LA Kings Win 4-1… I mean, 3-1 Over Panthers
- Updated: November 24, 2015
The best cure after losing a game (or two) is to win the next game. I personally would rather prefer this win to be soft on the nerves but a win is a win and a win is what the LA Kings provided. Sadly, it was definitely not easy on the nerves. After dominating the first period against the Willie Mitchell led Florida Panthers in shots 18-4, but only leading by the score of 1-0, the Panthers came back and outshot the Kings 28-13 over the next two periods. Thank the Hockey Gods that the Kings still won this latest version of a strange game 4-1 … I mean 3-1, to gain another 2 points and tie the San Jose Sharks for first place in the Pacific Division.
Things seemed strange right off the hop when the puck was dropped to start the game but there seemed to be almost no one in the stands to witness it. Like literally there was almost no one in the stands to watch this game! (So if the LA Kings win this game but no one was there to witness it, did the Kings actually win the game? DO THE PANTHERS REALLY EVEN EXIST???)
This is not purposely meant as some disrespect to the people of southern Florida (which is a fun and beautiful place to visit, especially Miami, yeeeeahhhh!!!) but knowing that the French Canadian junior team, the Quebec Remparts average about 13,000 fans a game (which is a few thousand more than the NHL Carolina Hurricanes and a billion more than Florida, trust me I did the math), I have no choice but to shake an angry fist in Commissioner Gary Bettman’s direction! Put an NHL team back in Quebec City, where the people will actually show up and excitedly come out to watch some NHL hockey! (DAMN YOU COMMISH, DAMN YOU!!!)
The Kings got a couple of breaks but failed to score on two straight high sticking caused power-plays. One of them was by the legendary former King and now Florida Captain Willie Mitchell (even though he is the enemy tonight, it’s always great to see “Big Willie” again. Even after high-sticking Anze Kopitar, I still can’t ever truly hate on him. He’s a true King for LIFE and deservedly so!)
The Kings (finally) scored the first goal of the game when Milan Lucic had the puck behind the net and passed it perfectly to Tyler Toffoli, who one timed it into the net at 7:47 for his 11th goal of the season.
All seemed right again in the hockey world, that was until Nick (or is it Drew?) Shore drove hard towards the net to tap in a Dustin Brown rebound that Panthers goalie Al Montoya (Not the former pro wrestler, Aldo Montoya the “Portuguese man of war”) couldn’t control and Shore collided hard with his knee on Montoya’s head before the puck slid into the net. The referee automatically called off the goal.
Montoya was hurt on the play and even though this wasn’t a dirty Shane Doan like “running the goalie” type incident, the impact of Montoya’s head making contact with Shore’s knee was still quite frightening. Due to the injury, Montoya had to leave the game and be replaced by long time LA Kings (and the world’s) nemesis, the one and only Roberto Luongo. During this goalie change, Coach Darryl Sutter issued a “COACH’S CHALLENGE” to see if the Shore goal was legit or not? The ref’s then had to contact (wake up) the gang at the TORONTO SITUATION ROOM and they reviewed (took a guess on) the play and also ruled it a “No Goal.”
This is when things got strange. Near the end of the first period, Jeff Carter broke loose and seemed to be on a breakaway but Panthers’ defenseman Aaron Ekblad hooked “Carts” with his stick from where it seemed to be behind Carter but the referee only called for a hooking penalty and not a penalty shot, (In my biased, unbiased opinion, it sure did look like Ekblad was fully behind Carter with that hook, therefore a penalty shot should have been called. Either way, it did not happen). To add insult to injury, Carter hit a post during that power-play which the Panthers were lucky to escape with by just one goal against at the end of the period.
Then the Panthers took over the game. If the LA Kings looked like they out-matched the puny Panthers in the first period, it was the opposite for the rest of the game. The Panthers produced an unrelenting and ruthless attack (as the Kings’ looked like they forgot their legs in the dressing room or something?) Defenseman Jake Muzzin took a bad hooking penalty which led to the Panthers’ version of Anze Kopitar (well according to Willie Mitchell), Aleksander Barkov scoring on the power-play at 5:07 (to pull the Panthers within one, (well if that no goal counted of course,) to tie the game. The Panthers continued their attack but was constantly stumped by the motivated Jonathan Quick (who was not happy at all for being pulled in the 3rd period of the Carolina game!) who held the fort triumphantly.
Speaking of triumphs, let me also add the word redemption as Carolina game scapegoat, Alec Martinez redeemed himself by scoring a (eerily familiar) rebound shot at 17:16 to make it 3-1 … err, I mean 2-1 Kings! (I really wish “Marty” had thrown his gloves in the air and brought back the “Jazz Hands” for good times sake! Like he should do that for EVERY GOAL HE SCORES! AM I RIGHT???)
A few seconds later, Tanner Pearson rang a shot off the goalpost (and I start thinking that with a little more “puck luck” and with the “no goal” overturned, the LA Kings could have easily had a 5-1 lead in this game! But it was not to be) which led to a holding penalty on Florida’s Jon Huberdeau. The Kings couldn’t score on the ensuing power-play.
Florida continued to add more pressure in the third period but the Kings scored early when Kopitar made a sweet lob pass to Marian Gaborik, who was rushing down the right wing but then used his strong skating abilities and speed to zoom by the unsuspecting Florida defenders, cut in towards the net, and shoot over Luongo’s left shoulder for a beautiful goal at 1:05. (Now that’s the “Gabo” I remember!)
The Panthers counterattacked with fury (not Mad Max) especially after pulling Luongo for the extra attacker with still 2 minutes to go. The Panthers were all over the Kings (like what is this, a PLAYOFF GAME???!!!) but Quick held his ground and denied the Panther’s any chance of coming back into this game, helping the LA Kings win 5-1 …. I mean 4-1 …. okay fine, 3-1.
*Fun fact of the game – As strange as this game was, the LA Kings showed a wonderful balance of scoring depth when 9 different players got points in the 3 goals they scored, (Toffoli, Martinez and Gaborik with the goals and Lucic, Carter, Jordan Nolan, Kyle Clifford, Kopitar and Tanner Pearson with the assists.)
After meeting up with Willie Mitchell after the game for some wine and dining, catch up time, the Kings will make their way to Tampa Bay, for a game against the Lightning on Wednesday night. This will be the last game of their current east coast road swing.
Now I’m off the watch my Buffalo Bills play against the mighty (cheating) New England Patriots on Monday Night Football! (Dear Football Gods, please be merciful!)
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!
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