The Staple Center hosted the first game in this series. John
Moore of New York was serving the last game of his 2-game suspension from the
prior round; Raphael Diaz assumed his spot in the line-up. Daniel
Carcillo-another suspension-got word he would be available for Game 4 due to a
reduction of his punishment to 6 games(down from 10). Other roster changes came in the back-up
goalie role as journeyman David LeNeveu would replace an injured Cam Talbot.
As for the game, it was as close as many had predicted. The
speed of the forwards was on display as each side glided down the ice set on
getting the first goal in the series. In the first period, New York would get
on the board with two goals in the span of 2:42. Benoit Pouliot scored on a
breakaway chance and Carl Hagelin got his goal when his shot rebounded off
Slava Voynov’s skate and past netminder Jonathan Quick. The Kings would come
within one before the end of the period when Jeff Carter set up Kyle Clifford
for a side angle shot that sneaked past Henrik Lundqvist.
The second and third period belonged to the Los Angeles
Kings. Defenseman Drew Doughty tied the game at 2 early on in the second.
Former Marian Gaborik would attempt to get his 13th goal of the
playoffs only to be stopped by New York goalie Lundqvist. As for the Rangers, they found themselves in
the penalty box far too often to get back into this game. If that wasn’t enough,
the early burst of speed they started the game with wore them down as the
contest continued.
Thanks to great saves in the last minute of the third, the
game was sent to overtime. The Kings came into this extra session determined.
Justin Williams would send the puck sailing over Henrik Lundqvist’s blocker to
give his team the victory 4:36 into overtime. Final Score: 3-2 Los Angeles
Game 2 is tonight from Los Angeles starting at 7pm Eastern Time on NBC.
No comments:
Post a Comment