Left Handed Larceny

U-Turn of the Year

by Eric Berkenpas

Photo Cred blog.masslive.com

Just a month ago, the LA Kings were shaping out to be the most disappointing team in the NHL. This is a team that rode the back of Jonathan Quick all last year, struggled to score goals, and turned it on in a big way at the end of the season, riding that momentum to an easy Stanley Cup victory. Expectations were really high for the defending champs this year as it seemed that the enormous amount of talent they had put together finally started to mesh and form into the team everyone thought they would and should be.

Their season started off on a rough note, losing 5-2 at home to the Chicago Blackhawks, who we all know now would not look back from that level of play until just a week ago. The problem came when the Kings never really bounced back. They spent the first month of the season dwelling near the bottom of the West and unlike last year's struggling Kings team, they were getting neither scoring nor goaltending. In the midst of this rut, Darryl Sutter, head coach of the Kings, began questioning his goaltending and seemed to be losing faith in last year's Vezina runner up, Jonathan Quick. No one was scoring goals; not Kopitar, not Carter, not Brown, not Richards, no one. Jonathan Quick looked like a paranoid, anorexic antelope in net, and nothing could go right.

Photo Cred mayorsmanor.com

Something seemed to spark in the Kings on February 17 during their second of three meetings with the Chicago Blackhawks. Chicago dominated the 1st and 2nd periods and held a commanding 3-0 lead going into the third. In that period, however, the tables turned, and for a much more extended period of time than anyone expected. Mike Richards tallied two powerplay goals and the Kings almost pushed the game to OT where they would have had all the momentum in the world. Despite the loss, something changed in the Kings and something really changed in Jeff Carter. The Kings went on to win their next 6 games and 9 of the next 12. Jeff Carter tallied 11 goals in those 12 games, not scoring a goal in only 3 of them. After averaging 2.3 goals per game through the first 13 games, the Kings averaged 3.6 goals per game through the next 12. What a turn around! Not only did the goal scoring come back, but Jonathan Quick re-established himself as the obvious #1 goalie and Jonathan Bernier showed his value as a very legitimate backup to Quick.

Photo Cred aol.sportingnews.com

With the amazing run and story of the Blackhawks coming to a close at the hands of the Colorado Avalanche, a new story can now emerge in the West. Anaheim was snuffed out of the headlines by the Hawks in the first half of the season and will look to catch some more attention in the second half as they continue to roll through team after team. The LA Kings may just have something to say about that though. They seemed to have gotten their mojo back and I think they are going to be the story in the West through the second half of the season. Will they overtake the Hawks? Not likely. Will they overtake the Ducks in their divisions? More likely, but still improbable. But if nothing else, last year proved that it really doesn't matter how good of a season you have, it's all about how you finish it. The Kings have their eyes set on another Cup and they will not be denied that Cup without a fight.