It was all smiles for 40 minutes.
Then it was all frowns for the final 20.
Then it was a series of heart attacks for the ensuing final five minutes of end-to-end 3v3 overtime.
It was billed from the start as a clash of two of the NHL's finest, and it lived up to the hype in the end. Although, it certainly did not seem that way at the outset of the game.
The Kings, coming into the night looking to reclaim first place from the Anaheim Ducks, got off to a monster start. The Kings absolutely blitzed the Caps in transition, leading to numerous oddman rushes, powerplay opportunities, and eventually a 3-0 lead, a 14-6 shot advantage, and a 23-12 corsi advantage.
The Kings got goals from Vinny Lecavalier (7), Jake Muzzin (8), and Milan Lucic (16).
It looked like Trotz and company made some really good changes in the second period however, locking down the neutral zone and taking very better care with the puck in the offensive zone. The second period saw some lo event hockey, with seven shots apiece and an 18-13 corsi advantage for Washington.
Then...
Justin Williams and Mike Richards are trailing 3-0... what could possibly go wrong??
— PumperNicholl (@PumperNicholl) March 10, 2016
hahahaha *throws up*
Washington, much like the Kings in the first, started laying into the Kings on transition. Offensive zone shifts became long drawn out cycles, and the possession battle shifted heavily in favor of Washington. Perhaps it was aided by score effects, but credit the Caps for showing some mettle and really taking it to L.A. in the third.
The Caps got an early goal on the powerplay from T.J. Oshie, and then followed it up with a Nick Backstrom strike as the game clicked under 10 minutes. The comeback was capped off by this wunder goal from young Dmitri Orlov. Forget what team you are a fan of for a second, this was a beauty.
Although the @LAKings pulled out the W in OT, we must watch this FILTHY goal by Orlov a few more times.https://t.co/7Fdng2qJ6O
— NHL (@NHL) March 10, 2016
After a deflating third though, the Kings picked themselves up and mustered an exhausting, and anxiety inducing end to end overtime. Jeff Carter put the nail in the coffin off a great feed from Milan Lucic to put the Caps away.
I will take one seven game series of this, please and thank you.
Let's get into some details.
First off, the defense.
It was scrambly, it was shoddy at times, especially in the third when the Kings started to sink back and allow space for the Capitals to maneuver in neutral ice. This is what happens when teams attempt to play with a lead against high skill teams like the Caps. The biggest victims? The pairing of Drew Doughty and Rob Scuderi, along with the current topline incantation of Kopitar and Carter.
Scuderi and Doughty had, by possession standards, a nightmare game. Granted, they were getting the most minutes against the Backstrom-Ovechkin duo so a little slack can be granted there. Nevertheless, the two ended the night on a staggering MINUS 14 CORSI. That's a 29.41% on the evening. They were getting absolutely massacred at the hands of the Backstrom-Ovy-Oshie line, who posted 14 corsi events against them. Even more concerning was the nine events posted against them by the SECOND line of Burakovsky and Kuznetsov. The Kings top pairing was a combined 7-23 against the top 6 of Washington. The top line was also a 20% against the Caps top line, and only a 43% against the caps second line. These are scary scary numbers. Especially when you consider the following:
These are the ice times at the end of regulation for the Kings D corp. That's right, Rob Scuderi played more minutes than Jake Muzzin. Brayden McNabb, who actually had a very strong outing with Luke Schenn against the Caps bottom six forwards. McNabb took seven shifts (One ten seconds) in the third, so six shifts. The short bench also hit Kris Versteeg, who took only three shifts in the third. Elsewhere, the Kings "Second line" of Lecavalier-Toffoli-Pearson were equally mauled by the Caps top six (See above graph for specifics), as were the third line. While Washington sports one of the best top six forward groups in the league, this does raise some levels of concern moving forward into playoff territory. They will face arguably no forward group as deep as Washington 1-9, but they will face some very similar ones in Anaheim, Chicago, San Jose, and Dallas. With Gaborik and Nolan out, Darryl Sutter may need to do some experimenting to get some formidable lines going. Maybe, ya know, do something like this. There is some warm blanket veteran leaning going on here in the past few games, and it has reared its ugly head with some uglier numbers.
There were positives though, let us not focus so much on scary negatives. The Kings bottom line forwards pretty much owned the Caps bottom six forwards. Depth is key in the playoffs, and despite not scoring a whole lot, the Kings bottom set of forwards continue to be good in possessing the puck and not allowing goals against. Shore-Versteeg-Clifford had some very strong looks overall in very limited icetime, and finished the game as the three best possession forwards on the team tonight. Sutter even showed immense trust in Shore, having him out in the final seconds of the game to take an end zone draw against Washington's Nick Backstrom. Are we maybe seeing a corner turned with Shore and Sutter?
While the Scuderi-Doughty pairing struggled, Muzzin and Martinez had a stalwart effort. They received plenty of difficult minutes, skewed fairly evenly across all lines and mainly focused on the Caps top 6. The two finished in the positive range against the Ovechkin line while holding the Kuznetsov/Burakovsky duo to near even. It was not the prettiest of performances from the pair, but they were able to limit damage AND chip in offensively.
With his goal, Muzzin is now on pace to surpass last year's career high 41-point marker.
As stated earlier, McNabb also had a game worthy of praise. Finishing as the games best possession defenseman, albeit in some very cushy match up minutes.
Quick was excellent and saw a deluge of chances come against him in the third. While he did not need to be extraordinary by any stretch, he steered away 29 of 32, and 15 of 18 in the third.
Kings held a 56% to 44% faceoff advantage, with great numbers coming from Carter and Lecavalier. The duo were at 78 and 65% respectively for the evening. Kopitar split 9-for-18 on the night but was 57% in the defensive zone.
The Kings limited their recent achilles heel, and by that we mean penalties. They took just one minor on the night, however the Caps did convert on the play. The key here is though, the Kings took just one penalty.
Lucic's 16th goal was also his 41st point of the year, and he is now looking at a possible 50 point season. That seemed to be the mark set by many at the beginning of the season who questioned the value and worth of the deal.
And finally, how could you go anywhere near tonight without recognizing the tribute paid to former Kings Justin Williams and Mike Richards. Both were honored on the Kings video board between T.V. Timeouts, both received a standing ovation, and both responded in kind with a wave of recognition to the crowd.
It was a wild one, a worthwhile one if you East coasters stayed up to watch, and hopefully one that we get to see later on down the line this season.
Kings take it 4-3 in OT and vault back into first place in the Pacific.
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