Kings vs. Hawks aka Heaven or Hell

I’ve never quite forgiven the Chicago Blackhawks for taking the Stanley Cup away from us in 2013. And truthfully I’ve never quite forgiven the Kings for giving it to them in 2015. I mean let’s face it with the Kings not even making the playoff race the Cup was theirs but for the technicality of physically playing the games. Basically I don’t like that they’re good, and that their fans are obnoxious about it. So when the Kings play the Hawks a win feels like Heaven and a loss feels like Hell.

Hell: So I was watching this game through my fingers. As with all things that threaten to crush you, it started well. The Kings had the majority of shots and their defense seemed to be shutting down any good chance of the Hawks offense. So of course they take a penalty. (Tyler Toffoli this time, not usually on that side of the scoresheet, so I forgive him. Holding was the official call, at 10:17. Though why he’d want to make any extended contact with a Blackhawk I’ll never know.) And of course the Blackhawks score. It was not the Kings finest moment. Anze Kopitar had the chance to clear; instead he tried getting a little fancy and did a drop pass to Dustin Brown. Which would have been great if not for the fact that Patrick Kane, who has a point in 18 games (now 19 the jerk), was right by Brown, took the pass and scored instead.

Hell: The puck spent a lot of time in the Kings zone after that. The Hawks almost took control of the game, until Andrew Desjardins took a penalty with 11 seconds to go in the first, giving the Kings the chance to take control of the second period. And control they did, the whole first half. The power play ultimate resulted in no score but a few good shots. In fact, the Hawks had no shots on goal until almost halfway through the second period. (That’s so LA Kings.) Brown had a shot that managed to fall on the outside of the netting that fooled me into thinking they’d scored; alas my hopes were dashed. The Hawks first shot saw Quick do his beautiful sprawling splits to handle it; the second was a Shaw breakaway he stopped quite nicely also. Then came another Blackhawks goal and I (along with Lori Hultin) decided to quit sports for the evening. I kid. (I don’t; I hate losing to the Hawks.) Officially it was credit to Hjalmarsson, who’s slapshot beat Quick on his glove side. (He did that thing where he looked to bat the puck down and away from the net and ended up looking behind himself as the puck made its way to the back of the net.)

Purgatory: The play was all Hawks from that point on. The Kings had one SOG for the last half of the period and barely managed to shut the Hawks down and stop them from taking a worse lead. Then hello third period; I don’t know what Daryl Sutter said to the team during the intermission but 52 seconds into it Jeff Carter uses his beautifully quick hands to beat Darling on his right side and lift the puck up into the net. I love it when a player nets his own rebound. The third period was a much better played period, partly due to the fact that Drew Doughty was double shifted, and saw every second shift on the ice. Sure, he tried to be too fancy that one time but he’s incredible to watch, isn’t he?

Purgatory: And then. The Hawks (Brent Seabrook, not a name you’ll hear in the same sentence as turnover often) turned over the puck right in front of Darling. Anze Kopitar gets the pass back to Marion Gaborik. Gaborik slid the puck underneath Darling’s legs and suddenly we have a TIED GAME. 5:55 to go in the third. Dare I jinx wishing for a Kings-Hawks 3-on-3 overtime? Because that’s exactly what we got. Despite some heavy Kings play to close out the third (my goodness we have some great hockey players on this team don’t we?) the Hawks managed to hold on to give fans what they really wanted. (Jonathan Towes had a breakaway with literally 4 seconds to go but couldn’t make the shot. How much would that have sucked?) I mean is there anything more exciting than these two juggernauts battling it out in a 3-on-3? No, I tell you, there isn’t.

Heaven: Damn, I forgot to breath for almost five minutes there. At one point Quick was using his stick magic to literally juggle the puck in the air; it ended up above the net thankfully and not in. It was Kopitar who began the game winning play. He had control of the puck and waited until Gaborik was clear of his Hawks defenseman (remember last season when they had great chemistry? It’s coming back baby!) to pass. Gaborik made it count. He was clear, took the breakaway and put the puck above Darling’s blocker and home. KINGS WIN THE GAME. KINGS BEAT THE BLACKHAWKS. Heaven is achieved. Stay happy Kings fans. I sure am!