After a tough month, the Kings finished out strong on Thursday night defeating the Capitals 5-2. This is the second consecutive dominate game from the Kings.
Lets face it, November really truly sucked as a Kings fan. The month really sucked, when you consider how well they were doing just a month before. Like many, I had high hopes for their season around Halloween time. While I was wrapped up in the emotions of the Dodgers losing the World Series, the Kings proceeded to break my heart yet again.
Los Angeles won 9 games in October, good for first place in the Pacific Division. At the time, everything seemed to be going right for them. The offense was firing on all cylinders, the defense was rock solid and Jonathan Quick was…well, quick. And then November hit. A month usually dominated by eating and shopping quickly became one of sadness and discouragement. The Kings only had five wins going into Thursday night’s game in the nation’s capital, and they were in for a tough opponent.
The Capitals have been a force in hockey for many years, but have been fairly average as of late. They entered the match-up against the Kings with a record of 14-10-1. Not a bad record by any means, but also not the usual dominant force. This is despite the fact that they have the league’s leading scorer in Alex Ovechkin.
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Despite that, I didn’t feel great about the Kings’ chances in this one. Yes they were coming off a big time win, but it was against the now 10-11-5 Red Wings. Luckily, the Kings again proved me wrong. After Washington took an early lead on a turnover, LA fired back. Adrian Kempe followed the fresh Marian Gaborik in for a score off a deflection to tie the game at one. After the Caps took a 2-1 lead, LA quickly turned it around on two goals in a nine second span.
From there, the game would get away from Washington. Gaborik and Toffoli had long distance goals on an empty net to seal the win. Overall, Jonathan Quick would end up with one of the best 27 save performances you’ll ever see. He sprawled and dove all around the net the entire game, only only two by him. Trevor Lewis and Marian Gaborik led the team in points with two a piece.
What’s Next: The Kings continue their road trip Friday night, traveling to St. Louis to challenge the Blues. The Blues won the previous match-up in October, defeating the Kings 4-2. St. Louis has been one of the better teams in the league this season, with a record of 17-7-1, tied for most wins in the NHL.