Blog // Archive // 2012 April

Jonathan Quick causes a puck to hit the crossbar with mind sorcery.

No. 1 Star: Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles Kings

After a 5-2 blowout win in Game 2 versus the St. Louis Blues, the eighth-seeded Kings take a 2-0 lead back to the Staples Centre in Los Angeles for the second consecutive series. They iced this one early, putting 4 past Brian Elliott in the first period alone. Kopitar scored two of those, his first coming shorthanded after he showed some remarkable patience to drag this puck around Brian Elliott:

No. 2 Star: Dustin Brown, Los Angeles Kings

Brown picked up 3 assists in the Kings' win including a helper on both Kopitar goals. Right now, you'd have to argue that he's an early Conn Smythe favourite. Brown's work on the penalty kill is especially noteworthy: He's got 4 shorthanded points already this postseason.

No. 3 Star: Braden Holtby, Washington Capitals

After Game 1, the Capitals' netminder claimed the long stretches without a shot caused him to lose focus a little, so he must have really appreciated the increase in action for Game 2. The Rangers put 28 shots on goal and Holtby stopped 26 of them in a strong bounceback performance to lead the Capitals to a big 3-2 win.

Honourable mention: David Backes and Andy McDonald had 2 points apiece in a losing effort for the Blues ... Justin Williams, Mike Richards, and Dustin Penner all had 2-point nights for the Kings ... Jonathan Quick is in that creepy zone where he's stopping next to everything and the shots he isn't stopping are still finding a way not to go in ... Alex Ovechkin scored the game-winner for the Capitals, a nice way to get back at the coach that only gave you 13 minutes and the fans chanting "Ovi Sucks" once every period ... The passing on this Mike Knuble goal is nice:

Did you know? The Kings are now 5-0 on the road in the 2012 postseason. The last 2 teams to start the playoffs like that, Edmonton in 1987 and Tampa Bay in 2004, won the Cup. [Kevin Gibson]

Dishonourable mention: It worked out, but the fact that Dale Hunter played Jay Beagle for 6 more minutes than Alex Ovechkin is absurd, no? ... Barrett Jackman finished a minus-3 for St. Louis.

It was a frustrating Game 2 for the St. Louis Blues. Forced to play without defensive leader Alex Pietrangelo, who missed the game with an upper-body injury, the Blues looked destabilized and shaky in the first, surrendering a wholly unexpected 4 goals. (Is it too late to nominate Pietrangelo for the Norris?) By the third period, it was 5-2.

When you get shelled like that on home ice, you just want to flatten someone. Lucky for T.J. Oshie, he got his chance in the third period when Dustin Penner just happened to collect the puck behind the Kings goal.

HE. GOT. PANCAKED.

This hit is especially impressive for two reasons: first, Penner is, as you know, a rather large specimen, and Oshie launches him with some serious force.

Second, it's a completely clean hit in the tail end of a blowout -- a novel concept these days.

That doesn't prevent a scrum from ensuing, mind you. The next two minutes are pure chaos, with gloves a-flying, Penner attempting to pull David Perron's head off for some reason and Oshie losing a contact lens. But still -- progress.

Prior to the series, Oshie said the more physical team would win. That doesn't hold up when you surrender as many goals as the Blues did Monday, but it's probably safe to consider the high score of Game 2 an anomaly. Expect the physicality to be front and centre for Game 3 in Los Angeles, especially after Oshie set the stage here.

Update: Because he is a notoriously good sport, Penner tweeted about the hit after the game:

Through two periods against the St. Louis Blues, things were going pretty pretty good for the Los Angeles Kings: Leading Game 2 of their Western Conference semifinal 5-1 thanks to two goals by Anze Kopitar; goals by Jeff Carter, Mike Richards and Justin Williams; and a 3-point night for Dustin Brown.

On a late second period power play, the Blues thought they had cut into that lead. But when things are going good … well, just look at what happened when the puck trickled behind Jonathan Quick:

"Boy, you talk about gettin' the breaks" … no kidding. The puck came to rest directly on the goal line, and neither Quick nor a Kings defenseman nor a Blues stick was able to poke into the net. The War Room backed up the call on the ice, and it was "no goal."

We've said it before, we'll say it again: Jonathan. Quick. Is. A. Jedi.