Wild at Kings: What Is Possession? What Are Shots?

The Kings’ game had all the elements for a losing endeavor, but somehow they managed to come out on top. And by somehow, I mean Jonathan Quick.

It got off to a deceptively nice start with Toffoli (unsurprising) snagging a power play (omg!) goal in the first period. He proceeded to celebrate by spinning into Jeff Carter and snuggling up for some hugs.

They followed that up with a truly comical too many men on the ice penalty. Mike Richards had some choice opinions on the Kings play there.

Speaking of Richards, we often make fun of him for how much he loves Anze Kopitar, and who can blame him really? Part way through the second period, following a relatively clean hit on Kopitar, Richards dropped his gloves to defend his favorite player’s honor.

Luckily, Jonathan Quick and the PK unit were able to stop the Wild from gaining any ground. Tanner Pearson (who else?) extended the Kings lead with an early 3rd period goal. I should probably just pencil him in for a goal a game for the rest of this month yeah?

It wasn’t all smooth sailing for the Kings the rest of the period though. They gave the Wild 2 more power plays and allowed them 17 shots in the last period alone.

This was just too much for Quick, and he allowed a Matt Cooke goal 6 minutes into the 3rd. The Wild continued peppering him with shots, 41 in the course of the game, but he continued to be a stalwart backstop for the rest of the team who couldn’t figure out possession.

One day, we’ll have it all.