Dancing in the Reign: Coyotes Bite Late: Kings fall 3-2 in Shootout

For those who have said a first round match-up between these two teams would be boring, you’re wrong. Both teams played well on each end of the ice, maintaining a fast pace and playoff-like atmosphere. The Phoenix Coyotes have certainly proved their surprising 4th place season with consistently solid play here at the end of the season. With 1 point earned in the shootout loss, the Kings bumped themselves up to 5th place in the Western Conference with 98 points. If the regular season were to end today, the Los Angeles Kings would face-off against the Phoenix Coyotes in the Western Conference Quarterfinals. Former Kings goaltender Jason LaBarbera had a solid outing with 22 saves, and Jonathan Quick looked sharp in net stopping 25 Phoenix shots. Two young defensemen stepped up for the Kings tonight; literally. More on those d-men below along with my notes on the game:

Notes on the game:
– Both Kings goals came via aggressive offensive defensemen tonight. First, with Drew Doughty‘s spectacular split of two Phoenix defensemen who walked in alone on Jason LaBarbera and beat him to the far side. Note, Doughty risked the rush knowing Justin Williams was back on the play to cover. Williams fed Anze Kopitar up the sideboards, who saw the streaking Doughty, and led him perfectly to eventually score the 1st Kings goal.
– As for Jack Johnson‘s goal, it was almost impressive. Johnson caused the turnover, and finished the transition of that turnover with a goal. After winning the battle with two Phoenix defensemen, Johnson cleared the puck to an open Ryan Smyth in the neutral zone. Johnson caught up to the play, went straight to the net after reading Smyth’s fake shot, and capitalized on Smyth’s pass with a goal.
– Phoenix’s two regulation goals came off of face-off wins. First with Wojtek Wolski winning the puck in the corner, and feeding an open Matthew Lombardi who beat Quick from close range. The second goal came off a point-shot off of another face-off. Zbynek Michalek‘s point shot was deflected by Taylor Pyatt and beat Jonathan Quick with just under 6 minutes remaining.