Avs Top Kings in SO

The Avalanche went up against the LA Kings tonight at the Pepsi Center for the third time this season. John Michael Liles would be a healthy scratch again and Ruslan Salei would still be in the lineup. Even though Salei’s penalty allowed the Kings to convert in OT to win Monday night, coach Joe Sacco has liked the veteran’s play as of lately. If you ask me, he should have been benched for losing his cool in such a need-to-win situation. The Avs were also playing sans Darcy Tucker for his hit on Greene Monday night.

My gripe against Rusty aside, the Avalanche put pressure on the Kings right out of the gate. The Boys were putting a lot of pressure on the visitors from LA, outshooting them 18-5 in the 1st. Matt Hendricks opened up the scoreboard with a wrap-around goal. Kevin Porter and Ryan O’Reilly recorded the assists.

At exactly the 10 minute mark of the 1st, Anze Kopitar put a backhander behind Craig Anderson. For not holding the lead long, the Avalanche had plenty of opportunities to regroup. The Kings received four penalties in the 1st, one of them a double minor for Brad Richardson giving Scott Hannan a high stick to the face.

The Avs converted on the first half of Richardson’s double minor to bring the score to 2-1. Milan Hejduk let off a slap shot from inside the top of the left circle to beat Jonathan Quick. Little did Quick know, after one more goal he’d be pulled from the game in favor of Erik Ersberg.

That third goal would come from Drew Doughty, but Paul Stasty would get credit for it officially. As Staz centered the puck, Doughty had a left handed stick from one of his teammates and tried to block the puck. Now, geometry was on our side and the puck bounced off of Doughty’s stick and slid past Quick. The 2nd Olympic backup goalie was then pulled.

The 2nd period had no goals as it was a lot of back and forth between the teams. Brad Richardson would get another penalty for a high stick. After that, the refs had to “even up” the penalties. Cody McLeod would get 2 minutes for boarding and Scott Hannan would receive the same for a tripping call.

The third period belonged to the Kings. They would get a power play goal 40 seconds into the period, left over from the Hannan penalty from the 2nd. After that, the period remained scoreless until the refs realized the Avs hadn’t had a penalty in awhile. So, they gave a crap holding call on Brett Clark. The Kings would convert with less than two minutes left.

Overtime was entirely too stressful for the Avalanche fans. Most of the 5 minutes was spent in the Avalanche zone, the Boys scrambling to keep the puck from going near Anderson. The Kings were also diving all over the place hoping to get a penalty called against the Avs. The refs payed no attention to the LA Kings Community Theater and OT went with no score.

The shootout was great. Milan Hejduk and Anze Kopitar were up first and both of their shots were blocked. Peter Mueller put one past Ersberg, but just barely as the puck had enough force behind it to slide between the goaltenders legs. Jack Johnson scored on Anderson. Chris Stewart scored on Ersberg as well with a shot much like his penalty shot against St. Louis a few games back.

The last shooter for the Kings was former Avalanche fan favorite Ryan Smyth. Everyone knew the magnitude of his shot because we’ve all seen him bury it for the Avalanche in previous seasons. This time however, Lady Luck wasn’t with Smyth tonight as he hit the post and the Avalanche earned another point.

But just barely.

They’ve got to pick up their game. Plain and simple. It’s a race to the playoffs and now is not the time to slack off. It’s time to win games, to maintain leads, and to get the magic back in their play. They may have won tonight, but as I said, just barely.

What do you think about tonight’s game? Where do you think the Boys will finish?

Related posts:

1. Kings Inch Past Avs 4-3 in Overtime
2. Kings Blank Avs 3-0
3. Coyotes Bite Avs 6-2
4. Canucks Blank Avalanche 3-0
5. Avalanche Blank Panthers 3-0

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