Los Angeles Kings dominate Game 1 against Phoenix Coyotes 4-2-NHL Playoffs Update
Los Angeles and Phoenix might be levelled in terms of performance but Kings showed exceptional form as they dominated Coyotes, 4-1, in Game 1 of the 2012 National Hockey League (NHL) Western Conference Playoff Finals on Sunday, May 13, 2012.
Taking the opening game and that too at the other team’s home stadium is always a huge advantage which would put Los Angeles ahead in every aspect and become a favourite at the start of the series right away.
Kings’ superstar goalie, Jonathan Quick, made some huge mistakes including being behind the net with a bunch of players in front of net but recovered to continue dominated the goaltending aspect of the game.
The Coyotes defence was just awful as Los Angeles had a whopping 47 shots on their net while Kings limited Phoenix to just 27 attempts while Quick fell short on just two while Mike Smith let three go through.
"He's not going to save every one, eventually a few will get by him and that's what happened tonight," Los Angeles’ top defenseman, Drew Doughty, said. "It just shows you the more shots you get on net the more he's going to let in."
Phoenix coach, Dave Tippett, realised that his team made some major mistakes and acknowledges the fact that they need to work on their weaknesses for Game 2 if they want to survive longer in this series.
"As the playoffs go on, the bar gets higher and higher," Tippett said. "You have some players that can rise with the bar and we didn't have enough guys rise with the bar tonight."
Anze Kopitar added his fourth of the postseason to kick off the scoring 3:53 into round-one followed by Derek Morris nearly 10 minutes later.
Dwight King knocked in the tie-breaker nearly midway through the second but Mikkel Boedker was right there to level it all up yet again heading into the final 20 minutes of regulation.
Kings’ captain, Dustin Brown, saved the day by boosting the Los Angeles momentum with his game-winner at 2:11 into the third while Dwight King potted his second of the night on an empty net with less than a minute to go.
Game 2 is on Tuesday, May 15.
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