Before we get into things involving the hockeys and the pucks, please take a moment to check out details on the “It’s On Us” campaign going on across all SB Nation blogs and platforms this week. Given some recent history with our own hockey club, this seems especially important for us to take part in. In the words of Sarah Kogod, “(the) campaign revolves around the belief that sexual assault isn’t just an issue involving a perpetrator and a victim, but one in which the rest of us also bear responsibility. We are committed to creating an environment – both in the physical world and on our site – where sexual assault is unacceptable and victims are supported.”
The campaign is focused in particular on college campuses, where many women (and some men) are victimized, and sometimes not just by their original assaulter either; they can be victimized all over again by campus officials that are often all-too-eager to keep their universities out of the headlines by quietly keeping legitimate assault cases under wraps rather than go to the authorities. Regardless of where you are engaging in sexual activities, please remember that consent must always be affirmative so, in another words, the lack of a no is not a yes (also remember that someone who is intoxicated or asleep cannot, by definition, consent to sexual activity). Past consent is not a substitute for present consent, and the other person always has the right to change their mind on engaging in sexual activity with you at any time.
With that said, let’s do this week’s Patented TWIK Awkward TransitionTM and start talking about some hockey games.
This Week in Games
(here’s all the games involving the Pacific Division from this past week. we’ll talk about the LA Kings’ games in great detail, while the rest will mostly just be scores, unless there’s something that really stood out about them. you’ll also get links to Eric’s awesome recaps which will expand on everything I’m saying in much greater detail if you missed any of them.)
Monday, November 10th
-Carolina Hurricanes 4, Calgary Flames 1
Tuesday, November 11th
-Florida Panthers 4, San Jose Sharks 1: The Sharks’ week started in south Florida, where they were outshot 30-26 by the Panthers despite trailing 2-0 from 12:18 of the 1st and 3-0 from 6:37 into the 2nd. That’s, uh, not good. Roberto Luongo, on the other hand, was good, stopping 25 of 26 as the Panthers did us all a solid and earned an unlikely victory over San Jose.
-Nashville Predators 3, Edmonton Oilers 2: Edmonton fell behind 3-0 in the first period when goalie Viktor Fasth was beaten on 3 of the 17 (!) shots he faced in the 1st alone. Our old pal Ben Scrivens came in and things got a little better for the Oilers, as he only had to see 18 shots for the remaining 2 periods and stopped all of them, giving the Oilers a chance to claw their way back into the game on goals from Benoit Pouliot and Nail Yakupov in the 2nd. But the Oilers were unable to find the equalizer in the 3rd, despite finally outshooting the Preds in a period (albeit by the slim margin of 9-7), and Nashville held on for the victory.
-Dallas Stars 4, Arizona Coyotes 3
–Vancouver Canucks 4, Ottawa Senators 3 (OT): I caught most of this game live and it was pretty wild. The Senators were able to come back and tie the game not once, not twice, but three times after Vancouver took the lead, and always fairly quick too (they tied it at 1-1 less than 4 minutes after the Vancouver goal, 2-2 less than 2 minutes after, and 3-3 just over 3 minutes after). But Daniel Sedin was able to finally find the game-winner with just 55 seconds left to play in overtime, keeping Vancouver on a roll and, at the time at least, actually on top of the entire NHL standings.
Wednesday, November 12th
–Anaheim Ducks 6, Los Angeles Kings 5 (SO): Look, if you were able to enjoy this game then more power to you, but this was absolute torture for me personally. There’s really nothing I enjoy less than watching the Kings pull a Maple Leafs/Ducks/Avalanche on a division rival, and for most of this game that’s exactly what the Kings did, holding down leads despite playing about as poorly as they’ve ever played in the shot attempts department throughout the entire game. The Kings just got buried in this one, looking a step slow and losing puck battles all over the ice. Somehow (mostly thanks to Jonathan Quick, who has honestly been mostly stellar so far this season) they looked like they were going to win anyway, with Gaborik & Williams scoring 2 goals at 7:32 and 11:01 into the 3rd, but the Ducks were not going to be Duck’d on this night, as Ryan Kesler scored his 2nd goal of the period and then Ryan Getzlaf found the equalizer with just 1:39 left to play in regulation. Of course this game went to a shootout that the Kings lost, and I guess the glass-half-full version says that at least the Kings got a point in a game they should have probably lost 5-0 (thank god Anaheim’s goaltending continues to be absolute garbage). But the Kings looked completely outclassed in almost every non-goaltending facet of the game in this one, and I fail to see how you could come away thinking anything all that positive about them. (recap) (gamethread)
Thursday, November 13th
–San Jose Sharks 2, Tampa Bay Lightning 1
–Calgary Flames 5, Arizona Coyotes 3
-Ottawa Senators 4, Edmonton Oilers 3 (OT)
-Dallas Stars 2, Los Angeles Kings 0: After the pain of the previous night’s smackdown in Orange County, this one honestly barely registered for me. The Kings looked lethargic and barely-interested throughout, sure, but that’s still a step up from looking like absolute freaking garbage. Amusingly, the Stars looked to have pulled a Detroit from last year and score a goal after the puck had hit the netting to go up 2-0, but the goal was waived off after a conference of officials (that may or may not have involved them looking at a video replay they weren’t supposed to). That happy feeling lasted like 20 seconds or so before Dallas immediately scored to make it 2-0 anyway, and at that point I tuned out for the rest of the game (not literally, I kept it on and didn’t pay any attention) because I was mentally and emotionally exhausted with this incredibly frustrating hockey team. Oh, Alec Martinez got hurt, because lol sure whatever. (recap) (gamethread)
Friday, November 14th
–Arizona Coyotes 5, Vancouver Canucks 0: That roll the Canucks were on came to a dead stop in this one, as the Canucks got blanked by….Devan Dubnyk. Yes, that Devan Dubnyk. He stopped all 35 shots he faced, while Ryan Miller allowed the Yotes to score 5 on just 23 shots. That’s even worse than it sounds because the Yotes actually got outshot twelve to three in the first but somehow skated off the ice with a 1-0 lead anyway (and I think only had something like five or six shots-on-goal midway through the 2nd too, so uh, lol Miller I guess?). Yikes.
Saturday, November 15th
–Los Angeles Kings 3, Anaheim Ducks 2 (OT): Okay so time for a little bit of honesty: I was actually pretty drunk for most of this game, so I can’t tell you much of anything about it (actually I was drunk with fellow Jewels blogger Sheng Peng, so shoutout to Sheng and his incredibly nice wife!). From what I can vaguely recall the Kings looked a hell of a lot better than they did in the last Kings-Ducks game and I’m almost certain that’s not just the booze talking. Anyway, I can definitely remember that the game-winning goal in overtime was absolutely hilarious, as Jarret Stoll barely touched a puck and somehow the world’s slowest deflection still slid underneath Frederik Anderson’s pads to give the Kings a much-needed victory. More importantly (to me anyway), the #fancystats don’t appear to have been a disaster! Hurray! (recap) (gamethread)
-Columbus Blue Jackets 2, San Jose Sharks 1: Columbus has six wins on the season and two of them have come against the Sharks. That’s right, San Jose alone accounts for a third of their victories. That’s, uh, yeah.
–Calgary Flames 4, Ottawa Senators 2: JESUS CHRIST WILL YOU ALL STOP LOSING TO THE CALGARY FRICKIN’ FLAMES
Sunday, November 16th
–San Jose Sharks 2, Carolina Hurricanes 0: While the Sharks got the win against the Hurricanes, they also somehow gave them 65% of all shot attempts (and a cool 68% of shot attempts at evens). I know, road back-to-back, but jesus Sharks.
-Florida Panthers 6, Anaheim Ducks 2: Bwahahahaha.
–Arizona Coyotes 2, Edmonton Oilers 1
This Week in Standings
| Team | GP | W | L | OTL | Points | ROW | GF | GA | Diff | Home | Away | Last Week |
| 1. Anaheim | 19 | 11 | 4 | 4 | 26 | 9 | 51 | 46 | +5 | 5-2-3 | 6-2-1 | 1-1-1 |
| 2. Vancouver | 18 | 12 | 6 | 0 | 24 | 10 | 53 | 52 | +1 | 5-3-0 | 7-3-0 | 1-1-0 |
| 3. Calgary | 19 | 11 | 6 | 2 | 24 | 10 | 59 | 50 | +9 | 4-2-2 | 7-4-0 | 2-1-0 |
| 4. Los Angeles | 18 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 22 | 8 | 45 | 40 | +5 | 8-2-1 | 1-3-3 | 1-1-1 |
| 5. San Jose | 20 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 22 | 8 | 56 | 53 | +3 | 2-3-0 | 8-5-2 | 2-2-0 |
| 6. Arizona | 18 | 8 | 9 | 1 | 17 | 7 | 47 | 57 | -10 | 4-4-0 | 4-5-1 | 2-2-0 |
| 7. Edmonton | 18 | 6 | 10 | 2 | 14 | 6 | 44 | 60 | -16 | 4-5-1 | 2-5-1 | 0-2-1 |
It was an oddly static week for so early in the season, as every team remained in the exact same position. The Ducks, Canucks, and Kings all put up identical 1-1-1 weeks, which is basically the definition of mediocrity. Two other teams (the Sharks and the Yotes) had .500 records of 2-2-0 as well, and the Oilers went 0-2-1 because of course they did. The only team with a winning record in the Pacific this past week? Why, the Calgary Flames of course, who went 2-1-0 for the second straight week. Life is weird you guys.
This Week in #fancystats
(all stats are total attempts, not percentages. thanks to extra skater war-on-ice.)
Ducks 6, Kings 5 (SO)
Corsi: Ducks 88-Kings 48 (overall), Ducks 70-Kings 41 (5v5), Ducks 46-Kings 20 (5v5 close), Ducks 20-Kings 14 (5v5 tied)
Fenwick: Ducks 68-Kings 38 (overall), Ducks 54-Kings 34 (5v5), Ducks 36-Kings 16 (5v5 close), Ducks 17-Kings 11 (5v5 tied)
LA Indv. Player Corsi 5v5– Best: Gaborik (+9), Williams (+1), Kopitar (even). Worst: Martinez (-21), King (-19), Richards/Brown (tied, -15)
ANA Indv. Player Corsi 5v5– Best: Lindholm (+23), Manson (+19), Rakell (+15). Worst: Thompson/Jackman (tied, -9), Allen (-2)
Stars 2, Kings 0
Corsi: Kings 55-Stars 48 (overall), Kings 42-Stars 38 (5v5), Stars 22-Kings 18 (5v5 close), Stars 13-Kings 6 (5v5 tied)
Fenwick: Kings 45-Stars 34 (overall), Kings 34-Stars 29 (5v5), Stars 17-Kings 13 (5v5 close), Stars 11-Kings 6 (5v5 tied)
LA Indv. Player Corsi 5v5– Best: Clifford/Stoll (tied, +7), Muzzin/Doughty/Williams (tied, +6). Worst: King/Martinez/Richards (tied, -7)
DAL Indv. Player Corsi 5v5– Best: McKenzie (+9), Jordie Benn (+8), Seguin/Jamie Benn (tied, +4). Worst: Dillon (-11), Cole (-8), Roussel (-7)
Kings 3, Ducks 2 (OT)
Corsi: Kings 66-Ducks 54 (overall), Kings 49-Ducks 47 (5v5), Ducks 44-Kings 43 (5v5 close), Ducks 39-Kings 32 (5v5 tied)
Fenwick: Kings 51-Ducks 41 (overall), Kings 38-Ducks 37 (5v5), Ducks 35-Kings 34 (5v5 close), Ducks 32-Kings 25 (5v5 close)
LA Indv. Player Corsi 5v5– Best: Lewis (+11), McNabb (+8), Nolan (+7). Worst: Regehr (-12), Carter (-8), Gaborik (-5)
ANA Indv. Player Corsi 5v5– Best: Etem (+16), Getzlaf (+13), Manson (+10). Worst: Karlsson (-11), Rakell (-10), Vatanen/Silfverberg/Allen (tied, -8)
Next Week in the Pacific
(this is exactly what it sounds like: the next week’s schedule for all 7 Pacific Division teams. all times are pacific because, um, duh.)
| Team | 11/17 | 11/18 | 11/19 | 11/20 | 11/21 | 11/22 | 11/23 |
| LA | – | vs.FLA (7:30) | – | vs.CAR (7:30) | – | @DAL (5:00) | – |
| ANA | – | @CGY (6:00) | – | @VAN (7:00) | – | – | vs.ARI (5:00) |
| VAN | – | – | @EDM (5:00) | vs.ANA (7:00) | – | – | vs.CHI (6:30) |
| CGY | vs.ANA (6:00) | – | vs.CHI (6:00) | – | vs.NJ (7:00) | – | |
| SJ | – | @BUF (4:30) | – | vs.FLA (7:30) | – | vs.ARI (7:30) | – |
| ARI | – | vs.WSH (6:00) | – | @DAL (5:30) | – | @SJ (7:30) | @ANA (5:00) |
| EDM | – | – | vs.VAN (5:00) | – | vs.NJ (6:30) | vs.CHI (7:00) | – |
The Kings will wrap up their mini-homestand with games against the Panthers and Hurricanes, before beginning a short 3-game road trip against all Central Division teams in Dallas on Saturday night (oddly enough, that will wrap up the entire Kings-Stars season series here in mid-November). Though the Kings don’t have any divisional games this coming week, the rest of the division has a whole bunch: the Ducks play their whole schedule in the division, in fact, traveling to Calgary and Vancouver before returning home to face the Coyotes. A couple other divisional games see the Canucks traveling to Edmonton on Wednesday and the Sharks hosting the Coyotes on Saturday. Very exciting. Can you tell how excited I am? I bet you can.
Speaking of EXCITEMENT, don’t forget to check back later tonight for this week’s edition of the Jewelcast! You’ll find the latest episode right off the front page, where you can stream the show live through the embedded player. See you then!