Did you hear how many times the Kings scored today?
Nine times.
Niiiine tiiiimes. Want to watch them all? You’re in luck.
A traditional recap wouldn’t quite do this one justice, so let’s just run down the goals, one by one.
Goal #1: Jeff Carter, 18:21, 1st (Muzzin, Doughty)
Who made it happen? Poor Kevan Miller. The Kings cycled effectively against Patrice Bergeron and the league’s fourth-best penalty kill, but they were having a difficult time getting to the net until Jeff Carter finally got some room. Miller, who was born in Santa Clarita, actually got his stick in Carter’s passing lane after letting Carter sneak behind him, but the puck deflected off his stick past Tuukka Rask. This was, like, Miller’s third-worst play of the evening.
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Goal #2: Marian Gaborik, 19:44, 1st (Lecavalier)
Who made it happen? Vincent Lecavalier took the puck behind the net after Miller coughed it up and delivered a terrific backhand pass to an open Gaborik. Not to take anything away from Gaborik’s finish, though, which was probably the best pure shot of the night; his backhand from the side of the net whizzed past Rask’s head and off the bar AND the post.
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Goal #3: Andy Andreoff, 2:42, 2nd (unassisted)
Who made it happen? Poor, poor, poor Kevan Miller.
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Goal #4: Drew Doughty, 12:09, 2nd (Lucic, Gaborik)
Who made it happen? Lucic gets into the box score on his return to Boston, but he merely jams at a puck in front and knocks it sideways. Doughty might be the only one who sees where it ends up and executes a perfect bank shot..
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Goal #5: Dwight King, 12:42, 2nd (Toffoli, Carter)
Who made it happen? We haven’t gotten a lot of Carter-streaking-down-the-wing highlights as of late, but here, he exerts just enough energy to deliver a nice area pass ahead of Torey Krug. Toffoli smartly goes to the front, drawing a defenseman; maybe he was trying to tip the puck in, but when it barely nicks his stick and goes off Rask’s pad, Dwight is there.
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Goal #6: Trevor Lewis, 18:56, 2nd (Muzzin, Clifford)
Who made it happen? Take a bow, fourth liners. Jordan Nolan was the only King without a point, but I’ll give him his due for exhibiting good puck control alongside Kyle Clifford deep in the Bruins‘ zone. After being run ragged by those two, no one is paying attention to Lewis until he converts a wide open rebound.
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Goal #7: Milan Lucic, 3:41, 3rd (Kopitar, Brown)
Who made it happen? Nice chop from Dustin Brown to get the puck past a pinching Zdeno Chara, leading to a 2-on-1 that Kopitar and Lucic made look easy. (Unrelated: Have you ever seen Kopitar more excited about a regular season goal?)
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Goal #8: Luke Schenn, 13:50, 3rd (Ehrhoff, Toffoli)
Who made it happen? This was the second career power play goal for Schenn AND his first goal as a King, so I’ll happily let him take the credit. And he deserves it! It was a beautifully placed shot.
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Goal #9: Dustin Brown, 16:57, 3rd (Schenn, Ehrhoff)
Who made it happen? How about Schenn and Ehrhoff earning two-point nights in four minutes? But I’ll give it all up to Brown, because he got the rebound and because he imitated Lucic after scoring.
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Some final thoughts that actually aren’t about the nine goals above:
- Milan Lucic got multiple ovations from the Boston faithful during and after the game. Say what you want about Boston sports fans, but they are really, really loyal. Sure, they booed their team today, however, you can’t blame them for that. The Bruins were dreadful.
- How dreadful? LA repeatedly got room in front even with the game out of hand, and Jonas Gustavsson (who took over after King’s goal) actually made some tough stops to help keep the Kings under 10. His best save was on Kopitar’s wraparound attempt when it was 7-2; somehow, he pinned the puck against the post with his stick.
- A 9-2 win didn’t seem like it could be marred by anything, but Jonathan Quick nearly made it happen after going down in the crease from a collision with Kevin Hayes with fifteen seconds left. After a few seconds of wincing, he stayed in and appeared to be fine afterward; as Alec Martinez said after the game, “He’s a tough goalie.”
- Bob Miller might be going home from the hospital tomorrow, which is great news. Nick Nickson, unsurprisingly, is doing great work in his absence. Lord knows calling eleven goals is tiring.
- The two other goals were scored by Brad Marchand (early in the first) and Tyler Randell (early in the third). That’s right, LA was losing at one point.
- The team’s 57 shots on goal were the most by any NHL team in a regular season game since Ben Scrivens‘ record-breaking 59-save shutout against San Jose in 2014.
- Finally, the Kings turned 50 today. In those 50 years, they’ve only had more shots on goal in a game (regular season or playoffs) once. Happy Birthday Kangz!