The Kings defeated the Blues last night 5-0, paced by strong goaltending from Jonathan Quick (27 saves, earning his 15th career shutout and 99th NHL win) and two goals from Simon Gagne.
– Three Stars of the Game: Gagne, Quick and Jarret Stoll
– Math with Jack: defenseman Jack Johnson was plus-3 for the night, which is now also where his season rating sites after five games.
– Stoll (aka ‘the visor’ – as explained here) had a goal, an assist, two shots on goal and was plus-2 for the night. After the game, he had this to say – “I’m just trying to play good on both sides of the puck, be good in my zone if we have to play down there, play hard and play physical. On the other side of the puck, if I get a chance to put one in the net, just bear down and put one in. I (was) lucky enough tonight, Brownie [Dustin Brown] made a good pass once I was coming off the bench, and he can make those plays, so it was a great play by him and just a great team effort overall.”
– Willie Mitchell led the Kings with 23:40 of ice time. Jack Johnson was second at 21:48. Interestingly, Stoll led all Kings forwards in ice time (19:29), a stat usually reserved for Anze Kopitar.
– Kopitar (4g, 5a) and Justin Williams (2g,5a) have picked up at least a point in each of the five games played by the Kings so far this season.
– Faceoff numbers are improving, with LA winning 54% of the total draws (31-of-57). Kopitar was tops here, winning 65% (11-of-17).
– LA was 1-for-4 on the power play and killed off all four chances St. Louis had with the man advantage.
– NHL Debut: Slava Voynov played 19:48 and earned a plus-2 rating
– Practice starts today at noon in El Segundo. Immediately following, we’ll have live notes and quotes – follow along on the twitter/facebook links listed below. In the meantime, enjoy the video highlights from last night’s game (after the jump)…
If you missed yesterday’s two pre-game articles, click here to read why Stoll was ‘pissed off’ to play the Blues and click here to read what Jack Johnson and Matt Greene were thinking about facing for St. Louis for the first time this season.
For a little trip down memory lane, also be sure to check out this interview with Andy Murray, former coach of the Kings and the Blues. He talks about his time in LA and several of the players he worked with – including Rob Blake, Luc Robitaille, Sean Avery, Ian Laperriere, Ziggy Palffy and more.
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