In Calgary Thursday night, there was reason for cheer in one locker room and disappointment in the other. The Flames used a strong first period to gain a 2-0 lead on the Los Angeles Kings to win, 3-1.
Johnny Gaudreau ‘s 24th of the season started Flames on road to win over LA – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
That left the Kings out of the post season and unable to defend their Cup from last season and the Flames on their way to the post season.
“We have a group of guys that not many people believed in but internally we did,” Flames defenseman Kris Russell said. “To do it with the group we did it was pretty special. At the same time I think there’s a feeling here that we’re not done yet. It’s one thing to get in the playoffs. Now it’s to compete, and that’s what we’re aiming to do. We’re going to have a lot of fun tonight, enjoying this and settling down but the real work starts.
“Our goal wasn’t just to get into the playoffs. Now our task is to win. It starts with Game 1 in the playoffs. We have one more game left. We have to finish strong and get some momentum heading into the playoffs. We’re a team that believes in here and we want to go a long way.”
It will be the first time since 2009 that the Kings will not have a berth in the post season.
“It’s hard to put stuff into words right now,” Kings center Anze Kopitar said. “We’re certainly not satisfied and are very disappointed. It is what it is; we just didn’t play good enough hockey this year. Too much inconsistency, four and five-game losing streaks, and you can’t do that. It’s too tough coming down the stretch, this time of year, to be playing catch-up. There are not a lot of teams that do it and it didn’t work for us.”
Johnny Gaudreau gave the Flames a 1-0 lead and that got the crowd in Calgary rocking and energized the Flames.
Jordan Nolan made things interesting with a goal early the third to get the Kings within one but that was all the offense the Kings could muster as Jonas Hiller made 33 saves for the win.
Jonathan Quick had 22 saves in the loss.
“We still defended it,” Quick said. “We defended it for 81 games.
“We had the expectation of winning the Cup again. That was our expectation this morning and all game long. Until they scored the empty-netter, that was our expectation – we’re going to get in and we’re going to win again. I guess it’s just disappointment.
“At the end of the day, we had 82 games to make the playoffs and we weren’t able to do it.”
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