Dancing in the Reign: Backstrom spectacular; Kings fall to Wild 3-2

Getting Nervous? With tonight’s loss, the Kings stand at 7th place in the Western Conference; Only 5 points ahead of the 9th seed Calgary Flames. The Kings are an ugly 0-3-1 in their past four games, and have to face a Nashville Predators team that has beaten the Kings 7 consecutive times. As for tonight’s game, solid effort. The struggles on the power-play continue as of late, as the Kings were unable to capitalize on two 5 on 3 opportunities tonight. Niklas Backstrom was the difference maker in the game, shunning a 31-shot Kings effort. Jonathan Quick had a decent game as well, but recently hasn’t looked quite as sharp on the puck. I’d say the Kings need two more consecutive losses for people to really start loosening the collar. Keep things calm and simple. Go out and beat Nashville. Start Ersberg. Below are my notes on tonight’s game.

Notes on the game:
– When I mentioned above that Jonathan Quick hasn’t looked quite as sharp in the past few games, Minnesota’s first goal was a prime example. The Wild continued to jump on loose rebounds, Matt Greene may have screened Quick
– Brent Burns absolutely undressed Brad Richardson, beating him to the outside, going straight to the net to record Minnesota’s second goal.
– Tonight’s surprise was Scott Parse, who scored the Kings only two goals. For his first tally, Parse shot the puck through traffic from the point, got a couple of friendly bounces off of Minnesota defensemen, and the puck found its way behind Backstrom. His second goal came thanks to solid play in the corners from Brad Richardson and Wayne Simmonds. Great puck protection and solid cycling allowed Richardson to find a wide-open Parse in the high corner.
– Minnesota’s game-winner was the result of great offensive zone penetration. The Wild continued to move the puck while entering zone, finding space for an open shot. Once they did so, a few Wild players were able to crash the net, but didn’t need to as Martin Havlat beat Quick clean. Matt Greene may have been a screen once again.
– Couldn’t help but get bothered with Drew Doughty‘s late third period offensive zone turnover. With three Kings in front of Backstrom, Doughty was too fancy. Instead of a quick release on net, Doughty tried the toe-drag. Too fancy, you need the quick shot for a goal or to create a rebound.