Strangely enough it's January 17th with almost half the season gone...and the Kings and Ducks just played their first of the five meetings they will have during the regular season. It fell in favor of the Kings in an antsy 3-2 victory at the Honda Center.
The Kings, playing on the second night of a back to back, were looking to rebound after a Saturday matinee game against Ottawa where the team gave up four goals and a lead in the third period. While the Kings went into the third with a 3-1 lead, there were nervous moments as the Ducks pulled within one with David Perron scoring his first as a Duck.
Perron was acquired roughly 48 hours prior in a trade that sent struggling winger Carl Hagelin to Pittsburgh in exchange for the former Blue, and Adam Clendening.
The Kings got goals from Lecavalier (2), Toffoli (22), and Kopitar (13), with Rakell supplementing the Perron goal. Rakell's ninth of the season was certainly an interesting one.
.@RickyRakell93 with the style points. #LetsGoDucks pic.twitter.com/3CXGvvWABZ
— Anaheim Ducks (@AnaheimDucks) January 18, 2016The Ducks also had the tying goal in the middle of the third from Andrew Cogliano waived off due to a kicking motion. See for yourself
(The Ducks broadcast actually had an outstanding angle that I don't believe was shown on the Kings broadcast. It was clear in this one that Cogliano had clear intent.)
The Kings held on, despite being outshot 32-26 and by a margin of 16-7 in the third. Score effects certainly played their part, as the Kings were also out corsi'd 28 to 14 in the third, leading to a game total 66 to 56, and 50 to 49 at even strength. Even strength scoring chances fell in favor of the Ducks by a count of 16-10
The Kings now move 10 points clear of Arizona with the division lead with 59, while Anaheim remains mired in a 2-7 group that is separated by just eight points across the board. The Ducks are slowly starting to figure things out, and are 6-3-1 in their last 10 games.
Now for some fast and furious notes:
- Quick stopped 30 of 32, and won his 25th game on the season. He is currently 15th in the league with a .923 save percentage, and has compiled an equal .923 save percentage in the month of January. He has slid off a bit of a high in the last 15 days, because if you include games dating back to December 17th (exactly one month), Quick has a ridiculous .938 save percentage in his last 11 games.
- On the back of his 8-year extension, Kopitar registered his sixth multi-point game of the season. He has really upped the ante lately, and has points in 10 of his last 11. In those 11 games, he has totaled five goals and 18 points.
- Tyler Toffoli is also white hot. He potted his 22nd goal of the season, and his third in as many games. He is on pace for a ridiculous 41 goals on the season as of right now. The last time any Kings player crested 40 goals...well you have to go all the way back to 1993-94 when Luc Robitaille potted 44. He was 27 at the time, and Wayne Gretzky was still on the team (and on his line if I am not mistaken...Gretzky had 92 assists that year...)
- Lecavalier has scored in two straight and played a season high 15:31. Sutter also had Lecavalier out to take a defensive zone draw with under a 1:30 left in the game and the Anaheim net empty. The last time Lecavalier had back to back goals was December 21st and 23rd of last season. This was also the single highest ice time he has logged since January 3rd of last season (15:50, Philly @ NJD)
- Luke Schenn played 19:07, his second game over the 19 minute mark for L.A. He did however lose the corsi battle at 40% corsi for on the night. 19:07 was fourth amongst Kings defensemen, ahead of both McNabb an McBain.
- Jamie McBain played his first game since January 2nd, while Andy Andreoff played in his first since January 4th. They logged 10:41 and 6:47 respectively. Andreoff replaced the somewhat curiously out of favor Nic Shore.
- Jake Muzzin extended his points streak to seven games with another assist. He has seven points in his last seven games (1g 6a). He is now on pace for 44 points, which would break last season's total by three. The seven game point streak by Muzzin is also the longest point streak by a Kings defenseman since Lubomir Visnovsky held a nine game point streak in December of 2005.
- Drew Doughty played 29:18 and drew over seven minutes against Kesler, Perry, and Ryan Getzlaf.
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