Second Consecutive Shutout Leaves Kings And Fans Smiling

By Jim Ellis
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Updated: November 9, 2016

You know things are going well for a team when one of its players scores a goal and simply looks upon it, raises no arms in celebration, and simply smiles. A Jeff Carter toothless smile, but a smile all the same. That was the case towards the end of period two as Carter banked a shot off the back of the opponent’s goalie.

Carter stood there and smiled.

At this point, it was pretty much over, and there was no need for any over-exhilaration. The Los Angeles Kings had already racked up five goals on its way to a 7 – 0 trouncing of the Toronto Maple Leafs Tuesday at the Air Canada Centre.

In one of the more lopsided games of the season, the Kings (7-6-0) completely dominated the Leafs (5-5-3), outshooting that team 43-19. This was all part of the odd saga that has been the Kings’ 2016/17 campaign so far. Let’s see; it pretty much has run like this:

Lose the first three games … uh-oh!
Win the next four games in overtime, odd … but yeah!
Get shutout in the next three consecutive games, the first time that has happened since the franchise’s second season.
A victory over the Stanley Cup champs, the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Then two consecutive shutout victories – posting five and then seven goals.

Whoever the good guy is between Dr. Jeckle and Mr. Hyde, let’s go ahead and keep that one from here on out.

Starting in the net was Peter Budaj, who recorded his second straight shutout and has tended goal in all seven of the Kings wins. On Tuesday, it was a tight, fast game at the start, with the Kings slowly taking over midway through the first and then sustaining its domination throughout the game. By the end of the first, Kings had outshot the Leafs 15 – 5, with a goal that would be the early game-winner. At 13:06, Nic Dowd fought to get the puck free and then sent Dustin Brown a pass at the top of the face-off circle. After faking a shot, which turned around Maple Leaf Ben Smith, Brown fired a shot through a screen-out Frederik Andersen.

The second period is where the Kings really opened up its play and its lead. Though Toronto showed life early on, this was squelched by the Kings’ second goal, a beautiful one-timer from Tanner Pearson after a slick pass from Anze Kopitar. The other assist on the play went to Kevin Gravel, who notched his first NHL point.

Under two minutes later at 5:13, the Kings struck again, this time on a 3-on-2 outnumbered attack, where Drew Doughty found Tyler Toffoli who skated in unencumbered on the right side, slapping one home on the short side.

Next it was Carter’s turn to come flying down the right side on a rush pretty much alone. With assists to Dwight King and Matt Greene, Carter had time to pick his spot. And pick it he did, firing a wrist shot past Andersen, who was immediately replaced by former Kings goaltender Jhonas Enroth.

The next goal belonged to Carter as well, from Toffoli and Derek Forbort, as the toothless one found himself alone behind the net with enough time to, once again, pick his spot. He chose the back of Enroth’s pads. Ah, that smile!

The third period saw the Kings notch two more goals to finalize the shellacking of the lackluster Leafs, a team that had promised to showcase speed, agility and skill.

With half the Toronto crowd already departed from the arena, the Kings scored at 15:59 as Kyle Clifford, who was parked in front of the net, tipped in a shot flipped over by Forbort. To add insult to … what has so far been pretty insulting … the Kings put home one last goal with 47 seconds to play as Trevor Lewis sped around the net and centered a pass that deflected off of Dwight King’s skate.

Said Budaj to Fox Sports West about the Kings’ success, “We can get out of our zone pretty fast, the defense is making good first passes, and forwards are coming back to support us. Right now everything is working for us. We just have to keep up the pace.”

Another victory, another shutout … and another reason to smile.

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