For the first time this season, the Kings failed to win when leading by a pair at any point in the season…relinquishing 2-0 and 3-2 leads en route to a 4-3 double overtime loss on Friday night in Langley
- Kings now 15-0-0-1 when leading by a pair at any point, 14-1-0-1 when leading after 2 and 13-1-0-2 when leading after 1. By all accounts, a statistical anomaly, but that’s why you play the games.
- How’d the Kings get here? There is a real sense of letting this one get away. Certainly the last overtime loss (and only one to date) for the Kings against Chilliwack was one that the Kings probably should have had but the team only led with 3 minutes remaining…not for the bulk of the game as was the case on Friday night.
- The opening 20 was excellent. After a bit of an adjustment period and maybe some road legs, the Kings got out to a flyer and were dominant through much of the opening 20. The two goals the Kings scored were both different, but both near perfect in their execution. The powerplay goal was just a well moved puck. A couple of attempts down low and some good passing, the Kings get a good slapshot from the blue line and Mitchell Hawes redirects it home (It’s currently credited to Kohlhauser, but that’ll get changed). The 2-on-0 was exactly how you practice it with a crisp return from Jeremey Leipsic.
- Nice unselfish play from #18 there as you could probably have forgiven him for a shot on the play, especially considering he’s been a bit snake bitten over recent weeks and had a few good chances through Friday’s game.
- The 2nd period had some pear shaped segments, but the Kings still skated in with the lead despite some defensive breakdowns. As talked about in the post-game show below, the 1st goal was one that Jeff Smith would very much want back, the 2nd was a failed clear from the Kings and into the 3rd period the game tying goal was a bunch of green jerseys standing around. It’s both frustrating and a positive to see clearing mistakes on the 2nd and 3rd ones. Frustrating due to the simplicity of them, but a positive that there’s little mystery for players and coaches about what went wrong.
- Liam Lawson seems to have taken his game up a notch, as evidenced with his assist, but key role in Tristan Mullin’s 2nd period marker. A real nice cut into the slot through traffic and a backhand aimed for the pads generated a rebound and a go ahead goal. It was a nice power move from a smaller forward who seems to be finding his game this season.
- As noted below, a potential disasterous ending to the game with Jake Kohlhauser in his own zone in overtime going D-to-D with a view of moving the puck up the ice, instead the pass hit the referees skate and a breakaway resulted for Adam Sinclair that Jeff Smith was able to turn aside. A real heart in mount moment that thankfully didn’t decide the result.
- Great turn out in Langley from some Kings fans. Many bought signs and the group included King alumni Jarid Lukosevicius who is back from Denver on Christmas break.
Here’s Brock Sawyer in our post game show:
The Kings continue their 3-in-3 on Saturday in Salmon Arm against the Silverbacks, a 7:00pm puck drop.
