San Jose 4, Kings 3, OT.
"Overtime" and "heartbreak" went together well for the Kings in this year's playoffs. So did "Staples Center" and "heartbreak."
"Kings" and "heartbreak"? Stop me if you've heard that one before.
Joe Thornton's goal at 2:22 of overtime ended the Kings' season Monday with a 4-3 loss at Staples. The Kings finished 0-3 at home in the series, 0-3 in overtime, and finished this season right where they ended the last: Done for the season after six playoff games.
Players and coaches won't be available to the media tomorrow, so a full-fledged "obituary" of the season will have to wait until Wednesday.
The hot-button issue after the game was the absence of Terry Murray and any Kings coaches in the postgame handshake, as described here and here.
I put a request out to the Kings for comment. Like the obituary, it may have to wait.
A few factoids for now:
• The last time the Kings lost three overtime games in a playoff series was the 1993 Stanley Cup Finals vs. Montreal (Games 2, 3 and 4)
• Kyle Clifford (3-2=5), Brad Richardson (2-3=5), Jack Johnson (1-4=5) and Ryan Smyth (2-3=5) all tied for the club lead with five points in the series
• The Kings were 5-for-24 on the power play in the series (20.8 percent)
• The Kings were 21-for-23 on the penalty kill in the series (91.3 percent)
• Rob Scuderi had six blocked shots tonight (18 in the series)
• Kyle Clifford had seven hits tonight
About the bloggers
J.P. Hoornstra writes about NHL and ECHL hockey for the Los Angeles Newspaper Group. He welcomes any and all dialogue on the finer points of hockey. E-mail J.P. at jp.hoornstra@inland
newspapers.com.
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