Robyn Regehr? Seriously? Robyn Regehr? Ugh. That part of this game sucked. Coughing up another late lead sucked. But on the bright side, the Jackets have taken three of four points so far on the California trip, and sit one point back of Detroit for the final wild card spot, one point back of Philadelphia for third place in the Metro, and two points back of the Rangers for second in the division. Oh, and they have a game in hand on each of those teams. So yeah, beat the Sharks, and get right back in that thing. Since it’s late, let’s get to the stars.
3rd Star: Jake Muzzin
Muzzin scored a goal. So he gets a star. I wrote Reghr’s section before I wrote Muzzin’s. Muzzin also was terrible territorially tonight, routinely getting outplayed. But at least he was crushed with defensive zone starts (only two o-zone starts all game) and was matched up against the Johansen line. They crushed him but he scored. So he gets a star.
2nd Star: Brandon Dubinsky
Frankly, I am shocked this didn’t go to Jack Johnson. I mean, he scored. That gets a star in LA. Ohhhh maybe it’s because he used to play for the Kings. That must be it. Sarcasm aside, Dubinsky really does deserve this honor. Dubi was pretty great tonight, dominating possession at even strength, and being force on the penalty kill. Yeah, he was -1 with no points, but he piled up four shots on goal (all shorthanded) and he laid five hits. Hits are generally an overrated stat (as it usually just points out what players never have the puck), but if you can hand out a fistful of bodychecks while also dominating possession? That my friend, is some good ole hockey.
1st Star: Robyn Regehr
Seriously? I don’t really know what to add to this. Apparently in LA, if you score a goal, you automatically get a star. Through regulation, Regehr had a Corsi Rel of -28.7% (-11.8% the worst over the full season in the NHL), he had the easiest zone starts of any Kings dman, and he was matched up against the Dubinsky line (aka not the Jackets top line). Basically, Regehr was terrible tonight, even though he had only a mediumly difficult assignment. But yeah, a goal.
Dud: Dustin Brown’s Hit
I’m sure a bazillion pounds of digital ink will be spilled on this by the time I wake up tomorrow, but here is my two cents: that hit sucked. From what I’ve seen so far, it seems a lot of people are justifying it because Murray was on one knee. I call bullsh*t on that. Watch it again, nice and slow. Murray is already low to the ice when Brown commits to the hit. Watch the angle from behind Brown. The level of Murray’s head never changes from the point Brown commits to hit him. Murray did move his body just prior to the hit though. He moved his right shoulder forward, hoping to absorb the hit with it. What did Brown do? He angles his body to the right to avoid Murray’s shoulder, so he could catch him in the head. That is terrible. Super duper suspendable terrible. BUT he didn’t leave his feet until after contact, so enough with that. Hey, at least Wiz managed to land the hardest rabbit punch in the history of time in the resulting scrum.
Stud: The Penalty Kill
It was dynamite tonight. The Kings have struggled to score lately, but still. The Jackets held the Kings to only five shots on their six powerplays. The Jackets actually managed to get five shots on net shorthanded. They drew two penalties (well really only one was “drawn”) to cut Kings powerplays short. Dubinsky was particularly noteworthy on the PK, and of course, the man himself, Mr. Sergei Bobrovsky.
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