Written by Robert Tychkowski at National Post.com
In the calm before the Game 2 storm, defenceman Drew Doughty summed up the gravity of the Los Angeles Kings’ situation perfectly: “We need to win this next game, it’s a must win,” he said. “We don’t want to go to San Jose down 2-0 or else we’ll be in trouble.”
Well, they’re going to San Jose down 2-0.
And, yes, they’re in trouble. A world of it, after losing at home for the second time in three days against a Sharks team that looks to be growing stronger and more confident by the shift, following up their 4-3 win in Game 1 with a poised and gritty 2-1 decision Saturday night.
And while everyone knows you are never supposed to count the Kings out of a playoff series — they are a group that is notorious for making things hard on themselves — this doesn’t look like the same group that came back from 3-0 down against the Sharks in 2014 and won three straight Game 7s en route to their second championship in three years.
The Kings look frustrated and out of sync. Very un-Kings-like.
And the Sharks look for real. They’ve pressured L.A. hard on the forecheck, answered them physically, been better on special teams, had better goaltending, and more timely offense.
All of which led to the Kings’ undoing in Game 2.
Joe Pavelski’s third goal in two games staked the Sharks to a 1-0 lead in the first period, before a costly lack of discipline in the second — Milan Lucic and Tyler Toffoli taking charging and roughing penalties on the same shift — paved the way for Logan Couture’s goal less than a minute into the ensuing 5-on-3.
The Kings finally came to life in the third period, as expected, and closed it to 2-1 when Vincent Lecavalier capping a wild goalmouth scramble on the power play with 5:01 left in regulation. It was their first goal in almost four complete periods as former Kings goalie Martin Jones continued to frustrate his former buddies.
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