Los Angeles Kings Win Against Blues in Shootout

The Los Angeles Kings upset the St. Louis Blues at Staples Center on Thursday night.  After a scoreless game and overtime period Jeff Carter’s lone shootout goal got the Kings two points.

It was an upset for St. Louis, not because the Kings were underdogs, but because the Blues out-shot the Kings 43-18.

Oct 16, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Officials separate St. Louis Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo (27) and Los Angeles Kings goalie Jonathan Quick (32) fight in the second period of the game at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

All game long the Blues pelted the Kings with shots from everywhere.  As time wound down toward the end of the game the Blues became more and more physical in front of Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick.  Late in the second period Quick had trapped the puck in his mid-section.  The official was late in blowing the whistle and Alexander Steen speared Quick in an attempt to jar the puck loose.  That created a scrum.  Quick and Kings players went after Steen and Blues teammates came to Steen’s aid.  Kings defensemen Brayden McNabb was slow to react protecting Quick.  McNabb’s big physically, and should be the first to jump in and protect the Kings best player.  The result was both teams each received two-minute penalties: Steen for slashing; Quick for roughing, served by McNabb.

It’s really not the best idea to go after Quick.  Like the rest of his team the stout-hearted goaltender doesn’t get rattled or back down; he elevates and his focus ramps up.

In short, don’t make Quick mad.

Referees were aware of the history and the nasty rivalry between the two teams.  After the first shift, 22-seconds into the game Jarret Stoll was given a two-minute minor roughing penalty for face-washing David Backes.  The officials were jumping in early to break up scrums.  The players, however, were unphased by the whistles and penalties as short tempers and personal rivalries continually caused minor skirmishes throughout the game.

Toward the end of the second period, and throughout the third Kings head coach Darryl Sutter started to play musical lines, continually switching players around from one shift to the next.  After the game Sutter was asked about changing the lines.  In his typical style he remarked simply, “Just trying to get some energy.”

At the end of the second period Tanner Pearson was put on the Kings first line, with Justin Williams being sent down to the third, and Jordan Nolan giving That 70’s line an alternate 70’s player (Nolan wears 71).  The full forward lines looked like this:

More from Editorials

• Kings vs. Oilers prediction and odds for NHL playoffs Game 2
• The LA Kings Goalie Controversy No One Saw Coming
• LA Kings’ Adrian Kempe is an Underrated Swedish Star
• Kings’ Stanley Cup odds are disrespectful
• Rink Royalty goes behind the scenes with Union and Blue for LAK-CBJ game

Mike Richards – Anze Kopitar – Tanner Pearson

Jordan Nolan – Jeff Carter – Tyler Toffoli

Justin Williams – Jarret Stoll – Dustin Brown

Kyle Clifford – Andy Andreoff – Dwight King

Through the third period the lines were constantly changing.  The Kings started the third with Toffoli, Kopitar and King.  The two former Philadelphia Flyers, Carter and Richards, were put back together to try to get something going as well. Here were some of the other forward lines seen in the third:

King – Kopitar – Toffoli

Pearson – Carter – Richards

Brown – Stoll – Williams

Clifford – Andreoff – Nolan

With two minutes left in the game Sutter threw out Pearson, Kopitar, and Toffoli.  A physical line with no quit and a ton of quickness.  Kopitar has been the Kings leading scorer for the past two seasons, and Pearson is the Kings current leading scorer.

Players seemed not to mind and maintained a high level of tempo and play creation, demonstrating the team is a tight-nit unit, having chemistry throughout the roster.

The game was hard-fought.  It was a great game; one to get your adrenaline going early in the season . . . if you like heart-in-your-throat chances with no goals and defense.

The Blues best chance to break the tie came in the second period when Blues Defensemen Ian Cole came streaking down the left side of the Kings zone and fired a shot from the outside, board-side hash-marks, that hit the crossbar.  With just under seven-minutes left in the third Quick stole another potential goal out of the air with an insane glove save on a Barret Jackman slapshot.

The Kings best chance came on a short two-on-one when Jordan Nolan threw a pass across the front of the net to Jeff Carter.  Blues goalie Brian Elliott was caught off guard and Carter had the net wide open.  Luckily for St. Louis the puck was bouncing and Kevin Shattenkirk got back just in the nick of time to swat the opportunity away.  Carter would be looking for, and get restitution.

The best player for the Blues was forward Vladimir Tarasenko.  Paul Stastny played well but Tarasenko was constantly zipping around and generating quality chances, especially in the third period.

Oct 16, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; St. Louis Blues left wing Joakim Lindstrom (10) takes the puck down ice in the first period of the gameagainst the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Oct 16, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Kings center Jeff Carter (77) scores the winning goal past St. Louis Blues goalie Brian Elliott (1) in the shootout at Staples Center. Kings won 1-0. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Aside from the amazing performance from Jonathan Quick, defensemen Drew Doughty was a standout for the Kings.  Doughty helped limit the Blues quality opportunities all night, and took over for the Kings in the second half of the game.  Doughty was running around, getting out of position, hopping up into the play and rushing the puck.  Watching the game one could tell Dewy really wanted this win; a mad-man attempting to carry his team to victory.  Doughty logged the most minutes of any player on both teams with 30:47 time on the ice.  And after the Kings cut back to rolling four defenesemen in the third period, Dewy didn’t slow down.  Park and RIDE.

Mike Richards was decent, but he has to stop pulling up, hesitating, and then shooting.  Too many times Richards would slow down, look for a pass and then attempt to shoot the puck.  Chances were getting blocked or resulted in harmless opportunities – the goalie was prepared, the puck ending up getting swallowed in the crest of his jersey.  Shoot quickly, keep moving to force the goalie to move and continually adjust his angles, or shoot low across the net to generate a rebound.

During the overtime period the Blues had two good chances, but to no avail.

The shootout commenced with Jeff Carter shooting first for the Kings.  Carter scored high blocker on a beauty shot.  Coach Sutter on Carter in the shootout:  “We talked about someone scoring a big goal.  Carter scored a big one.”

First for the Blues was T.J. Oshie – or T.J. Sochi, his nickname after the 2014 Winter Olympics – who deked and shot the puck 5-hole.  Quick made the save with his stick.

Just incase fans would like to watch the entire epic Sochi Shootout here’s the video:

Kopitar shot for the Kings in round two.  Anze went low blocker, and Elliott made the save, swatting the puck with his stick.

Steen was next for the Blues.  Steen came in with a ton of speed and fired a shot.  Quick made the save with the wrist-pad of his glove hand.

Tyler Toffoli was next for the Kings.  Toffoli also attempted the low blocker on Elliot, the Kings must have seen something during the game because all three shooters tried that area, but the save was made.

Tarasenko was the last to shoot.  Tarasenko entered the zone wide, came across the front of the net and snapped a low shot.  Quick made the save, but actually rolled over to make sure the puck wasn’t in the net.  1-0 Kings win.

Quick ties Kings legend Rogie Vachon with 32 career shutouts.  Head coach Darryl Sutter maintains his undefeated streak at home against the Blues.  Sutter is now 15-4-0 (9-0-0 at home) against the Blues, including playoff games, behind the Kings bench.  When asked about Quick catching Vachon so . . . quickly, in his post-game interview, Sutter said with his usual flair monotone, “Well, he’s gonna get a lot more.”

It’s pleasant knowing he’s right.