LA NETS BIGGEST WIN OF THE SEASON
KINGS RAKE THE LEAFS, 3-1
TORONTO -- Jason Allison tallied two assists, and Felix Potvin stopped
twenty-two shots, helping the Los Angeles Kings defeat the Toronto
Maple Leafs, 3-1, in front of 19,320 disappointed fans at the Air
Canada Centre in Toronto on Tuesday night.
Allison assisted on a power play goal by winger Steve Heinze at 7:52
of the second period, and later in the third period on a fluke goal by
winger Adam Deadmarsh to give the Kings the 3-1 lead.
For Allison, who got off to a slow start with the Kings after he was
acquired from the Boston Bruins on October 24, things are looking up
in a big way. With the two assists, he now has seven goals and
eighteen assists, good for twenty-five points in an equal number of
games--he is now the point-per-game, big impact center the Kings have
sorely needed for two seasons.
"He's the go-to guy," Potvin said. "Everyone feeds off him. The whole
team is playing well right now."
"This is probably the best game we've played all year," Allison said.
"We played a real solid game. We moved the puck well out of our zone.
Our defense did a great job."
"I'd say we played better with the lead tonight than at any time this
season," Allison added. "We shut down the middle of the ice, we
created offensive chances and we got great goaltending. What more can
you ask for?"
Well, for one thing, big contributions in the defensive end by the
Kings' forwards, and Allison answered the call in that area, too,
knocking Leafs' forwards off the puck and creating turnovers.
"Our defense did a great job," Allison said. "We played a solid game
and if we can keep this going for the rest of the trip, this will set
us up nicely after Christmas."
"You could see everyone was on their game," Potvin said. "And when
they started to come back we shut the door. We were just patient and
stalled them as much as we could."
The Kings' special teams, which have been on fire in recent games,
came through once again, especially on the penalty-kill, in which they
killed six Toronto power plays.
The Kings have now killed 41 of their last 42 penalties over their
last ten games.
"The key to our game right now is the special teams," Potvin said.
"Game in and game out, we're playing solid on the penalty-kill, and
our power play got one tonight."
"Our penalty-kill was great," he emphasized.
"It's been unbelievable," Allison said. "Our penalty-killing has been
almost perfect and our power play has been capitalizing on a lot of
chances, too."
Indeed. During their current 5-0-1 streak, in which they have now won
four straight games, the Kings have scored nine power play goals on
twenty-six chances, good for a whopping 34.6% rating.
Kings' head coach Andy Murray explained the Kings' recent success with
the man advantage.
"I think it's quick puck movement, it's getting pucks to the net, and
it's being willing to sacrifice and pay the price in front of the
other team's net to get rebounds," he said about his team's power
play.
The decisive moment in the game came when Deadmarsh scored at 11:38 of
the third period, when his centering pass from the left corner was
deflected into the net.
Deadmarsh's goal came just 1:09 after Toronto forward Darcy Tucker
brought the Leafs to within one goal, and seemingly giving his team
the momentum.
"I think it deflated them," said Kings' forward Ian Laperriere. "They
were coming on, and we got that goal right back. We grabbed the
momentum again."
"For any kid watching who always hears, 'Just shoot the puck and good
things happen,' that was it," Allison said. "I think it went in off
the goaltender's bum."
With the Kings' strong play of late, they are creating their own luck,
and now the puck is bouncing their way, unlike earlier in the season
when every bounce seemingly went against them.
"We were not getting those [breaks] at the beginning of the year,"
Deadmarsh said. "We were really having a tough time finding bounces,
and that was a lucky bounce, no question."
"I think we're feeling better about ourselves than [we did] a month
ago, and we deserve that [lucky bounce]," Potvin said. "We played a
tremendous game. The guys played great in front of me, blocked a lot
of shots."
"Nice to get those bounces," Deadmarsh added. "Nice to be winning.
We've been finding ways to lose this year, so it's nice to win and put
a streak together."
Deadmarsh said that the biggest reason that the Kings' fortunes have
turned around is because they are getting onto the same page.
"I really noticed our team coming together the last couple weeks, just
playing solid hockey and paying attention to detail," Deadmarsh said.
"We knew we were struggling scoring goals, but we figured if we didn't
allow any, we were going to be in tight games and would give ourselves
a chance to win. And as of late, the pucks are starting to go in for
us."
For the Leafs, who are the top team in the Eastern Conference, they
felt that they did not play to their potential.
"Not to take anything away from LA, but we didn't have our best game,"
Leafs' center and team captain Mats Sundin said. "They sent one guy in
[forechecking]. We kind of had to play a simple game, but we didn't."
That lucky bounce for the Kings certainly did not help the Leafs'
cause, either.
"They got a couple of lucky bounces, and you can't expect the power
play to win you games every night," Schwab said, referring to
Toronto's failure to score on six power play chances.
"Sometimes you have a loss like that to make sure you come back to
reality," Tucker said. "We've been playing some pretty good hockey."
But the Leafs did give the Kings a little credit.
"This was a little wake-up call for us," Leafs' forward Alexander
Mogilny said. "[The Kings] played very well positionally. They didn't
give us any room. They clogged up the middle.
Leafs' number one goalie Curtis Joseph was out with the flu, and did
not play, and this gave the usually ravenous Toronto hockey media an
angle to pursue--that without Joseph, the Kings got off easy.
Just don't try to tell the Kings that.
"Cujo is a great goalie, but I thought we outplayed them," Allison
said.
"I'd like to think tonight, with the way we out-chanced them, that
whether Cujo was in there or not, we win the hockey game," Murray
said.
"Maybe some of the breaks have gone in our favor, but I don't know if
[Joseph] would have made a difference tonight," Murray added.
And speaking of goalies, the guy on the other end was the biggest
reason the Kings won this game. Potvin was brilliant, making a number
of tough saves and stoning the Leafs in the third period, when they
poured on the pressure, especially while on the power play.
And perhaps Potvin was inspired by facing the Leafs, the team he broke
into the NHL with in 1991.
"It's always fun to come back," Potvin said. "I've got a lot of great
memories when I played here. There's not too many guys I played with
that are still there so it's not the same feeling as it once was."
"Felix had a tough start to the year," Deadmarsh explained. "He's got
a lot of pride and bounced back quite some time ago. He's been playing
great for us. I'm sure coming into a building he was so well-liked in
for so long, he definitely wanted to come out with a strong effort."
Potvin is now 1-3-0 lifetime against the Leafs, is now 3-0-1 in his
last four games.
But he knows that the Kings still have a long way to go before they
can even start thinking about being in playoff contention.
"It's better than it was, but still we have a lot of catchup to do,"
he said. "We put ourselves in a hole at the start of the year."
But the Kings are gradually digging themselves out of that hole with
solid play in all facets of the game.
"In recent games, our goals-against average has been a key, the play
of our goaltenders, and we also have to take a look at our
penalty-killing, our power play--our special teams have moved up
dramatically in the National Hockey League standings," Murray
explained. "I think that directly reflects on our overall
performance."
"The commitment of the players to work hard, to battle for sixty
minutes, and to recognize that every game is winnable, has been a
determining factor as well," he added.
Scratches
---------
Toronto: Anders Eriksson (healthy), Jyrki Lumme (rib injury)
Los Angeles: Brad Chartrand (abdominal strain), Steve Kelly (healthy),
Andreas Lilja (healthy)
Goalies
-------
Toronto: Corey Schwab
Los Angeles: Felix Potvin
Referees: Mike Hasenfratz, Don Van Massenhoven
Linesmen: Scott Driscoll, Tony Sericolo
First Period
------------
No scoring, despite a lot of wide-open play with plenty of skating and
room to maneuver in the neutral zone for both teams. Nevertheless,
the Leafs had fairly large advantage, limiting the Kings to just one
quality scoring chance and spending a ton of time in the Kings' zone,
while getting four high-quality scoring opportunities of their own.
Those chances including a couple of opportunities on the rush, and two
others right in front of Potvin. But Potvin thwarted every attempt,
often making a difficult save.
At the 11:28 mark, the Leafs got a shot on net from left point, and
with traffic in front, Potvin's stick was knocked out of his hand.
Modry picked it up in the slot, but the Leafs got the puck back to
Leafs' center Mats Sundin at right point and fired a shot before Modry
could hand the stick back to Potvin. Modry blocked the shot, but with
two sticks, he was called for a minor penalty for playing with an
illegal stick, since he had two sticks.
At the 19:42 mark, Heinze had the puck in the neutral zone with his
head down, and he moved to center ice where Leafs' defenseman Wade
Belak lowered the boom, absolutely crushing Heinze to the ice.
Video replay showed that it was a clean hit, as Belak kept his stick
and elbow down. But he made contact with his right shoulder, and
crunched Heinze.
Heinze was not injured on the play, as the Leafs would soon find
out...the hard way.
Second Period
-------------
An even more wide-open period by both teams, who peppered each other
with a combined twenty-six shots on goal. This was a better period for
the Kings, who got six quality scoring chances to four for the Leafs.
The Leafs did get some great chances, but Potvin stoned them.
And then the Kings broke the drought...
1. LOS ANGELES. Heinze 11 (Allison, Eric Belanger), 7:52
POWER PLAY
With Leafs' forward Gary Roberts off for unsportsmanlike conduct
(diving) at 6:09, and Leafs' winger Garry Valk in the box for elbowing
at 7:36, the Kings had a two-man advantage for 33 seconds. The Kings
worked the puck on the right side for a bit before Belanger got the
puck at the bottom of the right circle and threw the puck in front.
His pass was knocked down by Schwab at the goal mouth, but Belanger
got to the loose puck and knocked it back to Heinze, who was above the
left inner hashmark. He passed to Allison at the bottom of the left
circle. Allison faked a pass across the slot, drawing the Toronto
defense to the goal mouth. He then passed back to Heinze, who was wide
open at the left inner hashmark. Heinze quickly fired a wrist shot
that beat Schwab low on the stick side, just inside the left goal
post.
Allison made a great play to free up Heinze for the shot. His fake
pass caused two Toronto penalty-killers to go down to block the pass
into the slot, while the third Leafs' defender moved back to the goal
mouth as well. That left Heinze with plenty of room to get off a
good, hard wrist shot.
"That five-on-three, we must have had eleven of them this year,"
Leafs' head coach Pat Quinn said. "They're hard to kill and we didn't
do a good job of it. We looked like three Zambonis out there when the
puck went in."
"That five-on-three changed the game," Quinn added. "[The Kings]
picked it up after that and we didn't."
"Those guys have a good power play," Schwab said. "We gave them a
five-on-three, and they moved the puck around pretty good. The guy
had a good shot from the hashmarks. You have to give them credit."
With the goal, the Kings are now 5/10 with a two-man advantage, good
for a 50% rating.
Roberts, who complained about the penalty called on him, whined about
it after the game as well.
"I'm a guy who tries to create havoc, but I'm not a diver," Roberts
lamented. "I have a stride on their guy and he has a stick under my
arm the whole time. It was a [expletive deleted] call and in my
opinion it cost us the game."
Video replay showed that Kings' defenseman Aaron Miller's stick was
clearly under Robert's arm. But the replay also showed that Roberts
appeared to fall down very easily as soon as he felt Miller's stick,
supporting referee Mike Hasenfratz' interpretation of the play.
2. LOS ANGELES. Laperriere 2 (Philippe Boucher, Eric Belanger),
12:20
Kings' winger Mikko Eloranta carried the puck with speed into the
right corner and behind the Toronto net. He came out in the left
corner, and threw a centering pass that wound up back in the right
corner. Belanger jumped on the loose puck, and passed back to Boucher
at right point. Boucher passed to Laperriere, who was just outside
the right inner hashmark. He spun counter-clockwise and got off a
snap shot that beat a surprised Schwab through the five-hole (between
his leg pads).
"I was thinking, 'How about that,'" Laperriere said about the goal.
"But I was also thinking we better not let down or they'll jump back
in this game in a hurry."
Third Period
------------
The Leafs came out flying in the third period, and had the Kings on
their heels. But Potvin took over, making one tough save after
another.
At the 9:11 mark, the Kings were killing a penalty when Potvin made
what was arguably his best "save" of the game. Roberts had the puck
behind the left goal post and had moved to left crease. But Potvin
made a great play to poke-check the puck away, denying a high-quality
scoring chance and allowing the Kings to clear the zone and kill the
penalty.
Potvin's poke-check was one of three big saves on that particular
Toronto power play. He killed that penalty virtually by himself.
But Potvin could not do it all by himself...
3. TORONTO. Darcy Tucker 11 (Cory Cross, Robert Reichel), 10:29
Reichel got the puck at the red line, along the right wing boards. He
passed back to Cross at the Toronto blue line. Cross immediately
threw a quick pass up the middle to Tucker, who was just outside the
Kings' blue line--they had caught the Kings heading in the wrong
direction. All alone, Tucker carried the puck down right wing and
into the right circle. With the defense closing in, Tucker looked at
left wing, as if he had a teammate to pass to, and then ripped a hard,
no-look wrist shot from the right face-off dot that beat Potvin low
off the left goal post.
A perfect shot by Tucker on the goal, a nice, heads-up play by Cross
to make the pass, and very poor defensive coverage by the Kings, who
all got caught out of position.
But the goal did not faze Potvin, who just got stronger.
"I just wanted to stay focused and concentrate on not giving up that
second goal," Potvin said.
The Leafs had the momentum, only to have it stolen away just 1:09
later...
4. LOS ANGELES. Adam Deadmarsh 11 (Allison, Craig Johnson), 11:38
Johnson got in on the forecheck, and along with Kings' center Bryan
Smolinski, took the puck away from the Leafs' defense in the left
circle. Smolinski passed back to Johnson in the left corner, and he
moved the puck along the boards, back towards left point. From above
the left circle, he passed back to Allison, who was at the left outer
hashmark. He moved to the top of the left circle, and then backhanded
the puck to Deadmarsh in the left corner. With Cross coming right at
him, Deadmarsh tried to pass to Visnovsky, who was heading to the
front of the net, but the puck deflected off of Cross' right ankle,
and then off of Schwab's right arm or stick, and into the net.
"That's hockey, it's a strange game sometimes," Deadmarsh said. "That
was a perfect example that things were going pretty well for us
tonight when something like that happens."
"You could shoot it from there one hundred times and it wouldn't go
off one Cory and the other Corey and go in," Tucker said. "It's an
unfortunate part of the game when we had just got back into it. We've
been getting a few breaks like that on our winning streak so it's
bound to happen to us once in a while."
"It takes the life out of a team," Schwab said about the fluke goal.
"But I felt good coming in. I got to make some early saves and handle
the puck. We'll bounce back on Friday."
The Leafs poured on the pressure, but Potvin was up to the task the
rest of the way.
Shots on Goal
-------------
Toronto: 6 10 7 -- 23
Los Angeles: 7 16 9 -- 32
Power Play Conversions
----------------------
Toronto: 0/6; Los Angeles: 1/3
Zone Time
---------
Toronto: 5:47 7:31 7:56 -- 21:14
Los Angeles: 9:19 7:34 8:18 -- 25:11
Neutral: 4:54 4:55 3:46 -- 13:35
Three Stars (official)
----------------------
#3 - Modry; #2 - Deadmarsh; #1 - Potvin
Gann's Three Stars
------------------
#3 - Aaron Miller; #2 - Allison; #1 - Potvin
Although the Kings played a very good game, they could have just as
easily lost this game when they failed to come out in the third period
as hard as they did in the second period, when they really took the
game to the Leafs. The Kings were a step slow on many shifts, and
were giving the Leafs some great scoring chances from below the
face-off dots.
But thanks to the lucky goal by Deadmarsh, and especially the strong
play in goal by Potvin, the Kings pulled out a win against the best
team in the Eastern Conference--a solid win that will give them even
more confidence, at least for the short-term.
For the first time this season, the Kings can point to the fact that
they have pulled together all facets of their game during their
six-game unbeaten streak. They are getting positive contributions
from virtually everyone, and they are playing well in all three zones
on the ice, for the most part. Most importantly, the Kings are
getting very strong goaltending from Potvin and Storr, and their
special teams have been amazing in recent games. This all bodes very
well for the weeks ahead, especially with right wing Ziggy Palffy
(fractured rib) expected to return sometime after Christmas, and with
defenseman Mathieu Schneider (abdominal surgery to repair sports
hernia) due back in January.
About the three stars...although Deadmarsh scored the goal that
hammered the nails into the Leafs' coffin, Allison had a far greater
impact on the outcome. And Miller had more of an impact in this game
than Modry did. Miller's contributions were tremendous, with very
strong, physical play in his own end.
Next Game: On Thursday, the Kings continue their Canadian road trip
when they skate against Martin Havlat, Marian Hossa and the Ottawa
Senators. Game time: 4:00 PM PST. Televised in the Los Angeles area
on Fox Sports Net West.
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