Game 48: Kings 4, Bruins 3 (shootout)

Saturday will go down in history as an important day. No, not because the Kings beat the Boston Bruins in a thrilling game.  It was the first hockey game that I took my prodigal son to. I had scored nice seating in Section 117 with some friends, on the side where Kings shoot twice. Needless to say, I was beaming with pride the entire game.

My impressions of the game were this: the Kings started strong, then relented, allowing the Bruins to take charge and grab control of the game. I guess I didn't miss that much in the second period. But the Kings got serious in the third, and started doing the things that were successful last game: smart passing, playing in deep and crashing the net.

In the Good News Department, the Kings continued their improvement on the penalty kill, going 5-for-5 Saturday. The Bad News? The Kings failed seven times with the man-advantage Saturday. It seems when their power play is on, their penalty killing suffers. Now that their PK is on the uptick, the PP play has suffered. Better get a handle on that before too long.

One thing I found funny as the game was winding down: Boston fans talk weird. Behind us were chawter members of the SoCal Chapter of the Bawston Mawching and Chawda Society. Every time the Bruins would do something, Joe Bawston behind us would chirp up: "Dat away, Chawra. Way to play da puck, Wheelah. NIce save, Timmah!" Ahhhh, regional dialects. Gotta love them.

There's a downside to taking a 16-month-old to a hockey game: lack of interest. He did find the Ivanans/Thornton fight enjoyabl, pumping his little fists, then clapping at the end. (I had a tear in my eye, it was awesome.) However, I spent the better part of the second period in the lobby,chasing Ray as he was enamored with the Bubble Hockey Machine. One cool thing about the Super Chexx games at Staples: the players are all current Kings players. Kopitar, Brown, Smyth, Johnson and Doughty are represented on both sides of the game. Ray could almost get an eye-level view of the game, which is why he probably liked it.

But, Ray allowed me to watch the last part of the third period, as the Kings made their two-goal push to tie the game. Then he looked around in wonder as Staples Center exploded when Dustin Brown scored in the third round of the shootout to clinch the victory.

Finally, I witnessed what some would call a Jersey Foul. Puck Daddy's Greg Wyshynski has a running series on hockey jersey fouls. Things like the fabled Kings' Frankenjersey and the Kings' Burger King jersey are bought to everyone's attention for mockery. But this jersey is cut from a different cloth...



To the average person, 37 is just another random prime number. Real Kings fans know 37 was worn by Thomas Hickey when he spent some time on the big league roster this season. But to those in the know, such as yours truly, you should find this jersey hilarious.

• AP: Brown, Kopitar help Kings beat Bruins 4-3 in SO

The Kings won a couple of critical puck battles along the boards deep in the Boston zone during the third period. Brown triggered the comeback with 9:28 remaining in regulation, after Alexander Frolov got the puck away from Trent Whitfield and fed it to Brown in front of the net.

• LATimes.com: Grit ringing true for Kings

It was the fourth time this season the Kings won a game they trailed after two periods and a noteworthy comeback against one of the NHL's top defensive teams.

• LAKings.com: A Royal comeback

At times this season, the Kings have tended to give up quick consecutive goals, and they got burned by that in the second period.

• NHL.com:  Kings rally for 4-3 shootout win over Bruins

The Los Angeles Kings stumbled through the first two periods of their afternoon game Saturday, then awoke in time to steal two points and keep the final Western Conference playoff berth all to themselves.

• ESPNLosAngeles.com: No rivalry for L.A, Boston goalies

Sounds like a great Plan A. But if Miller gets hurt or, however unlikely it may seem, falters at any point during the Games, the good news is that the two guys waiting in the wings are more than capable of carrying the load. Saturday's game was a compelling example.

They said it

"I really liked the way we started. Near the end of the first period, we started getting a little cute with the pucks, the plays, and we stopped doing the things that were working. We basically went through the same in the second period. So I think the character test there was pretty big. " – Terry Murray, on the game.

think we got away from our game in the second period. We stopped getting pucks to the net. Coming into the zone, we tried to get fancy as opposed to just chipping it and going and getting it. That was probably our lull, and you can watch it on video and you can see why things change in the game." – Dustin Brown, on rallying to win.

"We had some pretty big comebacks last year. But last year we were pretty much hoping we were going to come back. Now it’s that mindset of believing that we can come back and, on top of that, knowing that when we tied it up that we were going to win that game. That’s a mindset, and it makes a big difference." – Anze Kopitar, on whether the game would have been over, two years ago or last year, after a two-goal deficit.

Around the Kingdom

• LAKingsNews.com: Kinga 4, Bruins 3, Jamie Kompon 0 (OT)

The final 7 minutes of the game were full of nerve-racking moments, as was the overtime, but the shootout proved too much for Thomas and the injured-riddled, offensively challenged Bruins too handle

• Hockey Buzz's Matthew Barry: Kings Best Bruins In Shootout 4-3

Fortunately for the Kings, the win allowed them to keep pace with Detroit and Dallas who went to a shootout, Phoenix won, Colorado won and Vancouver won, so they didn’t gain any ground in the tight Western Conference standings.

• Inside Hockey: Bruins Lose Lead, Fall to Kings

Saturday the Kings and Bruins met for the first time in California since October of 2007.  In that game, they beat the Kings 8-6.  In fact, the Bruins have not lost in LA since October 12, 2000.  More recently, the Kings beat the Bruins in Beantown last March.  The visiting team had won the last five games between these teams as of Saturday’s puck drop.

From across the aisle, the Boston viewpoint

• Boston.com: Final: Kings 4, Bruins 3 (shootout)

SIN BIN: Jarret Stoll. First blasted Mark Stuart from behind. Then refused to drop the gloves when Stuart demanded accountability. Then in the third, blasted Trent Whitfield from behind.

• ESPNBoston: A silver lining in Bruins' loss

Bruins players and coaches will probably look at Saturday's game, and the three-game California road trip as a whole, and agonize over the missed opportunities. Boston lost a 3-2 lead heading into the third period in Anaheim. Then the Bruins pulled out the shootout win in San Jose, but squandered a two-goal lead in L.A.

• Stanley Cup of Chowder: Bruins blow 3rd period lead, lose 4-3 to Kings in SO

- Joe Haggerty of Comcast Sports New England is reporting that the Bruins were not too happy about the officiating in this game.

Peeping the dailies





<br/><a href="http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-US&brand=foxsports&vid=6ee50dd7-cfd7-47c0-8464-817655a7488c" target="_new" title="Kings best Bruins in SO">Video: Kings best Bruins in SO</a>

Here's the fight between Ivanans and Thornton