Los Angeles Kings Drill Edmonton Oilers 6-1
Oct 14, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Kings right wing Dustin Brown (23) is defended by Edmonton Oilers defenseman Andrew Ference (21) at the Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
The Los Angeles Kings defeated the Edmonton Oilers 6-1, on Tuesday, October 14th at Staples center in Los Angeles.
That 70’s line struck first, three minutes into the game. Kings forward Tanner Pearson took a hit from Oilers defensemen Darnell Nurse along the boards by the Oilers hash-marks. Pearson retained possession and worked the puck below the goal line to Tyler Toffoli who made a quick pass in front to Jeff Carter who one-timed a shot in the slot, beating Viktor Fasth high glove side. 1-0 Kings.
1:15 later the Kings struck again. Center Anze Kopitar received a pass from defensemen Matt Greene at center ice as he cut through the neutral zone. Kopitar took the puck along the boards, speeding up ice, creating a two-on-one with Justin Williams. Just after crossing the blue-line into the Oilers zone Kopitar passed the puck to Williams. Williams fired a wrist-shot low blocker making the score 2-0.
“Tried to get all the jitters out in the first in the fight. I saw Hendricks right there and I asked him if he wanted to go, so . . .” – Andy Andreoff
It was a big goal for the Kings first line, who were newly assembled before the start of this game due to forward Marian Gaborik’s injury scratch. In the post-game interview head coach Darryl Sutter answered questions about the line-mates playing together: “Mike (Richards) did a really good job, and him and Kopi (Anze Kopitar) are really comfortable. They’ve played together on the power-play. With Mike we’re lucky to have guys that can play two or three positions, like Carts (Jeff Carter). When we’re banged up like now it helps, so,”
The Kings jumped on the Oilers so quickly that head coach Dallas Eakins, had to call a timeout to settle his young team down.
The timeout calmed the Oilers down . . . for five minutes. Halfway through the first period the Kings were killing a hooking penalty taken by Pearson. Tyler Toffoli gained possession of the puck near the top of the Oilers zone. Toffoli made a nasty dekeing move around a poke-checking Oiler forward, while skating backward. Toffoli then ripped a sick shot, over the right shoulder of Fasth. 3-0 Kings.
After the first period Oilers goaltender Viktor Fasth took himself out of the game because he pulled a groin. Former Kings goaltender, now Oilers starter Ben Scrivens came in as relief. Scrivens didn’t get any relief.
Five minutes into the second period Oilers forward Taylor Hall fumbled a bouncing puck by the Oilers boardside hash-marks. As Hall tried to regain control of the puck he got hit hard, and knocked down, by Kings center Jarret Stoll. Kings forward Jordan Nolan picked up the loose puck and patiently skated toward the goal-line at the near side of the net. Nolan then attempted a pass to Dustin Brown. Brown was tied up, but the puck bounced off him and into the net. 4-0 Kings.
Brown spoke about the goal after the game. “Just one of those plays where I go to the net hard and put my stick down. That was a dirty goal, and those are the kind I’m going to score,”
45 seconds later Tanner Pearson got his 3rd goal of the season. Carter tied up his man, Pearson lifted the stick of Oilers forward Benoit Pouliot behind the net, stole the puck, which then bounced off Carter’s stick at the bottom of the Edmonton circle. Pearson picked up the loose puck, turned and rifled it top shelf over Scrivens glove. 5-0 Kings.
At this point there was 14:30 left in the second period. The game had officially become a blowout. Twice the Kings scored on consecutive shots. Carter-Williams in the first period, and Brown-Pearson in the second.
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Six minutes into the third period on the Kings second power-play of the game, Tanner Pearson got his second goal in a row. Off the boards Mike Richards passed the puck to Alec Martinez for a shot from the point. Pearson was screening in front of the net. Scrivens saved the point shot, but lost the rebound in his own feet because of the screen. Pearson was the first to pick up the rebound, make a move and backhand the puck into the net.
The Kings dominated the game and controled the flow of play. But with 20 seconds left in the game, Matt Hendricks broke Jonathan Quick’s shutout, and the hearts of some fantasy hockey owners. The spoiled shutout means Quick remains with 31 career regular season shutouts for the Kings, one behind legend Rogie Vachon.
The Kings win was head coach Darryl Sutter’s 100th regular season win behind the Kings bench. Sutter is now the fastest coach to achieve that mark in Kings history. When asked in the post-game interviews if he thought it was a big achievement, Sutter replied in his usual way, “Yeah, I guess if I was a young guy it would be.”
Sutter was more concerned with the Kings standings after the victory. “If we want to try and keep pace in our division we’re going to have to win in our division. We took a point from Arizona and lost to San Jose,” Sutter said.
Tuesday’s win was the first NHL game in the career of Andy Andreoff. Andreoff celebrated attaining an NHL roster by getting in a fight. On his very first shift. 1:50 into the game. Andreoff dropped the gloves right off the bat with Matt Hendricks. That’s a good way to settle down his nerves. Andreoff said as much after the game, “Tried to get all the jitters out in the first in the fight. I saw Hendricks right there and I asked him if he wanted to go, so . . .”
Dustin Brown talked about the Kings overall play during post-game questions, “What’s been different the last few games is our defensive game. We’ve been playing better in the defensive zone, so that’s helped us get the puck more.”
Despite the Kings playing better defense one interesting number favored the Oilers: shots. The Oilers actually out-shot the Kings 32-26 in the game.
There were 18,230 people in attendance. A Sellout crowd. It was the Kings 93rd consecutive regular season sellout; 123rd including playoff games. Apparently those in attendance, received replica Kings Stanley Cup rings. Pretty sweet way to celebrate a victory eh?