Kings Stun Stars

I'll be honest, I didn't exactly watch the whole game. I watched all of the first period. I thought both teams looked good and that neither really stood out or dominated. However, when Zeiler got a penalty I just knew the Stars were going to score and, of course, they did. I kept hoping the Kings would get a late goal to bring back some momentum but unfortunately Dallas was the team that got the late goal. During the first intermission I took my mind off the game by playing XBox.

I saw enough of the second period to see the Stars go up 4-0. At that point I couldn't stomach watching the Kings get demolished so I went back to playing XBox. When my eyes started tearing from playing too much I switched back to the game to see the score 4-4 with just over 3 minutes to go. WHAT?!!? The Kings got 4 unaswered goals? The BF and I immediately went back 15 minutes (thank God we have a DVR) to see how the Kings tied the game.

The first goal was a PP goal by Brownie. We were ranked tenth on the PP entering the game so it's good to see we can still score on the PP.

Scott Thornton ripped a sniper shot from the right wing to cut the lead in half. Zeiler may have gotten a secondary assist on that goal but Handzus was really the one who did most of the work on that play. One interesting move that I noticed on the replay was that when Handzus slid the puck to Thornton, Stuart, who was on the farside blueline, moved in to join the play by camping out in front of Turco and the other dman (can't remember who it was) shifted to the other side to take over Stuart's vacany. Stuart's move might have created a screen that helped Thornton get his shot past Turco. I LOVED how the Kings fans really helped get the Kings back in the game. After the second goal the fans were already taunting Turco with loud chants of "Tur-co, Tur-co..." and the Stars were still up by two goals!

After the third goal by Frolov the taunts got louder. Army had a slap shot from the blueline that deflected off of Fro's skate. As soon as the puck went in Fro had a determined look on his face that said "That was me, F*** yeah!" The momentum was already growing at this point and you could just see the Kings thinking, "We can do this, we've got this!"

After the fourth goal I think everyone in the building knew the Kings were going to win. Lazy defense by Dallas allowed Kopi to be wide open as he received a pass from Brown. Ladislav Nagy's goal made Kings history as the team got 5 goals in 5:07 (according to Bob Miller the last record was 5 goals in 5:37 which the Kings did in 1985).

The BF and I couldn't believe that the Kings just went ahead in the game. How did this happen? I kept saying, "The game isn't over yet. Anything can happen." Unfortunately Nagy's go-ahead goal didn't secure the win as Dallas was able to tie the game on the PP late in the third.

The game proceeded to OT and the game-winning goal came on a play when Fro got the puck out of the corner, passed it to Kopi who cut left to skate through the slot with the puck on his backhand. No Dallas players were in the slot and Kopi immediately ripped off a backhand past Turco to win the game. This game was unbelievable!

(Sidenote: The last time I remember the Kings pulling off an upset by coming from behind was a game in the 2005-2006 season, the last game before the Olympic break against who else, but the Dallas Stars. The Kings were down 5-2 after the second period and I seriously thought, "Oh great, this is how we're going to enter the Olympic break. Awesome, there goes the season." I don't know what happened in the locker room during the second intermission but the Kings came out in the third period with a score to settle and scored three quick goals to tie the game and finished off the game with another goal later in the period. You'd think that a win like that would have sparked a momentum shift in the Kings' favor but once they came back from the Olympic Break the losses continued to pile up for the remainder of the season.)

I may have turned the TV off to watch (or in this case, do) something else, but mind you, when I'm at a game, I never leave. Tonight's game is proof for why you never leave a game. Well done guys!! Let's hope this win is just the start of a great November against Division rivals.