Waking up with the Kings: April 21

“I wouldn’t exactly call it new,” Dustin Brown said of the team’s predicament after last night’s game. “We were in the same situation last year.” He’s right, though the circumstances are vastly different. In Game 1 against St. Louis last year, the Kings were outplayed but found a way to sneak into overtime and were ultimately felled by a fluky shorthanded goal. In Game 2, they took a 1-0 lead into the third period and allowed a game-winner with under a minute to play. Through the first two games of this year’s first round series, they aren’t finding ways to remain in games, and the backbone of the team’s success has been missing. Part of it is due to game situations and the need to press for offense, but the Kings are turning pucks over, allowing a surplus of odd-man rushes and haven’t been able to establish their puck possession game against an opponent that places similarly high value in holding onto the puck and working in the offensive zone. As a result, the Jennings Trophy-winning Kings have allowed 13 goals through two games after allowing 13 goals through their first eight games of last year’s playoff run. Even though the Kings admirably weathered the storm, relied on an early first period goal and held a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes, they were overly reliant on Jonathan Quick, who made excellent saves on Patrick Marleau, Joe Pavelski and Tommy Wingels as the home team was able to generate the better and more frequent chances in the first period of play.

A prevailing narrative from the first two games of the series is that San Jose’s role players and depth forwards have made a key impact in the series, and that’s certainly true when looking at the production from players such as Raffi Torres, Andrew Desjardins and Mike Brown, all three of whom have been supplemented the team’s offense while adhering to their roles, forechecking and providing difficult minutes for Los Angeles. The Sharks’ top players have also made important contributions and have outplayed L.A.’s top players. Joe Pavelski, Patrick Marleau and Logan Couture have all outscored any player on the Kings, with Pavelski and Marleau looking especially dangerous. I loved Anze Kopitar’s first period last night, and Jeff Carter has also generated some offense, though the team will not win playoff games with Justin Williams, Dustin Brown, Mike Richards and Marian Gaborik remaining off the score sheet, as they have through the first two games.

Though the Kings may have been out-chanced in the first period, they had opened up a 2-0 lead and were able to establish a forecheck through the middle stages of the period that made advancement through the neutral zone difficult for the Sharks. Trevor Lewis, who has been rewarded thus far for his play in front of the opposing net, also made a key defensive play by diving to knock a puck out of the defensive zone to disrupt San Jose zone time while forcing a needed line change. Other than converting on a pair of Grade-B opportunities in the first period and sustaining some second period pressure amidst the Sharks’ comeback, there wasn’t any pressure that paid dividends in the form of high quality opportunities.

Of course, it’s still a 2-0 series deficit. Goal differential means nothing. The Chicago Blackhawks are trailing 2-0, and they lost one game in overtime and one game in triple overtime. Circumstances across the Western Conference entering Game 3s haven’t favored teams opening the playoffs on the road.