Kings/Canucks Game 3

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We all know that Kobe rules the roost @ the Staples Center but I fully expect a loud and frenzied crowd in L.A. tonight. 1st playoff game in L.A. since before the 2004-05 lockout. Last playoff appearance was 2000-01 where they lost to Colorado in 7 games. I love the young kids on this team including Jack Johnson on the blue line and Jonathan Quick in goal. This should be a good one.

Underway in Cali. Packed house! Love it.

Quick pass and shot beats Quick. Quieted the crowd a little bit.

Kings looking a little nervous in front of the home crowd. Canucks all over them in the 1st 6 minutes. Weather the storm and keep it 1-0.

And the Kings do just that. Kings score yet another power play goal. Drew Doughty sends one on net that has eyes. Staples Center erupts!!

Canucks get their chance with the man advantage to break a 1-1 tie. The Kings have calmed down a bunch since the start of the game. I did mention the youth on this team but they do have a good mix of veterans as well. I am sure they talked it up on the bench after the initial onslaught from Vancouver at the start.

So far the fans have not been disappointed. A pretty good 1st period.

2nd period goes a little back and forth to start. Wouldn't you know, Vancouver takes a penalty and the Kings bury the biscuit. Stay out of the box dummies or this could be upset city.

Let's see how Vancouver does on the power play. Oh well, that pretty much looked like ass. Jonathan Quick makes a big stop about 1 minute after they go back 5 on 5. Damn this kid is good. Should I trade my Dustin Brown jersey in for a Quick?

Guess what? Kings are now up 3-1 and the Kings are 3-for-3 on the power play. And before you know it, it's 4-1 L.A. I like this team. They ain't takin' shit from a team expected to make a looooong run in the playoffs. Luongo is outta there. We got double razors in the game now. In the booth and on the ice. Luongo has given up 4 but he seemed to bang up his hand (got stepped on) during the play on the 3rd goal. Interested to see how this plays out the rest of the game. I'll still be here. :-)

Damn, this game is keeping me busy. Mikael Samuelsson (a former N.Y. Ranger) goes upstairs on Quick. Cuts the lead to a more managable 4-2 score.

3rd period starts and Kings lead 4-2. Winning that 1st home playoff game in almost a decade will do huge things for L.A.'s confidence. Do the Kings play the 1-2-2 or go after a back-up goalie?

We have a play under review that if it is a goal cuts the L.A. lead to 1. After a long review, they wave it off saying it was kicked in. I am not so sure about that one.

Doesn't matter as shortly after the wave off, the Canucks get a no doubter that Quick never saw. 4-3 Kings with 15 minutes to go in the 3rd. Nervous energy in the Staples Center now. Kings cannot find the "Easy" button.

Kings looked a little lost again after the dis-allowed goal and then the eventual goal to cut it to 1. All is a little better now as the L.A. scores goal number 5. On another note, there were some doubters when Stevie Y. and the brass for Team Canada named Drew Doughty to the team for the Vancouver Games. 8 minutes to go in the 3rd period. Double "D" has 1G, 3A and 21+ minutes of ice time. And by the way, he's 20. The other night in the 3-2 OT win up in Vancouver he had 32:56 of ice time. That's insanity!

The Kings hold on for a 5-3 win even with taking a penalty late.

Kings are my longshot/sleeper/sexy pick out west.