Brutal.
Hard to watch.
Pathetic.
Whatever you want to call it, it wasn’t good.
Tuesday night the Los Angeles Kings were in Washington to take on the Capitals. Let’s just say, it didn’t go well.
Losing 4-0 the Kings were shutout and beaten in all phases of the game. It’s the fifth time this season the Kings have been shutout by an opponent.
L.A.’s now 0-2-0 in their first two games of this five-game road trip.
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Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick played well, but like a few other games, you wouldn’t know it by the final score. Just another one of Quick’s good performances marred by poor numbers.
Quick kept the Kings in the game in the first period, but finally gave up the game’s first goal with 2:49 left.
Capitals forward Troy Brouwer was standing all alone in the slot, eight-feet from the net, when he one-time snapped home a pass out of the corner. Kings forwards were out of position and Jarret Stoll was late to get to the slot, leaving Brouwer wide open.
Brouwer got the Capitals second goal, almost 20-minutes after the first. It was a point-shot deflection on the power-play. Again Brouwer was in front of the net, uncovered, unmolested. Robyn Regehr was slow on the coverage this time.
Two third period goals coming 59-seconds apart buried the Kings and sealed the deal for the Capitals.
L.A. showed some life in the third period, attempting to throw everything on net. Unfortunately it was too late for that shallow of an effort.
The Kings and Capitals reversed roles in the first and third periods. In the first period L.A. was outshot 12-6, in the third period the Kings poured it on in shots, 14-6. In what has become an all too familiar tale, the Kings were able to get the puck to the net, just not in the net. Final shots were 27-27, though the score seemed to tell a vastly different tale.
The Kings power-play has continued to be awful. At one point during the second period, moments after the Capitals had just scored their second goal of the game, the Kings gave up three shots with the man advantage while failing to register even one shot of their own.
Puck Prose
The Capitals were 1-for-3 on the power-play, while the Kings went 0-for-1.
It’s terrible to say, but based on the results and the way the Kings looked: it’d be great if the team was hitting the back of the net as much as they were hitting the bar.
L.A. looked tired, a team suffering from severe cup hangover and fatigue. Players were out of position, not moving their feet, not skating hard.
The Kings are still in championship celebration mode, not championship chase mode.
The disappointing thing is this Kings team has the talent. It’s all about getting their minds in gear. When the attitude is right, they are flat-out dangerous on the ice. It comes down to how bad they want it.
Time is running out. The window to get into the playoffs is shrinking by the day.
L.A. now has 1 goal in their last 120-minutes of play. They’re going to have to figure out a way to score if they want to have any chance at all.
The Kings next game is in south Florida against the Panthers. Puck-drop is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. PST at the BB&T Center.
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Feb 3, 2015; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom (19) celebrates after scoring a goal on Los Angeles Kings goalie Jonathan Quick (32) in the third period at Verizon Center. The Capitals won 4-0. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports