There were three moment that stand out in the Chicago Blackhawks’ 2-0 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning that secured Chicago’s third Stanley Cup in sixth years.
*In the second period of a scoreless game, Tampa Bay star Steven Stamkos had a breakaway against Corey Crawford. Stamkos seemed to do most everything right, juking with his stick and getting in position, but Crawford made the stop.
*Shortly after Tampa’s Anton Stralman received a beautiful pass close to the goal with open net in front of him. Stralman couldn’t get the puck down and it skirted away to the corner. This wasn’t a “whiff” on a par with Bill Buckner or anything, as the puck was slightly above the ice as it hurdled toward Stralman. But it’s a play that needs to be made to win a game like this.
Those were Tampa’s best two chances to score. Later in the second period came the third big play. Chicago defenseman Duncan Keith went down the ice, not in a clear breakaway situation, as three Tampa defenders were with him, but with a good head of steam.
Keith fired the puck and Ben Bishop made the save. The puck was loose in front. Just to the right of the net, Tampa’s Andrej Suster appeared frozen, enjoying the best seat in the house, and missed a chance to clear the puck. Keith fired a follow-up from close range and this one scored.
The game stayed 1-0, and Tampa Bay began to unleash its aggressiveness with about eight minutes left. They were attacking the net, but Chicago’s defense was so good, that none of the looks the Lightning got seemed all that got. I remarked to a friend I was watching the game with that you could almost smell an odd-man rush the other way for Chicago. Sure enough, it came and with 5:14 left, Patrick Kane scored the goal that won the game.
Shot totals tell us that Chicago took 32 and Tampa Bay had 25. That’s misleading, because the Lightning had plenty of good opportunities with the puck. The relevant stat is blocked shots, where the Blackhawks had 25 and the Lightning had 12. For all of Tampa’s control of the puck, Chicago did a great job defensively at limiting the chances and when they didn’t, Crawford made some spectacular saves.
The Blackhawk goalie was his team’s best player in the Finals, but the Conn Smythe Award is for the postseason in total and in that regard Keith deserved both the award and the unanimous vote he got to win it. He was on the ice constantly, putting in the hockey equivalent of what Madison Bumgarner did for the San Francisco Giants in the World Series, just repeatedly going out there and seeming to be unfatigued. Keith gets a well-deserved rest.
And Chicago gets a well-deserved Stanley Cup. Tampa Bay is a rising force, a talented team with no obvious weaknesses. I won’t say for sure they’ll get back, because we all know how fickle sports can be. But they’re certainly on the right track to be in this positon again. In the end, this Blackhawk team just knows how to win and they did it one more time in the United Center on Monday night.
Stanley Cups are won and lost every year when one goalie takes at least a game or two in the Finals and invites his team to hop on his back. It might be a stretch to say Blackhawk goalie Corey Crawford single-handedly produced his team’s series-tying 2-1 win in Game 4 over the Tampa Bay Lightning. But he certainly bailed them out in the final two minute, when Chicago’s mystifying tentativeness almost caught up with them.
Tampa Bay was playing without goaltender Ben Bishop, putting 20-year-old Andrei Vasilevskiy in net. I fully expected Chicago to put the kid under constant duress. Instead, the Blackhawks got only 19 shots on goal the entire net and were tied 1-1 in the third period when Brandon Saad finally slipped one through the goalie’s legs.
It was no surprise that the Lightning resorted to an extremely conservative approach, packing it in on defense, keeping the game in close quarters and protecting their untested goalie. We’ve seen Tampa Bay do this, even with Bishop in goal, with success at key moments in the playoffs. What was surprising is that Chicago either wouldn’t or couldn’t force the pace. At no point did Vasilevskiy ever to make a series of tough saves in succession.
Thus, the game was still within reach for the Lightning in the final two minutes when they pulled the goalie and unleashed. And I don’t think I’ve ever seen a talented offensive team get more point-blank looks at the net and not score. They got nine shots in an 80-second span, and several of those were up close or with open net. A combination of misses and some heroic saves by Crawford preserved the win and kept this series alive.
Two things are apparent in these first four games. One is that Tampa Bay seems to be able to dictate whatever pace it wants. When they want to open up the ice and create chances for their great scorers, it happens. When they want to pack it in and protect the goalie, it happens. But the other thing, no less important, is that Chicago is able to play at either style.
Normally, the team that dictates pace wins the game, regardless of the sport. It’s for that reason that I still narrowly like the Lightning to ultimately prevail. But it’s really anybody’s series right now. Game 5 goes Saturday night in Tampa Bay (8 PM ET, NBC).
Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals was the best one yet. All three games between Chicago and Tampa Bay have been one-goal games, with the corresponding game-end drama. But this was the first game that combined the up-and-down tempo that had been predicted, a high quality of play and still had plenty of drama. The Lightning pulled out a 3-2 win thanks to perhaps the most stunning goal of the entire NHL playoffs.
Chicago had just grabbed a 2-1 lead early in the third period on a goal from Brandon Saad that it appeared Tampa goalie Ben Bishop had tracked, before it bounced off his glove and into the net. It wasn’t a blatant flub by Bishop—there appeared to be a redirect that made it an abnormal catch. But it did appear to be a play the goalie needs to make.
Before the PA announcer of the United Center could even finish announcing the scoring (Saad with the goal, Duncan Keith and Marian Hossa with the assist, at 4:14 of the third period), the Lightning had lost the ensuing faceoff, but still got the puck and barreled back down the ice for a game-tying goal. It was Ondrej Palat who made the hustle play that will be remembered if Tampa Bay ends up winning the Cup.
The initial shot was stopped by Blackhawk goalie Corey Crawford, a nice save from one who played an excellent all-around game. With players from both teams converging on the net it was Palat who won the race for inside position and tapped the rebound past Crawford.
That’s not a play the goalie is responsible for. His teammates have to protect on the rebound when it’s that close. But it’s not as though Chicago didn’t hustle—Palat just won the race and got the goal.
Cedric Paquette then scored the game-winner on a nasty shot from deep, although one I think Crawford had a reasonable chance to make the save on. It came with less than five minutes left, but it’s a testament to Chicago’s clutch ability that even when the clock was under thirty seconds, I was still watching, almost convinced more late-game Blackhawk magic was coming. But not this time. Continue reading “Lightning Win An Excellent Game 3 Battle” »
The play was much more aggressive in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals then it had been in Wednesday’s series opener, and that was reflected in the goal totals, as Tampa Bay nipped Chicago 4-3 to the series at a game apiece. But the more you dig into the numbers, the more it’s apparent that this is still more of a grind-it-out series.
I believe 30 shots per game is a good threshold mark for whether the ice is open or whether it’s more of a grind. For the second straight game, both teams were under that mark. Chicago got close, with 29, so I don’t want to split too many hairs, but it indicates that even as the play is more aggressive, the defenses are still preventing odd-man rushes.
For those that don’t watch hockey regularly, think of it like this—it’s like a basketball game where the action seems fast and furious until you realize that there aren’t any fast-breaks and it’s all aggression within the half-court. In this case, the goals came because offensive players consistently won battles for inside position on rebound shots—notably Andrew Shaw’s goal for Chicago in the first period.
I felt at the start of these Finals, and continue to feel now, that this would be more likely to work in Tampa’s favor.
It did in Game 2, as Chicago goalie Corey Crawford messed up what should have been a couple easy saves and let the Lightning off the mat when the Blackhawks had just scored twice in succession and were in positon to take the life out of the home team.
And while Crawford gave up a couple more, including the game-winner with about eleven minutes left, that were good redirects by Lightning players, they weren’t impossible saves.
The tough night for the Chicago goalie matched a tough outing by Tampa counterpart Ben Bishop, who left the game twice, including in the closing minutes and left untested Andrei Vasilevskei to face the most important shots of the season for the Lightning.
The Tampa Bay Lightning came into existence in 1993 and have won one Stanley Cup, back in 2004. The Chicago Blackhawks are an Original Six team, born in 1927 and with three Stanley Cups before the Lightning were even born. Now the Blackhawks seek their third Cup in six years. These very different heritages collide on Wednesday night when the Stanley Cup Finals begin.
While the histories may be polar opposites, the teams that will take the ice in 2015 are remarkably similar. Each team has an array of talented offensive players. Chicago brings Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa and Patrick Sharp to the table. Tampa Bay counters with Steven Stamkos, Tyler Johnson, Nikita Kucherov and Ondrej Palat.
If you look at the regular season numbers, the Lightning were by far the more impressive offensive team. Stamkos’ 43 goals were second in the entire league. Johnson and Kucherov were Top 20 scorers. Palat’s 47 assists ranked 12th in the NHL. As a team, Tampa Bay scored more goals than anyone else.
Chicago’s offense lagged well behind in the regular season, ranking only 17th in goals scored, but it’s been a different story in the playoffs. The Blackhawks are slightly better than the Lightning in playoff scoring. Kane, who missed over a quarter of the regular season, has 10 playoff goals, second-best in the postseason behind only Tampa’s Johnson, who has lit the lamp twelve times.
The predominance of highly skilled offensive talent has led observers to conclude that we’re going to get a wide-open series. That may well be the case, but before we go there, let’s note that Tampa Bay has not necessarily played that way in their biggest games.
During the regular season, the Tampa defense ranked in the top five at preventing shots on goal and they adopted conservative strategies in Games 5 & 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals at New York. Both games resulted in a 2-0 shutout. If the Lightning went that route against a defense-minded team like the Rangers, how much greater will the temptation to do so be against the Blackhawks?
The Stanley Cup Finals being tonight at the Staples Center in Los Angeles (8 PM ET, NBC). The Los Angeles Kings are the betting favorite against the New York Rangers. Here’s a look at how the Kings got here, which includes debunking some myths…
Los Angeles hoisted the Stanley Cup in 2012 and made it to the conference finals in 2013, before losing to the Chicago Blackhawks. Los Angeles avenged the latter defeat as they survived a thrilling seven-game series with Chicago to get to this round. Here’s a summation of the season arc for the Kings.
*Los Angeles went 46-28-8 in the regular season and were sixth in the Western Conference. The strength of the team was defense, as they were the best in the league in goals allowed. It stands to reason then, that the offense was a little shaky, and they ranked 26th.
*The path Los Angeles to their respective rankings on offense and defense was a little curious though. Goaltender Jonathan Quick did not have a good year, with his 91.5% save rate ranking 23rd among NHL goalies. It was outstanding team defense, limiting opportunities that keyed the Kings’ defensive success.
*On the flip side, Los Angeles had no problem generating shots on goal, ranking seventh in the league at assaulting the net. Over an 82-game schedule you would expect that to work itself out—especially with veteran scorers like Jeff Carter who know what they’re doing with the puck. But it did not.
*Anze Kopitar was the team’s most productive offensive player all year, with his 70 points marking him a top-30 player. I use the benchmarks of 30/60/90 since there are thirty teams in the NHL and if talent were equally distributed it gives a sense of who’s a front-line scorer, a second-line and third-line. A crude statistical breakdown to be sure, but it gives us a general sense of where players fit in the overall scheme of the NHL.
*Kopitar was a front-line player on both goals and assists, while Carter was a second-line scorer with 27 goals. The weakness of the offense came in that not a lot of other contributors stepped up.
*That all changed in the postseason. Los Angeles has been the most explosive offensive team in the playoffs, calling to mind their 2012 run when players like Drew Doughty and Dustin Penner suddenly morphed into Wayne Gretzky for a couple months. Penner is gone, but Doughty is one of the multitude of players whose game has found a new level. It includes Marian Gaborik, Justin Williams and Dustin Brown.
*Kopitar and Carter are still going strong. Kopitar is the leading point producer in the postseason and the leading Kings’ candidate for the Conn Smythe Award, given to the MVP of the entire playoffs. He leads in assists, while Carter ranks second in both goals and assists through three rounds of playoff hockey. Gaborik’s 12 goals are the most of any player.
*There’s a myth that exists which says that Quick—the Conn Smythe winner in 2012 and the U.S. Olympic goalie at Sochi this February—has elevated his game. In reality, he has not. Quick has had some very good games at some really big moments to be sure, and I’m sure no one in Los Angeles is complaining that he’s in net. But the 90.6% save rate for the postseason places him in the middle of playoff goalies. He coughed up third period leads in Games 5 & 6 against Chicago, both close-out opportunities that nearly cost the Kings dearly.
*Ultimately, the story of the Los Angeles Kings in these playoffs is that of a team that simply refuses to die. They were down 3-0 in games to the San Jose Sharks in the first round and became the fourth team in NHL history to win four in a row. Los Angeles won two straight elimination games against a very good team in the Anaheim Mighty Ducks.
Finally, Los Angeles won a Western Conference Finals against the defending Stanley Cup champions in overtime of Game 7 on the road, concluding a series that met the very definition of epic. If the Rangers ever think the Kings are dead at any point in this series, New York might want to twist the knife and kick the body a few times just to make sure.
The life of the sports fan officially reaches summer today, as the NHL season joins the NBA in having concluded, and we have a couple months of major league baseball, with some action in tennis and golf mixed in, as what will basically dominate daily sports.
There is still a championship to be settled outside the world of the major sports, and that’s in the College World Series. UCLA took Game 1 of the best-of-three final against Mississippi State last night, and the Bruins can bring home the national title with a win tonight (8 PM ET, ESPN).
UCLA’s athletic program overall has won more national championships than any other school, but never in baseball. They play their home games in Jackie Robinson Stadium (Robinson played both football and baseball in Westwood) and it would be ironic if the coveted title came the year “42” hit the theatres.
MLB Network has coverage of American League contenders tonight. Viewers will get either Texas-NY Yanks from the Bronx, or Cleveland-Baltimore from Camden Yards, starting at 7 PM ET.
If the AL East team you really want to watch is Boston, then you have to go the NFL Network—not for a game, but for a half-hour feature on the days that Fenway Park doubled as a football home for the Patriots. Another little historical tidbitis that the Washington Redskins played their home games at the Fens, having been founded in Boston, but relocating very early in the franchise’s existence.
Here at TheSportsNotebook, we’ll start with NHL analysis coming up shortly, looking back at the wild finish to Game 6 and offering some reflections on the season as a whole, shortened year though it may have been. Then a little later on there will be MLB coverage, focusing in on the AL Central. Now that summer is in gear, it’s a division a day—or six days a week anyway. Yesterday we looked at the NL East, with a specific focus on the Philadelphia Phillies.
The Boston Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks begin the final leg of the championship journey on Wednesday night when the two Original Six franchises open the Stanley Cup Finals. It’s the first time a pair of NHL originalshave met for the Cup since 1979, a year Montreal won its fourth straight title over the New York Rangers. TheSportsNotebook does its final series preview of the season, as we see if Chicago is worthy of their status as the 8-5 favorite to win it all.
SUCCESS BUILT ON FUNDAMENTALS
When you break down the statistical profile of each team through three rounds of the playoffs, the keys to success become clear, and they are not a surprise. It starts with goaltending. Boston’s Tuuka Raask and Chicago’s Corey Crawford rank 1-2 in save percentage for the postseason. And then you look at how each team plays in the 5-on-5 game, when no penalty either way is in effect. The teams again rank 1-2.
Say what you will about star offensive talent, scoring on the power play and all that, but Boston and Chicago’s success fits what has been a strong general pattern, and is built on goaltending and executing in straight 5-on-5 hockey.
WHAT STYLE OF PLAY ARE WE LOOKING FOR?
Two interesting statistical notes through three rounds of playoff hockey…
*While Chicago has more renowned offensive talent, it’s Boston that’s been the superior team in terms of generating shot opportunities. The shot averages for each team are 36-32 in favor of the Bruins. Boston has been the best among the playoff teams, while Chicago is close to the middle of the pack.
*But on the flip side, Chicago has been decisively superior in shot prevention, allowing only 28 a game and ranking fourth. Boston has been below the playoff average, in exposing Raask nearly 33 times a game.
What makes these stats interesting is that they run counter to what each team did during the regular season. Chicago has been an open-ice team, relying on great scorers like Patrick Sharps, Patrick Kane and Marian Hossa to light the lamp, and counting on Crawford to make saves when the free flow of play created opportunities back the other way.
Boston has been more defensive-oriented, using its deep fourth line to help grind teams down, protecting Raask and looking to win close, low-scoring games. The B’s have good scorers—Nathan Horton, Tyler Seguin, and David Krejci being the prime examples—but none are great scorers. Indeed, you can fairly argue that at least in terms of offense, Chicago will have the best four players in the Finals—with center Jonathan Toews and his great passing ability joining the three listed above.
Thus, we start with a compelling storyline—Chicago’s desire to open the ice, versus Boston’s desire to grind—and then throw in the variable of each team winning in a way that runs counter to that for three playoff rounds. If nothing else, it shows the quality of these teams. Each can beat you a lot of different ways.
EACH TEAM’S EDGE
The power play might be overstated by the media in terms of its general importance to success, but if both teams have great goaltending and execute in the 5-on-5, that’s going to give special teams an outsized importance. Based on play thus far in the playoffs, that favors Chicago.
While neither team has been especially good at cashing in their opportunities, ranking in the lower half of playoff teams—the Blackhawks have at least turned in an elite performance of penalty-killing. Boston’s penalty kill team has not been bad, but it’s only marginally above the playoff average. Furthermore, in spite of this team’s defensive pedigree, that has not always translated to the power play during the regular season, so what we’ve seen this spring is par for the course.
What Boston brings is exceptional depth. The contributions of the Bruins’ fourth line has won plaudits throughout the postseason, and that enables the B’s to wear opponents down and win games late. Furthermore, while Boston lacks Chicago’s flashy firepower, they have a large number of players who are steady threats to score, or to find the open man. For example, while Towes may be the best center in this series, Boston’s trio of Krejci, Bergeron and Tyler Seguin would rank 2-3-4.
Thus, we have a situation where Chicago can win a tightly officiated series, where the superior penalty kill can be vital, while Boston would prefer that it be a series with no standout players or moments, and simply a test of depth.
THE PERSONNEL
We’ve dropped a lot of names for each team already. Chicago essentially needs Toews to be a facilitator, although with only one goal for the entire playoffs, they are used to having him be a more productive scorer. Defenseman Duncan Keith is also a talented passer and offensive threat from the back line.
Sharp, Kane and Hossa are the ones the Blackhawks usually count on to light the lamp, although Bryan Bickell has been a revelation in the playoffs. He’s got eight goals and if you gave an MVP just for the Western Conference finals series with Los Angeles, Bickell would have won it.
With Boston it starts with the trio of centers noted above. Krejci is the leading point-producer in the playoffs thus far, while Seguin has been way too quiet. Horton is the second leading point-producer and the best of a group of forwards that’s pretty good—Brad Marchand and Milan Lucic included—but certainly not in Chicago’s class.
It’s the depth of the back line that makes Boston stand out. Zdeno Chara, with his long wingspan, is one of the league’s best defenseman, and the equivalent of Keith as a passer. Johnny Boychuk has scored five goals and rookie Torey Krug has enjoyed his coming out party in the playoffs.
Thus, if we want to oversimplify it, think of the personnel battle as being about Boston’s defenseman against Chicago’s forwards, because that’s where each team has the edge.
FINAL VERDICT
Regular readers of TheSportsNotebook’s NHL analysisknow I am a Boston fan and that I don’t pretend to try and feign objectivity. But I do have to say this—Chicago is a team that deserves enormous respect.
I welcomed the chance for the Bruins to play Pittsburgh, because I felt the Penguins were all flash, no substance and could be exposed by a team with depth and discipline and that loved the grind. Chicago has the flash, but they showed against Los Angeles, they could win in the grind. I have a high regard for the Blackhawks in all phases of the game.
On my Monday podcast through Prime Sports Network, my co-host Greg DePalma feels Chicago is an overwhelming favorite and that this series is not even close. I don’t buy that, although since Greg’s picked against Boston each series this postseason, I suppose I should be glad. But if you were to ask me to give an objective observer reasons why the Bruins are better than the Blackhawks, as opposed to simply competitive, I can’t say I could do it.
The B’s are tough, deep and will be a difficult out. If you wanted to take the 8-5 odds, I think that might be a decent price. But straight up, are my troops better than Chicago? Quite honestly, no.
Game 1 will be Wednesday night in Chicago (8 PM ET, NBC). NHL analysis comes back Thursday morning to look back on the series opener and hazard a guess as to what it might mean for what lies ahead.
It was an anti-climactic finish to the NHL season last night in Los Angeles’ Staples Center, but none of the locals were complaining. The Los Angeles Kings jumped all over the New Jersey Devils early in the game, rattling off three power-play goals in the first period and cruising home to a 6-1 win that put the finishing touches on their six-game series win in the Finals and the hoisting of the franchise’s first-ever Stanley Cup.
The overall numbers for the game look fairly pedestrian for Los Angeles offensively, in line with what we’ve seen throughout the series. But while they got a 25 shots for the game (a middling number), they took more than half, 13 in all, in the first period, That’s the kind of offensive activity they had not generated through the first five games, even in their wins and it overwhelmed Devils’ goalie Martin Brodeur.
There was no score midway through the first period when the floodgates collapsed. Dustin Brown scored on the power play, then got an assist to Jeff Carter shortly thereafter. In both goals, Mike Richards was involved on a secondary assist. With five minutes to go in the period, Trevor Lewis scored with the man advantage and for all intents and purposes that was the dagger. The remaining two periods and change were about celebrating and counting down the clock. Although, as a Boston fan who saw the Bruins get up 3-0 in a Game 7 last year, I can tell you that the clock countdown is the most excruciatingly slow experience I have ever endured as a sports fan.
New Jersey got their goal towards the end of the second period to make it 4-1 and the Kings tacked on one goal against an empty net with close to four minutes left and then scored another one moments later with Brodeur back in the net. The veteran netminder, the best of his era, looked overmatched for the second time in this series—Game 3 being the other—and Brodeur joined the Celtics’ Big Three in the category of gutty veterans giving way to younger talent here in the past three days.
Los Angeles might have had some NBA disappointment this year, they might have baseball excitement in both leagues to look forward to in October. But for now the boys who play hockey are Kings of the town, as their improbable playoff run as a #8 seed ends with the Cup.
The New Jersey Devils stayed alive in the Stanley Cup Finals last night with a 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings, a victory that moved them to within 3-2 in the series, and sent a clear message that the words “Game On” now apply to the Cup Final after Los Angeles first came in as the favorite and then won three quick games. That’s the basic storyline. What’s not noted is that the Kings have not been playing well the entire series.
In TheSportsNotebook’s game-by-game coverage of the final, it’s been repeatedly noted that small volume of shots being taken by Los Angeles’ core offensive players, Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown and Dustin Penner. I hate to keep beating a dead horse, but the same problem is still happening five games into the series. Kopitar, the team’s presumed best player, took zero shots at the net last night. Zero shots! And we’re shocked they can’t seem to score anymore? The consequences of this are that Los Angeles has never had a game where they put sustained pressure on New Jersey goaltender Martin Brodeur, instead winning two overtime defensive struggles and another game where Brodeur simply played badly. New Jersey was never getting schooled at any point in this series—not the way Los Angeles took it to St. Louis and Phoenix in the previous two rounds, for example. And now the series is reflecting that.
The odds are still obviously with Los Angeles to wrap up the Cup on Monday night for Game 6. And they’re doing plenty right on the defensive end themselves. Last night wasn’t a great game, but at 26 shots allowed it was still good enough, when you have Jonathan Quick as your goaltender. But the Devils need Ilya Kovalchuk more involved in the offense if they’re going to get the one game they need where they can really beat Quick for three or four goals. I say “one game” because I think if New Jersey’s going to win four in a row, one probably has to be fairly easy. Otherwise there’s too many chances for some bad luck to beat you, as it nearly did last night when Los Angeles’ Justin Williams scored a tying goal in the second period on a shot that clipped the crossbar.
Who can get sustained offense first? By that I mean, who can open up and get 30 good shots at the goalie, with the key players mentioned here getting anywhere from 3-5 apiece? That’s what I’m looking for from one of these teams, and the one that answers will hoist the Stanley Cup, either Monday in Hollywood or on Wednesday back East in the Meadowlands.
The New Jersey Devils kept their focus and kept playing the solid team defense that’s characterized their work in these Stanley Cup Finals and it finally paid off with a victory as the pulled away from the Los Angeles Kings in a 3-1 win at the Staples Center Wednesday night. With the Kings still needing just one more win in the next three games it’s almost certainly just a stay of execution, but it was something Jersey could feel could about and it’s pointed to areas Los Angeles needs to improve if they’re close out this championship without giving their fans a heart attack.
Game 4 was scoreless through two periods, with neither team doing a lot as far as getting shots. Finally, the Devils got 13 shots in the third period and for the game overall, both Zach Parise and Ilya Kovalchuk got four cracks at Jonathan Quick. The only goal of the eight shots was Kovalchuk’s empty-netter in the final minute, but the increased involvement from the key players spelled good things.
It was Patrik Elias who broke through the scoring barrier with twelve minutes to play, but the Kings countered with a goal from Drew Doughty. The defenseman has played very good hockey in the Finals—indeed, throughout the playoffs—but in the championship round Los Angeles has gotten too reliant on him. While the offensive trio of Dustin Brown, Dustin Penner and Anze Kopitar were a little more active this game than any point in the series, it was hardly a sustained assault. Brown and Penner combined for five shots while Kopitar, merely the team’s best player, did not attempt a shot in a game to try and win a Stanley Cup. Combine this defensive effort with the fact Martin Brodeur came up with a solid night for New Jersey in goal and it spelled a win for the Devils, as Adam Henrique scored with just over four minutes left and Kovalchuk locked it up on the empty-netter.
My comments on the Kings are harsh, given this is a team almost certain to wrap up the Stanley Cup, but I do believe this is the least impressive of their playoff series and that a combination of some good breaks and the superiority of Quick to Brodeur is the only reason it’s 3-1 in games for the Western Conference champs. Of course if Kopitar gets in the game on Saturday night for Game 5 back in the Meadowlands and Quick turns in another lockdown effort, none of the flaws matter anymore. But Saturday’s game is really the last pressure-free game the Kings will play. If they don’t close it Saturday night, it’s suddenly a series again and that’s the last thing anyone in Los Angeles even wants to think about.
You can praise the Los Angeles Kings’ goalie Jonathan Quick for his role in the team’s 4-0 shutout win over New Jersey in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals, putting the Kings up 3-0 in games and one win from their first Cup ever. You’d be right to do so. You can praise the Los Angeles team defense and you’d be right to do so. But as much as New Jersey Devil goaltender Martin Brodeur is an icon, and as much as TheSportsNotebook in particular respects him, last night was about the Devil goalie.
New Jersey played its second straight outstanding defensive game—they’ve been good in all three games, but the last two have risen to the level of complete shutdown. They allowed only 21 shots on goal. Of Los Angeles’ three best players, Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown and Dustin Penner, they combined for just one of those shots. The fact that this resulted in four goals has to fall on the shoulders of the veteran between the pipes who has three rings and is a lock Hall of Famer, but just appears to be fighting off the effects of time.
The first period of Game 3 went by scoreless before Los Angeles broke the ice (no pun intended). Kopitar, one the one shot from the team’s offensive core, then added a second goal on an assist from Brown. Let’s now also give credit to the Kings’ team defense, which held New Jersey to only 22 shots. And while Zach Parise was able to get four off, Ilya Kovalchuk was again made irrelevant. And with Jonathan Quick young, hungry and locked-in, that two-goal lead might as well have been 6-0. Just in case there was any doubt thought, Los Angeles added a pair of power play goals early in the third period to put it away. New Jersey’s inability to kill either of the two power plays—the only times all night Los Angeles played with the man advantage speak further volumes to how much Brodeur struggled.
Los Angeles will look to put it away in Game 4 on Wednesday night from the Staples center. Although as ESPN commentator Michael Wilbon noted yesterday, with this team being unbeaten in the road, maybe their real ace in the hole is that they still have two trips to New Jersey in their back pocket, regardless of what happens Wednesday.
Is it now a foregone conclusion this series is over? At 3-0, I’d certainly have to say yes. I do follow and root for Boston sports so I know what the Red Sox did in 2004 and what happened to the Bruins in 2010. But those are history-making moments for a reason—they rarely happen. Maybe a better question would be if the Devils’ can just get two wins and make the Finals interesting again. Here I’d be more optimistic. They’re playing outstanding team defense. They just need Kovalchuk to get involved and then the old vet, Mr. Brodeur needs to put the team on his back at least once.
