The Kings Have Returned: Los Angeles Kings Drop 4-2 Win on the New York Rangers at MSG

Tuesday night the Los Angeles Kings went two for two in two nights.

The Kings won their second straight game of their current five-game road trip. The victim? The New York Rangers in their home arena of Madison Square Garden.

The 4-2 victory squared the regular season series 1-1. The Rangers beat the Kings 4-3 at Staples Center on January 8th. The defending champs picked up a valuable 2-points against a Ranger team that is surely still sore from last year’s loss suffered in the Stanley Cup Finals at the hands of the Kings.

“Marty as his mates call him, gives the Kings forwards more confidence. It allows them to take chances, which leads to more offensive opportunities. And that’s exactly what the Kings need right now.”

It didn’t look good early.

51-seconds into the game Rangers forward Mats Zuccarello found himself open in the slot with the puck on his stick from teammate J.T. Miller. Zuccarello zipped a shot over Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick’s glove.

Halfway through the first period Kings defensemen Robyn Regehr took a wrist-shot from the point that hit Rangers newly acquired defensemen Keith Yandle and deflected past goaltender Cam Talbot. It was Regehr’s 2nd goal of the season.

Talbot shot himself in the foot in the second period. Attempting to play the puck behind the goal the Ranger netminder passed the puck to the stick of Justin Williams. Williams quickly moved the puck out to Anze Kopitar who one-touched it over to Marian Gaborik who ripped a one-timer snap-shot into the half-open goal.

It was a quick change of momentum.

Kings leading scorer Jeff Carter boosted the Kings lead, picking up his 26th goal of the season on a beautiful cross-crease pass from Dwight King. Carter just had his stick down and tapped the puck into the corner by Talbot.

Los Angeles Kings

Beauty Kinger.

4:23 later Kopitar brought the puck into the Rangers zone, circled behind the net and all the way out to the far wing and threw a pass across the ice to Jake Muzzin who came cutting into the zone. The fast movement disabled the Rangers from any real chance of getting a shot block, and Muzzin cashed-in the opportunity.

Of course the Kings had to make it interesting.

Ranger defensemen Dan Boyle was able to find his teammate Kevin Hayes open in the slot. Hayes lifted a wrist-shot over a screened Quick, making it 4-2 with 3:44 left in the regulation.

It was a hard-fought game, and though they led 4-1 at one point the Kings did not dominate. Actually, L.A. was outshot 36-35 in the game.

Jonathan Quick made the difference. Quick came up big for the Kings on a number of plays, finishing the night with a .944 save percentage.

Quick is now tied for the NHL lead in games started, and games played in with 63 and 64 respectively. With the playoff race coming down to the wire, and the Kings needing every point, Quick is the answer to all their problems.

Rangers star Rick Nash was held without a point. Nash, who was on fire early in the season, has cooled off considerably.

It’s no surprise, it’s the end of the year and playoffs are around the corner.

Nash now has 1 goal and 4 points in his last 10 games. That’s puts Nash’s totals at 39 goals, 24 assists and 63 points in 71 games.

Here’s a stat you wouldn’t guess: Drew Doughty was 4th among Kings defensemen in ice-time. Doughty registered 21:07 Time On the Ice.

First?

Andrej Sekera. That’s right. Sekera had 26:31 TOI, followed by Regehr with 24:16, and Jake Muzzin with 21:46.

It’s only news because the Kings superstar mega-maniac Drew Doughty, who is having a Norris Trophy like season, has led the NHL in TOI for most of th season. Doughty is still the current leader with an average of 29:10 TOI per game.