Los Angeles Kings Come Home Sweet Home

Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price is pushed back into his net as players from the Los Angeles Kings and Canadiens battle for the puck during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Friday, Dec. 12, 2014 in Montreal. (AP Photo/Canadian Press, Graham Hughes)

Canadien Homecoming

Next on the trip’s itinerary was on to my home nation of Canada where the Kings would make 3 stops in Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto.  Things got off on the right foot (and back on track) when the King’s spread out their scoring to 5 different players (defensive defenseman Matt Greene (yes, you read that correctly, I said Matt Greene), playoff hero Justin Williams, superstar Anze Kopitar (his first goal in 11 games), reliable Trevor Lewis and the up and coming Tanner Pearson, plus three assists by the underrated Jake Muzzin) defeated the troubled Ottawa Senator’s 5-3.  The Kings were victorious but a dark cloud was brewing even in this game when Senator forward (and former Anaheim Duck) Bobby Ryan razzled and dazzled past four Los Angeles Kings players and goaltender Jonathan Quick to score a highlight reel goal that has already claimed “dibbs” on goal of the year.  At the time, this goal just came across as a beautiful (which it still is) but random play from a very talented and competitive player (which he is) that happened to catch the Kings off guard at that very moment.  In hindsight, Ryan may have exposed a hole in the structure of the Los Angeles King’s defense that would only get bigger from here.

The next game was in the Bell Centre (or Centre Bell) against the rising Montreal Canadiens.  If we were just to look at the “shots on goal” statistic we would see that the Kings heavily outshot the “Habs” 46-20.  This would tell us (somewhat) that the Kings were firing on all cylinders and were probably outplaying the high-flying Canadiens and the truth is, yes they were… except the Kings lost the game 6-2.  Carey Price, the Montreal Canadien’s All Star goaltender “stood on his head” and made 44 crucial saves (most of them, jaw dropping incredible, including 16 saves when the Kings were on the power-play)  Los Angeles back up goalie Martin Jones was not as incredible as he allowed three goals on the first eight shots and losing his first game in 3 starts.

The following game was against the red-hot Toronto Maple Leafs but not before a feel good moment at the Hockey Hall of Fame where Los Angeles Kings Captain Dustin Brown, Anze Kopitar and the King’s President of Business Operations and fellow Hall of Fame and Los Angeles Kings legend himself Luc Robitaille, showed up and donated a 2014 Stanley Cup ring to the Hall.  The feel good moment wouldn’t last long.

The game against the Maple Leafs was a back and forth and entertaining (depending on whose perspective) battle that had the Leaf’s with a 2-0 lead after the first period.  The Kings came back with goals from Justin Williams and Dwight King (his first goal since November 6) to tie things up. Things were starting to look bright when often injured this season left winger Marian Gaborik scored a one timer after a crisp pass from Williams early in the third period.  The Kings were now looking like the comeback Kings of old (and by old I mean a couple of months ago when they won the Cup) as they battled back and now had a 3-2 lead.  All that was needed was some bread and butter Kings defense to lock in the 2 points but after a Trevor Lewis high sticking penalty, the Leaf’s would tie things up in a mere 8 seconds of power play time.)  The game would go on to a shootout where the Leaf’s would score one from forward Joffrey Lupul while none of the King’s shooters (Marian Gaborik, Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar) were able to score.  The Kings had just lost another game where they outplayed and outshot the other team (this time 36-31). If losing in front of their family wasn’t an option, it had now became a reality more than once.

The end of this miserable road trip was at least in the familiar Western Conference rival city of St. Louis.  The Kings had been very successful there in recent times and the success had seemed to be continuing after the Kings had a 2-1 lead (both goals from Marian Gaborik) after the second period.  All that was needed was some bread and ….. okay, we all know what was needed but it wasn’t what we got.  The Kings ended up taking two quick penalties (28 seconds apart from each other) and the St. Louis Blues tied things up while on the 5 on 3 power-play.  The Blues then returned with three more unanswered goals in a span of two minutes and 30 seconds. The St Louis Blues won 5-2.

The defending Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings are now tied for the last wild card playoff spot in the West with the Calgary Flames, each with 36 points. With both the Flames and the Vancouver Canucks on losing streaks this was a giant opportunity for the Kings to gain some ground in the standings. Instead the struggle continues.