The Throne Room

3 In a Row At Home, 3 Points Out

3 Home wins in a row, just when you thought the chase was about over for the Kings. I’m not advocating that they will make the playoffs, after all they have 3 nights without a game which gives all the other teams competing for that 8th playoff spot lots of time to get ground back, but it certainly looks more likely than it did a week ago.

After last Thursday’s dramatic come from behind win against Dallas, the Kings finished a sweep of their season series with Minnesota with a 4-3 win in which they chased the Wild’s ace goalie Nicklas Backstrom for the second time this season.

Monday’s matchup with Vancouver seemed daunting. Roberto Luongo had previously been a beast at Staples. The Canucks came out flying…for the first 40 seconds. The Kings answered with the fast start they needed on a goal by…Denis Gauthier? I was almost in disbelief when Gauthier’s point shot glanced off Luongo’s glove and eluded him to give the Kings a 1-0 lead. It’s likely that Dustin Brown’s stick wave in front disrupted Luongo to some extent, as you don’t see Luongo give up many goals like that. Kings made it 2-0 on a power play goal by Jaret Stoll, on a beautiful feed from Teddy Purcell, who has played his best couple games as a King during this recent homestand.

Vancouver evened the “softie goal meter” at 1 and cut the Kings’ lead to 2-1 on a long shot from Alex Burrows that eluded Jon Quick. Again, I could be an apologist and talk about how the puck passing between the skates of Jack Johnson could’ve contributed (and, as a goalie myself I can tell you it’s a definite possibility), but the bottom line is, that’s one that has to be stopped every time. The Kings would get it back before the period ended, on another Stoll PP goal from Purcell.

Vancouver poured it on in the 3rd period but Quick and the Kings held serve. The Canucks got a goal from Taylor Pyatt early in the 3rd to close the gap to one again, but that’s as close as Vancouver would get. In a frantic final minute with Luongo pulled for the extra attacker, the Kings’ got several saves from Quick and several key shot blocks, including one off the face of Matt Greene to hold on for the win.

So, the good news is, we’re 3 points back of the 8th seed, and only one point behind Anaheim in the West with 16 games remaining. The bad news, again, is that we don’t play again until the back half of this home and home in Vancouver on Friday night, giving the competition 3 nights to gain ground.

Again, I’m not implying that the Kings are going to make the playoffs, but it’s going to be interesting to see how it pans out.

Kings are in Vancouver Friday night.

-JS