Undefeated 50th Anniversary Jersey Keeps Kings In Race

The Kings have never lost in their 50th Anniversary jerseys. They have also never lost at home to the Winnipeg Jets/Thrashers in regulation. They’ve scored at least 3 goals in each of those contests, so a 3-2 win was fitting. (It’s a 3-2 league, as Daryl Sutter says!) They scored their first 3:19 in and it made sense. The whole first 8 minutes was nothing but Kings. We have another Marian Gaborik sighting people, a real goal this time (not just shooting the puck randomly and having it hit Ryan Suter’s head.) Alec Martinez and Anze Kopitar (who would end the night with 3 assists and the first star of the game) battled for the puck behind the net, and when they finally dug it out Kopitar made a stunning pass across the net to an open Gaborik who stuffed it in past a slightly stunned Hutchinson who was still looking at Kopitar. (Isn’t it nice to see Kopitar making plays like that again?) It was the kind of night where the Kings should have had about 8 more goals than they should have. The King-Shore-Lewis line had not exaggerating three chances at an open puck right in front of the net and a vulnerable goaltender that they didn’t get to. At least four times the puck soared in between the crossbars through the entire plane of the goal line but never actually crossed it, no matter how much it looked like it did. (By the fourth time it was boarding on ridiculous.)

By about half way through the first period, however, the Kings had lost all their pressure. The Jets were convincingly making bids to tie up the game and the Kings looked like they might just let them. Two first period power plays just made me want to cringe – someone needs to tell the Kings they can actually set up plays rather than grind them out when they have a man advantage! To their credit the first did give them plenty of chances, and their second with 2:49 remaining was one of those crossbar incidents, but neither in the first was too convincing. They opened the second with a penalty – 55 seconds in they forgot how to count and were called for too many men on the ice. It was one of two successful kills for the evening (and for a team that recently spent 9 games with a perfect penalty kill record, only killing 50% this game was, shall we say surprising?) At the point where Kopitar and Gaborik smashed into each other and knocked each other to the ground (so telling of the pair this season, unfortunately), I had just about given up on the second period. So had the Kings, it seemed. A third power play at 9:45 did nothing, but a penalty at 13:55 gave the Jets their first goal. A minute later Josh Morrissey ‘tripped’ Jeff Carter (bore straight into him and sent him flying was more like it) but most of the resulting power play someone needed to remind the Kings they were on it, not killing one.

A less than stellar second period continued into the third. Trevor Lewis (who should be credited for more than just a dumb penalty, as he actually played well) took an offensive zone stick penalty (hooking), soon to be followed up by Kevin Gravel taking a high-sticking penalty. The second easily led to the Jets taking the lead, and it seemed like it was just lack of trying on the Kings part. They were slow, sloppy, and undisciplined. That did, however, seem to snap them out of whatever reverie they’d gotten themselves into, and they surged back to the Kings we saw in the first half of the first period. (Wouldn’t it be lovely to see the Kings play a full 60 minutes of hockey every night?) 7:14 after the Kings slipped behind, and with 5:08 remaining, Dustin Brown tied the game. He was paired nicely with Kopitar and Gaborik; the line had plenty of pressure leading up, put a lot of bodies at the front of the net, including Kopitar who took the initial shot. Brown took advantage of a sprawling goalie and chaos at the net to sneak in the rebound behind Hutchinson. His stunning shot tied the game and gave the Kings the momentum. They couldn’t get it done in regulation but when it comes to overtime the Kings are 21-4 since the implementation of 3-on-3, so the win was almost inevitable. Huge credit should go to Nic Down, who after a grating shift in the Jets zone slowed down the play enough to let Alec Martinez sneak off for Jake Muzzin, then Tanner Pearson for Kopitar, who he then got the puck to on his way off. That left Kopitar vulnerable along the left wing boards, but the battle set up the game winning play. While the Jets were drawn to Kopitar, Jeff Carter was heading off the bench to the right of Hutchinson. Unable to get his stick to it, Kopitar kicked the puck out to Muzzin, who powered it out of the neutral zone and to an open Carter whom the Jets hadn’t even noticed was on the ice. He picked his time and his spot for a perfect goal. Kings get 2 points and a chance to stay in the playoff race.

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