Kings take advantage of Leafs power outage
Kings 2 Maple Leafs 1 Power play just 1 for 9 in loss to L.A. Brown nets pair to finish off Toronto
Logic would dictate that when the second-best power play team in the NHL gets nine chances with the extra man, including a couple of phantom calls, it should win the game. But last night the Leafs defied logic in their 2- 1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings. With the usually- tame Alexander Frolov making like Tiger Williams, the Leafs had nine chances on the power play and drilled 15 of their 37 shots on Kings goalie Mathieu Garon with the man advantage, but came away with just one goal on the evening when Darcy Tucker scored on a 5 on 3. With Wayne Gretzky, Kevin Lowe and Steve Tambellini in town to scout Bryan McCabe for the Canadian Olympic team, McCabe did little to make a compelling case for inclusion on the team that represents Canada in Turin.
Dallas Stars GM Doug Armstrong and Florida Panthers GM Mike Keenan were also in attendance. Dustin Brown had an outstanding game, scoring both goals for the Kings. The loss prevented the Leafs from staying even with the Philadelphia Flyers, who defeated the Calgary Flames 1-0 in a shootout and jumped ahead of the Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres for fourth place in the Eastern Conference. The Leafs, meanwhile, remain in seventh place in the East with a 15- 11- 3 record.
After an extremely hot start to the season, the Kings came into the game riding something of a cold streak with four straight losses and five defeats in their past six games. The Kings made it 1- 0 after a customary slow start by the home side. Brown got his first of the night at 3: 26 of the first period on his second whack at the puck, which he managed to get largely because Leaf defenceman Ken Klee was standing in no- man’s land while Alexander Khavanov chased Eric Belanger behind the net. Brown got his second of the game on the power play with Carlo Colaiacovo in the penalty box sitting off a hooking call. Maple Leafs goalie Ed Belfour got a piece of Brown’s shot from the point, but defenceman Tomas Kaberle inadvertently knocked the puck into the net in an effort to scoop it out of harm’s way.
It was then the Leafs’ turn to have a go at the power play and the goal by Tucker at 8: 33 of the second came after an interesting series of events. With Frolov in the box serving adouble minor for high- sticking
Aki Berg and cutting him over the eye, the Leafs were working the puck around the Kings zone quite nicely because Craig Conroy was stripped of his stick. The Leafs were able to make all kinds of passes and create several chances deep in the Kings zone because they were simply able to pass the puck between Conroy’s feet. Conroy finally got possession of the puck, but the only problem was that he essentially picked it up and threw it out of the Leafs zone, earning himself a minor penalty and creating a 5- on- 3 opportunity for the Leafs. They converted on it 29 seconds later when Kaberle feathered a great pass to Tucker and his one- timer from a difficult angle found its way past Kings goalie Garon.
There was no shortage of penalties in the first two periods and a number of them were terrible calls. The Leafs, who have long complained that they are targeted by the league’s referees, have actually received the better end of calls many times this season and last night was no exception. On one play, Frolov was sent off for tripping after he was actually the one who was tripped. While he was getting up, Eric Lindros fell over him.
In the second period, Lubomir Visnovsky was sent off for tripping after clearly knocking the puck off Tie Domi’s stick on a breakaway before Domi fell down.