Waking up with the Kings: April 5

If not for the raised stakes of the playoff circumstances, Saturday’s 3-1 Los Angeles Kings win over the Colorado Avalanche would have been almost a dull, script-like Kings win that saw the club roll through four lines and etch out a tried-and-true, possession-driven victory in which they held on to the puck for long stretches in the offensive zone and suppressed shots about as well as they’ve suppressed shots all year. Since the team has emerged as one of the league’s top possession teams, there have been one or two opportunities each year in which I check my game notes and refer back to the January, 1994 game in which the Kings limited the San Jose Sharks to 10 shots in a 2-2 tie. In those games, though, there’s always a flurry of activity in which the trailing team desperately tries to find a late goal, and the opponents end up with 14 or 15 shots. But last night, the top shot suppressing team in the league played keep away with the puck and checked very well in all zones, and the only late flurry ensured that the Avalanche would tie – not set – Los Angeles’ record for shots against in a regular season game.

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Alec Martinez beat Semyon Varlamov with a beautiful shot (err, two beautiful shots), but it was the Kings’ first goal that stood out as a heady and controlled display of speed and athleticism. Jeff Carter, taking advantage of a Colorado line change during a neutral zone turnover, spotted a hole in the Avs’ defense and busted through the seam at top speed. For those of you who pay attention to such things, it was more or less equivalent to DeMarco Murray blasting through the Dallas Cowboys’ offensive line last fall. Carter kept his shot low to increase the chance of a rebound while knowing full well that Dwight King had joined the rush, and King pounded the rebound past Varlamov to open up the scoring. It was a manifestation of the commonly heard phrase “keeping it simple;” also of note, Carter logged seven zone entries, all of which were controlled. Among the other individual performances worth noting, don’t overlook Anze Kopitar’s denial of a 2-on-1 pass as the last player back on a Colorado rush, followed several moments later by a 1-on-3 zone entry in which he stickhandled through the Avalanche at a high speed before generating a decent change from close range.

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At the outset of a four-games-in-six-nights stretch, it was important to have all four lines going, and for the most part, they all were. Minutes were allotted about as evenly as could be reasonably expected; Drew Doughty clocked in roughly two and a half minutes below his seasonal rate by compiling 26:33 (he now ranks second in TOI, two seconds behind Ryan Suter), and the only other player above 20 minutes was Jake Muzzin, with 23:17. Kyle Clifford, Nick Shore and Jordan Nolan all logged over 11 minutes, with Shore getting a shorthanded shift as well to up his ice time to 12:44. With important games approaching and a back-to-back in Vancouver and Edmonton, there will be an interesting balance of deployment as Darryl Sutter both looks to guide the team towards a playoff berth while making sure players remain fresh for the final game of the road trip in Calgary, and what could shape up to be an enormously important game at home against San Jose next Saturday.

Colorado Avalanche v Los Angeles Kings

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