Kings Stumble to Dominant Predators Team
- Updated: January 7, 2018
It’s perfect timing to have a bye-week coming if the last couple of Kings games have been any indication. Jake Muzzin was placed on retroactive IR, and the need for defense was abundantly clear against the Predators.
(AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)
For the first three or four minutes, the ice seemed tilted towards the Kings net. The puck just couldn’t get away from it and Jonathan Quick had to come up big. When it did finally end up near Rinne, Mitchell made a stunning diving attempt at the net that didn’t go but did draw the first (on many) penalties of the game. Which was when I remembered the Kings don’t really do power plays. At least not well. Alas, it wasn’t the most disappointing moment of the period; that had to be – and it feels weird to write this – courtesy of Drew Doughy. Not convinced the interference penalty was legitimate, he had words with the referee. Words that resulted in a secondary unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. 4 whole, imputed without our best defenseman. Sure, that’ll end well. Wait, that wasn’t enough pressure? Okay, let’s call (an absolutely bogus) tripping on Dustin Brown 15 seconds into the Doughty minors, so the Kings had a full 2 minutes of 5-on-3 then almost another full penalty to kill. I ask you – how can Brown being tripped by one player into falling over into a second result in Brown going to the box?! Still, nothing to be done except kill the penalty, since asking the ref to review the call clearly wasn’t working. To rapturous applause, the Kings killed the 5-on-3 almost easily. When Brown came back he leveled a Predator and continued to set a tough the for the rest of the penalty I’ll. It wasn’t enough, however, as with 19 seconds remaining Josi slapped one by Quick and that was that. Doughty has to be calmed down by both Stevens and Lowry as he came back to the bench; Anze Kopitar could be seen talking to the refs too, probably asking them to let the team handle Doughty for a hot second. Tempers were running high; Marian Gaborik and P.K. Subban didn’t want to stop yelling at each other as they made their way to the penalty box for coincidental slashing minors. It wouldn’t have made sense for such a tumultuous period to end even strength, so the Predators obliged by taking one more penalty with 33 seconds remaining. Which the Kings proceeded to waste by icing the puck. On their own power play.
If you thought the first period was crazy, wait until you hear about the second. The Kings did nothing with their remaining power-play score wise but did at least seem energized towards the net, not other players, at least. So many chances just weren’t going in. Then, potential disaster. Quick was struck by the puck on the back of his leg and went down. He wasn’t getting up. A trainer was brought out to the ice to make sure he was able to continue to play, and to the relief of every Kings fan ever, he was. A few shifts later he was pummeling some Predator into the ground so yeah, he was fine. Doughty took the first period to heart and was clearly trying not to yell at the referees; he was skating around away from them yelling to himself. It paid off because a call was actually revoked, only to play one more shift and have MacDermid take one for tripping. Kopitar got a stunning shorthanded breakaway he tried to go can opener on but was stopped by Rinne. Never fear, Adrian Kempe to the rescue! At 6:43 he picked Subban’s pocket (hello, how many players can say they’ve done that?) and sniped the tying goal past Rinne. A few more penalties followed one Kings penalty 37 seconds into a Predators penalty. Then a few more goals. Unfortunately for the Kings, they were both Predators goals. The first, at 11:53, came with four Kings in front of the net and only two Predators who snapped the puck over a diving Quick. Their third goal, with 3:11 remaining in the second period, looked inevitable with a vulnerable Quick and other Kings out of position. I’d say it was a typical Kings second period slump except it was sloppier than usual, chipper than usual, and the lack of control continued into the third period.
(getty images)
The third started well – the Kings are the best at the third-period comeback and thanks to Trevor Lewis 3:56 in, they were back to within one. It was Alex Iafallo who created the play that enabled him, dangling around the Predators defense and opening up space for Lewis to be alone directly in front of Rinne. He made the perfect pass and Lewis took the perfect shot. 1:09 later the Preds were back to their 2 goal lead. Talk about taking the air out of the Kings game. So we didn’t have high hopes for another power play. Tell that to Tyler Toffoli, who snapped the King’s third goal – yes on the power play! – past a vulnerable Rinne who was lunging the other way. At 8:24 there was plenty of time to tie it up, assuming they could control the bounces and passes better than they had been. The Predators forecheck was fierce and the Kings weren’t controlling much of anything. Toffoli and Doughty had another great chance but Doughty tried to get too fancy with the shot and couldn’t put it away. As time dwindled down things still weren’t connecting. Even pulling Quick didn’t work effectively, as he had to come back almost immediately because of a missed connection. It wasn’t the Kings night. But with a week in between games, they have a chance to come back against the Ducks next Saturday. They are 9-8-4 versus the West; in comparison, the Golden Knights are 20-5-0 and Nashville is 17-6-5. They’ll need to step it up.
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