Ten unwelcome facts about the Los Angeles Kings’ game one week ago:
- The Kings allowed the first goal, early in the first period.
- Los Angeles lost the faceoff battle.
- The Kings especially dominated the second period, outshooting their opponent by 15 shots, but couldn’t find the net.
- The opponent won despite only putting 14 shots on net.
- Dustin Penner didn’t play.
- Jonathan Quick was not on top of his game, outplayed by a fellow Vezina finalist.
- The fans were largely bored… at least, I was.
- Los Angeles followed up a decent, victorious effort with a frustrating one.
- The Nashville Predators defeated the Los Angeles Kings on a Thursday night.
All ten happened again today.
[Box Score] [Video Highlights]
So it was that the Los Angeles Kings dropped another game to the pesky Predators, this time by a score of 3-0. Nashville’s Pekka Rinne earned his 26th career shutout, making 32 saves. Granted, the game wasn’t quite the same as last week’s… in many ways, it was worse.
- Tonight, the Kings survived the Predators’ “onslaught” for three whole minutes before conceding a goal (as opposed to 58 seconds). This time, Gabriel Bourque (who was all over the place in the first period) beat Jonathan Quick on the glove side with a quick shot.
- Yes, the Predators were dominated shot-wise in the second, but they were the team that found the net twice. After using a timeout after a long period of Kings possession and an icing, Colin Wilson scored on a give-and-go with Kevin Klein. The Predators then got a power play when Dustin Brown hit Wilson, the Predators scrummed it up with Brown, and Justin Williams came in late and was called for roughing. Five seconds later, Wilson scored his second on a rebound (with a Shea Weber assist, his first point of the year).
- After the Kings and Preds played a tense third period and OT last week, the last 27 minutes of tonight’s game were a mere formality. The Kings didn’t force Pekka Rinne to make incredible saves, and after putting 20 shots on net in the second they managed just four shots in the third period. Shutout, Rinne. Meanwhile, Quick had just 11 saves on 14 shots, and the debate about when to give Jonathan Bernier a start will surely intensify from here.
- Well, at least we got a fight against former King Rich Clune. Kyle Clifford dropped the gloves with him just two minutes into the first period. No decisive winner, though.
Things for the Kings to take from this game? Hopefully nothing, except for some anger and some motivation going into a nationally televised Sunday morning game in… (ominous music)… Detroit. We’ll see how Darryl Sutter responds, but I’d bet on seeing Andrew Campbell, Dustin Penner, and Jonathan Bernier within the next couple games.