Kings vs. Devils: OT Heartbreak

They didn’t make it easy on themselves. The Devils scored 1:12 into the game, when Trevor Lewis put the puck in front of Jonathan Quick but neither he could cover nor could any other King clear; instead a lucky Devil found the PCI and put it easily in the back of the net. Through the next 15 minutes of play the Kings had  3 power plays and 2 shots on goal. 2, total, in over 15 minutes of play. In fact the Devils had more chances short-handed than the Kings did on the power play. It was a classic case of the Kings playing down to their opponent. The managed to grab a couple more shots, but compared to the Devils 8 they were being easily outplayed by a team that shouldn’t be.

The second period was better for the Kings. Eventually. Despite getting the advantage of a 4-minute power play 3:03 into it, they were still slow to register any shots on goal. The Devils 22 blocked shots through 2 periods probably had a lot to do with that. It was like they were still waking up. Kris Versteeg made some great offensive plays but no one else really did anything of note. And the goal to tie the game – from Anze Kopitar 14:46 in – wasn’t impressive so much as resilient. After 3:34 of sustained zone time, sending a barrage of shots towards the net, not allowing any of the now exhausted Devils players to leave their defensive zone, and several near misses, Kopitar found a rebounded puck near a fallen goaltender and wristed it into the back of the net.

The Kings closed out the second period with almost even shots on goal and a split penalty kill, but thankfully (with help from the break in between periods killing most of the Devils momentum) that was over easily. Dustin Brown delivered what should have been the tough hit of the game by checking a guy into oblivion (it may have been the most hockey-like part of the game). Tanner Pearson continued to earn his place in the lineup by hustling around no less than 3 Devils players to get the puck out of the neutral zone and into the Devils, passed to Carter who quickly and deftly got the puck off his stick and into the goalie. Finally it was Christ Sutter dance time and then not long after that it was Overtime. The Kings made some last-ditch efforts to prevent OT, but to no avail. (Damn post!)

OT, as always, was an exciting event, if not the result the Kings wanted. It started with was is arguably the Kings dream team – Doughty, Carter, Kopitar and Quick, and quickly progressed through the likes of Nick Shore (say what now Sutter?), Lewis, Pearson, Brown, Muzzin, Martinez, recycling the top lines, yet only bringing out Toffoli when 3 minutes and several shifts had gone by (his lack of production has put him in Sutter’s dog house, yet not back on a line with Carter where he produces all the time.) With less than a minute to go Doughty took a fall and was slow to get up. So slow that with the other Kings too far back in the offensive zone the Devils had a 3-on-0. Quick pulled out the best save of his career but with 5.6 seconds remaining, the Devils got the wraparound shot off at a weird angle and Quick was helpless against it. With the point and the Ducks losing the Kings remain 2 points ahead in the race for the Pacific Division, yet the play a rough stretch coming up, starting with Chicago on Monday. Go Kings Go!