Kings meet challenges and defeat Ottawa, 4-1, before departing for long trip
Presented with several challenges Saturday, the Kings responded quickly and emphatically, producing a 4-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators that left cheers ringing in their ears as they skated off the ice at Staples Center and prepared to play nine straight road games.
First, they took into the game the self-imposed challenge of being more engaged than they had been in a half-hearted home loss Thursday.
“We weren’t happy with our game against Carolina. We thought we didn’t bring emotion. We didn’t have the energy. We were really flat. We didn’t play our game,” defenseman Alec Martinez said. “Guys were upset.”
They channeled their anger in a positive way, scoring twice on a five-minute power play they gained at 2:38 of the first period when Ottawa defenseman Mark Borowiecki was assessed a major penalty for boarding. Borowiecki hit Kings right wing Tyler Toffoli from the blind side and pushed Toffoli’s head into the glass; Toffoli went to a quiet room, per NHL concussion protocol, but returned later in the period.
By then Jeff Carter, left alone in the slot at 3:10, and Martinez, on a shot that popped in the air and behind Ottawa goalie Mike Condon at 7:22, had given the Kings a 2-0 lead. Also by then, Kings defenseman Matt Greene had avenged the hit by fighting Borowiecki, getting a bloody cut as he lost the bout but won the respect of his teammates and coaches. Kings winger Jordan Nolan took on Senators tough guy Chris Neil at 10:53, meeting a physical challenge in a way that won Coach Darryl Sutter’s hearty approval.
Sutter had no problem with the bouts involving Greene and Nolan but was unhappy with minor penalties taken by Andy Andreoff and Toffoli that tested the team’s penalty killing. Escaping those situations unscathed, he said, was perhaps the most crucial element in their victory, though he appreciated the emotional lift provided by Greene and Nolan.
“Greener responding to the hit on Tyler, which is not easy to do,” Sutter said. “Not everybody’s going to get in there and do that. Greener did that. And I think Jordy and Chris Neil was a big thing for our team.”
A deflection by Ottawa’s Zach Smith two minutes into the second period cut the Kings’ lead to 2-1, part of the Senators’ period-long domination of play, but the Kings extended their lead to 3-1 late in the period. Suddenly sizzling scorer Trevor Lewis was in perfect position deep on the right side to convert the rebound of a shot by Derek Forbort for his third goal in four games, a play made possible by the Kings’ energetic forecheck.
The clock displayed five-tenths of a second left but was set back to 1.8 seconds; the Ottawa Citizen reported the Senators asked NHL executives whether the clock had been properly started to begin the period and were satisfied with the response and the legitimacy of the goal. But it revived memories of the Feb. 1, 2012, controversy over whether the Staples Center clock’s malfunction had given Drew Doughty time to score the winner against Columbus.
“I think we’ve had enough trouble in here with clocks in prior years,” Sutter said after earning his 200th victory as the Kings’ coach, 15 behind franchise leader Andy Murray. “Should be able to go, ‘One one thousand, two one thousand.’ ”
Goaltender Peter Budaj, given a rest on Thursday, returned to stop 19 shots in his 24th appearance in the last 25 games, and winger Marian Gaborik made it 4-1 when he scored his first goal this season and first since last Feb. 12. Gaborik, who broke his foot at the World Cup of Hockey and made his season debut on Nov. 26, was set up by Lewis for the Kings’ third power-play goal of the game, their best power-play production since Feb. 9, 2015.
“I heard somebody said, ‘Why is he playing with Anze Kopitar?’ It’s because he’s the leading goal scorer on that line,” Sutter said of Lewis, who has five goals, to two by Kopitar and one for Gaborik. “There’s three people on a line and whoever’s out there, he’s the leading scorer. It tells you we’ve got some guys that have got a lot of work to do.”
That’s the next challenge for them to take on.
Follow Helene Elliott on Twitter @helenenothelen
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