Kings at Flames: Finally Beating A Worse Team

Yo, this game was stupid. This LA Kings versus Calgary Flames game was the kind of game you only watch if you’re a die-hard fan of either team or have decided, for some reason, to start a blog where you do things like write about every game, even the dumb ones.

First of all, it took a million years to start, because Canada decided to honor what seemed like every Canadian within 100 miles. I’m told they were all Olympians, but I don’t even know if I believe that. I wouldn’t be surprised if we found out they just started pulling random people off the street for earning a good citizenship award at some point in their lives.

When the game finally did start, it was ridiculous. Let me show you how:

As you can see, the Kings got walloped in possession. By the Flames! To be fair to them, they were on the second night of back-to-back games. However, to be even fairer, the Flames stink, so that’s barely an excuse. On average, the Flames have had a Corsi for percentage that comes in slightly above 45 percent this season. They generally have the puck less than half the time, but they managed to keep it 58 percent of the time against the Kings. It was around 60 percent through the first and second periods, so good job, LA, for coming on late, I guess.

The good news is that it seems all the Kings heeded my warning in the game day preview. No one wanted to get traded, so no one allowed any goals. Goaltender Jonathan Quick earned his fourth shutout of the season with 25 saves. The Kings still lead the league in cumulative shutouts with 10.

Also, to their credit, the Kings didn’t allow any power play goals despite Jordan Nolan exacting ill-timed retaliation for a dive and giving the Flames a pretty prime opportunity late in the second period.

Dustin Brown stripped the Flames’ defense during a lazy pass and scored three minutes into the game to give the Kings an early 1-0 lead.

 
They were able to hold onto that lead until Dwight King netted what turned out to be an insurance goal at 3:30 in the third. Brown had the primary assist on the second goal, making the two-point night his most productive performance on the road so far this season, weirdly.

 
All-in-all, a silly game, but the Kings won, and that’s what matters. Now they come back to LA for the first time about three weeks. Let’s hope they can get that goal horn going some more!