Kings Win On Late Goals, Blackhawks Ready for Game 2
After taking a 2-0 lead, the Los Angeles Kings saw this slip away but rallied late in the third period with two goals to take a 4-3 win against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday.
Dustin Brown and Trevor Lewis were clutch as they each scored with 1:43 remaining. Their goals came 22 seconds apart from one another to erase the team’s 3-2 deficit.
Dustin Brown
Brown said of the game via NHL.com, “I’ve said this before, experience is one thing and it’s another thing to have all that experience together as a group of guys, because that goes a long way when you get yourself in a hole. We didn’t play a great game tonight but we found a way to win and that’s the important thing. We’ve got to get back to playing our game if we want to continue to have success against the Sharks.”
Kings goalie Jonathan Quick had 28 saves for the night; this ties Kelly Hrudey’s team record as he grabbed his 26th career playoff win. For the Sharks, Antti Niemi had 27 saves.
Both teams were down a player as the Kings lost veteran center Jarret Stoll, who has been out since part of Game 1 after the Sharks Raffi Torres hit him late during the second period. On Thursday, Torres received a suspension by league’s Department of Player Safety for the remainder of the series as they found he illegally checked Stoll in the head.
With Thursday’s win, the Kings now lead the series 2-0 and will head north for Game 3 on Saturday evening. They have played well at home with Thursday’s win as their 12th consecutive home one since March and for the postseason, a sixth straight win.
How will they fare in the Shark Tank? The Sharks will be happy to be home and have been down 0-2 in a series before during 2011’s Western Conference Finals vs. the Vancouver Canucks. Unfortunately they didn’t turn it around and for this year, Bovada has them at +1000 to win it all.
The future looks brighter for the Kings as Bovada has them at +550 to win a second straight Stanley Cup.
Blackhawks vs. Red Wings
The Blackhawks lead the Red Wings 1-0 in the Western Conference semifinals with Game 2 slated for Saturday afternoon in Chicago.
In the first game, Chicago came out strong and defeated its rival, 4-1. Lucky for them, they had a few extra days of rest than their opponent and started the series on the home ice without any apparent rust.
Marcus Kruger
After a scoreless second period, tied at 1-1, the Blackhawks came alive in Game 1’s third period with scores by Johnny Oduya and Marcus Kruger. This was the second score for Kruger in the playoffs as he continues improving in this sophomore year with the team.
Goalie Corey Crawford, who plays well against the Red Wings, had 20 saves while his fellow goalie, Red Wings Jimmy Howard, had 38 saves.
Hawks captain Patrick Shape, the scorer of the game’s final goal in the third period, said of the game via ESPN, “I thought it was our best game of the playoffs, no question.”
Expect the Red Wings to come fighting back against their rival and the players have already said they expect to be better prepared for Game 2.
History is not on their side as the Blackhawks have won eight of their last 15 playoff series vs. the Red Wings. They sit at 5 to 2 to win this year’s Stanley Cup while the Red Wings are 15 to 1.
In other news for these teams, Blackhawks captain Jonathon Toews, who’s yet to score a goal in six playoff games and the Red Wings Pavel Datsyuk, have been named as finalists for the Frank J. Selke Trophy–a nod to the league’s top defensive forward.
