasted less than a minute, as J.T. Miller tied the score, 3-3. Oh well.
Both teams held on to force overtime. Tampa Bay absolutely dominated OT. It seemed like the Bolts controlled the puck for almost the entire five minutes. But, the men in blue could not beat Campbell who finished the night by stopping 31-of-34 shots on goal. Vasilevskiy matched him by stopping 30-of-33. A pretty even contest, except to be honest, a bunch of the Lightning’s shots flew by Campbell but dinged off posts, not counting as shots on net. Also, to be completely honest, if not for the posts and for Campbell making some incredible saves, the score could have been a whole lot worse. Tampa Bay could have scored at least five more goals.
The Lightning scored first, barely more than a minute into the contest, when Point capitalized on an LA turnover for a power play goal. About seven minutes later, Anthony Cirelli gave TB a 2-0 lead.
Kings on eight-game winless streak.
With the overtime loss, LA dropped to 0-2-1 on their four-game road trip. The Kings only picked up one point after three games. However, by earning that point, LA snapped its four-game losing streak. But, at the same time, the Kings increased their winless streak to eight. LA last won on Feb. 7 against the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Kings own the second-worst record in the National Hockey League. Here are the NHL standings in reverse order after Monday’s action:
In addition, the organization’s American Hockey League affiliate likewise absolutely sucks. The Ontario Reign sits at the bottom of the AHL standings:
As we see, Ontario ranks 31st out of 31 teams. When the organization’s NHL and AHL teams both scrape the bottom, that speaks volumes regarding current and former front office personnel. Someone failed at their job. Heads must roll. Blaming players is not good enough when management signed those players and hired their coaches.
(That feeling when the organization’s NHL and AHL teams suck.)
Monday was the NHL trading deadline, and the Kings made one move. LA sent defenseman Oscar Fantenberg to the Calgary Flames in exchange for a fourth-round conditional pick in the 2020 draft. Without Fantenberg and Jake Muzzin, whom the Kings traded last month, and with Alec Martinez sidelined with an upper-body injury, LA suited up the following six defensemen Monday: Drew Doughty, Derek Forbort, Paul LaDue, Dion Phaneuf, and rookies Sean Walker, and Matt Roy.
The Kings conclude their road trip Tuesday when they visit the Carolina Hurricanes. Until then, Go Kings Go !!
Stay with us at Calisportsnews.com as we will keep you up-to-date on all things Los Angeles Kings and the rest of the LA sports teams! All Cali, All the time
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