Kings Win 4th OT Game In A Row

The first period was scrappy.  The chances were even and the puck passed back and forth between the teams almost sloppily. Each trading chance came with a subsequent dump and chase it seemed, with neither team setting up any spectacular plays. While the Kings started well – a nice Tanner Pearson shot and a sloppy Rhinne rebound, even a shorthanded shot on an early penalty kill – the extra Derek Forbert minor penalty after a fight with Austin Watson balanced the scales and it remained balanced throughout the rest of the period. At 7:40 what could have been a Kings power play was neutralized to coincidental minors by Andy Andreoff roughing. Neither team had a distinct advantage, though the period did end with 29 seconds of a Dustin Brown penalty.

The second period was much more exciting; the Kings killed the Brown penalty (and saw more than three moments of Brown falling down.) A bad Gilbert turnover in the neutral zone led to some extended time in the Kings zone and some scary chances that didn’t materialize. At the other end of the ice the Kings were getting their fair share of chances too, including two grade A chances while Rhinne was out of position, down on the ice and out of the net, but they couldn’t capitalize. A sick move from Drew Doughty when he ran out of room to backhand the puck to an open Andy Andreoff would have ended in a goal if he didn’t shoot it straight into Rhinne’s chest, and a Tyler Toffoli breakaway that came so close the Kings should have been up three goals by that point. Peter Budaj was doing his best at the other end, until an impressive block from Gilbert ended up past Setoguchi and onto the stick of Smith who batted past Budaj.

Moments later the Kings had their chance to equalize on the power play, and the did with a stunning slapshot from Jake Muzzin. Nic Dowd, who had an incredible night despite being in pain from a puck in the foot early in the game, got the primary assist, and Alec Martinez the second (those names will come up again soon.) The Predators had an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty with 19 seconds remaining in the second period yet somehow ended up with the first goal of the third period exactly 1 minute in. The shorthanded goal put some fire under the Kings who equalized 1 second after the power play technically ended, this time a rebound from Dowd’s shot put into the net by Toffoli. Dowd continued his impressive night by picking the pocket of a Predator right by Rhinne and delivered a front of net pass right to Brown who just couldn’t get the shot off. Budaj earned some respect by making a spectacular save on a clean Predator breakaway.

An amateur ‘too many men on the ice’ penalty could have spelled disaster when Kopitar lost his stick; instead he turned it around, dove to the ice and cleared the puck with his hands. With Jonathan Quick out the Kings blocked shots have increased, so saying that the Predators only had 8 shots to the Kings 20 in the third period is slightly misleading but still disconcerting that the game still went into overtime. Since the implementation of 3-on-3, the Kings are 14-3, the Predators 2-12, so things did tend to favor the Kings. A Kopitar drawn power play would also suggest the Kings would come off the victor, yet despite the puck not leaving the Predator zone the entire time, it took until a minute after it ended for the Kopitar shot to deflect off the back of Rhinne’s skate and Carter scraped it in for the Kings to win the game.

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