After a dominant first period, the Los Angeles Kings looked in control and on their way to a franchise record-tying ninth straight win. That is, until…
Clearly, referee Ian Walsh blew the whistle too quickly on Justin Williams’s early second period power play putback. There’s no need to rehash it. Afterwards, Williams put the call in context:
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” lang=”en”><p>“U don’t win or lose the game on 1 call. You win it by the whole body of work in the game. It simply wasn’t good enough” <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/LAKings?src=hash”>#LAKings</a> Williams</p>— Frozen Royalty (@frozenroyalty) <a href=”https://twitter.com/frozenroyalty/status/571195053730693121″>February 27, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
So what about LA’s “whole body of work”? A peek at the game’s underlying stats suggest a strong Kings effort:
That’s just even strength! Consider also that Los Angeles outchanced Ottawa 5-2 overall on the man advantage.
So what’s J-Dub talking about?
For about 20 minutes, from Walsh losing sight of the rubber to Mike Hoffman’s game-winning tally, team defense went AWOL. In that stretch, they were outchanced 11-6 at even strength—in the previous 13 games, Los Angeles had surrendered that many chances over an entire game only twice.
So take a seat! You’re basically in on LA’s video review today. Darryl Sutter welcomes you!
Let’s begin with the 4v4 after Williams’s no-goal and Jamie McBain’s holding penalty. See if you can spot what’s wrong—the puck is circled in red:
In Panel 1, Robyn Regehr and Jarret Stoll are both focused on Cody Ceci, leading to a Turris chance all alone. Speaking for Regehr (for once), he had tripped going forward after the puck on the draw, so Stoll should’ve stayed low. In Panel 2, everything looks okay…until Panel 3, where Drew Doughty decides to try to block a bad angle shot, leaving Mark Stone by himself to collect the rebound. And to close out the shift, Stoll loses the rubber in the corner, leading to another Stone opportunity. That’s THREE chances against in 30 seconds!
From there, it got worse:
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” lang=”en”><p>"Our defense was slow moving pucks in the first. Then we passed the puck to them in the second. Should have been 2-1 after 40" – Sutter</p>— The Mayor John Hoven (@mayorNHL) <a href=”https://twitter.com/mayorNHL/status/571193524827213824″>February 27, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
This is what Darryl Sutter is referring to. First, Regehr:
Greene:
Here’s an example of “empty” coverage: There are enough guys back, but Williams and Jake Muzzin take one man, Trevor Lewis converges on Stone, and Ceci is ready for a point-blank slapshot. Of course, this mess started with a poor exchange between (you guessed it) Greene and Stoll.
Here’s Greene again, which caused Jim Fox to make the understatement of the period: “A little sloppy right there.”
Finally, Hoffman’s game winner. We know that Regehr was served by the bellboy from “Grand Budapest Hotel”…
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” lang=”en”><p>Zibanejad looks like an extra from a Wes Anderson movie <a href=”http://t.co/VoVg3zFJWo”>pic.twitter.com/VoVg3zFJWo</a></p>— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) <a href=”https://twitter.com/Sheng_Peng/status/571190102950584320″>February 27, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
…and Kopitar was beat by an admittedly-very fast Hoffman…
…but I also believe that Doughty could’ve made a more desperate attempt to prevent the cross-ice pass.
And that was that. The Kings pushed back, but rookie Andrew Hammond was excellent.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” lang=”en”><p>LA finds their game too late. Overall EV scoring chances: <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/LAKings?src=hash”>#LAKings</a> 14 <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/Sens?src=hash”>#Sens</a> 13. By period: LAK 3-6-4, OTT 0-11!-2</p>— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) <a href=”https://twitter.com/Sheng_Peng/status/571192593922580480″>February 27, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
Jonathan Quick was equally outstanding, but after tonight’s backend blunders, aren’t we glad that Andrej Sekera’s up?
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” lang=”en”><p>Did somebody say beach volleyball? <a href=”http://t.co/GvR73qUrMr”>pic.twitter.com/GvR73qUrMr</a></p>— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) <a href=”https://twitter.com/Sheng_Peng/status/571164638206935040″>February 27, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
The good news? This isn’t normal Kings hockey, and LA’s blueline just got a significant upgrade!