Kings at Ducks: Also known as Ducks at Kings

By NyLaKy

Welp, where to start?

That pretty much sums it up, no?

The Kings did a very ‘14–15 Kings-like thing, wrapped up in a very unlike ‘10–14 Kings thing, and gave birth to one measly point in the standings.

That is to say, the Kings were outplayed for vast stretches of the game despite leading. And then they gave up a 2-goal lead not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES!!!!

A pretty decent start ultimately resulted in Anze Kopitar scoring the Kings’ first penalty shot goal in more than two years.

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Selke Smooth[/caption]

Then Drew Doughty earned his first goal of the season to tie off a first period in which the Kings were outshot 15–5.

The Ducks scored to start the second period on a McBain-McNabb pairing that can only be explained away as a classic Darryl Sutter troll move. Seriously, they were pretty bad.

But everyone’s favorite American Hero Trevor Lewis got it right back on easily the worst goal allowed by an opposing goalie this year, which spelled the end of the night for Frederik Andersen, and seemingly set the game on an eerily familiar path.
At this rate, Lewis might actually come out on the winning end of the points tracker!

But the nostalgic heroics were not to hold.

The Ducks scored on a questionable snipe from Silfverberg, which Quick would quickly redeem with a preposterous save to keep the Kings ahead.

The Kings ended the third period outshot 12–31, which isn’t a great recipe for success, it turns out.

After Ryan Kesler tied the game up to start the third period, Gaborik scored a very playoff-esque goal to grab the lead back, Williams added to the total with a nice rebound tally, and the Kings fans in the building were loud and proud. It seemed to be another game this season the Kings would win despite not playing particularly well.

And then this happened.

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I can’t wait to read all the “This is why the Ducks traded for Kesler” articles that are going to exist tomorrow.[/caption]

Great defending, Kings! Also, is there another goalie in the league who gives up as many wrap around goals as J. Quick? Where did he think Kesler was going?

With less than two-minutes to play, Ryan Getzlaf, who pretty much owned all night, tied up the game off a nice tip, albeit from a weird angle that solidified the working notion that the “excellent” Quick who started the game was not the one who ended it.

That being said, you know things aren’t going well when it can easily be claimed that Quick had a solid game whilst giving up 5 goals.

Tanner Pearson and Kyle Clifford were inexplicably benched for all of the third period and overtime, and Tyler Toffoli barely played, because apparently the Kings don’t need their top two goal scorers in a tight game.

The Kings would lose in a shootout, because why not? At that point, everything was getting by Quick. And can someone please explain to me why Jeff Carter has moved away from his shootout move that had a roughly 95% success rate in seasons prior? Was it like the cheater move in Sega? He needs more of a challenge now?

So the Kings barfed up one point (and perhaps more unforgivably, gifted the Ducks 2), got beaten by a Jason LaBarbera-lead and Corey Perry-missing Ducks team in a shootout, and everyone who loves watching chaotic, absurdist hockey was roundly entertained, while Los Angeles fans everywhere are wondering where their Corsi Kings have gone.

By the way, do not think we are just glossing over the fact that Corey Perry has the mumps. It just feels like something deserving of a post all on its own.

But seriously, Corey Perry has the mumps. So everyone is a winner.