Kings Won’t End Blue Jackets Win Streak

With the Kings playing a 7 game East coast road trip, you really wish the East coast wasn’t doing quite as well as they have been this season! And that they had more consistency. While Peter Budaj is finally finding it in net, the Kings forwards aren’t getting their shots in the back of the net 200 feet away from him. Of course it doesn’t help that the Blue Jackets were riding a 9 game winning streak and haven’t lost in regulation since November.

What’s the one thing you don’t want to do against a team that’s +15 in the first period? Take a penalty less than four minutes in. Yet of course that’s what the Kings did; thankfully Peter Budaj was doing his best Gandalf impression – none shall pass. Coming off of impressive performances in Pittsburgh (hello hard-earned shutout!) and Boston (a loss which had much more to do with the Kings lack of scoring and a touch screen on the one goal he let in), Budaj is proving to be much more competent in-goal than he has been in the past. After a great kill, the Kings started taking possession of the game back from the Jackets who up until that point had a solid claim on the puck. Of course it wouldn’t be the 2016 LA Kings without taking another one, the second one from a Kings defenseman (Forbert the first, Muzzin the second.) Another solid clearing kill from the Kings Marian Gaborik – the second of the Blue Jackets trades that led to a Stanley Cup, thank you so much – had the best Kings chance of the period, but a quick Columbus team took the rebound swiftly to Budaj. He had help from Muzzin and Alec Martinez, and made what wasn’t his first big save. The period, while not a back and forth kind of period, did end up relatively even, both Jackets power plays not helping them much and the Kings surging back after each, the Kings taking the momentum for the last five minutes or so but unable to take full advantage and get any shots by Curtis McElhinney.

The Kings began the second with all of the possession and plays. There but for the post or a matter of millimeters they’d be leading 2-0 five minutes in but alas, puck luck was not with them. Jordan Nolan’s shot clanked off the post, Kopitar had a few shots go just wide, and the Dowd-Pearson-Steoguchi line came so close in a series of shots they made McElhinney look really good. And dear Lord if Muzzin could just shoot; the Kings could have been up 3-0 easily before the Jacket’s first shot 6 minutes in. By the half way point the Kings were easily dominating. 21 shots to the Jackets 9, it was inevitable that Columbus would score on their 10th, a point-blank shot from Atkinson while Budaj was defending Dubinsky on his other side. The Kings rocked back on their heels for a few minutes following that, but eventually came back strong, Tanner Pearson the next in line to have a Grade-A chance denied. Drew Doughty was showing his Norris Trophy calibre defending skills to keep the game within one. With 4:26 remaining Anderson and Andy Andreoff dropped gloves, but with Anderson getting the extra two minutes for starting it, the Kings had their first power play of the game, and man did they make it count. Jeff Carter – the first Blue Jackets trade that led to a Stanley Cup – deflected in a Martinez shot right at the net. Go to the net and good things will happen! It was Doughty’s 250th career assist.

The third opened with the Blue Jackets taking the lead again, less than four minutes in. Atkinson scored his second of the game, a blast that went straight by Budaj. The Kings just couldn’t seem to follow-up. No matter how many chances they generated – and it was a fair few, 34-18 by the halfway point – none were getting by McElhinney. That is until Jeff Carter decided Atkinson shouldn’t be the only one on deck for a hat trick, and his snipe was a thing of beauty. Doughty, who’s skating is also a thing of beauty, growing into his leadership role quite nicely, began many plays that led to scoring chances and taking control of the game back. With 1:26 remaining Setoguchi drew a penalty the Kings couldn’t do anything with in regulation. In fact the Jackets had the best chance with a 2-on-1 shorthanded attempt that Budaj (thankfully!) stopped; Doughty took offense to Jenner’s after whistle antics on Budaj and stood up for his teammate. Nothing was called and the Kings remained on the power play going into OT. With 3:38 remaining the play finally went back to 3-on-3, where the Kings are stellar, and undefeated this season 20-4 since the inception of 3-on-3 (I believe 3 of those 4 were shootouts.) OT had more chances than I think the entire third period, the Kings finishing with 46 shots to the Jackets 27. Outstanding goaltending was the theme. But, the shootout has never been the Kings strong suit, and sure enough Jeff Carter was the only Kings to score in it (Kopitar and Gaborik were denied. Plus can we just give Carter the honorary hat trick?) Budaj only stopped one of the Jackets, so the Kings only got one of the points. To be clear – when the Kings shoot 46 times on net and can’t get two points easily, that’s not on their goaltender. And when only 19 of them are scoring chances? Time for offense to step up.