Kings On Brink of Elimination

A caveat to this recap – I’m not even going to try and be unbiased. The refs weren’t so why should I? This series has been built on solid goaltending at both ends and a blatant attempt by the NHL and NHL player safety to advance Vegas. They want their expansion team to get ratings and fans quickly, as franchises in the past have struggled to do so off the bat by just not being good, so they’re showing a clear bias towards Vegas. To be clear – Marc Andre Fleury is amazing. He is a 3 time Stanley Cup Champion for a reason. I in no way want to disrespect him but I feel by the way that the NHL is helping them to win they’re disrespecting a team who should never be remembered for getting as far as they have on their own.

The game was heavy on hits. The Kings came out and had 4 hits before anyone even had a shot. Unfortunately, the Knights had the first few shots but by then the Kings had 11 hits to 2, including a huge hit from Adrian Kempe (who was phenomenal all evening. Bodes very well for the Kings future) and another from Jeff Carter. (Said coach John Stevens on Kempe: “he’s got the heart of a lion. He played like a man tonight. Anybody that would ever question this guy, he’s a young kid that’s come over in a big environment and I thought he played outstanding tonight. He hasn’t had a lot of offense in his game, but to his credit, he’s trying to help the team win in other ways. It’s unfortunate, too, because he’s worked hard in the faceoff circle. He wins a draw clean, ends up getting scored on. He took a huge step for us this year, and I thought tonight might’ve been one of his better games of the year, so we’re going to need that and more from him.”) Jake Muzzin announced his presence back into the lineup (we’re so happy you’re back Muzz!) with a big hit behind Jonathan Quick, and Cliffy had a big open-ice hit that somehow became tripping 5:33 into the first. The Kings penalty kill was perfection. It was textbook flawless. Literally 2 seconds after it ended Vegas miscounted how many people they’re allowed on the ice, which led to William Carrier trying to start something with Kyle Clifford (who also had an impressive evening, particularly on the rush.) The refs wouldn’t let them get too far into it, breaking it up and calling coincidental minors for roughing. Don’t get too excited for a Kings power play, because 6 seconds in Brown was called for ‘tripping.’ (This is the point I realized that the refs reminded me of Delores Umbridge from the Harry Potter franchise. Don’t bother trying to stand up for yourself because tut tut, those in power see things however they will.) And it got worse – the Kings finally scored first! But they waved it off on the ice and had to get Toronto to tell them that yes, Alex Iafallo’s shot did actually cross the goal line. He, along with his linemates Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar, was a phenomenal force all evening. An extended shift a few minutes later along with Drew Doughty almost had the Kings up by another goal, a shift continued on by Clifford’s line before Vegas could stop the pressure. It was a great way to almost close out the period, as the Kings were up in hits 16-6 at that point too. It was encouraging – no matter how many times Vegas wasn’t called for blatant violations and the Kings were called for playing hockey – the Kings could still play Kings hockey. Heavy hitting and hey, we had the goal! Ah, how naive I was to have hope.

The Kings entered the second with 1:36 of a power play (hey yes they did call something on Vegas!) but couldn’t capitalize (mainly because they were too busy letting the Knights try to score shorthanded.) Brayden McNabb didn’t endear himself to Kings fans as he continued his wreckage of his former team with another dirty hit, this time on Doughty who was slow to get up from it and was visibly injured as he continued to skate with a limp. Fleury’s save on Tyler Toffoli was absolutely incredible; meanwhile, let’s not count out Quick who was playing like the Jedi we’ve become so accustomed to. After a particularly terrifying extended shift in which Quick saved the Kings butts too many times to count, Kopitar was not only slashed in the face, but he was slashed twice, right in front of a ref, couldn’t get up without assistance (this is as the play continues around him), held his shoulder as he attempted to skate off the ice, had to miss a few shifts as he was attended to. Was that called? Of course not. Why call that? He was butted in the face with the end of a stick by Haula and not so much as a peep from the referees. “We get a guy suspended for making a hockey play,” said Stevens, “and he butt ends one of the best players in the world in the face with the butt end of his stick. So, if I was confused before, I’m bewildered now. That’s an intent-to-injure play. I don’t like hard hockey – I love hard hockey. Good, honest, hard hockey, I love it, and Kopitar’s about as tough of a guy as you can find. You guys make the judgment, because it’s a bunch of B.S., to be honest with you.” I was literally spitting mad at this point. Fuming. I half expected fumes to come from my ears, and I could only afford to be this mad because the Kings were winning. I couldn’t image how I’d be if the Kings were losing… I was about to find out.

The third began with 1:58 of a power play because the refs recognized that they would literally be hunted down in the parking lot for not calling Doughty being hit in the face so hard his helmet literally fell off. Drew, bless him, just pointed to his head with a ‘smart thinking’ gesture. After nothing going on that, and an extended shift down the other end in which the Kings couldn’t clear and suddenly the game was tied. I know we couldn’t expect Quick to be perfect, so I would have been much more comfortable with one of the Kings many chances getting past Fleury. Especially since they were continuing to let Vegas do whatever the hell they wanted and the Kings couldn’t stand near players who couldn’t keep their balance. Muzzin was in the penalty box for another two minutes; credit the Kings for not letting it get to them. Doughty picked Vegas’s pocket in the neutral zone, started a rush that Pearson came oh so close to finishing, and oh how we wish he had. Instead, the puck seemed to fly along the plane of the goal line. Brown-Iafallo-Kopitar continued the pressure for another extended shift but it wasn’t enough. With 5:38 to go Vegas got their second and to most that signaled the end of the series. (Yes I know they’ve only played 3 games.) A third goal 21 seconds later didn’t help, as a defensive breakdown had Quick beat practically off the face-off. So, of course, that’s when the refs decided to pretend to play it fair and called a penalty on Vegas, but it wasn’t until it ended and with only 2:04 remaining and Quick pulled that Kopitar tipped in Oscar Fantenburg’s slap shot. But it wasn’t enough time to pull off the full comeback, and the Kings lost 3-2. They now trail in the series 3-0 and play for perhaps the final time on Tuesday.