Los Angeles Kings Downed by Devils as New Jersey Wins 5-3

Wednesday night the Los Angeles Kings hosted the New Jersey Devils at Staples Center. New Jersey capitalized on good goaltending and a last-minute goal in the first period to hang on for a 5-3 win.

The score misrepresents how close this game was. It was not close for the Kings.

When the Kings failed to score on three power-plays, then gave up a goal in the last-minute of the period, it was a bit of a heart-breaker. Sad to say, but it’s true of hockey and this game: one goal, that goal, proved to be a back-breaker, turning the tide of momentum.

1:16 into the second period Dustin Brown got his first goal in 19 games.

Kings All-Star defensemen Drew Doughty made a beautiful deke around Devils defensmen Jon Merrill and passed the puck over to Brown who one-timed the pass past Devils goaltender Cory Schneider.

Doughty got his 15th point in his last 16 games. The assist put Doughty on a three-game point streak. That was the end of good news for the Kings.

To say it was all Devils in the second period would be putting it lightly.

A flurry of three goals in 1:08 during the second period buried the Kings. A sort of, “Welcome to Hell,” from the Devils.

Steve Bernier, Martin Havlat, and Michael Cammalleri scored the back-to-back-to-back goals for New Jersey. Bernier’s goal was his second power-play goal of the game. Cammalleri added to his team lead, scoring his 14th goal of the season.

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With just under three-minutes left in the second Michael Ryder scored New Jersey’s fourth consecutive goal on a rebound, after he deflected an Andy Greene shot from the point.

At that point New Jersey took a 5-1 lead.

In the third period Marian Gaborik scored for the Kings with 12:44 left in the game. Gaborik put in his 15th goal of the season, as he continues to lead the Kings in goals. Gaborik now has a goal in each of the Kings last three games; Gaborik has netted a goal in four of his last five games.

It wasn’t a happy moment for the Kings. Players were visibly frustrated and no one celebrated the goal.

With 58-seconds left in the game Justin Williams made it 5-3, redirecting a shot from Mike Richards with the shaft of his stick. Williams batted the puck down, it bounced and made it past Schneider.

Once again, the goal horn rang throughout the arena, but the Kings players didn’t celebrate. Players on the ice didn’t skate to the bench for the traditional skate-down-the-line for high-fives. All the Kings players on the ice skated to the face-off circle at center ice and got into position.

It was a hard game to watch for Kings fans.

Kings head coach Darryl Sutter had some choice words about the team’s play after the game. There was no need to sugar-coat anything.

Referring to Doughty’s goal, Sutter said, “Those look nice, and then it doesn’t matter. You don’t get anything extra from beautiful.”

When asked about the flurry of goals by the Devils in the second period Sutter responded, “Three in a minute, but at the same time you have to focus, to play through that a little. Give up five, you’re going to get beat. I’ve said that before, give up five you’re going to get beat.”

L.A. just didn’t have any intensity in their effort. The Kings attempted to be physical, but they couldn’t following through on hits. The Kings play didn’t have the physicality of their previous two contests.

Martin Jones, surprisingly, got his second consecutive start in goal. After shutting out the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday, Jones got the nod to face another Eastern Conference team.

Jones was pulled after New Jersey’s third goal. He returned to the net 10-minutes later.

Quick came into the game halfway through the second period. After letting in 2 goals on 7 shots, coach Sutter decided to put Jones back in goal for the third. Quick had a .714 save percentage in 10:40 of ice time.

After the game Sutter said, “[We] pulled Jones to change the momentum, they score two more goals before the end of the period, [we] put him back in because obviously it didn’t change the momentum.”