Kings notch fifth win in a row; Flyers fall against California

Welcome back to Staples Center LA Kings fans! Welcome back into the lineup Jamie McBain. Welcome to a somewhat unprecedented afternoon win against a team the Kings are notoriously bad against! Some context: the Kings haven’t won a home game against the Flyers in 7 years. They’ve never swept the two game series (until now.) And afternoon games have never been their strong suit. It seems the Kings have truly woken up this season; they lodged their fifth win in a row and sit firmly atop of the Pacific division, with their closest rival 13 points behind. The Flyers on the other hand completed a 3 game, 8 day road trip through California and lost all 3 games.

1:09 into the first period the Kings found themselves behind the ball and into the penalty box – Martinez went off for hooking, and it was already threatening to be a worrisome time. Never fear Kings fans, the Kings have killed every penalty in their last four games (13 of 14 by the end of the game.) Defense first has always been their strong suit, and they bounced back easily after a successful kill. After a few minutes of some fairly even back and forth play, Dwight King found himself with Marian Gaborik and Trevor Lewis on an uneven breakaway. A slick pass to Gaborik in the center and an even slicker snap back to King on his right confused the Flyers goalie Michael Neuvirth enough to let the puck streak by him.

You won’t see him on the scoresheet but as usual we saw Dustin Brown on the ice. A stellar forecheck saw him tackle the puck from a Flyer, literally skate circles around him and get the puck to Trevor Lewis and between the two of them we almost had a two goal lead. Almost. It would be Drew Doughty wou would make that so, almost 10 minutes later at 17:16 of the first period. Marian Gaborik drew the penalty that lead to the goal, and really it was Milian Lucic who began the game winning play. He was battling along the boards, and managed to chip the puck out to Anze Kopitar. Kopi made a small pass to Jake Muzzin who made a cross ice pass to Doughty, who slapped the puck home. That one goal symbolized milestones for all three players. Doughty scored his 6th power play goal, which is tied for first in the team. He’s gotten 5 points in the last 5 games. (How does that Norris voting look now East Coast? Surely you were awake for this game yes?) Muzzin notched his 100th regular season point. Kopi now has assists in each of the last 5 games. (1-8) And the Kings now have a power play goal in 5 games straight.

The second period was largely uneventful. The Kings had to kill 1:30 of a Muzzin penalty, but they did that easily. Pearson and Kopitar each drew a penalty but no goals resulted (in fact the first power play this period seemed more like a penalty kill. Perhaps the Kings were confused?) The shot differential was much more even (Kings outshot the Flyers 15-7 in the first, yet only 9-7 in the second. Alternatively the Flyers outshot the Kings 8-16 in the third.) The Kings had two incredibly close chances during the last minute of the period – known to Staples Center attendees as the McFlurry minute, but there were no goals scored and no free ice-cream.

A Jake Muzzin penalty 7:28 into the third – holding against Jakub Voracek – lead to their first goal and the 2-1 seemed much closer than it had been for the first two and a half periods. with 12:10 to go the Flyers game had picked up. Luckily for the Kings Jonathan Quick was on top of his game all afternoon, as was Drew Doughty, who can block shots and take away both shooting and passing lanes like no one else. With 3:12 remaining not even Tanner Pearson could negate the icing call against the Kings (and if he can’t I don’t know who can, that boy can skate) so Sutter called his time out. Moments later with 2:47 remaining, Pearson was called for hooking. (I’m the first to admit when the Kings have done wrong – not so this time. Claude Giroux deserves an Oscar for committing to that fall and drawing the penalty.) With him in the box it took the Flyers less than 30 seconds to pull their goalie and have a 6-on-4 competition. Quick was up to the task. He made at least 3 key saves and the rest of the team held up their end; clearing the puck at several important moments. At the game’s conclusion Quick’s stats looked amazing: in this 5 game win streak Quick has let in a mere 3 even strength goals. He is 13-2-1 in the last 15 games with a 1.75 GAA and a .936 s%. It’s not hard to see why the Kings are at the top of the Pacific division. Go Kings Go!