LA Kings beat the Boston Bruins 2-0 at the Staples Center- December 2014
The LA Kings took on the Boston Bruins on December 2nd, 2014 in a match-up of teams with the same number of points this year (29). The Bruins are coming off a 3-2 loss the night before to theDucks and are battling some key injuries such as big defenseman Zdeno Chara, the heart and sole of the team as well as defensive partner Adam MaQuaid and skilled forward David Krejci. They were also resting #1 goalie Tuukka Rask so they were facing a tough challenge. LA also welcomed the return of Alec Martinez who has been out for a while with his finger injury. The Kings had a 2 man advantage early but didn’t convert but Tanner Pearson (# 2 star of the game) scored his team high 10th goal of the young season with a nice pass assist from Anze Kopitar who was all over the ice in the first period. Many of the Kings players including Drew Doughty have been critical of the team’s recent play saying they are not happy with the way the team has been playing and they need to turn it around right away.
The second period provided both teams with their fair share of chances including Pearson hitting the post, Stoll on a half-way breakaway, Bruins Chris Kelly getting stoned by Jonathon Quick who was outstanding. There were several shots just wide but the defensive battle and Bruins second string goalie Niklas Svedberg (the 3rd star of the game) played very well as the Kings had a big advantage of shots on goal. The Bruins came out flying in the third with a burst of energy firing shot after shot but nothing could get by Quick including a point-blank shot by defenseman Torey Krug as he had a wide open net off a deflection. The low scoring game continued with some other good chance including one by Dustin Brown but it remained 1-0 in front of the sellout crowd of more than 18,000the rainy LA night. Boston pulled the goalie and Tyler Toffoli tied Pearson with his 10th goal with an empty netter to make the final score 2-0.
It was shutout for Quick as he was the #1 star of the game but an overall great performance by the whole team. In the post game interviews, Martinez said he was happy to be back on the ice but felt a bit rusty. He also praised Quick and said it was a tough game vs. Boston as they have a similar style game to the Kings so he knew it would be close. Coach Sutter said the team played an overall good game and they got the important goal to win the game. It is not always about the result he said, it is the way you go about it. The other big positive is they didn’t allow Boston even one power play the whole game. He mentioned he was happy to have Martinez back.
Marian Gaborik sat our with an injury for his second straight game For Quick, it was his third shutout of the season, and the 34th of his NHL career. He said it was a big 2 points vs. a quality team and it doesn’t matter how you get them or what the score is. He was looking now towards their next game at Arizona now. Quick is 10-1-1 in his last 12 starts at home and the Kings record improved to 13-7-5 overall and 11-3-1 at the Staples Center.
More info, schedule and tickets at www.lakings.com