The Los Angeles Kings have been searching for ways to get their game back on track for the final push to the post season. It has been difficult to get their entire game in synch in one game. On Monday night they hosted the ever struggling Arizona Coyotes.
Jonathan Quick made 25 saves in shutout over Arizona – file photo by Jack Lima
Andy Andreoff picked up his first NHL goal in the second period to give the Kings all the offense they would get and need in a 1-0 win.
“I’ll take one off the shin pad, off my butt,” Andreoff said. “It doesn’t matter, as long as it goes in.”
The win pushed LA past the Winnipeg Jets for the second wild card spot in the west.
“Not many players get a chance of playing in the National Hockey League or scoring a goal, so good for him,” Kings coach Darryl Sutter said. “Hopefully he’s got lots of game-winners left in him.”
Arizona fell to 1-14-1 in their last 16 games and at this point must be hoping the season will spin by more quickly.
“We’re getting some decent opportunities and hopefully some people can start scoring, myself included,” Coyotes Shane Doan said. “People that are supposed to score aren’t scoring and we don’t have a lot of scoring. That’s the situation we’re in.”
Mike Smith made 34 saves in the loss and was a bit fooled by the game-winner.
“I don’t even think he meant to shoot it there,” Smith said. “I think he fanned on it a little bit, but it gets through me and that’s the only one they need, so it’s obviously frustrating.”
Jonathan Quick made 25 saves for his sixth shutout of the year.
“I thought we worked hard,” Sutter said. “We had good focus. It was tough scoring. We were playing a team that was a tough-checking team. I talked to our players about [Arizona] coming off a [six]-game homestand; every game that they played in those five games was 1-0 going into the third, so they can check. They’ve always been known for that and we had to be patient, but you had to have some balance in there.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.