Kings On the Rise
- Updated: March 2, 2018
(Featured AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Dear LA Kings: I’m not sure we can be friends any more. I feel like we’re in a bad relationship. You get me all excited when you beat Vegas. Twice in a row. And get back in the playoffs. Then you crush my soul by failing to appear against the about Jackets – seriously ladies if a man were this schizophrenic you’d have broken up with him a long time ago. Consistency has not been the Kings MO this season and that was none more clear than contrasting the last period of their last game with the first period of tonight’s. It took them 11:09 to take a shot on goal. It literally took them more than half a period to TAKE. A. SHOT. In that time the Jackets outshot them 9-0 and outscored them 1-0. Hard to score first when you can’t even get into your offensive zone! And is it just me or has Drew Doughty made quite a few mistakes lately? And is that as concerning to anyone else? He failed to pick up his man 3:41 leading to the first goal. (Sidenote: this is the 42nd time the Kings have given up the first goal in 65 games. Which is 65% of the time and can I cry a little now? Their goal differential in the first period is now -22, the league worst.) Jake Muzzin and Christian Folin stood in between the puck which neither attempted to pick up as it sailed past them and then Jonathan Quick for the Blue Jackets second. Tanner Pearson took a penalty with 4:24 to go and we begged for the period to end. At least they could hit.
(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
When Alex Iafallo took a penalty 26 seconds into the second, I feared the worst. Surely the Kings would manage to show up for at least one period, right? (And traditionally it’s not the second.) A stellar penalty kill however boosted my spirits and apparently the Kings too because 2:42 in, a mere 18 seconds after it expired, Nate Thompson scored his first goal as a King and it was beautiful. His shot from the right circle went far side and straight into the back of the net. 2:23 later Anze Kopitar with a skillful forecheck to Muzzin, to Folin who’s shot was primed for Iafallo to deflect it in, tied the game for the Kings. Things happen fast in hockey Y’all. Suddenly the Kings had life. They had pressure. They were creating opportunities. And with a late penalty on Panarin, they had the lead. Sure the goal was credited to Tanner Pearson who’s taken out a mortgage for space in front of the net, but the shot as all Doughty. 3 unanswered goals – what on Earth happened in that locker room?? A stellar save (few saves) from Quick on Atkinson kept the Kings lead and as usual, gave the rest of the team something to rally around. With 58.5 remaining in the period, the Blue Jackets took another penalty (and this is a team who currently ranks 2nd in the league and have an average of 7 PIM per game, so we’ll take what we can get.)
(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Phew, after the first two periods it was anyone’s guess which team would come out for the third. The offensively challenged Kings? Or the defensively strong can keep a lead? Clearly the Blue Jackets weren’t going to just let two points slip by. Kopitar was absolutely *robbed* of a goal early in. And the Kings weren’t exactly helping themselves when Derek Forbert took penalty 7:14 in. But they were helping their fans get a load of the new and improved Jeff Carter (oh, how we have missed you so. Pretty sure the Blue Jackets do too.) Like Carter isn’t pretty enough, he scored shorthanded on a breakaway, (thanks to some lovely neutral zone work by Folin, who ended the evening with 3 assists and the first star of the game.) 4-2 feels so much better than 3-2, especially when the Kings stopped playing again. Seriously is Quick the only player expected to play 60 minutes? (Yes I know he will be the only one to log 60 minutes but my point still stands. Play a full game boys.) There were too many shifts where the Kings couldn’t get a change, where Quick was pressured too much, and their offensive zone time was – shall we say limited? Thankfully the Kings have been good of late turning it around quickly, following up several dismal minutes where Quick wouldn’t give up by scoring a goal for him. It was Iafallo continuing to dazzle on his line with Kopitar and Brown, putting a topper on the evening with 3:17 to go. With 82 third period goals, the Kings are tied for the second most goals any team has scored in any period this season (Tampa Bay has 87, Nashville has 82.) Yes the Kings will have to keep up this standard for most of the next 17 games, but thanks to Colorado, the Lightning and with no help to anyone who plays the Sharks their position is still sitting in the third position in the Pacific.
(photo by @LAKings)
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