Kings Keep the Hope Alive

Just when you begin lose hope and "let go," the Kings bring you right back where you started.  After an abysmal loss to the depleted and injury plagued Detroit Red Wings, many of the Kings faithful entered panic mode and/or threw in the towel.  It's true, there are still quite a few games to play, but giving up 4 points in the process thins your chances by a large margin at this time of year. 

The Kings came in tonight having blanked the Blackhawks in the last two meetings (4-0 and 2-0) and lost two of their last games on the road.  One thing was about to change.  On one end, Chicago losing the third meeting in a row after being shut out twice didn't seem a likely scenario.  On the other end, Kings losing three games in a row didn't seem believable either.  One streak was about to be broken… luckily, it ended up in the Kings' favor. 

The Kings came out of the tunnel firing on all cylinders.  Right from the drop of the puck, the Kings created an excellent scoring chance and Emry, who has not yet lost at home in regulation, came up big.  About one minute later, the Kings skated three on one, Justin Williams made a perfect pass to Slava Voynov in the slot, who put the puck behind Emry for a 1-0 lead.  Mid-way through the second period, Marcus Kruger tied it up at 1-1 after Drew Doughty fell into Jonathan Quick, saved a shot from Patrick Sharp, but couldn't keep out the rebound. Jeff Carter answered at the end of the period to make it 2-1 after Dwight King put the puck right on his stick in front of the net. Viktor Stalberg was awarded a penalty shot after Rob Scuderi pulled him down on a breakaway but was stopped by the Kings' keeper. The Blackhawks clawed their way back to tie the game at 2 a piece when Patrick Kane speared the puck underneath Jonathan Quick and into the net.  The Kings protested, but the referees claimed they could still see the puck loose.  After seeing the replay from different angles, I have to say, either the referees have x-ray vision… or I need to see an optometrist.  Jeff Carter had a chance to put the game away on the power play with just a little over 2 minutes to play, but failed to convert shooting the puck across the crease behind Emry.  Regulation and overtime ended in a 2-2 tie after some incredible goaltending shown by both, Quick and Emry.  The goaltenders continued their duel as the shootout went deep into 6 rounds when Mike Richards put in a beautiful wrester.  Marcus Kruger tried to keep the shootout going, but Jonathan Quick poke checked the puck to seal the deal.

With the big win, the Kings move up to 76 points and 9th in the Western Conference.  They return home to play the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night before heading back out to play in Anaheim on Friday. They have 13 games remaining in the regular season (7 home 6 road).  The Kings win the 4 game season series against Chicago 3-1.

Mike Torosyan
@miketory79