Kings Losing Streak Continues

Truth be told I didn’t have high hopes for this game. An afternoon start so the Lakers could have their home opener in the evening, early game times have never been friendly to the Kings. The Sabres are traditionally disappointing, which we know means the Kings won’t play well either. And, well, we remember Thursday. When I saw a ‘top line’ of Clifford-Thompson-Pearson, I hoped to God Stevens’ message would be received. I didn’t have high hopes for that either. So when Jake Muzzin took a penalty 17 seconds in, I just sighed. It was a good penalty kill; no goals and no quality Sabres chances, but alas when the Kings got their chance on the power play, the same thing. Honestly watching the two first period power plays its hard to believe the Kings have any power play goals, let alone two in one game (the only reference I really want to make to Thursday.) They have no setup, spend more time in the neutral zone that the offensive zone, and my kingdom for any player to step up to Dustin Brown‘s position by the front of the net. Either learn how to shoot accurately Kings, or set other players up to rebound. Their positioning was all off, and when the Sabres scored the first goal, the same could be said for that play. You could see it a mile away – Quick was sprawled, full splits, and while he did, ale the first pad save, the puck bounced up behind him and as he turned, he actually knocked it in himself. So when the Kings called for a challenge – goalie interference – I wasn’t surprised the goal wasn’t overturned. Pominville did make contact but it was determined to be incidental, and would not have changed the outcome. I agreed with the call. A second Kings power play proved to be as fruitless as the first; in fact, the only stand out play of the period came when Carter set up Kovalchuk for a one-timer and his snappy release hit the post just enough. I really can’t wait for him to bury one of those. I mean *really can’t wait* the Kings seriously need offense.

They didn’t get it in the second period either. They had three shots on goal for the ENTIRE PERIOD. Three. Meanwhile, the Sabres scored their second goal 3:31 in, Skinner’s first of three. He skated from Quick’s glove side around the back of the net to put the puck in the back of the net on the other. Not sure why the other Kings couldn’t see the play coming – everyone else seemed to. It continues to baffle how the Kings can’t get it together. Conn Smythe Trophy winner Quick’s back (and he’s been sub-par, to say the least – stopped only 45 of 55 shots), we have a Norris Trophy winner, a Captain who’s won the Selke and Lady Byng (twice), Carter, Toffoli, Martinez – 11 Stanley Cup Champions on the roster, and with only four exceptions, the same roster as last season where they won their first 9 in a row and were the last team to lose a game. But I digress. Clifford tried to shake things up with an almost fist fight that landed him and Bogosian in the box for five minutes. It didn’t work, sadly, as they still couldn’t drum up even a shot for over half the period. The Kings just didn’t look good. Skinner got his second with 4:08 remaining in the period almost exactly the same way he did before. And if that wasn’t bad enough, Bogosian scored in the last 15 seconds of the period (commonly known as the McFlurry minute. Sadly we don’t get McFlurry’s if the *other* team scores.) The best play of the period actually came when a referee caught a stick two zones behind where it flew out of Sobotka’s hands then calmly gave it back to him as the play continued down into the Kings zone. It was actually awesome, but the fact that it was the highlight of the period really tells you something.

The Kings scoring woes continued into the third period, where Carter was fed an amazing opportunity, with their goalie down and out of position and everything, yet he still couldn’t get the puck into the back of the net. It was becoming alarming not just how badly the Kings were playing, I mean losing was obvious, but not even able to capitalize on any kind of opportunity led us to wonder just how long this offensive drought was going to last. The Kings, upon the conclusion of the game, are scoring 21-5. 21 goals against to 5. Can you imagine why they only have 5 points and sit points wise above only St Louis and Arizona in the Western Standings (with those two teams having games in hand?) Meanwhile, Phaneuf and Skinner had a mini-battle trying to throw each other over the bench, leading to coincidental minors. Thompson and Oposko followed up, giving the Kings a power play advantage when Thompson ended up bleeding. Oh wait, did the Kings do a thing? A power play thing? Yes, yes they did. Once again Drew Doughty takes a shot that sails by everyone else on the ice including the goalie. Thank. God. The Kings can score. (Let’s not get started on the last time they got an even-strength goal.) With 5 minutes remaining and being down 3 goals, they went with the bold move of pulling Quick. Yes, that early. Of course, they spent most of that time fighting off Sabres players in the neutral zone who had a chance of getting the empty netter, a feat Skinner accomplished getting him his hat-trick. The Kings need to pull out something if they want to end up with more than the currently projected 62 points this season.