Kings after one: Calgary 1, Kings 0
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
The Kings are so depleted by injuries that they had no spare players available, and it forced Coach Terry Murray to continue making adjustments game to game.
Without Jarret Stoll (groin) to play one of the points on the power play, Murray used Anze Kopitar and Teddy Purcell there at different times and had Drew Doughty move deep into the zone and function almost like a forward. The Kings produced three shots on a power play they gained at 8:05, after Phaneuf was sent off for boarding, but they couldn’t score.
The Flames scored the only goal of the first period, cutting it so close to the buzzer that the officials reviewed the goal to make sure the puck had entered the net before time expired. The clock on the TSN telecast showed seven-tenths of a second left when Dion Phaneuf’s slap shot beat Jonathan Quick, and a review affirmed that it should count.
Doughty was serving an interference penalty when former King Olli Jokinen beat Kopitar on a faceoff in the Kings’ end and got the puck to the side boards, to Jarome Iginla. He passed to Phaneuf, who has one of the hardest shots in the NHL and used it to good effect.
The Flames outshot the Kings, 10-8, in the period. Calgary was also credited with a 7-3 edge in hits, which was strangely low for both teams.
More later at www.latimes.com/sports
-- Helene Elliott from Calgary, Canada