Dancing in the Reign: Kings overcome two 3-goal deficits; 5-4 Winners in Anaheim (Video)
In what was a stunning comeback victory on the road, the Kings showed their poise and perseverance fighting back from a couple of three goal deficits to earn a shootout victory. Moments prior to Anze Kopitar‘s back-handed drag shootout winner, the Anaheim Ducks were officially eliminated from playoff contention. The Colorado Avalanche buried any of Anaheim’s hopes by clinching a spot of their own with a 4-3 victory over the Vancouver Canucks. You’ve got to be impressed with the capability of this young roster to rebound being three goals down to earn a victory. Jonathan Quick‘s play? Not so impressive. Quick has shown signs of fatigue, and just hasn’t been nearly as sharp as he was earlier in the season. More thoughts on the goaltender below. With tonight’s victory, the Kings bump up to the 6th seed in the Western Conference. With 97 points, the Kings are only one point behind the 5th seed Nashville Predators, and have a game in hand. It’s safe to say Los Angeles is safe from falling to the 8th seed, as the final push could very well have the 5th, 6th, and 7th seeds jumble around quite a bit. Below are my notes on tonight’s game, as well as video of Anze Kopitar’s highlight reel shootout winner on Ducks goaltender Curtis McElhinney:
– It’s quite obvious to say Jonathan Quick has looked flat in net for a while now. If there’s one thing contributing to this, it’s fatigue. I’ve stressed this all season long now, and we’re seeing the results. Another possibility? Jonathan Bernier‘s footsteps. I am a believer that Quick may have a little more pressure on his shoulders now that Bernier has impressed the big club. Quick now not only has to perform well as the playoffs rapidly approach, but has a statement to make for training camp next season. This is your fault, Terry Murray.
– Even with Quick’s sub-par play, Anaheim earned most of their goals. Bobby Ryan showed great puck control and patience on a 1st period power-play to find a wide-open Jason Blake who opened the scoring.
– As for Anaheim’s second goal, Teemu Selanne simply beat Sean O’Donnell. Anaheim’s third tally came thanks to a flat-footed Randy Jones, who fumbled the puck behind the Kings net. Bobby Ryan jumped on the puck, and ended Jonathan Quick‘s night.
– If the comeback wasn’t impressive enough, the Kings showed strong effort and skill on all four regulation goals. Starting with Dustin Brown, who muscled his way to the net and recovered his own rebound to put the Kings on the board. Alexander Frolov used his strength to get to the front of the net as well, burying a rebound courtesy of Dustin Brown.
– You say comeback, I say Justin Williams. Wow. If there was one player to fuel the the third period for the Kings, it was Williams. Scoring the Kings third goal, Williams moved cross-ice as he entered the slot, turned toward the net, and held on to the puck to beat a helpless Curtis McElhinney. Williams was also the key to Michal Handzus‘ game-tying goal. Entering the zone with the puck on the side-boards, Williams fed a streaking Handzus who received the pass in the slot and scored thereafter.
– As for Anze Kopitar‘s game-winner. Man, oh man. We’ve seen it many times before, but it never gets old. Check it out below.
