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Kings Lose In Boston for First Time Since 2002
Kings’ fans all across Twitter have been salivating for months, if not years, for this moment. They finally get a Kings’ game without Terry Murray behind the bench. Be careful what you wish for - you just might get it. The Kings certainly did get it: a beatdown at the hands of the Boston Bruins 3-0 in the Garden.
There wasn’t much change for the Kings under interim head coach John Stevens. Wingers Simon Gagné and Dustin Penner were on the starting line for the team with Anze Kopitar centering. Too bad that was about it for the changes.
Slava Voynov was called for interference 18 seconds into the game, the Kings’ puck mismanagement in the neutral zone allowed the Bruins to get great scoring chances and two faceoff wins led to two Brad Marchand goals. Sure the Kings peppered the goalie Tukka Rask for 20 shots on goal while the Bruins only managed three, but with the Kings inability to forecheck what danger were the Bruins under?
Bruins defenseman and former Kings perhaps said it best to NESN’s postgame broadcast. “You could tell early on the Kings were unsure of themselves, maybe a little bit unconfident.”
Most media reports have former San Jose Sharks head coach and former Calgary Flames head coach and general manager Darryl Sutter coaching the Kings. Kings’ general manager Dean Lombardi first hired (and fired) Sutter in San Jose and they remain friends.
Calling the 53-year old Sutter an intense coach would be a severe understatement. While his record as a general manager was spotty, he did get the Flames to a Game 7 of a Stanley Cup Final in 2004. Perhaps that is what the Kings need to stop being the huge disappointments that they currently are.
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