Post by Deleted on Sept 18, 2015 1:28:41 GMT
It took them seven games to do it, but the Los Angeles Kings squeezed past the Calgary Flames to advance to the second round of the GHL playoffs.
The Flames shocked the hockey world by winning the first two games against the Kings, who had the league's best record in the regular season. The Kings bounced back by winning the next two games in Calgary and Game 5 back in California.
Calgary tied the series on home ice, setting up a dramatic Game 7 between teams that finished 29 points apart in the regular season.
It didn't look good for LA early on, as the Flames took a 2-0 lead after the first period on goals by Mikael Backlund and Adam Hall.
The Kings rebounded in the second period, evening the score on goals by Marian Gaborik and Dwight King. They then scored three unanswered tallies in the third, coming from Pascal Dupuis, Anze Kopitar and Jeff Carter, to sew up the series win.
"We got big goals from a couple guys who had been struggling, in Dupuis and King," said GM Josh Lewis. "Also, Quick had two really bad games in the series and he was very good in Game 7."
The team was so disappointed in Dupuis's play that they dropped him to the fourth line after Game 4, in favour of rookie Valentin Zykov, and also took him off the second power play unit.
"Dupuis hasn't brought what we were hoping for since we acquired him from Vancouver," said Lewis. "The price was cheap, but we were hoping for some offence from him. That never materialized."
Another key change after Game 4 was to move Jake Muzzin onto the second pairing and drop Braydon Coburn to the third.
"Muzzin had a very good series. Not that Coburn was playing badly, but we thought that would balance out the pairings a little better."
Gaborik and Tyler Toffoli are tied for the team lead in playoff scoring with nine points each. Shawn Matthias and Jeff Carter each have seven, and Lewis said Matthias was the Kings' best player in round one.
"We were worried after Brown got hurt, but Matthias played in his place on the second line and was phenomenal. He didn't have a single bad game in the series, which you couldn't say of most of our guys."
The GM singled out James van Riemsdyk and Drew Doughty as two guys who need to be better in round two against the Anaheim Ducks.
"Not that they played poorly, but those are arguably our two best players and they need to play like it. Doughty was just average. Average by his standards is pretty good, but he can be much better. I thought JVR struggled in the first three or four games but raised his game after that."
The sixth-ranked Ducks upset No. 3 Quebec in the only other series in the West to go seven games.
"You can look at it and say well, it's one against six, but that's a 100-point team we're talking about. They aren't pushovers. Calgary gave us fits and these guys finished 10 points ahead of them. We need to play better than we did in the first round, that's for sure."
Meanwhile, defenceman Mattias Ekholm has returned from his leg injury and the Kings will have to decide whether to play him or Luca Sbisa in the No. 6 spot. Veteran Andrej Sekera is also available but the coaching staff appeared to lose confidence in him late in the season, as he didn't play a game after the acquisition of Sbisa.
Here's a look at the series:
Record:
LA: 57-20-5, 119 points
ANA: 48-30-4, 100 points
Top scorers:
LA: Kopitar, 68; van Riemsdyk, 65; Gaborik, 63; Carter, 61; Brown, 56
ANA: Perry, 85; Getzlaf, 76; Kesler, 69; Horton, 63; Dubinsky, 54
Top playoff scorers:
LA: Gaborik, 9; Toffoli, 9; Matthias, 7; Carter, 7; van Riemsdyk, 6
ANA: Perry, 9; Getzlaf, 8; Etem, 8; Horton, 8; Wisniewski, 5
Other key players:
LA: Doughty, Kronwall, Richards
ANA: Beauchemin, Fowler, Maroon
Starting goalie:
LA: Quick, .910 SP, 2.05 GAA
ANA: Ward, .895 SP, 2.68 GAA
Injuries:
LA: Brown, one month
ANA: None
Synopsis:
The Ducks have more firepower in Perry and Getzlaf, and a deep forward group more or less on par with LA's. They also have a strong, deep blueline, but they lack a player of Doughty's calibre. The Kings have a definite edge in goal, though the Ducks have a solid backup in John Gibson if Ward struggles. This will be a series to watch.
Prediction:
Kings in 7
The Flames shocked the hockey world by winning the first two games against the Kings, who had the league's best record in the regular season. The Kings bounced back by winning the next two games in Calgary and Game 5 back in California.
Calgary tied the series on home ice, setting up a dramatic Game 7 between teams that finished 29 points apart in the regular season.
It didn't look good for LA early on, as the Flames took a 2-0 lead after the first period on goals by Mikael Backlund and Adam Hall.
The Kings rebounded in the second period, evening the score on goals by Marian Gaborik and Dwight King. They then scored three unanswered tallies in the third, coming from Pascal Dupuis, Anze Kopitar and Jeff Carter, to sew up the series win.
"We got big goals from a couple guys who had been struggling, in Dupuis and King," said GM Josh Lewis. "Also, Quick had two really bad games in the series and he was very good in Game 7."
The team was so disappointed in Dupuis's play that they dropped him to the fourth line after Game 4, in favour of rookie Valentin Zykov, and also took him off the second power play unit.
"Dupuis hasn't brought what we were hoping for since we acquired him from Vancouver," said Lewis. "The price was cheap, but we were hoping for some offence from him. That never materialized."
Another key change after Game 4 was to move Jake Muzzin onto the second pairing and drop Braydon Coburn to the third.
"Muzzin had a very good series. Not that Coburn was playing badly, but we thought that would balance out the pairings a little better."
Gaborik and Tyler Toffoli are tied for the team lead in playoff scoring with nine points each. Shawn Matthias and Jeff Carter each have seven, and Lewis said Matthias was the Kings' best player in round one.
"We were worried after Brown got hurt, but Matthias played in his place on the second line and was phenomenal. He didn't have a single bad game in the series, which you couldn't say of most of our guys."
The GM singled out James van Riemsdyk and Drew Doughty as two guys who need to be better in round two against the Anaheim Ducks.
"Not that they played poorly, but those are arguably our two best players and they need to play like it. Doughty was just average. Average by his standards is pretty good, but he can be much better. I thought JVR struggled in the first three or four games but raised his game after that."
The sixth-ranked Ducks upset No. 3 Quebec in the only other series in the West to go seven games.
"You can look at it and say well, it's one against six, but that's a 100-point team we're talking about. They aren't pushovers. Calgary gave us fits and these guys finished 10 points ahead of them. We need to play better than we did in the first round, that's for sure."
Meanwhile, defenceman Mattias Ekholm has returned from his leg injury and the Kings will have to decide whether to play him or Luca Sbisa in the No. 6 spot. Veteran Andrej Sekera is also available but the coaching staff appeared to lose confidence in him late in the season, as he didn't play a game after the acquisition of Sbisa.
Here's a look at the series:
Record:
LA: 57-20-5, 119 points
ANA: 48-30-4, 100 points
Top scorers:
LA: Kopitar, 68; van Riemsdyk, 65; Gaborik, 63; Carter, 61; Brown, 56
ANA: Perry, 85; Getzlaf, 76; Kesler, 69; Horton, 63; Dubinsky, 54
Top playoff scorers:
LA: Gaborik, 9; Toffoli, 9; Matthias, 7; Carter, 7; van Riemsdyk, 6
ANA: Perry, 9; Getzlaf, 8; Etem, 8; Horton, 8; Wisniewski, 5
Other key players:
LA: Doughty, Kronwall, Richards
ANA: Beauchemin, Fowler, Maroon
Starting goalie:
LA: Quick, .910 SP, 2.05 GAA
ANA: Ward, .895 SP, 2.68 GAA
Injuries:
LA: Brown, one month
ANA: None
Synopsis:
The Ducks have more firepower in Perry and Getzlaf, and a deep forward group more or less on par with LA's. They also have a strong, deep blueline, but they lack a player of Doughty's calibre. The Kings have a definite edge in goal, though the Ducks have a solid backup in John Gibson if Ward struggles. This will be a series to watch.
Prediction:
Kings in 7
i'll be doing it all on friday as its teh only day off I have at the moment. Sorry, we are down people and its long late shifts at teh moment. 