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This was not the way the Los Angeles Kings wanted to come into a big game against the Calgary Flames.
The Kings finally broke out of their six game losing streak on Sunday against the New York Rangers in a 4-2 victory. They hoped to continue that momentum against the Vancouver Canucks yesterday and try to build momentum going into tonight’s game against the team they are one point behind.
It didn’t go very well.
LA went down 3-0 before the game hit the six minute mark and their head coach John Steven was forced to call a time out to settle things down.
“Total reluctance to follow a game plan for whatever reason,… said Stevens after the game. “The two best players in the game tonight were our goalies and it’s not often you say that and lose 6-2.…
“That’s pretty much what it summed up to.…
The three goals Vancouver scored was an entire outline of the entire. The first goal by Loui Eriksson a minute into the game is the only one that Jonathan Quick could be faulted on as it was his turn over that led to the goal.
Eriksson’s second goal and Thomas Vanek’s breakaway slap shot was the result of a sloppy transition game which led to odd man rushes going the other way.
After the timeout, it appeared Stevens’ message got through to the Kings. Anze Kopitar channeled his inner Wayne Gretzky by using the area behind the net to find Alex Iafallo, who buried it past Jacob Markstrom.
“They scored three and we answered back with a quick one right away,… said Kopitar about if there was a chance to regroup in that game. “But then they get a fourth one right on the power play and you know, it was tough to kind of get going again.…
Quick allowed one more goal four minutes into the second period before he was given a reprieve by Stevens and pulled from the game. He ended up with 14 saves on 19 shots but he was given no help on this night.
“You look at our hockey team and the amount of times we’ve pulled our goalie this year has been very, very few,… said Stevens. “They’re the least guys you can blame. [Quick] didn’t want to come out of the net because he wants to stay in there with the team but I just felt that he’d had enough.
“I kind of hung him out to dry so it means I’ll get him out of the net and get [Darcy Kuemper] in there and get him some work.
Now the interesting thing is who will start tonight against Calgary? It is logical to expect the Kings to throw their best out there against the team they’re chasing for a playoff spot but he has played a lot recently, including both games of a back-to-back last week.
Since the Kings didn’t have a game day skate this morning, there is no official word on who will be in net. With that said, John Shannon of Rogers Sportsnet is reporting that Kuemper will start and Quick will be the backup.
As well, Shannon is reporting that Quick will skip the All-Star Game in Tampa Bay, which means he will not be available for Tuesday’s game against the Dallas Stars as per league rules.
With that in mind, since he will have a six day break after tonight’s game, might as well start him in this matchup.
So far this season, the Kings have lost both games to the Flames 4-3 in overtime on Oct. 11 and 4-3 in regulation on Jan. 4. With two games left against Calgary this season, it is important to try and win both in order to tie the season series and get to a different tie break should that come into effect.
After tonight, the Kings don’t face the Flames again until March 26.
Games like the one in Vancouver happen to every team throughout the course of an 82 game season. Unfortunately for the Kings, it just compounds an already tough time for the team. The best thing the team can do tonight is throw out the memories of last night and focus at the task at hand against Calgary.
This is the last game before going into the All-Star break so it is important to try and build confidence before starting up again on Tuesday.