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LA Kings defeat Dallas Stars 5-2. With the return of Drew Doughty pushed back further thanks to “concussion-like symptoms,” defenseman Jack Johnson has picked up the slack making an imprint this game with three assists.
From the outset the chances didn’t look good for the Kings to post a win in Dallas. Their offense was just awful. In the first period they had only six shots-on-goal with only three on a five-on-five situation. In the first 11 minutes of the second period they were outshot by the Stars 9-1.
But in a span of nine seconds, Alexei Ponikarovsky and Wayne Simmonds scored goals 13:05 and 13:14 respectively to give the Kings the 3-1 lead. After the Ponikarovsky goal, Michal Handzus won the faceoff at center ice and Jack Johnson made a perfect pass to Simmonds who crashed the net so hard the goal had to be reviewed to see if the net came off its moorings prior to the puck crossing the goal line.
After that two-goal outburst, the Kings retreated back into their shell ending the second period being outshot 14-6. But who needs to be good when luck is on your side?
After Rob Scuderi was sent to the box for hooking 4:24 in the third period, the Kings cleared the puck after the Stars won the faceoff. Willie Mitchell attempted to pass the puck to Handzus in front of the Stars’ net, but Philip Larsen did a favor for the Kings tipping in the puck past goalie Kari Lehtonen to give the Kings the 4-1 lead.
With the win, the Kings have a league-high 14 points and seven victories. Simmonds sustained a lower body injury at the end of the second period. He played one shift early in the third period and took himself out of the game not having his full mobility.
NOTABLE NOTES
World Series. It’s amazing how a team that supposedly has no offense has managed to score 20 runs in the first two games of the World Series against the Texas Rangers. The Texas Rangers pitching staff that withstood the offensive onslaught of the Tampa Bay Rays and the New York Yankees seemed to have lost all of their steam against the San Francisco Giants in this World Series.
However Rangers’ starter CJ Wilson did a remarkable job making only one mistake in his six innings of work: a fastball to Edgar Renteria in the fifth inning to give the Giants the 1-0 lead. Yes that Edgar Renteria. After Wilson left after walking Cody Ross to lead off the seventh inning thanks to a ruptured blister, Darren Oliver came in and gave up only a run thanks to Juan Uribe’s RBI single that plated Ross. With the Rangers offense ability to uncoil at any given moment, a two-run deficit isn’t horrible.
But then the Rangers’ bullpen completely imploded in the eighth inning with walk after walk after walk turning into run after run after run being scored. At the end of the inning seven Giants crossed home plate and Giants were halfway to their goal eventually shutting out the Rangers 9-0.
And what to say about Matt Cain. For all the talk of the dominant pitchers this postseason - CC Sabathia, Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay, Tim Lincecum, David Price, Cole Hamels, Roy Oswalt - only Matt Cain has yet to give up an earned run. Cain went 7 2/3 innings allowing only four hits and two walks to bring his postseason line to: 21 1/3 innings, 13 hits, 1 run, 0 earned runs, 7 walks, 1 intentional walk, 13 strikeouts and a 0.00 ERA. This Henry Spencer doppelganger joins Giants’ Christy Mathewson (1905) and Carl Hubbel (1933), Yankees’ Waite Hoyt (1921) and Tigers’ Kenny Rogers (2006) as the only pitchers not to allow an earned run pitching at least 20 innings in a postseason.
LAist Sports on Twitter. Everyone can follow us on @LAistSports to get tweets on games going on. We try and do our best to follow all of the games on a nightly basis to keep you as updated as possible. And where else will you find our inimitable way of calling Ray Lewis a queen? I deserve a Pulitzer for that one. Anyhow we’ll focus on games involving Los Angeles teams, but we won’t ignore the NFL, World Series or any other nationally broadcast games going on at any given time. Maybe.
TONIGHT’S ACTION
LA Lakers (1-0) at Phoenix Suns (1-1). 7:30 pm KCAL9, ESPN (National), AM 710 KSPN.
LA Clippers (0-1) at Golden State Warriors (1-0). 7:30 pm FS Prime Ticket, AM 980 KFWB.
New Jersey Devils (5 pts., 2-7-1) at Anaheim Ducks (9 pts., 4-5-1). 7:00 pm FSWest, AM 830 KLAA.
