For the 3rd time in these playoffs and the first time in the finals Kings goalie Jonathan Quick has shut out a team. It could not have come at a more pivotal time. Thanks to Quick's brilliance in the nets the Kings won their first home game in the finals since 1993 by a 4-0 score to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the Stanley Cup Finals over the New Jersey Devils. The first period moved by somewhat quickly and saw the Devils take a 7-6 shots advantage in the opening period. The Devils controlled play for the most part as carry over from Game Two, again in which they carried most of the play before losing in Overtime. The best chances for the Devils at the start of game three came on a 5 on 3 at the end of the period, including a 4 minute minor on the latter half of the 5 on 3 to Jeff Carter for High Sticking. The Devils had a golden opportunity to take the lead but squandered it. On that 5 on 3 power play the Devils either made one too many passes, or when they did eventually shoot the puck, the shot it right at Quick's pads. Quick is a butterfly goalie and leaves the top half of the net open usually. For the Devils to have a chance in this series they have to try and go higher on Quick more.
When they did try and go high, the shots either weren't high enough or they were shot wide or over the net. The scoring chances were there for the Devils they just weren't able to convert on them. So the opening period was scoreless. To the 2nd period we go, and this is where the Kings finally started to open the game up in their favor. Shots in the middle period were even at 9 per team but the Kings were able to hit the back of the net twice. First was on a wild scramble at the side of Martin Brodeur's net and somehow Alec Martinez was able to jam the puck home at the 5:40 mark for his first of the playoffs. Here's what the goal looked like:
So thanks to Martinez jamming at the puck the Kings had a 1-0 lead. The Kings started to take control of the game, despite running into some penalty trouble of their own. LA would extend the lead to 2-0 at the 15:07 mark thanks to Anze Kopitar's 8th of the playoffs.This had to be one of the prettiest passing plays of the entire playoffs thanks to the beautiful cross ice pass made by Kings captain Dustin Brown to set up the goal. If you don't believe me, see for yourself:
It seemed as if for a moment the Devils defense lost Kopitar on the ice and that can't happen. Apparently the Devils almost forgot what happened in Game One when Kopitar was left alone even for a moment. So after 40 minutes of play had been completed the Kings had a 2-0 lead.
The 3rd period would not get any better from a Devils perspective. Shots were even again in the 3rd as each team fired six on goal, but the Kings were able to put two in the goal behind Marty Brodeur to seal the game. Both goals, ironically enough, came on the Kings only two power plays of the game. First up Mark Fayne was called for cross-checking, then at the 4:15 mark Jeff Carter connected for his 6th of the playoffs. At this point Jeff Carter has started to look like the guy who used to terrorize the Devils as a member of the Flyers for all those years he played in Philly. Then the Kings capped off the scoring on another power play goal. Marek Zidlicky had been called for high sticking, and at the 6:47 mark Justin Williams connected for his 3rd of the playoffs to seal the deal.
Justin Williams is no stranger to scoring big goals in the playoffs as he did that many times in 2006 for the Carolina Hurricanes when the 'Canes won the cup that year, he had 18 points in 25 playoff games that year. Jeff Carter is no stranger to playoff scoring either, as he has 21 points in 47 career playoff games heading into this season. As for the goaltending Jonathan Quick has played outstanding in this post season and is my vote to win the Conn Smyth Trophy as Playoff MVP. Now there are a number of solid candidates in the Los Angeles lineup, and they still have to play game four (maybe more depending on what the Devils do in that game). I mean there are two other guys in the Kings lineup who would be solid contenders for that playoff MVP trophy, most notably Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar. Kopitar has 8 goals and is tied for the lead in playoff scoring with 18 points. Dustin Brown has 10 assists and is doing a great job of leading by example. But lets really be honest here if it wasn't for Jonathan Quick being as good as he has been in this years playoffs the Kings might have been eliminated in the first round by Vancouver.
Now looking at game four from the prospective of the New Jersey Devils, some changes are going to have to be made. The biggest lineup change I would consider making would be to put Peter Sykora back into the lineup, for two reasons, 1) try and add some scoring punch and 2) add some more veteran leadership. Another thing the Devils need to work on is trying to get Zach Parise and Ilya Kovalchuck going, as both guys have been held pointless in the finals. The one thing I feel the Devils really need to do most is simplify their game and what they do with the puck. What I mean is, there are times in the first few games of the series I have seen them make one too many passes of the puck and they are not shooting the puck enough, they haven't really made Quick work overly hard. Also if possible the Devils need to try and find a way to keep shooting high on Quick, as I mentioned before he goes down a lot, and not miss the net. Quick usually leaves the top half of the net open to shoot at. So unless the Devils can find a way to correct these problems by tomorrow night, the series and season will be over. Game Four is tomorrow night at 8pm on NBC!
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