Matt Murray has been a Kings fan since the late '80s, when Wayne Gretzky grabbed headlines by defecting to the West Coast. Since then, he has been a card-carrying bandwagon member as the club soared in popularity with their sole Stanley Cup appearance to their position near the bottom of the Pacific. But things are looking brighter, as he is anxious to witness the rise of the new Kings.
Kings lose Wild One
Rookie phenom Anze Kopitar hasn't scored a goal in Staples Center yet. All five of his goals came on the road.
Three goals in the last six games for Alexander Frolov. The Kings are averaging four goals a game in their last five. The Kings were 0-for-17 on the PP against the Wild coming into this game. The Wild has the league's best PK unit. Garon is in goal for the Kings, regardless of letting 7 goals in against the Sharks.
Several minutes in the first, Brian Willsie won a faceoff and it went to Mattias Norstrom. Matty hammered the puck, and it got redirected by a Wild player past Manny Fernandez to lead the Kings to a 1-0 score. That was Norstrom's first goal of the season. Cammalleri and Willsie gets the assists.
The Kings survive a late surge by the Wild to go into the locker room up a goal.
First Period: Kings 1, Wild 0
The Kings killed off two penalties early in the period to retain their lead. Garon looked sharper than he did last game, limiting rebounds. Against the Sharks, two of Garon's rebounds lead directly to San Jose scores. So he's tightened it up this game.
Dustin Brown claimed another victim: Kim Johnsson. Square in the chest. Ouch.
Norstrom got two minutes for holding Mark Parrish toward the end of the period. This was the third straight penalty the Kings gave up. The result? Brian Rolston scored his 11th of the season to tie the game. Four of those eleven have come against the Kings.
Second period: Kings 1, Wild 1
Early in the third, the Wild scored an even-strength goal by Kurtis Foster made it 2-1 Minnesota. The Staples Center quieted down, expecting another Kings loss.
But then Cammalleri scored a goal to energize the Staples Center crowd. Willsie has two assists on the night, as the Kings have tied the game, 2-2. After the Cammy goal, the crowd was totally into the game. Avery's tallied just over 18 minutes. Avery has six points in the last five games, but none tonight.
A furious finish by the Kings almost let L.A. sneak past Minnesota. But we're going to overtime!
Third period: Kings 2, Wild 2
The Kings are 0-and-3 this season in ovetime/shootouts.
A p-r-e-t-t-y move by Cammalleri almost won the game for the Kings. But Fernandez showed a lot of patience to stop him. The Kings have been putting the pressure on Fernandez all OT.
The Kings then got a penalty when, for the second time in the game, got caught for too many men on the ice, with two minutes to go in the overtime. The Kings were able to kill it, and the puck squirted to Cammy, who was serving the penalty. Within four seconds of the end of OT, he skated down and put a shot on goal in a bang-bang exchange that had Staples buzzing.
End of overtime: Kings 2, Wild 2
Minnesota Mikko Koivu SAVE!
Los Angeles Anze Kopitar GOAL! First in Staples Center!
Minnesota Brian Rolston GOAL!
Los Angeles Michael Cammalleri SAVE!
Minnesota Pierre-Marc Bouchard SAVE!
Los Angeles Brian Willsie shootout HIT THE POST!
Minnesota Petteri Nummelin GOAL!
Los Angeles Dustin Brown GOAL!
Minnesota Todd White GOAL!
Los Angeles Sean Avery SAVE!
End of game: Wild 3, Kings 2 (shootout)
