I Was There: The honorable mentions

In chronological order:

Saku Koiv-oops – February, 25, 2013

Do you remember Top Secret!?

Those boots are all that remain of the East German soldier that Jake Muzzin faked into the next county.

Here, have my hat, Jeff Carter – March 4, 2013

-A “hat trick on hat night” is surely better than “terrible calls on ball night,” which got the Dodgers in trouble some years ago. In addition tp one of the longer hat trick stoppages I can remember is the beauty of the play that led to it: Roman Josi electing not to pass and getting his pocket picked by Jeff Carter, who shows good acceleration in the opposite direction before cradling the puck with his backhand through Pekka Rinne’s five hole. Earlier in the evening he recorded one of his eight game-winning goals, a franchise record.

St. Louis surge – March 5, 2013

-You know those game situations where a team faces a surge of momentum from the opposition and needs its goaltender to come through with a huge save or two? Yeah, the Blues didn’t receive anything in the way of that from Jaroslav Halak, who was pulled in the third period in Los Angeles’ largest regular season comeback. After a Slava Voynov goal pulled L.A. within one late in the second, Mike Richards helped the cause early in the third with a goal off his own rebound. Jake Muzzin – who had two goals and an assist – scored just under a minute later on a sharp-angle goal that fooled Halak to tie the game. He then offered a beautiful assist as he drifted to his right on the blue line, opening up all kinds of space for Jeff Carter to his left. Carter practically burned a hole through the netting with a shot that chased Halak before Anze Kopitar added an insurance goal against Brian Elliott for extra emphasis.

Drew Doughty versus the clock – March 25, 2013

If you’re looking for the closest thing to Drew Doughty’s end-to-end rush in Game 2 at New Jersey in 2012, it’s this game-tying buzzer beater finished off by Dwight King. So strong on the puck, Doughty beat all six Blackhawks on the ice in the span of nine seconds, scoring with half a second remaining to tie a game the Kings came from behind three different times to win.

Dustin Brown (Jeff Carter, Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty, Mike Richards) – April 21, 2013

-If we’re only looking at the aesthetic value of a play and not gauging the impact the play had on the season, this may have been my favorite highlight of 2012-13. Every single Kings skater touches the puck within five seconds of each other, allowing Brown to score a game-tying goal against Dallas in the third period. Don’t you wish you could assign four assists to one play? No? OK, I’ll let myself out.

Other plays under consideration:
–Carter’s teleport goal at Minnesota, March 30
–Carter’s teleport goal at Minnesota, April 23
–Doughty hit on Datsyuk, February 10
–Doughty hit on Goligoski, March 7
–Burrows’ spin move and the shootout win over Vancouver, January 28
–Quick glove save on Daley (and puck toss), March 21
–Clifford and Polak tangle, March 5
–Lasorda snubs Johnson, April 18

Previously on “I Was There”
#10: Toffoli’s first goal
#9: Quick passes Hrudey
#8: Kopitar’s goal versus Detroit
#7: Game 4 comeback over St. Louis
#6: Slava’s overtime game-winner
#5: Banner raising ceremony
#4: Williams in seven
#3: The White House visit
#2: The McFlurry Miracle
#1: Jumping the Sharks

–courtesy KingsVision