Kings vs. Suburbs; Preseason Recap
- Updated: September 26, 2015
I still haven’t forgiven the Ducks for allowing the Blackhawks to take our Stanley Cup from us last year. Thanks for nothing. (But I do have fond memories of the first playoff freeway faceoff.) So obviously, pre-season or not, any game against the suburbs (or as they call themselves the Ducks, whatever) is going to come with heightened emotions. It didn’t help that since I refuse to head down to Honda Center and the NHL feed died on my computer, I had to listen to the Ducks commentary for the game.
The Kings played well initially. Jonathan Quick was in net for the first time this preseason, and he looked sharp against Getslaf. Anze Kopitar battled in the corners reminding us why he has been nominated for a Selke twice. It seemed that the Kings had all the possession in a relatively quick first period, until about halfway through Dustin Brown found himself in the penalty box for hooking. It was the beginning of what seemed like a series of penalties that made Kings fans grateful for preseason games to get the team in sync before we play ones that actually count. Five penalties later including one that had the Kings on the wrong side of a five-on-three for the second time in less than three pre-season games, which the Ducks converted easily. There just wasnât enough defense in front of the net, and too much room for the Ducks to slide the puck past Quick on his stick side.
The Ducks 10 SOG in a row before the Kings found themselves shorthanded again, a mere 12-ish minutes into the second. They were finding themselves sorely missing Drew Doughty, a key penalty killer and easily their best defenseman by their sixth of the game. Finally things started to tip the Kings way (perhaps as frustrated as the fans, if twitter is any indication), when Tyler Tofolli careered down the ice to try for a shortie. (He led the league in shorthanded goals last season with five.) He couldnât make the shot but it left a lot of Ducks covering him and Tanner Pearson and a lot of open ice for Trevor Lewis, who banked his second shot in from the right slot. The Kings took advantage of their momentum and kept the puck squarely in their zone for a lengthy period of time (thank you That 70âs Line), a much needed change from the beginning of the period.
Yet, the period ended with the Ducks up 2-1, with a Patrick Maroon redirected goal unfortunately not waved off for being a high stick with about 5 seconds to go. Let it be clear that sending in Jonas Enroth for the third then was not a reflection of Quickâs play but always as part of Daryl Sutterâs plan – in fact he was meant to come in half way through the second and Sutter chose to wait. The third began well – Pearson almost rebounded his own puck into the back on the net in the opening minute. Lewis had a nice chance to make it two when Freddie Anderson left the net wide open but Josh Manson managed to impair his shot. A roughing call for both teams (Kyle Clifford and Maroon) saw some 4on4 action for a couple of minutes, but didnât yield any results of note. In fact the final ten minutes of play didnât produce any results of note. Sutter pulled Enroth for the final 46 seconds of play, but despite keeping possession of the puck, and a 6 on 4 for 3.0 seconds in the Ducks zone, they couldnât get it in the back of the net. (Again Lewis had the chance to tie it up but fan on the shot.)
Final score? Ducks 2, Kings 1. Disappointing but not surprising. And hopefully not indicative of the season to come. (Considering training camp is still in session and the final roster is yet to be confirmed and tested together, an uptick in team play is likely.)
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4 Comments
About Emily Redenbach
Sharron
September 27, 2015 at 9:08 pm
If you’re going to write game reviews, please spell the players’ names correctly.
Sincerely,
The “suburbs”
P.S. Don’t quite understand that name, considering I live in a suburb in the Los Angeles area. Maybe you should Google your map of Los Angeles again… just like those hockey players 😉
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September 27, 2015 at 9:30 pm
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ginadblasck
December 15, 2015 at 7:07 pm
Except what we would trade for is a right shot defenseman, not a LW.
lenadanderson
December 21, 2015 at 10:34 am
Very true! That right shot defender is what the Kings need! As well as a right winger to fill our third line.