Kings Completely Outplay Sharks in Sweet Victory
- Updated: October 8, 2017
That one was sweet. On so many levels.
For one, the Los Angeles Kings were victorious, making them 2 – 0 on the season … the only way, according to Bailey the Mascot, the team has a chance at an 82-0 season.
Second, they beat the dastardly San Jose Sharks, with their smug Couture’s, pesky Pavelski’s and blank-eye’d Joneses, the latter once an LA Kings’ goalie apprentice who lost a most important 2015 playoff game when we needed him. The bum.
And third, the Kings looked really good. I mean really good.
In a 4-1 win at the San Jose SAP Center on Saturday, the Kings offense kept moving, making long passes, stretching the ice (can you do that in hockey), covering so much territory, and basically skating circles around its opponents, which looked really lame chasing the LA team around.
Compared with last year’s high volume shot tally that produced very little offense, this game saw the Kings with shots that turned into plenty of quality chances and plenty of goals. Captain Anze Kopitar led the way with two goals and one assist, but it was a complete team effort.
Outshooting the Sharks 17-6 in a lopsided first period, the Kings final shot total was 38-25, courtesy of a low-energy third, in which the Kings were possibly snickering under its collective breath about how well they were doing, how feeble the Sharks showed up, and how that Martin Jones guy was sitting down on the bench … yes, still blank-eyed.
The Kings chased Jones after scoring its fourth goal towards the end of the second period. The first goal came 5:33 into the first when Dustin Brown took a pass from Kopitar on the right side and surprised Jones with a wrist shot over his left shoulder.
Wicked wrister from the captain.
Though the Sharks tied the game under a minute later with one of its patented deflection shots by Mikkel Boedker, the Kings took command again at the tail end of the first, this time a wicked wrister from Kopitar (from Jake Muzzin).
The second period was all Kings, and the players were on fire (can you be on fire in hockey). Following up his previous shot, Kopitar got the puck on the far left and flicked the puck towards the net. After bouncing off at least one Shark, the puck found the top shelf of the net.
The final goal was the most fun and memorable, mostly because it was an easy, point blank shot right in front of an empty net … by a Shark! Yup, the goal goes to Nick Shore unassisted, however it came direct from a “clearing pass” from Melker Karlsson after a rebound was left free.
Add to the comedy and the outstanding offensive play of the Kings, some solid defense and a spry Jonathan Quick, and you’ve got the first 2-0 start for the Kings in 15 years.
Said coach John Stevens, “I just think we took a step. I thought the Kopitar line and Kopi himself was a dominant player tonight. I think our back end continues to be solid for us. Just thought we played faster with the puck, and I thought we did a good job of really playing fast without the puck. We got on top of the rush; we didn’t allow numbers coming at us. That was the big thing – we really limited their ability to make you chase them from behind, and it led to a lot of opportunity going the other way.”
Next up is a Wednesday, October 11 match-up with the Calgary Flames at the Staples Center. The next step for the future 82-0 Los Angeles Kings.
Talk about sweet.
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