The Throne Room

Marty Who?

The Kings, for much of Sunday afternoon’s meeting with the New Jersey Devils, looked like a tired team that had been in a game beyond regulation just 22 hours prior. Nevertheless, the Kings roared back from a two goal deficit in the last 21 minutes of the game to win 3-2.

A big reason the Kings will leave New Jersey having completed a perfect road trip tonight: Two soft goals allowed by Martin Brodeur. The first Kings’ goal, a pass from Parse to Handzus from behind the net saw Handzus with almost no net to shoot at, but Brodeur instead of patiently holding his ground (as he normally does) decided to move, creating a hole that the puck slipped right through. Wayne Simmonds tying goal with under two minutes remaining in regulation as simply a puck thrown at the net. Brodeur failed to hug the post and it had eyes for the net.

The exclamation point for the night was Drew Doughty’s blast from the point. With Ryan Smyth stationed in his customary place, right in front of Brodeur, as well as seemingly half of New Jersey’s roster, Brodeur never saw the shot and never had a chance.

To be frank, Brodeur was soundly outplayed by the Kings’ Jon Quick tonight, who made a handful of dazzling saves, including a glove save on Dainus Zubrus after it looked like Quick was down and out that left the entire New Jersey bench stunned. While Quick would probably like to have Travis Zajac’s second period goal back, he was otherwise the reason the Kings were in the game. Conversely, it could be said that Brodeur was the reason the Devils lost a game they mostly dominated.

The Kings return home to Staples having won all 5 games on this road trip, 6 in a row overall and 7 straight on the road. Their next opponent: The New York Rangers, currently mired in a slump. Again, this will tell a lot about the makeup of this Kings team. Will they allow themselves to take the struggling Rangers for granted, or will they take care of business.

Kings remain firmly entrenched in the 5th spot in the West, as it doesn’t appear Phoenix will blow a two goal lead to Dallas in the third period.

Kings and Rangers from Los Angeles Tuesday. See you at Staples.

Go Kings!

-JS