On Wednesday night the Los Angeles Kings were in position to capture their first Stanley Cup in franchise history with a win over the New Jersey Devils.
Four days later the Kings are still waiting to claim the Stanley Cup while New Jersey won games four and five to force a game six and makes what looked to be a sweep into an intriguing series.
Game five had the best start to any of the previous games in the series as both teams looked to established the tempo and control the pace of the game.
Just as they did in game four it was New Jersey scoring the first goal of the game. Jonathan Quick had trouble handling the puck in front of his net and Devils captain Zach Parise took advantage of the situation.
That play right there is a prime example of why Parise will be the most sought after forward on the free agent market this summer.
The power play goal was Parise first point in the series and it gave the Devils a 1-0 lead. It also was New Jersey's first power play goal in 16 chances against Los Angeles in this series.
That lead would last until just over three minutes into the 2nd period when Kings forward Justin Williams got Los Angeles on the board with a wrist shot.
Williams hit the post with a shot earlier in the game. Watching him skate you just felt that he was due for a goal in this game.
The tie would last until just after the nine minute mark of the 2nd period when a shot by New Jersey defenseman Bryce Salvador would take a Devils bounce and get by Quick, giving them the lead.
The puck deflected off the shoulder of Kings defenseman Slava Voynov. It's the second time in this series a puck has deflected off of Voynov resulting in a New Jersey goal.
With the Devils in the lead it was time for goaltender Martin Brodeur to take control of the game and that's exactly what he did. Brodeur had 25 saves with his best being this stop on Kings forward Jarrett Stoll.
That right there is vintage Brodeur.
New Jersey would hold on to win 2-1, forcing a game six back in Los Angeles Monday night.
If you are a Kings fan it's too early to panic as Los Angeles is still in control of the series and can win the cup Monday night on home ice. If you presented that scenario to any Kings player before the series started they would take it.
However it looks like New Jersey has found a way to overcome the Kings forecheck that was suffocating them early in the series. More importantly the Devils are finding ways to get the puck by Quick.
New Jersey isn't putting many pucks past Quick but when you have Brodeur in net you only need to score a couple to have a chance to win.
Going into game five I thought the Devils had a puncher's chance in the series. They are still throwing punches and they are now landing them. If Los Angeles is to win the cup they better do it on Monday night.
The last thing the Kings want to do is travel to Newark on Wednesday for a game seven.
No comments:
Post a Comment