Quick Says NO To McDavid as LA Kings Beat Oilers 3-2

By Jeff Duarte
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Updated: October 26, 2015

In 1982, The Los Angeles Kings made a comeback of a lifetime when they beat the Edmonton Oilers in the “Miracle on Manchester.” In 1989, Wayne Gretzky returned to Oil town but now as a LA King and led his team of misfit toys over the reigning Stanley Cup Champions in 7 games. In 2015 … um … okay, this game, which is only game 9 for the LA Kings of the new 2015-16 season, can’t compare to the classic games and series these 2 old-time rivals have produced in the past but this one was still a heart stopper as the Kings beat the Oilers 3-2 in their first introduction to the young phenom Conner McDavid.

The Kings came out hungry to start the game but Oilers goaltender Cam Talbot stopped Captain Dustin Brown and struggling winger Marian Gaborik to hold them off. The Oilers took advantage as Nail Yakupov stole the loose puck and made a dash before passing to McDavid. A lot has been said and predicted of the young McDavid. Whether any of the prophecies become true or not, only time will tell. For now, he looked really impressive with his speed and skating strides as he zoomed by Kings defenseman Jake Muzzin and got a shot on net. Kings goalie Jonathan Quick made the initial save but former NY Ranger Benoit Pouliot (remember him from game 1 of the 2014 Stanley Cup final?) put in the rebound at 4:42 of the first period.

It wouldn’t be a proper Kings vs Oilers showdown if there wasn’t any ill will between the two teams so Kyle Clifford and Oilers Luke Gazdic decided to take a canoe ride together with “Cliffy” getting the upper hand at the end of the very close fight.

Apparently Jeff Carter and his gang (Tyler Toffoli and Milan Lucic) didn’t take too kindly to all this ill will so they retaliated when Carter battled for the puck along the boards, letting Lucic pick it up and shoot a quick (not Jonathan) shot at the net. Talbot made the save but the rebound bounced to Carter’s stick as he was standing to Talbot’s far right and he put in the rebound from the sharp angle at 6:04 to tie things up.

Things slowed down from there as the Kings played their crash and grind game, wearing out the Oilers throughout the second period. This allowed me to also catch up with the newest episode of the Walking Dead … which was a TERRIBLE MISTAKE! DAMN YOU WALKING DEAD! DAMN YOU!!!

Where was I? Oh right. The Oilers started to wear down from the heavier assault of the Kings defensive game, so much so that Oiler defenseman Eric Gryba tried to clear the puck up center ice instead of off the boards and instantly regretted it as Jordan Nolan intercepted the puck, gave it to Kyle Clifford who then fed it to the rushing Anze Kopitar, who made no mistake with it by sniping it past Talbot at 13:36 and take the lead for the Kings.

At the start of the 3rd period the Kings seemed to be in cruise control while the Oilers desperately picked up speed. Quick held the fort admirably but a penalty was called on Kings defenseman Brayden McNabb at 12:07 for tripping. Edmonton star Taylor Hall took advantage of the power-play and scored at 13:56 which I know annoyed most of the Kingdom as Hall had just cross-checked Kopitar from behind without a call and now was rewarded by tying things up. The hockey Gods can be cruel.

If this was the 2014-15 LA Kings, then this would be the time they would normally have a meltdown but since it’s not, the Kings held firm and regained the lead on their own power-play when Tanner Pearson (now enjoying playing on the “first” line with “Kopi” and Brown) got hit with the deflected puck from a Muzzin shot and deflected it himself into the net at 16:34. The end. Game over. Let’s move on.

What? Oh right, then the real action happened. Ok fine. I guess like the Walking Dead show, the LA Kings have a natural talent with playing with its fan base’s emotions. With a minute to go, the Oilers TURNED it on and ruthlessly attacked Quick. The 2015-16 Quick was playing like the 2011-12 Quick by denying the Oilers of any chances but with 5.2 seconds to go, all hope seemed lost when in true Hollywood fashion, a rebound landed on … who else?… Connor McDavid‘s stick and he shot the puck at the net. Out of position, Quick instinctively threw out his glove hand to try to make a save but the Edmonton crowed jumped to its feet in celebration of McDavid’s tying goal … but not so fast Edmontonians! The puck didn’t actually go into net so the referee waved off the goal. This led to McDavid and the rest of the Oilers to protest the decision as they felt the puck went over the red line before Quick swiped it with his glove. The refs decide to call Toronto and ask them “What’s up?” while we at home watch endless replays of the possible controversial call. From our vantage point, it seemed the puck never crossed the line due to Quick quickly (see what I did there?) snagging the puck with his glove. His glove seemed to cross the line a tad but no evidence of the actual puck going fully over could be visibly seen. After hanging up the phone on Toronto, the refs returned and announced that their call stands and the play was a “No Goal!” The Oiler fans got upset (but you’d think they’d be used to it by now? I for one, was shocked that an actual video replay went the King’s way! It’s a brave new world indeed!) but there was nothing they could do. “Quickie” is superhuman, what can I say? After killing off the rest of the time, the game was (really) over and the Los Angeles Kings won 3-2, winning their 5th game in a row.

The LA Kings will look to continue their road trip and 5 game winning streak by playing against the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday night.

Thanks “Quickie” for putting a smile back on my face. Yeah that was a shot at you Walking Dead. YA HEARD ME!!!

Alright I’m out of here. GO KINGS GO!!!

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