Senators fall 4-1 to Kings
Slowly but surely, teams are figuring out that the Ottawa Senators aren't a squad to be taken lightly, and they're finding ways to shut the Sens down. The Los Angeles Kings found one effective way on Monday night: Get a hot goalie to stymie the Sens at every turn (and a referee to blow several blatant calls, mostly to the Kings' advantage).
L.A. scored late in the first when Willie Mitchell fired a seeing-eye shot through traffic and past Craig Anderson. Things really took off in the second, though, after Kyle Clifford scored to put the Kings up by two and Ottawa ran into some penalty troubles. Jack Johnson scored a powerplay marker, and just 93 seconds later, Trevor Lewis was awarded a (ridiculously bonus) penalty shot, and he made no mistake. The two quick goals extinguished just about any intensity the Senators had.
Daniel Alfredsson scored a powerplay goal in the third to spoil Jonathan Quick's shutout bid, but the Sens were well out of it by that point.
Sens Killers: Referees
Chris Phillips must have done something to get him on the refs' bad sides. First, he got his stick slashed and broken in half behind the Sens' net, and the Kings scored just minutes later--although, had the ref (Tim Peel, who was right freakin' there) called the blatant infraction, Ottawa would have been on the powerplay. Secondly, he was called for closing his hand on the puck, leading to Lewiss penalty-shot goal, despite the fact that (as the video showed... ) he barely even passed the puck to Anderson. Some weak reffing all-around, but it took its toll on Phillips the most.
Sens Hero: Colin Greening
Greening had a monster of a game that featured eight hits, including a massive hit on Drew Doughty when the Kings' defender tried to take him out. Watch it in the highlights below: Greening just ploughs right through Doughty. It's epic. Greening also had four shot in the losing effort, and wasn't on the ice for any of the Kings' goals.
Honourable Mention: Alex Auld
Auld started the third, seeing his first game action in nearly a month, and stopped all eight shots faced. He'll have to get some playing time sooner or later.
Game highlights:
