Penguins at Kings: Being at Home Helped Not At All

Thx Bud was in the house for this one which, hooray! Live hockey at the Staples Center again! But also, booooo the Kings continue to play the way they’ve been playing!

In a start that we all expected, but hoped wouldn’t come to fruition, Evgeni Malkin parked it in front of the net and scored a goal a mere 57 seconds into the 1st period. Fortunately, the Kings’ only goal scorer ever, Anze Kopitar, tied it up halfway through the first period.

On a power play no less!

Don’t get too excited though because the Kings are gonna Kings and about 30 seconds later, Stoll and Brown get themselves some penalties, putting the Kings on a 5-on-3 for the full 2 minutes. Great strategy guys! And because the Penguins’ power play can actually accomplish things on the regular, they capitalized on both power plays, promptly taking away the tie game and pushing the Penguins to a nice 3-1 lead.

The entire Staples Center, at the end of the first.

The second period saw a stronger and more cohesive Kings team, in addition to a goalie switch. Quick had allowed 3 out of 7 shots in the first, so Martin Jones entered to change things up a bit, but to no avail because Robyn Regehr has to have the most assists for opposing team’s goals — he HAS to. He got another one last night, with a skate blade assist to Tanner Glass to increase the Penguins’ lead.

You are not my Sasky boy tonight Robyn Regehr.

The third period was more of the same, with the the Kings out-shooting the Penguins and limiting them to a measly 3 SOG. But what use is that if they can’t seem to score a goal? Against the a rookie goalie, as teams seem to put in no less? Fun facts: The Kings have scored 1 goal or less in their last 5 games, and they’ve lost 7 of their last 8.

Me, watching Kings games, now and forever.

Thank goodness for overpriced booze at the Staples Center, otherwise I’d be the sad, drunk person, babbling about what’s wrong with the Kings. Next up are the Flyers and immediately following that, the Tip-a-King event. Let’s hope for a win because otherwise, there will be some very disgruntled fans for the Kings to face.