Surprised? Me too.
The beginning of the season began much as I had thought it might, but had secretly hoped it wouldn't. The Kings looked like a team with major holes and issues. There was some better movement on the power play, but few, if any, goals. JQuick was left hanging out to dry more times than I care to remember and Campbell fared little better. The oppositions goalies seemed to have a 4x6 sheet of Plexiglas strapped to their ass. Unless the goaltender, ala Smith, handed goals to the Kings, they just weren't coming. So, I hunkered down for a long season, and hoped to see incremental improvement both individually, and as a team.
The big change started on Saturday, when a friend of mine invited this poor civil servant to sit in their primo seats. Giddy at my fortune, to not only get in to see a game, but to do so in style, I tucked my pessimism (some might call it realism) under my arm, grabbed a jersey and headed off to the game. It had begun.
Before two minutes had passed, Tyler Toffoli forgot that he was proof that married guys can't score, accidentally missed the goalie and hit the net behind him causing a red light to turn on and nearly eighteen thousand people to scream in celebration. Wow, what a start.
Then to my surprise things continued to look up. The solid play and occasional nice save by JQuick carried our lead into the second period, where, again, the team forgot that they struggle to score goals. After scoring several more times, and thoroughly embarrassing the Flames and their chief punk with his baby like tantrums. It's kind of sad to see a team that had once held so much character and a reputation for gritty toughness stoop to such a level as Tkachuck took them too. My heart goes out to you Lanny, as I know that he has besmirched your once proud crest with his infantile and coward-like behavior. The Flames lost, having never even been competitively in the game, and I left feeling kinda giddy. Was this a fluke? I definitely wasn't counting my chickens yet.
Eventually Tuesday night rolled around, and I was anticipating a nice night of sports television. First the Kings game, and then the Lakers (Yes, I like all of the LA teams of my childhood that did not play in Anaheim which is not LA.) Again, a shocker. The first period saw the Kings completely dominate a darn good team in every aspect except the score sheet. I was thoroughly delighted by the style of play, despite the lack of production from more quality chances than Leonardo DiCaprio has had to score. The second and third periods were not as dominant, but the level of play was still legit, and in the end, they found a way to win, and on the road no less.
Now, the cat is out of the bag. There is no going back. While I know that every game will be different, and no person is at their peak every day, we now know that this team can play well, right now. If they figure out how to finish soon, they have the opportunity to stand the NHL on its ear. Regardless (I was tempted to write irregardless just for my friends), my expectations can't be undone at this point. The Kings can, and should win right now.
The big change started on Saturday, when a friend of mine invited this poor civil servant to sit in their primo seats. Giddy at my fortune, to not only get in to see a game, but to do so in style, I tucked my pessimism (some might call it realism) under my arm, grabbed a jersey and headed off to the game. It had begun.
Before two minutes had passed, Tyler Toffoli forgot that he was proof that married guys can't score, accidentally missed the goalie and hit the net behind him causing a red light to turn on and nearly eighteen thousand people to scream in celebration. Wow, what a start.
Then to my surprise things continued to look up. The solid play and occasional nice save by JQuick carried our lead into the second period, where, again, the team forgot that they struggle to score goals. After scoring several more times, and thoroughly embarrassing the Flames and their chief punk with his baby like tantrums. It's kind of sad to see a team that had once held so much character and a reputation for gritty toughness stoop to such a level as Tkachuck took them too. My heart goes out to you Lanny, as I know that he has besmirched your once proud crest with his infantile and coward-like behavior. The Flames lost, having never even been competitively in the game, and I left feeling kinda giddy. Was this a fluke? I definitely wasn't counting my chickens yet.
Eventually Tuesday night rolled around, and I was anticipating a nice night of sports television. First the Kings game, and then the Lakers (Yes, I like all of the LA teams of my childhood that did not play in Anaheim which is not LA.) Again, a shocker. The first period saw the Kings completely dominate a darn good team in every aspect except the score sheet. I was thoroughly delighted by the style of play, despite the lack of production from more quality chances than Leonardo DiCaprio has had to score. The second and third periods were not as dominant, but the level of play was still legit, and in the end, they found a way to win, and on the road no less.
Now, the cat is out of the bag. There is no going back. While I know that every game will be different, and no person is at their peak every day, we now know that this team can play well, right now. If they figure out how to finish soon, they have the opportunity to stand the NHL on its ear. Regardless (I was tempted to write irregardless just for my friends), my expectations can't be undone at this point. The Kings can, and should win right now.
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