2010 Compuware NHL Premiere Series – Los Angeles Kings win 1-0 against the Tampa Bay Lightning in a very tough encounter
The 178th game of the NHL regular season and the final game of Thursday took place as the Los Angeles Kings hosted the Tampa Bay Lightning. The match took place at the Staples Centre in front of 18,000 fans as they cheered for their team to win
the match. Both teams were playing in the 12th game of their campaign thus far. The match was a very tough and tight encounter that saw the Los Angeles Kings emerge as the eventual winners scoring the only goal of the match in the final period.
1st Period
Both teams were evenly balanced and started by attacking without any delays. They didn’t let each other settle and the puck was seen going here there every now and then. Tampa Bay Lightning took the initiative and started to make attacks on the opposing
goal.
This didn’t work as both teams started to come up with chances, as there were open spaces left by the team while they were on the attack. The attack and defence was almost same for the both teams and the period ended deadlocked at 0-0 as a result. During
the period, the Los Angeles Kings and the Tampa Bay Lightning were tied in terms of shots as well making 9 shots each as they went into the break.
2nd Period
The 2nd period was no different from the 1st one as both teams tried desperately to get their noses ahead of the other team. There were some excellent pieces of play that were seen developing during the course of the period.
Both teams displayed some brilliant skills while being in possession but the problem was the same that they couldn’t get the job done in the end. Another factor that led to the score being deadlocked was splendid goal keeping abilities that both goal keepers
came up with. Coupled with their skills was the fact that they organised their defence every now and then which saw some dangerous attacks cut from the start.
The score at the end of the 2nd period was still 0-0 with the Tampa Bay Lightning making 9 goal attempts while the Los Angeles Kings made 7 goal attempts.
3rd Period
The Los Angeles Kings changed their strategy and looked determined to score with the level of hard work they were putting in.
They were rewarded for their hard work as they broke the deadlock and took the lead in the 6th minute. The goal was scored by Justin Williams through a flick shot from 10 feet. The period and the match didn’t see much happening as the match came
to an end.
The Los Angeles Kings won the match 1-0 making 10 goal attempts during the final period while the Tampa Bay Lightning made 6 goal attempts without any goals.
“Just looking at their lineup before the game, no, but after that things got emotional,"
Kings center Anze Kopitar said of the playoff-like physicality and intensity. "I think everyone was into it and everyone was fired up, so it’s no surprise after that.”
"When you play a team like Tampa, with all that firepower, you’ve got to focus on a really good checking game, and I thought we did a pretty good job tonight,"
Kopitar said. "They didn’t get a whole lot of high-quality scoring chances, so that’s definitely satisfying. Maybe next time we should score a few more goals, so it’s not as close, but two points is two points, and we’ll take it.”
"Obviously we played solid defense," Kings Captain Dustin Brown said. "I think we had a lot of good plays, smart plays, coming through the neutral zone, which prevented them from turning the puck over on us."
"A little old-time hockey with the scrums going on there," Kings Coach Terry Murray said.
"It was very competitive -- both teams battled hard."
"That was a playoff game, and nobody was going to give each other an inch," Tampa Bay coach Guy Boucher said. "There wasn't much out there for either team. It was going to be (a loss) for who made that mistake, and we made that mistake."
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