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 cough up three
Purcell, Moulson and Handzus start the third, and immediately get the puck in deep. I'm sure it helps Moulson and Purcell to be linemates down in Manchester. Moulson earns a shift with Armstrong and Frolov, and gets a solid chance again.
Osgood snaps an Ivanans shot out of mid-air with authority, halting another Kings effort. Brown tattooes Kronwall by the Detroit bench, but no one notices it. They were too busy watching Franzen force the puck past LaBarbera to put Detroit up by three.
Detroit puts up a red fence, right in the middle of Staples, forming a line of forechecking that baffles the Kings' top players. Just too much experience for the youngsters' limited bag of tricks.
Blake hooks and gets caught, putting LA down a man. The Kings kill the penalty, which will help their PK rating. But that and 50 cents will get you a cup of coffee.
I have never seen Kopitar get angry on the ice, until I see his head whip around to glare down Datsyuk, who apparently angered the Slovenian.
Purcell gets a shot to play on the top line with Kopitar and O'Sullivan for a while, and he makes the most of it while they are out on a line change.
The Kings drop one to the best team in the league. Who saw that coming?
Third period: Red Wings 3, Kings 0
