Gameday Recap: Kings Dive Past Ducks

Final Score Kings 3 Ducks 2 OT

First Period:

First big play of the game...Jeff Carter destroyed Jakob Silfverberg with a hit in the Ducks' zone. The Kings were carrying the hitting for the early part of the period. Kyle Clifford charged the net, after an easy shot from the half boards was gloved by Frederik Andersen.  Freddy showed a little moxie and leaned into Clifford with a shoulder.

The Ducks started to move forward with some good scoring chances. Ryan Getzlaf laid a soft dump for Emerson Etem whose broken pass found a way to Matt Beleskey, all-alone. Bels was stopped by a brilliant save by Quick who closed the gap and didn't let Matt sweep the puck around him. Almost a minute later, Ryan Kesler went outside in on Robyn Regehr defender and got a great shot from the faceoff dot. But, Jonathan Quick stopped that one too.

Freddy wouldn't be outdone. A point shot bounced off the boards to Trevor Lewis right up front. Freddy did a great job sticking to his post and slammed the door on Lewis from in tight.

The Ducks won the first power play of the period just passed the halfway mark as Dustin Brown tripped Silf as the Swede was attempting to break out of his own zone. The PP started with chaos around the blue line as the Ducks tried to keep the Zone. Kesler won a battle and broke Silf for a 2-on-1 With Beleskey, but Quick made a big save on Silf. Quick made another pad save by doing a full split to gather a rebound chance by Maroon.

The first shift after the penalty saw a Stoner bid go off the pipe. The next few minutes were relatively pedestrian until Cogliano got a ton of speed through the neutral zone and got caught flush in the chest by McNab.  It was a monster hit that put a little energy into both teams, and there was a new wave of hitting before the period came to a scoreless close.

Second Period:

Freddy got saved by his post twice, two and a half minutes in. A clean faceoff win led to a shot being rung off the post, off the back of Freddy's pad and then setting in front of the post again for Freddy to cover and get another faceoff.

Players were having trouble holding onto their sticks and there came this moment where equipment was strewn everywhere with a couple of players tripping over the yard sale. Perhaps not surprisingly, the refs were letting a lot of penalties go, too many men, interference, and a handful of others. The top line generated the best sustained pressure of the early period. Then the Kings responded. Toffoli led a rush and put a shot of Andersen's shoulder.  The rebound was directed behind the net, gathered by Tanner Pearson and sent to a wide open Toffoli between the circles. Toffoli put the puck right in Freddy's logo, and a crisis was averted.

The next great play came on a Kesler backcheck. The Kings entered the zone 3-on-2, but the pass from Carter to Kopitar was broken up by Kesler's stick as he hustled to take away the passing lane.  The Ducks had a quick response as Getzlaf organized the entry. Instead of hitting a streaking Etem, he found Maroon on the right side, potentially opening a 2-on-1 down low. Maroon held onto the puck a little too long and shoveled it into Etem's skates. Etem repositioned himself to poke the puck on net. He and Maroon both took swipes at it, but Quick stood tall and denied the Anaheim offense again.

Luckily the shutout would come to an end shortly after. The top line stayed out for the offensive zone draw. Getzlaf won and worked the puck down low to Maroon. Patty found an open Etem between the dots. Etem's first attempt was denied as he tried to Brett Hull the puck passed Quick, but Emerson would gather his own rebound and backhand the puck over quick and under the bar for Anaheim's first goal.  1-0 Ducks.

The Kings almost had an immediate answer as Clayton Stoner made a horrible pass that set up Justin Williams right in front of Andersen, but Williams fired it just wide saving Stoner.

Jarret Stoll nailed Rickard Rakell with a high hit, but Ricky got back up and returned to the play.

Sidenote: when are we going to develop some kind of meme featuring Ricky and the racoon from Guardians of the Galaxy?

Madness ensued when Beleskey charged into the zone and laid the puck off to Kesler who made a wonderful move around Matt Greene to tap a puck to Lindholm in the slot, Quick made a ridiculous save but left a huge rebound. It looked like Beleskey had his 8th of the year all sewn up when the Kings knocked the net off the moorings and took a delay of game penalty.

The Ducks power play never seemed to make a serious threat. Getzlaf charged from his point to stop the Kings from breaking out of the zone. Toffoli went around him like he was standing still and the Kings took a 2-on-1 shorthanded break. Vatanen did a good job taking away the pass, but Toffoli buried it on the short side. 1-1 Tie.

Sami Vatanen decided to carry the offense by himself to atone for Getzlaf's mistake. A few minutes after the tie game, he carried in from the neutral zone and fought off a check all the way around the boards. He passed to Allen at the point, who made a great slap pass down to Kesler. Quick was fooled and played the shot. He had to make a desperation slide, but Kesler was open and on used the top of the net to take back the lead.  2-1 Ducks.

The Kings did not go quietly and peppered Andersen with several shots on the next shift. There was a variety of point shots with traffic and some in tight chances. But Anaheim kept its lead going into the third.

Third Period:

Brown hit Stoner and dislodged a pane of glass in the first minute. I had to watch them fix it for a while. When they were done, Patrick Maroon picked up a tripping penalty that wasn't really a tripping penalty. Stoll felt the stick near the back of the leg and went down. There are submarines that don't dive that hard.

Thirty seconds into the penalty Allen took a puck off of the helmet. He skated himself to the bench, but it's not something you ever like seeing.  The Kings couldn't score on the power play, which surprised no one who watches the Kings play hockey. There were some quality chances, but nothing too terrifying.

The Kings upped the pressure trying to tie the score and the shots started coming from all angles. The bodies started flying too. Etem made a good play on the rush to work a puck to a wide open Maroon in the slot. Maroon launched it wide. Another Etem play would come off the half boards as he tried to carry the puck through a Kings defender. He couldn't battle the puck to Getzlaf. Getzy got knocked off balance by Clifford, and nudged Quick who dropped like a 1950s kid hearing a nuclear bomb siren. Getzlaf to the penalty box, and the Kings power play to the ice.

Gaborik had a great chance on the doorstep early in the penalty. Doughty followed up with a point shot that stuck to Andersen. But he couldn't feel the puck and dropped to do the snow angel. It was very dramatic.  The Kings powerplay found its momentum after that. They held the zone for well over a minute and moved the puck at will. Doughty went from the half boards to Muzzin on the point. Muzzin went to Kopitar who was on his off wing, and Kopi hammered a one timer passed Andersen. 2-2 Tie.

The top line wanted to respond but was stifled by an icing call, where McBain fell down but still was ruled to be able to beat Etem to the puck, and a real icing slowed them down. Etem entered the zone with a defender on his heels but did his best Maverick impression and slammed on the breaks. He slipped it to a charging Maroon, but Patty couldn't finish from in tight on the doorstep. Still, Getzlaf, Etem, and whoever have been getting it done.

Matt Beleskey got to hammer two one timers from the high slot and neither one got past the defender in front of him. It was pretty comical.

The top line sustained some pressure, Etem had a chance for the go ahead goal, but the puck wouldn't sit flat for him. After that, Stoner passed to an empty point and the Kings turned the puck the other way.

Rakell dropped Muzzin on a zone entry with a little over five minutes left and Doughty lifted the puck right over the glass for a delay of game penalty. Doughty lost his mind about that [Ed. Note:  Shocking! -CK].

I'm pretty sure there was a PP for us, but nothing particularly impressive happened. With about two minutes left, Etem and Beleskey hooked up for another shot around the crease.

Getzlaf won a draw with 10 seconds left in the period, but the puck took a crazy bounce when Vatanen tried to move the puck up to Etem. Another icing, and another nail-biting faceoff with four seconds left. Getzlaf tied of Kopi and battled the puck out of the zone, so that we could be blessed with overtime for like the 12th game in a row. I'm just kidding; it's five, a franchise record.

Overtime:

Thirty seconds in and Carter beat Josh Manson wide. Kopitar was cutting across the middle, and Lindholm got the stick level against him. I'm not one to complain about diving too much, but the Kings went down pretty easily all night long. This time was no different.

Andersen spent about 15 seconds swimming in the crease like a tadpole in a kiddie pool, but the Kings couldn't get the puck on net. The one shot they did get while he was down and out went high over the bar. Kopitar got a shot from the high slot that Freddy gloved and held. Getzlaf would then win the faceoff and create a 2-on-1 with Kesler that led to a shorthanded shot on goal.

On the next faceoff, Williams went wide on Vatanen and forced the puck to the crease. Sami actually played him well and denied him center ice. Allen on the other hand...Allen didn't tie up Jarret Stoll in front of Andersen. Stoll was allowed to get a stick on the puck and he tapped it right between the pads. It was a power play goal for an L.A. victory.

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The Good: Etem is being productive with his top line minutes. He led the team in corsi for the game at +16, and he scored a goal. He did it with the softest zone starts on the team, but he's being productive. That's what you want from a young guy in his position.

The Bad: The Allen/Vatanen pairing. Worst corsi numbers for the game with relatively soft zone starts. They were also responsible for giving up the game winner.

The Ugly: Look at that shot chart. It's so pretty, and nice, and then it gets so...well...ugly. Score effect is a real thing and the chart reflects that. It also shows a couple of late penalties. However, I don't think it's ever a good idea to let the shots get that one sided. The Ducks offense vanished down the stretch, allowing the Kings to push until they finally broke through.

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3rd Icehole: The Refs. The Kings got away with a couple of dives that led to the game tying and game winning goals. The referees shouldn't have let them get away with it. I'm normally not a big critic of refereeing, so you know it had to be bad for me to bring it up.

2nd Icehole: Bryan Allen. Realistically, you have one job: to clear the crease and prevent chances in close. I can settle for tying up the stick. Jarret Stoll's game winner shouldn't happen with you right there.  [Ed. Note: Where have we heard that before? -CK]

1st icehole: Jarret Stoll. He assisted on Toffoli's shortie. He scored the game winner, and he took a run at Ricky. He earned this award.

Next Game: Sunday, November 16th, 5 P.M. PST. Florida Panthers at the Ponda Center