Kings Gameday: Band of Brothers

Well, the Kings live on to fight another day. Despite getting outchanced and outshot in game 5, the Kings got up big early and held on late to force a game 6. The Kings capitalized on 2 San Jose miscues, one by Dan Boyle and the other by Niclas Wallin, and that seemed to be the difference.* The Sharks themselves got their lone goal on a miscue by Drew Doughty, but otherwise the defense was stout if timid, giving the Sharks plenty of chances but limiting them to one chance at a time.

*Fun fact: Niclas Wallin has been on the ice for the most goals against of any Sharks player. I love that guy!

The Kings new lines were... eh. The 3rd line scored the 1st 2 goals, yet again leading the way despite meager minutes. Scott Parse, in his first game since 2010, played alright, almost getting an assist on a Justin Williams goal. ...Of course, he also almost had an assist on Logan Couture's bid alone in front of Quick in the 3rd, but a little rust has to be expected.

Otherwise, Handzus continued to get dominated and Lewis fared not much better. Jarret Stoll and Dustin Penner played well in easy minutes, with Penner getting his first goal in years a few games. It's great that the Kings won that match-up but I'm not sure it's worth winning that battle if it means we're losing the 2nd line battle... and yet Stoll was losing that battle all series so it was worth mixing it up.

Basically, it doesn't really matter what line combos the Kings put out there, they're probably going to lose that battle. It comes down to hoping that one person will win the game by themselves. Doughty won game 2, Quick won game 5. Hopefully Anze Kopitar can... oh right. I forgot. Dammit. Maybe Ryan Smyth?

Prediction: Kings win thanks to... John Zeiler???? OH MY GAWD I DON'T BELIEVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!