Los Angeles Kings' Jeff cuts loose with game changing performance in Game 2 -NHL Playoffs Update
Jeff Carter was feeling good after his team dominated the Phoenix Coyotes in Game 1 of the 2012 National Hockey League (NHL) Stanley Cup Western Conference Playoff Finals, but there is no match to the feeling he had after the next one.
Carter’s hat trick not only led Los Angeles Kings past Phoenix Coyotes in Game 2 with a dominating 4-0 shutout, but also put his name up with all-time hockey great, Wayne Gretzky, who was the last player to achieve the feat back in the 1993 NHL playoffs.
The former Philadelphia Flyers forward who was traded to Columbus Blue Jackets in a blockbuster deal over the 2011 NHL offseason, was not finding a position he could fit in with the struggling team. Demanding for a trade, Blue Jackets dealt Carter to the
Kings before this year’s trade deadline and the player has not looked back ever since.
Having scored just one goal in the first 10 playoff games was never easy to prove to the team their decision to acquire him was a right one, but it finally seems the wait to see Jeff Carter is now over.
"I hope so," Carter said. "I mean, obviously I'd love to be scoring every game. They haven't come that easily for me the last little while here. It's something that I've been working on in practice, trying to get to the net during the game, get a couple
greasy ones. I was lucky enough [Tuesday night]."
"He's certainly getting good opportunities, so it's good to see him cash in," Kings’ coach, Darryl Sutter, said. "He had a couple the other night, really good ones, and then [Tuesday night] early, he had one, too, where he was cutting in on the power play.
You know it's coming. Guys like that, its percentages."
Raising up his total in the playoffs significantly with seven points (4 goals, 3 assists) in 11 games played now, Carter is definitely on track to be the game changing player for Los Angeles Kings.
There are never enough top notch shooters a team can have on the line-up and Jeff Carter seems to just have Los Angeles Kings even more confident about bringing home the Stanley Cup this time around.
Tags: