That Kings-Pens game was a pretty solid hockey game. In the first period the Kings took a couple penalties that led to a 5-on-3 advantage for Pitt...then four seconds into the power play, former Penguin Rob Skuderi flipped the puck over the glass, giving the Pens a ridiculously long power play. They had a pretty strong kill, but eventually Sullivan found the back of the net.

The Kings struggled to find life for a while after that Sullivan marker, but eventually Kopitar had a nasty goal and all of a sudden we had a hockey game again. Kopitar later found Simon Gagne back door and gave LA a 2-1 lead late in the third period which looked to be a very likely game winner. With just under 5 minutes to play Mike Richards skated in the zone and floated one to the net, where Dustin Brown deflected it in beautifully for a 3-1 lead and the game looked to be all LA at that point.

The goal was called back though and Chris Kunitz capitalized on the momentum shift, tying the game 2-2 with 2:57 to play. After 3 rounds of shooters, the game was still tied, and the coaches sent Simon Gagne and Chris Kunitz over the boards respectively, with Gagne missing his attempt and Kunitz burying his five-hole on Jon Quick to win the game.

The Kings absolutely gave this one away. They were distracted by the disallowed goal and let Kunitz even the score late in the third, then failed to win in the shootout. Mike Richards also had a shorthanded breakaway and was hauled down by Kris Letang, leading to a shorthanded penalty shot, but Richards missed the net entirely. I'm guessing that miss is why he didn't go in the shootout, but regardless, this Kings team had plenty of opportunities to seal the deal and just did not.

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NHL credentialed writer for Columbus through thehockeyguys.net and dobberprospects.com

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