As unlikely as it seemed, the Los Angeles Kings had a chance to win Game Six of their 2011 Stanley Cup Western Conference quarterfinal series at Staples Center on Monday night against the San Jose Sharks. With less than five minutes to go, they were awarded a five-minute power play, where they could score as many goals as possible.
But in the end, their failure to score even once in this critical man-advantage situation, was a microcosm of their entire season. Joe Thornton, the often criticized face of Sharks playoff failures of the past, scored at 2:22 of overtime to lift San Jose to a 4-3 victory and end the Kings season six games into the post-season for a second straight season.
The Kings showed a ton of grit and a ton of fight throughout this series, playing without their top scorer and arguably their best player, injured forward Anze Kopitar. Every time the Sharks took a one-goal lead, the Kings answered.
And the much maligned power play unit of the Kings actually scored twice in this contest. Justin Williams scored the first goal for the Kings on this night at 13:27 of the second period to even the score at 1-1. The Sharks took a 2-1 lead into the third period, but Ryan Smyth scored just 18 seconds into the third stanza to knot things up at 2-2.
The Sharks took the lead midway through the third as Dany Heatley scored an unassisted goal to put San Jose back on top. But again skating on the power play, the Kings were able to tie the score at 11:39 of the third on the first playoff goal by Trevor Lewis.
But then Jamie McGinn was called for a charging penalty for leaving his feet when hitting Brad Richardson at 16:37, and the officials ruled it was a major penalty. The last 3:23 of regulation, the Kings could score at will. But they didn’t. This also meant the first 1:37 of overtime would see them on the power play. But they did not score, and the Sharks escaped with a victory.
“We had a chance to put it away,” head coach Terry Murray said, “but again, that’s a missed opportunity.”
The Kings went 5-for-24 with the man advantage for the series. Yet, the fact that the first number in that equation is not six means there are no more games this season, and that is what will bother coaches, players, and fans throughout the long summer ahead.
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Off-season begins
The Kings now head into the off-season with some questions about the status of certain players for next season.
The following players are scheduled to enter the summer as unrestricted free agents: Michal Handzus, Alexei Ponikarovsky, and Peter Harrold, along with John Zeiler, who spent most of the season with Manchester in the AHL. It seems unlikely, given the number of young players ready to take the next step for the Kings next season from the minors and juniors, that any of the four would be thought to be a priority for Dean Lombardi in the off-season.
As for the restricted free agents: Drew Doughty, Wayne Simmonds, Brad Richardson, Trevor Lewis, and Alec Martinez will all need to be signed to new deals in the off-season. Oscar Moller and Marc-Andre Cliche are also restricted free agents that spent most or all of the season in Manchester.
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Ahead from the Kings Examiner
The next few days will provide the club with exit interviews for the summer, and we’ll provide you stories based upon some of those conversations. That will be just the beginning from us this summer.
Next week, we’ll go through every player and coach to evaluate their performance for this past season. We’ll also dive into the names and faces of players within the organization from whom more will be asked of next season and beyond.
The draft is two months away, but when it gets closer, we’ll investigate the Kings options. As the playoffs continue for other teams, we’ll keep you dialed in with a look at how former Kings players are performing in the post-season.
We’ll roll out some feature stories profiling people within the organization at various levels too. And even some of you fans that I’ve had the chance to get to know the last few years have some great stories that I’m looking forward to sharing with many others of you. We’ll also continue to use this space to further the causes, charitable and otherwise, that the organization is involved in.
And we’re working with some of our fellow talented press box buddies to begin to sound the clarion call for the Hockey Hall of Fame voting members to consider the long overdue induction of Rogie Vachon.
In other words, just because they aren’t playing on the ice again until the fall doesn’t mean we’ll go into hibernation. Be sure to check back here at Examiner.com for Los Angeles Kings news and stories all summer long.
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, a couple of quick thank yous:
- Thank you to Mike Altieri, Jeff Moeller, Mike Kalinowski, and Jeremy Zager in the Kings PR department. I have stated before and will do so again in this space: they are without equal as the hardest working and most professional of PR staffs that I have dealt with in 12 years of professional sports writing.
- Thank you to my fellow press box buddies (check out the role call on the right side of my home page here) for making it another entertaining and educational season of hockey. These are among the best in the business and I’m continuously honored to be included in this group of talented men and women.
- Thank you to the coaching staff and the players for their virtually unfettered access all season long.
- Special thank you to the unsung heroes working behind the scenes for the organization for their friendships and hard work. People like: head trainer Chris Kingsley; equipment staff members Darren Granger, Jason McMaster, and Dana Bryson; community relations staffers James Cefaly, Jennifer Pope, Chris Crotty, and Lauren Wiedmeier; Brooklyn Boyars and Tim Smith from game presentation; all of the wonderful and hard-working members of the Kings Ice Crew; Patrick O’Neal and Heidi Androl from Fox Sports West; Aaron Brenner from KingsVision and Rich Hammond the Kings Insider; and a special thanks to the broadcasting quartet of Nick Nickson, Daryl Evans, Bob Miller, and Jim Fox.
- Lastly, thanks to all of you for your continued support of these stories and especially your well wishes while I was hospitalized. I am very grateful to have had the privilege to cover this team in what I hope has been a unique way, and your continued readership will be what drives me to be more creative and more authoritative in delivering information about your favorite team.
Jon Moncrief is currently in his third season covering the Kings for Examiner.com and you can follow him on Twitter. He is also covering the NHL and the Dodgers for Examiner. Additionally, Jon is a featured contributor for Bowl Gamer, and is the co-host of the weekly web-TV show INSIDE SPORTS.
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