Anatomy of a winning goal

For those who haven’t seen how the Kings won yesterday’s game, or just want to see it again, it’s worth a look. After practice today, Terry Murray broke down the play from his perspective, starting with the Dallas goal that tied the game in the final minute and the sense of calm the Kings tried to maintain. From there, Murray talks about the play. The Kings got the puck in deep, and when the Stars tried to clear the puck, Willlie Mitchell stopped it up at the blue line and sent a shot toward the net. That led to Wayne Simmonds carrying the puck behind the net and the net-front scramble that ended with Michal Handzus’ goal…

MURRAY: “Screaming and the hollering only makes me feel better. It doesn’t make anybody else feel better. That goes nowhere. That’s going to be, actually, very disruptive. It’s important to stay focused and just go out and finish the game the right way. … You’ve got to go through the fundamentals of the game, no matter what the circumstances are. You go to that faceoff, after they tied the game, and it’s an excellent breakout. It’s a simple play, but it’s a fundamental play, with a D-to-D pass and Handzus right in the right position in the middle of the ice, nice and low. Fundamentally, the play was executed really well. It gets back to Mitchell on the blue line. He’s going to get some pressure from the forward, and the key on that one, obviously, is to shoot the puck to the net. That’s what we ask them to do, whether it’s the first shift of the game or late in the game, as it was. So, a great result.”

Handzus’ game-winning goal