I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least a little shocked with how the Kings are playing lately. I mean, I knew they could play this well, but I certainly didn't expect it. After bouncing the Canucks out of the playoffs in the first round, I figured, OK they might come back down to Earth a bit and have some trouble with the Blues. Nope.
St. Louis was a very good team during the regular season. They were tied with Vancouver for the fewest losses in the league, tied for second in point percentage, and the best in the league when it came to goals against. Mind you the Kings were second in goals against, but still, the Kings didn't exactly tear the net off the posts on the offensive side. However, since the start of the playoffs the Kings goals per game have risen to 2.86 up from 2.29 during the regular season. Couple that with Jonathan Quick who has the highest save percentage in the playoffs so far, and the Kings are downright dangerous. They simply don't look intimidated by anyone right now. Which is definitely a change from the regular season. It's not that they would get consistently bullied, but they just lacked that toughness edge. Well apparently they were just saving up all that aggression for the playoffs, because they look like pretty badass right now.
What did concern me with Monday night's game was the amount of penalties the Kings took. LA found themselves in the sin bin 16 times during Monday's game. Yes the Blues were penalized 14 times, but they were also down 4-0 after the first period. St. Louis should have been throwing their weight around, trying to do anything to get back in the game. LA didn't need to respond the way they did. I'm all for protecting yourself and your teammates, but it seemed a bit excessive. Hopefully they'll bit a bit more disciplined on Thursday when the teams face off in Game 3, the first of the series in LA.
By far what has been the most impressive part of the Kings postseason run so far has been their ability to win on the road. The one game in which they were defeated was in LA by a desperate Canucks squad. One might be inclined to think it's just a coincidence, but think about last year's Stanley Cup Finals. The Canucks and Bruins went to Game 7, neither of which having won a road game. Boston finally wins a game on the road, and it clinches the Cup for them. So yeah, being able to win a one game as the visitor is vital, especially when you're a number 8 seed. The Kings have proven they can do this, which gives me a sense of optimism. Is this series over? Not by a long shot, but the Kings are well on their way to the Western Conference Finals. If they keep scoring goals at the torrid pace they have in the first 2 games of this series and Quick keeps standing on his head, I'm not so sure anyone can beat them right now.
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