Jon Quick became the league's winningest goalie with his 33rd win of the season, and Anze Kopitar added two more goals and two assists, including a pretty move on the power play in a little one-on-one with Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller for the Kings sixth goal of the night. With the win, the red-hot Kings moved into a tie for 4th place in the West with Phoenix with 73 points.
The Kings looked like they were gonna roll to an easy win when the 3rd period got under way. They had a comfortable 4-1 lead early in the period, but the Ducks answered with three goals of their own to tie before the midway point of the period. Talk about giving me, and every other Kings fan a heart attack! But the Kings shut them down defensively and went back to work offensively with about 5:30 left when Dustin Brown notched the tie-breaker.
The Kings are really playing well and with confidence while playing through adversity, and when they fall behind, they don't crumble under pressure to get back into the game as they have in recent years. They've really learned to trust themselves and each other as a unit under tough circumstances.
Chalk up another win for the Kings when they lead after two periods. They improved to 23-0-0 in those games.
The two teams meet again next Monday down in Anaheim to continue the Freeway Face-off. First, the Kings host Detroit on Saturday.
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It had been widely reported and speculated that the Kings were one of the leading candidates to land Atlanta's Ilya Kovalchuk in a trade in recent days. Yesterday, Atlanta's GM Don Waddell told Kovalchuk to start packing his bags, that he would be traded "in a few hours or a few days." Well, today, after Waddell announced that Kovalchuk had turned down a 12-year, $101MM contract extension from the Thrashers, he was eventually traded to New Jersey for three players and a first-round pick.
Maybe a lot to give up for a two-month rental (or more depending how far the Devils parade through the playoffs), but they were willing to meet Waddell's demands. I'm just glad the Kings didn't cave in to his demands. It could have cost them any number of players, and it didn't make sense to me for them to break up a winning chemistry. They're playing very well right now as it is without Kovalchuk.
Now the question is can the Devils sign him now before he becomes a free agent after the season, or can they re-sign him once he does become a free agent? Time will tell. It's always possible the Kings could make a run at him if he does hit the market.
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