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Game Four Recap: Kings Actually Win!

Posted on by Robyn Pennington

Thanks, Jesse!

Alec Martinez plays OT hero once again (a familiar position for him as I’m sure many of you will recall), Tanner Pearson was dangerous in all facets of the ice, the Los Angeles Kings actually looked like, well, the Kings, and even Peter Budaj wasn’t all that bad. He only gave up three goals!

[Box Score]

For what it’s worth, Budaj made a lot of great saves, especially early on. His .850 save percentage tonight isn’t all that impressive given the corsi discrepancy, but he certainly passed the eye test.

Nic Dowd got his first NHL goal in his seventh appearance and didn’t look like he was struggling to adjust to the Dallas Stars‘ speed at all. Devin Setoguchi, who looked like he was having trouble keeping up with NHL pace in his first three games, had a much better game all around and drew an early penalty against Dan Hamhuis for interference.

On the ensuing power play, Dustin Brown got the puck down low, passed it to Tom Gilbert who gave it to Dowd, who hesitated a moment before beating Kari Lehtonen. Who would’ve guessed Brown, Gilbert and Dowd would get LA on the board first?

Radek Faksa got his first goal of the season when Jason Spezza pressured Budaj behind the net, stripped him of the puck and fed it to Faksa for an easy, empty net goal.

Apparently neither of these teams enjoyed playing 5v5 as they combined for nine penalties (ten if you count Antoine Roussel ‘s double minor as separate infractions). Special teams are often the difference, but that wasn’t the case tonight. LA and Dallas both had a power play goal each, with Jamie Benn getting the equalizer for the Stars in the second period. Jeff Carter is still a magnificent player with a dangerous wrist shot that he unleashed on Lehtonen to give the Kings a temporary lead in the middle frame.

Then beautiful, young Tanner Pearson scored with less than a minute remaining before intermission. Yes, the Kings were the one doing the scoring and not getting scored ON. Carter with some nifty neutral zone work to Setoguchi to Pearson, who danced around Stars defenders, shot on goal, followed up his own rebound and scored.

It was a tight third period with the Kings nearly escaping in regulation. But with the goalie pulled, Spezza (who is near the top of the list of Kings Killers, btw) ripped a shot top shelf where mom keeps the cookies over Budaj’s shoulder. This is a good time to ask you which goalie’s looked best so far…

Anyway, that sent the game to overtime. Sometimes the universe smiles at you. Sometimes it spits in your face and laughs. Tonight was more in between the two as beautiful, young Tyler Toffoli fed Martinez for the game-winning goal in overtime. It looks like 3v3 just might benefit the Kings.

Thanks, Jesse!

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