One of the storylines of this series continues to be 5-on-5 play. It seemed natural to assume that unless the Kings could keep up their torrid pace on the power play for the entire season, eventually their 5-on-5 weakness would catch up with them, and it appears as though it has. On the power play, the Kings have outscored the Canucks 10-5, but at even strength the Canucks have outscored the Kings 16-6, and that’s just not sustainable if a team wants to win a series. For long stretches last night, the Kings even had trouble getting the puck through the neutral zone, and they went 10 minutes between shots on goal at one point in the second period. After the game, I asked Rob Scuderi what the Kings needed to improve upon at even strength, particularly in terms of getting the puck through the middle of the ice…
SCUDERI: “The first game, I think we tried to go through the middle ourselves, and it didn’t really work. They clog up the middle and do a good job. I think we’ve had an effective game plan, up until tonight. I think if we get back to it, we should be OK. It’s the details of it. If we have a few guys in here that aren’t going to do it, even for a couple shifts a period, it might not be a goal in the back of your net but it’s certainly a lot of lost momentum.”
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