Photo Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
The Playoff Kings showed up again last night for Jonathan Quick’s first NHL game at Madison Square Garden. Former Calgary Flames bulky defenseman, Robyn Regehr was not in the L.A. Kings line-up again last night and has not played since the beginning of May because of a knee injury. But, as was written in this article on the Kings website yesterday, Regehr could return to the playoffs soon.
It has been 20 years since the last playoff game was held at MSG and what should have been a celebratory night for the Rangers fans turned to utter disappointment quick. The Rangers put on the pressure early, but it seemed to fizzle away near the end of the first period. There was no two-goal lead to help them out and they looked defeated as time wore on.
A great wrister by Jeff Carter opened the scoring in the first period to put the Kings up by one going into the second. With a power play goal by Jake Muzzin in the second frame, the Kings had a good head-start on New York who was finding it tough to come back. Mike Richards‘ goal was the nail in the coffin for the Rangers as the NY defensive team had a complete breakdown. There was no way the Rangers could dig themselves out of the three-goal deficit and the Kings won, taking a 3-0 lead in this series.
Drew Doughty again led the way for the Kings with over 26 minutes on ice while Ryan McDonagh led the Rangers players with almost 27 minutes. Henrik Lundqvist stopped 12 of 15 shots on net and it wasn’t his best game with a save percentage of .800.
Jeff Carter has stepped up his game all season and it has filtered into the playoffs. He always seems to be in the right place at the right time during this year’s playoff run which has resulted in numerous goals, including another last night in game 3.
Jake Muzzin was stellar after he scored the second goal of the night in the second period. Another shot on net later in the period and over 24 minutes on ice made a big impact for L.A.
Dustin Brown, although prominent in a lot of plays, has seemed to fade to the background this playoff series. With one goal against New York and over 15 minutes of time on ice last night, I expected a little more out of the usually fearless leader. He doesn’t seem to be as physical as he has been in the past. I’ve been waiting the entire playoff run to see some of the Dustin Brown plays from 2012. He has at least one more game to show his true gritty self and I’ll be watching for it.
My 1 Star
Jonathan Quick.
Did you expect anything less out of this goalie-loving girl??
During his first professional game at MSG, Quick got his first shutout since April 26 against the San Jose Sharks. He was focused, stayed in position, and didn’t miss anything that went on in front of him. Because of his stealth moves in net last night, he helped the Los Angeles Kings to take a 3-0 lead in the final series of the playoffs with a 3-0 win over the New York Rangers.