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 maul the Panthers
There hasn't been too many games where the Kings absolutely dominated their opponent. On Saturday, the Kings had one of those days.
It started in the first period when Michael Cammallari started the scoring off early. The Panthers turn the puck over in their zone, and Derek Armstrong skated it out. He passed over to Cammallari, who touch-passed it to Alexander Frolov. As Frolov shot it toward Alex Auld, Cammy got a stick on the puck to make it 1-0.
Five minutes later, the Kings looked to have turned it over in their zone, as Auld skated back to pass the puck to Ruslan Salei. Salei proceeded to try to pass it out of the zone. But the puck trickled to Konstantin Pushkarev, who fired it on Auld to score an unassisted goal.
As time was winding down in the period, the Kings struck again. While on the power play, Anze Kopitar skated in with the puck with two Panthers on him. He quickly passed it over to Cammallari, who had a defenseman close in on him. He passed it back out to Anze, and catching the defenseman in transition, passed it back to Cammy. Cammy skated up and threw it in front to Dustin Brown, who was left alone by his defender. Brown's shot was deflected, but he got his own rebound to make it 3-0, Los Angeles.
First period: Kings 3, Panthers 0
As time was running out on a Raitis Ivanans holding penalty, the Kings skated out with the puck. Sean Avery found a streaking Alexander Frolov as time expired on the penalty to make it 4-0. Avery got his second assist of the game ten minutes later, when he led a charge into the Panthers' zone. His pass found the stick of Jamie Lundmark, who backhanded it past Auld. In two games with the Kings, Lundmark has scored twice and has been pretty impressive.
Less than a minute later, Frolov scored his second of the period when he was able to pick-pocket a Panthers' player and skated in with a backhand to make it 6-0. Cammallari notched his third point of the game, as Los Angeles is having some fun against Ed Belfour's backup.
The Kings were woefully out-shot in the second, 17-8, but scored three times. Burke has been fantastic, turning back shots and playing solid in goal. Both Frolov and Cammy have three points thus in the game, buit I have a feeling they aren't done yet.
Second period: Kings 6, Panthers 0
And like I said, Cammallari and Frolov weren't done. Frolov was able to get the puck to his linemate once more to make it 7-0. Aaron Miller past the puck around the boards, and Frolov picked it up. He passed it between two Panthers to Cammallari, who skated in and scored yet again on Auld. That was it for the night on Auld, who only faced 17 shots and let in 7 of them. Belfour was able to wheel his butt in goal and close out the game. But the damage was done. The Kings start their five-game road trip off right with a win over Florida.
Third period: Kings 7, Panthers 0
