Kings Smoke Flames Out of Staples Center With Convincing Win

Game 23: Kings Win 6-2, improve to 13-8-2

LOS ANGELES – On a night where they honoured Kelly Hrudey, the Los Angeles Kings certainly had no trouble making their former netminder proud. They needed to rebound from their effort against Dallas on Thursday and the Kings did just that dominating the Calgary Flames from start to finish earning their 10^thwin in their last 13 starts.

Mar 9, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Kings right wing Justin Williams (14) celebrates after scoring a goal against the Calgary Flames during the second period at the Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports

The Kings looked as though they were on a mission from the opening faceoff as they opened the scoring on tic-tac-toe play finished by the team’s leading scorer Jeff Carter. The goal looked too easy that it seemed as though Los Angeles would run away with the game. Not so fast. To Calgary’s credit, they came back with a crisp passing play resulting in a goal finished by former King Mike Cammalleri to tie the game. But just a few minutes later, Jake Muzzin wristed a beautiful point shot that pinged off the crossbar and into the net to put the Kings back up. The score remained 2-1 until just under two minutes to go when Trevor Lewis potted his fourth to give the home team a two-goal lead. The Flames, however, hung in there and scored on another great passing play finished by Alex Tanguay to pull to within a goal. That, however, was all the Flames could muster.

When play began in the second, the Kings were determined not to let their lead slip away. While the Flames outshot the Kings 7-5 in the middle frame, Jonathan Quick was up to the task. In fact, given that neither Calgary goal was his fault at all, Quick certainly redeemed himself on this night after struggling in his last two starts. He may not have been as busy as he would have liked but he was good when he had to be stopping 16 of 18 shots.

Overall, the middle frame was a pretty uneventful period. There were no penalties and just one goal, which was scored by Justin Williams who tipped in Slava Voynov’s point shot to give Los Angeles some insurance.

In the third, the Kings padded their lead, first with Anze Kopitar streaking down the wing and wristing his eighth past Miikka Kiprusoff and then a wide-open Colin Fraser added his second to put Los Angeles up 6-2 and that was more than enough for the Kings on this night.

The Kings were very undisciplined to open the game giving the Flames two 5-on-3s (the first of which Calgary scored on) but they really settled down afterwards keeping their heads up and making an impact without crossing the line.

Production-wise, the Kings had a big night from Slava Voynov who, after being in Coach Sutter’s doghouse lately, registered three assists in his second three-point in less than a week. Justin Williams also had a big game adding two assists to his one goal.

During an evening where they honoured the old Number 32, the current Number 32 rebounded for a great game himself. The Kings and Flames will now recharge their batteries and get set for Monday night when they face off once again at Staples Center.