There was so much going on in and around STAPLES Center that I’m glad I got inside just as the players hit the ice for warmups. Every inch of the area was occupied by someone or something so that there was no wasted space throughout the entire arena. I, myself, was nervous and antsy for the start of the game so I didn’t try to take in every single stimuli. I’m going to go with the same theme for this post. Bullets, bullets, and bullets!
- Even though Jack Johnson received the game’s 1st Star, the player of the game was Michal Handzus with two goals and one assist. He was everywhere; shoved pucks into the net, got his stick into passing lanes. Loved his effort all around.
- Ryan Smyth got his ding donged.
- Besides the Kings going three for three on the power play, the craziest stat was from Ryan Kesler. He won 23 faceoffs and lost only 9 (72%!).
- Once again the Kings needed more than just a minute to get their wheels moving. After letting Jonathan Quick feel the wrath of shots by the Canucks, the Kings screwed their heads on straight and started maintaining extended possession time in the Vancouver zone.
- The talk of the town is going to be the disallowed goal that was apparently “kicked in” by Henrik Sedin. It was deemed a goal on the ice by the official and the War Room took their time in making their decision go the other way. I’ll let everyone have his/her say in the comments. Have at it.
- [EDIT]:
There was an insane amount of everything going on in the arena and on the ice. I was a bit distracted by the constant screaming, howling, chanting, ranting, and flag-waving, so you tell me, what did you find the best part about the game? Was it Roberto Luongo getting pulled? Was it Wayne Simmonds taking out two Canucks in the span of 5 seconds? Was it seeing the Kings kill off all four penalties successfully? Was it seeing Smyth’s huge windup slapshot sailing past Andrew Raycroft? Those were all towel-waving highlights for me. How did it look on the tube? Could you hear me yelling my heart out??
I have maxed out on my endorphin levels for the day. I will definitely be taking this Tuesday to relax and regroup for Wednesday’s game.