Oh The Pain! Canadians 4, Kings 3

The start of this 5-game road trip looked to be a fantastic outing. The Kings were looking solid in their passing, skating, and defensive play. Last season when the Montreal Canadiens came to LA, they outworked and outskated the Kings; this game proved to be quite different. The Kings set the tone right from the start; they dictated the speed and flow of the puck and the Canadiens were the ones that had to do the adapting. The first period saw the Kings leading the way but little did I know that by the end of the game, I'd be in for shock and disappointment... and with no points to show for it.

Let's get the whole Denis Gauthier incident out of the way. I'm not going to go into whether I think he needs to get suspended for his hit on Josh Georges or not. The fact that I don't think he's a great player overrides his action yesterday. I was irritated that he was in the lineup to begin with, and watching him leave his feet to land an elbow on Gorges' head proved my point. If you want to vote on how many games he should be suspended, go to James Mirtle's post and then head over to Puck Daddy for some thoughts on it. I really couldn't care less.

Something that annoyed me: The announcer for the Canadiens. What a homer, seriously. And when Wayne Simmonds fought Max Pacioretty, it seemed like it ended almost with a tie, but I gave it to Simmonds because he landed more fists. This announcer said something like, "Both benches are cheering and I don't know why." What do you mean you don't know why? Are you a person who thinks the game should be without fighting? That comment and others put a sour taste in my mouth and I was irriated with his play-by-play for the rest of the game.

Once again the Kings held their opponents to shots-on in the mid-20s at 26 and they got 32 shots to Carey Price. But things fell apart in the third period when the Canadiens came back to tie it and got the go-ahead with less than a minute to go. The first half of the game had the Habs getting penalties here and there, but in the third, the Kings took five total penalties. I didn't even realize this until I just looked at the stats sheet, but Jarret Stoll received a 10-minute misconduct with less than a minute to go in the game. Maybe I was too upset to even realize this happened, but I still have no idea what it was for.

At this point I'm just upset that the Kings lost. The end of the game was just ridiculous and I don't believe the Habs deserved the win. Yes, I can be a homer because this is my team and they were robbed, but I'm not boohoo-ing over this loss. There is no singular player that I can hang this loss on. I'm not even sure what the problem was on the Kings' side; the Habs just seemed to get their legs back under them and finish out the game. Anyway, the only thing the Kings should do from this loss is to learn from it and move on to their next game against the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday evening.

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Kings 2, Canadiens 5

I found myself shaking my head so many times while at Staples that I couldn't even keep count, but it wasn't just because of the Kings. There were so many other things going on in Staples that the viewer could not see on TV that it was amazing! Habs jerseys at every turn, Canadian flags, audible singing of the Canadian anthem even though it was in French, bullshit calls by the refs, you get the picture. But like the last game, let me rewind and go back to the start of the game.

Purse Snatcher (A.K.A. Ryan O'Byrne) was a scratch, but I thought he should be given a mention

Pre-Game Thoughts:
- Traffic is shitty in LA at all times of the day; there's really no way around it.
- There were many more Canadiens fans today than there were Senators fans on Thursday.
- Kings started the game with their 2nd offensive line and defensive pair.
- Okay, Kings fans, stop booing Marc Crawford. It's CLEAR that he's not getting fired before the season ends! Get over it!

1st Period:
- The Kings first power play didn't really look like a power play. The Habs were pretty feisty and there was actually a disallowed goal that was scored by the Kings. I thought we were gonna be able to jump on the score board first, but the refs thought otherwise. I will watch the DVR'd game later so that I can get some answers!!!!
- I thought this first period was going at a pretty good pace seeing as how it was a 1PM start. Although the first 10 minutes both teams spent more time trying to get possession and making passes that mattered more than anything else.
- 12:51 - Koivu and Calder go to the box for roughing, which produced a very tense 4-on-4 situation. It was kind of surprising at how quiet the sellout crowd was.
- Kings PK at 15:40 by Kopi - this was a great kill and Sully was able to get some short-handed chances.
- The Kings had a great first period with the shots even at 10 apiece. They're obviously playing for pride at this point in the season while the Habs are attempting to climb higher in the Eastern Conference. The positives I take from this period are that Ivanans is showing some good foot speed, Preissing is getting knocked around but is actually noticeable to me by NOT making mistakes, and Ersberg is rocking it in net and keeping the Kings fans calm. The negatives are that Willie and Dallman still kinda suck.

2nd Period:
- Canadiens Goal - Brisebois unassisted. So much cheering...we're in Los Angeles, right??
- Kings PK - So right when I see Willsie on the ice and say, "C'mon, Willsie, don't suck," he takes a penalty for slashing. And to top it off Saku Koivu scores by redirecting a shot at 7:40. Habs up 2-0.
- In this period the Habs have woken up a little and have had more possession time with the puck than in the first. The Kings are trying to maintain the energy they had in the first and I'm hoping they can stage a comeback soon enough.
- Canadians Goal - Latendresse at 12:43. Uhh...yeah....
- The Kings 2nd line looked like it had potential to make a huge difference in the first period, but they aren't able to get the simple things done because the Habs are getting their act together and shutting down the Kings. Frolov is trying to be way too fancy for the fans and it's actually kind of annoying me because he's not as strong on the puck today than he has been in every game this season!
- Kings PP - Kings Goal - Rob Blake (7) nets his 700th NHL point!!!! I'm so happy I was there to see the milestone!! Score is Habs 3, Kings 1 at 16:53.

700 career points!!! Go Blake!

- Here's what pissed me off: With 46 seconds left on the clock, a pane of glass needed to be replaced, which was fine. The Kings had a tremendous amount of momentum going ever since Blake netted his goal that I just KNEW the Kings were going to score another before the period ended. The crew is about halfway through changing out the glass when they announce that they're going to take the intermission right at that point and come back to finish the 2nd and start the 3rd. OKAY, WHAT THE FUCK. You're just gonna let the refs take away your momentum?? I know it's not the Kings decision to do that, but didn't someone on the coaching staff complain?? The part that makes this even shitter was that the crew was done changing the glass BEFORE both benches went to the dressing room!!!

3rd Period:
- They run out the 46 remaining seconds, the horn goes, and the play is dead while the clock resets. I can't even describe how pissed I am at this.
- Canadiens Goal - Andrei Kostitsyn nets one at 3:49. Bla.
- The Habs continue to take control of the game. They're exuding more energy and are shutting down the Kings left and right. ...so many Habs fans cheering....

Go....second line?

- Kings Goal - Anze Fucking Kopitar nets is 29th of the season at 6:29. I haven't watched the game on TV yet, but I'm wondering why Fro wasn't given an assist on this play. But anyhoo, Fro had the puck at the goal line along the boards on the left, he had two Habs on him and passed to Sully who went around the net behind Halak. Sully passes to Kopi who was in front of the net and it's Kings 2, Habs 4.
- Halfway through the period: The Kings amazingly enough have 31 shots on while the Habs have 21. I touched on this earlier, but I think this is the first game where Frolov hasn't had stellar puck possession. He's getting pushed out and getting knocked off the puck, which is just frustrating the hell out of me since this is not supposed to be happening!!!!
- More things to note at this point:

• The 1st line is trying to be too fancy and is waiting for the perfect opportunity. This period was the best opportunity to just throw the puck at the net, but....yeah....
• The 2nd line had a little more spunk but Frolov was showing off a little too much, which caused him to loose possession one too many times.
• The 3rd line showed the most grit in my opinion. They were going for the dirty garbage goals, but this dude named Willsie was definitely the weakest link.
• The 4th line brought some grit as well by shutting down the Habs as best they could.

- The Canadiens net their 5th goal on an empty net at 18:07 by Tom "I like to steal purses" Kostopoulos.
- Harrold definitely has some growing up to do. I know he's a rookie and I don't like picking on rookies, so all I'm gonna say is, "Can you just please make less mistakes?"

Game:
- Kings 2, Canadiens 5 (shots on 37, 23)
- The Kings showed something that has actually been rare this season, which was their ability to come out strong in the first period. They were beating the Habs to pucks and were a little faster and better with their passing. But if you look at the game from start to finish, the Kings faded while the Habs did just the opposite. They started out iffy making me wonder how much better the West was than the East, but then they brought it in the second and third. In the end, I guess I'm okay with getting beaten by the number one team in the Eastern Conference.

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