See you next game... we hope (c/o flickr.com/bridgetds)
I turned the game off when Jeff Carter got his Natty Hatty, which is a shame, because it seems like I missed a lot of truculence mere seconds later. In the end it didn’t matter, because Jonny Quick and the monarchy pretty much coasted to their 7th straight playoff win.
The Yotes didn’t look great right from the start. The Kings’ first shot came in about 5 seconds and it was only through the grace of Mike Smith that they didn’t score until 13:15. They were outplayed in every area except goaltending, and one man can only do so much. (Frankly, I think Quickster suffered from the same problem as Holtby did in game 1 against the Rangers: that is, he didn’t face enough shots to keep focused. He did not, however, let Derek Morris’ center ice slapshot fool him again. In fact, the Coyotes’ new strategy seems to be “shoot mostly junk at Quick and hope it takes him by surprise,” which is, umm, creative.)
As usual, the Kings’ PP was bland, but when you’re given a thousand of them, as well as considerable time 5-on-3, something is bound to happen. And that something is 2 Jeff Carter PPG. Look, I know the Coyotes were being fairly dirty*, but I can’t help feeling that Gary Bettman is also licking his chops over the prospect of an LA-NYC finals…
*I’m not totally satisfied with the call made on Shane Doan. Yes, it was boarding, but Lewis turned his back to Doan and faced the boards while aware the hit was coming. He put himself in the position to draw the penalty and ended up lucking out that he was cut — harmlessly on the bridge of his nose — and got Captain Coyote kicked out of the game.
On the other hand, Mike Smith’s massive slash to Dustin Brown — while hilarious — was given a mere 2 minutes and Brown was sent to the box for diving. That baffles me. Either he was hit in a manner deserving of retribution (and since Smith was penalized, he was) or he was faking it to draw a penalty (i.e. diving). Doesn’t the fact that Smith was penalized mean he wasn’t diving? Or the fact that he was penalized for diving means Smith did not commit a penalty? I hate refs.
There were moments when I thought Phoenix would come out of the first 5-on-3 unscathed — and I don’t know if that speaks more to the skill of the Phoenix PK or the weakness of the LA PP — but LA started to look more polished as they had more and more time with the man advantage. It took a while for them to get rolling, but they were dynamite by the time I switched off the TV third.
In the end, the poor Desert Dogs looked outplayed. Their Cinderella run might end sooner than we all (except Pacific Div fans) wanted it, and Gary Bettman might get his Christmas-in-June present. Swing over to The Kings and I for the LA perspective. Next game: tomorrow at 9pm est.
