Kings Win A Big One In A Weird One
- Updated: March 30, 2017
This was one weird game, the kind where everyone seems to be holding its collective breath – on the ice and in the arena. Much of the tension in the air came from the fact this was the reunion on the ice of King Drew Doughty and Flame Matthew Tkachuk, the latter being the punk who elbowed the former the last time the teams met.
It was going to be a showdown.
With 12 penalties (six each), 52 total penalty minutes, a few fights, and plenty of pushing and shoving, the showdown was what was expected. What wasn’t expected but was very welcomed for Los Angeles was a 4-1 victory over Calgary at the Scotiabank Saddledome Wednesday.
With the victory, the Kings (36-33-7) hold onto a slim chance at the playoffs with 79 points.
Win the last six games and end up with 91 points. And then pray some team – Calgary, Nashville or St. Louis – completely tanks its last five or six games. Whether that could happen or not, the Kings team did all it needed to keep alive.
Starting goalie Ben Bishop recorded 25 saves in a solid outing.
Even so, the Flames started the scoring in the first period at 3:04, as a shot going wide went off of Alec Martinez (who has in fact scored the most goals for opponents this season) and traveled back over to Dougie Hamilton for a great second-chance put in.
The Kings answered at 12:04 of the first. Derek Forbort kept the puck in the zone by inches before throwing it towards the front of the net, finding the back via a redirect by Trevor Lewis, who was playing in his 500th game as a King.
In the second period, we had two major events:
- Tkachuk and Doughty met up again at mid ice in a collision that at least one person took offense to: Andy Andreoff, who pounced on Tkachuk and got a game misconduct. Well played … and goodbye.
- Another Kings goal. The player of the game Jerome Iginla, who received a Gordie Howe hat-trick (goal, assist and fight), was on his stomach fighting for the puck. Even in this position his intense play helped guide a meandering puck off of a Flame’s meandering stick and into the net.
The third period belonged to the Kings which finished off the flickering Flames. On the first shot of the period, Anze Kopitar fired in a one-time shot off a perfect set up by Jake Muzzin at 6:09. At 12:40 another beauty of a play came on a rush, in a give-and-go from Jeff Carter to Iginla back to Carter who tipped it in.
So the weird game ends, not too much blood, no major injuries, plenty of roughhousing and an all-important two points for a Kings team hanging on by a thread.
Stay with us at Calisportsnews.com as we will keep you up-to-date on all things Los Angeles Kings and the rest of the LA sports teams! All Cali, all the time!
Related Posts
About Jim Ellis
