Bruins at Kings: The Benjamin Button Approach

KINGS: 2, BRUINS: 0

Your Los Angeles Kings, they of the “start painfully slow and come on strong and hopefully it’s not too late” methodology, decided to go for a rather novel approach. Start strong and fall apart!

Perhaps due to their middling 5-3-2 record over their last ten games, or perhaps rather due to their considerate attempts to keep things feeling fresh, the Kings treated their fans to a Freaky Friday reality swap, albeit on a rainy Tuesday, and the results were….successful, I guess?

After an opening 8-minutes that felt like a pong game of neutral zone turnovers, the Kings were granted a 5-on-3 power play, which was a cause for excitement!

Kings are about to go on a 5-on-3 with Patrice Bergeron in the penalty box. This could be the most disappointing power play of the season!

— Jewels frm the Crown (@JFTC_Kings) December 3, 2014

Predictably, the Kings did not score on said power play, but they did use the momentum to their advantage, and performed like the Kings of old, made even more impressive given the puck possession prowess of the visiting side.

With lopsided zone time and a large shot disparity, it seemed only a matter of time before the Kings took the lead. And it was.

#SelkeSmooooooth

And while the scoring might have ended there for a long while, the puck possession dominance did not. Pearson in particular was a force to be reckoned with, nearly doubling up later on in the first.

I’m almost more impressed with how dead center that puck hit the post than I would have been had it gone into the net.

The period would end with the Kings outshooting the Bruins 16 to 8, and everyone’s favorite grown ass child Milan Lucic cross checking Jordan Nolan, for which both players would be penalized.

Somehow this is a dive, I guess?

That’s not a dive.

This is a dive:

 
Due to these matching penalties, the second period started 4-on-4, and right off the bat, Quick had to flash the leather to preserve the lead.

NBD.

Once back to 5-on-5, the Kings resumed their dominance for most of the period, with numerous outnumbered attacks but no goals. Perhaps the fact that most of them were lead by Stoll or Lewis had something to do with that, but I digress.

And then, slowly but surely, the Bruins started looking more like themselves, chipping away at the shot differential and making Quick work for his continued shutout. The period ended with a McFlurry Minute mad scramble, Brad Marchand being very Brad Marchand-y and “punching uphill” (verbatim per Bruins broadcast) to any Kings defender in his t-rex arms length for no real reason at all. The Kings preserved their lead, outshooting the Bruins 29-19 through 40 minutes.

And then the third period happened, and it felt like first periods of old. With a measly 6 shots on goal, it felt very much like the Kings were holding on for dear life. Then Quick made this save:

 
And the hockey world knew that nothing was going to get by JQ on this night of nights.

Toffoli would scored the empty-net goal late, not a fan of having relinquished his team goal scoring co-lead to Pearson earlier in the game. All was right with this backwards, Benjamin Button world.

Really hoping there’s a picture of these two on the @LAKings bench like this in like 10 years. pic.twitter.com/jxJKHMfGmN

— All The Kings Men (@KingsMenPodcast) December 3, 2014