Kings rule listless Senators in L.A. clash
Now they have something to think about.
LOS ANGELES — Now they have something to think about.
Looking to rebound after a 2-1 loss in Anaheim on Saturday, the Ottawa Senators instead got buried 4-1 by the Los Angeles Kings.
It was so bad the Kings chased starter Craig Anderson after he allowed four goals on 26 shots through two periods. Alex Auld finished.
The Monday night game at the Staples Centre attracted a capacity crowd of 18,118.
The Senators play their last game before the all-star break on Tuesday in Phoenix. They’ll have a short night, because they lose an hour in time difference travelling from Pacific to Mountain time. But they’ll have to find the energy to avoid heading out on vacation on a three-game losing streak.
Jared Cowen said the obvious: The Senators have to be much better against the Coyotes.
“We came out a little bit flat,” he said.
“We were expecting to have a better game (Monday night) but they were every bit as good a team as we expected, and we just didn’t match their intensity.
“At times I thought we looked a little bit slow and unwilling to go to pucks.
“I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s just the schedule. I don’t think it’s helping us in that sense.
“But there’s no excuse for that. We have to be better in our next game.”
Penalties also hurt the Senators. They took five miniors. Los Angeles took four.
“It’s pretty hard to score goals when you’re killing penalties the whole time,” said Cowen.
“It wears on guys and makes it harder to score when you’re five-on-five.”
Willie Mitchell, Kyle Clifford, Jack Johnson, and Trevor Lewis, on a penalty shot, scored for the Kings.
Daniel Alfredsson, on the power play, scored Ottawa’s only goal. Erik Karlsson drew his 40th assist on it, putting him one behind league-leader Henrik Sedin.
Auld faced eight shots in his 20 minutes, while Quick faced 28.
In what was a closely played first period, the Kings emerged with a 1-0 when Mitchell’s high wrister from the left point beat a screened Anderson to the top right corner.
The Senators, who had one power-play chance, ended up outshooting the Kings 8-6 and had a number of good chances, but couldn’t dent Quick.
In the second period, however, the game went sideways.
The Kings scored three times, including once with a two-man advantage and once on a penalty shot to take a 4-0 lead.
Clifford started it at 11:08 when he was left without coverage to get to a rebound.
Kaspars Daugavins, who was two steps behind Clifford, banged his stick on the ice in frustration.
That seemed to wake the Senators, who seemed as if they might have another comeback in them.
But a couple of bad penalties by Bobby Butler, for hooking, and Zack Smith, for tripping, gave the Kings a two-man advantage for 1:11.
Johnson scored before Butler’s penalty ended, blasting a shot from above the right circle past Anderson while Dustin Brown jumped across Anderson to screen him.
Then came the killer, with only 32.9 seconds left.
When Chris Phillips’ touched the puck with his left glove in the crease, referee Tim Peel signalled a penalty shot. Lewis scored on it, moving to the right of Anderson and finding a spot under the sprawling goalie.
Ottawa coach Paul MacLean didn’t think it was a penalty shot.
“I thought it was a big part of the hockey game,” he said.
“We get the benefit of replay, and it shouldn’t have been a penalty shot.
“We get the benefit of replay one and two and three times. I don’t think it’s reviewable in Toronto on that kind of a call.
“That’s just the way it is.
“But having video means you get it right. If it’s not right, that’s why you should have video.”
Phillips was also obviously upset.
“Their explanation was that I did cover it,” he said.
“I was upset, because I thought I went in and just swiped it, which it looks like what happened.
“It’s frustrating when you’re struggling in a game and get some calls against you that you let affect you and the team. It’s tough.
“Emotions run high and sometimes get the best of you.
“That was a little bit of the case, too.”
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GAME FILE
WHY THEY LOST: This time the hole got too deep. A five-on-three goal and a penalty shot capped a disastrous second period that sealed their fate.
STUD: Jonathan Quick. The Kings’ goalie only had to make a few difficult saves — like the glove save on Zack Smith in the third — but he stopped all of those and was beaten just once
DUD: Bobby Butler. Coach Paul MacLean was generous in giving him another chance on the No. 1 line with Jason Spezza and Milan Michalek, but he was ineffective and took a bad hooking penalty in the second that led to the Kings’ third goal.
IRONY HITS HOME: After Monday’s morning skate, Jason Spezza was asked for his thoughts on wearing a hemet during the pre-game skate, as a precaution against accidents such as the one that befell Edmonton’s Taylor Hall. Spezza said when he was a kid he liked to see the players without their helmets, so he’d take his chances now. Whoops. During the pre-game skate, Spezza caught a puck over the right eye and had to leave for repairs. He was back for the game. No word yet on whether he’s changed his mind about pre-game helmets.
If the Sens can pull off a win at Phoenix, it will be a great lift going into the All-Star break. It has been a fun season to follow the rebuilding Sens, and the west coast trip is always a challenge.
Go Sens Go!
It’s even more challenging when the quality of reffing is what it was in the L.A. game. Anyway… such is life… Keep your head up Sens.
Yes, the referees blew a call, but teams should not let that define them. There’s a view amongst MANY teams that the referees, the league and even the fans are against them and all for a laundry list of reasons such as jealousy, or poor sportsmanship, or even overarching conspiracies.
Over the course of the season, the bad calls balance themselves. Seriously, take yesterday’s game, file it away, and play hard tonight. Whining about the past never got an athlete or team anywhere.
Play hard. Play smart. Play to win. Play with heart.
@ C.Neil: I’m a Kings fan, and yes, that penalty shot call was a joke. By the way, I’m used to reading blogs with hockey intelligent fans. But, it’s refreshing to read well written English and proper syntax. It drives me nuts that people don’t know the difference between “then” and ” than.”
Anyhow, best of luck to your Sens, may they be injury free. Damn, that penalty shot was a travesty.
i too am a kings fan and was thinking the same exact thing, and couldn’t agree more… well written/spoken, very respectful postings, not negative like so many others… stay classy ottawa, good luck out east…
ps yes, that penalty shot was a disgraceful call, but it seems like we always are on the short end of those, so it felt good getting one that finally went our way…
The refs that did last night’s game were the same one’s that did the Ducks game…interesting isn’t it?
So if not for the 5 on 3 and the penalty shot that should not have been.. the Kings would have scored the 1 goal.
But the Sens, from what I hear, did not play well enough to win… so the better team one regardless of what happened.
Sandy, the NHL often will put refs who do a game in Anaheim to work the next day/night in Los Angeles (and vice versa). Just a cost-cutting measure, nothing nefarious.
I was at the game. After seeing the replay when I got home, there was no way that should’ve been a penalty shot. But the Kings were already up 3-0 at that point…that was not a defining moment in the game. The 5-3 power play were both valid penalties.
True, the Sens may not have been playing up to snuff but the mis-called and uncalled penalties certainly didn’t help the situation. Nor did the “make-up” penalties in the 3rd period for the bad/no calls in the first 2 periods .
It’s like giving someone a safety helmet *after* they’ve fallen and cracked their head open — not much good.
Now that Chris Philips complained about the mis-call that resulted in the penalty shot, are the refs in Phoenix going to make the Sens pay again, like they did for Karlsson who criticised the ref who called him a “diver” ?
How refreshing it is to read a recap of the game, where, the writer is not dwelling on the obvious bad call on Chris Phillips and blaming that on the loss. The penalty shot left a bad taste in my mouth, but bad calls are a part of this game. Whining about them is just a waste of time. If only the Vancouver Canucks could learn that. Good luck to the Sens the rest of the season. I like your good, young team.
Just finished watching the Phoenix game… Once again the refs did a great job! I’m not one to complain about refs, but come on… 3 games in a row?