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Los Angeles Kings @ Calgary Flames Game 75 Recap: Jack Campbell stops 42 shots in the 3-0 shutout

Posted on by Michael Lloyd

112-Word Recap

Alex Faust ended the action with this line: “The LA Kings who have slowly started to put together their hockey.” To which the response is a muttered, “what took you so long?”, followed by a “not now!” At time where losing is vital for the best shot at a top three pick in the June Entry Draft, the Kings have put together a three-game winning streak.

Backed by Jack Campbell’s 42 saves in his second shutout of the season, the Los Angeles Kings beat the Western Conference-leading Calgary Flames 3-0 in a game that never seemed in doubt. Jonny Brodzinski and defenseman Derek Forbort scored, and Tyler Toffoli added an empty-net goal for the Kings.

Coach’s Corner: What Willie Desjardins Did Wrong Tonight

Let’s start with the two game winning streak. Sorry Willie, you need to do everything possible to not win from here on out. I mean driving Ilya Kovalchuk to opt to stay in LA is a good start. He likes you even less than I do. He’s doing a wonderful job now distracting the team and being the spokesperson against your horrible coaching. Hopefully that will add an extra loss or two.

How about calling up Michael Amadio, flying him out on this road trip, and promptly scratching him for that 11 F / 7 D lineup you love so much? Not your best decision making.

I’m going to add the 11/7 to list of head scratchers you pulled this year. The list currently includes:

  • The 4 F / 1 D power play units (Kings are ranked 27th on the PP this year);
  • The infatuation of putting Kyle Clifford on the second line;
  • The four-game scratching of Jonny Brodzinski;
  • Never healthy scratching Tyler Toffoli and Jeff Carter;
  • Kovalchuk on the 4th line; and,
  • The aging core playing 20+ minutes in meaningless games./

Tonight proved one thing: Willie Desjardins is dense. Here’s another game that it would be better to lose than win. So what does the interim coach do? He plays the vets big minutes while playing the kids as few as possible: Drew Doughty 23:50, Dustin Brown 22:25, Anze Kopitar 22:13, Jeff Carter 19:39, Carl Grundstrom 13:35, Austin Wagner 9:18, Kurtis MacDermid 8:42, Brodzinski 8:21.

The Game 75 Scoring

Kings 1. Flames 0.
Derek Forbort with the seeing eye goal.

Kings 2. Flames 0.
Jonny Brodzinski with the laser! Just imagine if he was playing 14 minutes a night instead of being scratched.

Kings 3. Flames 0.
Tyler Toffoli’s first goal since February 11th.

Next: The Kings continue their Alberta trek as they face the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place on Tuesday.

Quotables

Drew Doughty on Matthew Tkachuk (prior to the game):

“No respect for him, none. I respect everyone else. I’ll never talk to him off the ice. … He’s not respected by most of the people in the league, it’s not just me – that’s just a fact.”

Doughty, continuing his Scorched Earth Campaign:

”All you’ve got to do is watch one San Jose Sharks game and you’ll see Brent Burns get beat three times a game, literally, and everybody has him up for the Norris. I just don’t get it…Burns, Karlsson, they don’t shut down the other team’s top lines. They play against second, third and fourth lines”

Games Until the Kings are Eligible for a New Head Coach: 7

Talking Points