With Los Angeles Kings on brink of playoff elimination, Coach Darryl Sutter criticizes officiating
Kings Coach Darryl Sutter speaks to his players during a timeout in the third period of a 4-3 loss to the Sharks in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.
The many personalities of Kings Coach Darryl Sutter generally surface at some point in a playoff series, and Thursday a new one popped up.
It was “Send-A-Message Darryl.”
In addressing the larger issue of special teams play in the first-round series against the San Jose Sharks, Sutter argued tha this team deserved a better fate from the officials in Wednesday’s 3-2 loss, a game in which the Sharks converted on three of four power play opportunities.
Sutter wasn’t necessarily upset about the calls that went against his team but thought the Sharks could have been sent to the penalty box more often. Sutter didn’t directly say which plays he was upset about, but there were two in Game 4 that probably raised his ire.
One featured a trip by Sharks goaltender Martin Jones on Kings captain Dustin Brown with a little less than three minutes to play. The other occurred with the Kings on the power play in the second period, when Jeff Carter had his stick slashed into two pieces by Sharks defenseman Paul Martin, a move that usually draws an automatic minor penalty. Carter certainly showed his displeasure, displaying both pieces of his broken stick before skating to the bench to get a new one.
“I know the theme today is: ‘San Jose’s power play,’” Sutter said. “I’d say the game for me is, ‘How come we didn’t have more?’ We have a good power play too. There’s missed calls in the third period. When it’s 3-2, there should’ve been some calls, clearly. There’s two hooking, tripping penalties, they’ve got to call them. I mean, if they’re going to call what they did call …
“There is a lot of special teams in this series. They’ve scored five and we’ve scored three and a short-handed goal, so they’re plus one — but plus-one might’ve been [the difference] last night, and we might’ve been playing overtime until 3 this morning if they’d have given us one more. We didn’t get the call.”
It should be noted that Sutter is rarely critical of officiating. Even Thursday, his tone was measured and even-handed. There was no rant. But with the Kings down 3-1 to the Sharks and facing elimination Friday at Staples Center, it was clear the refereeing was on his mind.
Sutter indicated that he spoke to the series supervisor every day.
“It’s not in a [complaining] mode, or a correction-officer mode,” he said. “It’s just, ‘What’d you think?’ or ‘Should’ve that been?’
“We’ve seen some funny ones this series, if you look at it. Five-on-three they scored, and neither [referee] knew that the other guy was calling the penalty. But it is what it is. It’s the first round, and they go from how many officials down to who they feel are the 20 best referees. You know what? Those guys are trying to get another round too, so it’s not easy for them.”
The Kings are on the verge of playoff elimination against a team that also had them on the brink two years ago. But these Sharks seem to be more resilient than the 2014 group that lost four games in a row after leading, 3-0. The Sharks seem to be feeding off Jones’ even-keeled personality in goal.
When the Kings turned a 3-0 deficit into a 3-2 cliffhanger with plenty of time left, Jones had all the answers. In seasons past, the Sharks had a reputation for crumbling under such circumstances.
“Obviously, you never want to be in this situation,” Kings forward Vinny Lecavalier said, “but the guys are still positive about how we played the third period. It’s not time to panic. It’s time to focus on tomorrow’s game and focus on a big win.
“In any series, if you win one, you’re in the series. The games are so tight that you have to push yourself and focus on getting that win and then going from there.”
The visiting team won the first three games of the series before the Sharks finally prevailed Wednesday at San Jose. The test for the Kings will be to win at home against the NHL’s best regular-season road team.
“You can’t win three,” Sutter said. “You can win one. That’s tomorrow. You can win one. I’d certainly rather it be 3-1 than 3-0. You don’t want to play with fate.”
Twitter: @reallisa
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