NHL Playoffs 2012: L.A. Kings Have Nothing to Fret over Despite Missing Sweep

Appropriately enough, the main reason the Los Angeles Kings could not finish off the Phoenix Coyotes on their first try was because they could not finish off, much less sniff out, nearly enough second hacks at opposing goaltender Mike Smith.

On some occasions, they didn’t even pick up on a radiant invitation to take a first shot.

Outscored solely by visiting captain Shane Doan, 2-0, the Kings dropped to 4-2 on home ice in the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs and 2-2 when trying to polish off a series.

But perhaps with a steadier flow of oomph throughout Sunday’s Game 4 and more assertiveness on enemy property, the Kings would already have laid claim to the Campbell Bowl. And they would have lent a certificate of authenticity to their upper hand in nearly every statistical category in the contest.

L.A. out-shot Phoenix 36-21 and also ran up a 76-44 advantage in terms of attempted shots. Five individual Kings recorded a takeaway on the day while the Coyotes reaped none.

Every Kings skater landed at least one shot on goal. All but three threw at least one body-check, and Trevor Lewis led or co-led the way in both categories with five of each.

Of the team’s final collection of 36 shots on net, six came over a cumulative span of 9:24 spent on the power play. Another three came within their three minutes and 42 seconds of short-handed action.

On five occasions, Smith faced a pair of tests in direct succession with no whistles in between.

Eight of nine goals Smith has allowed in the series have come from within 29 feet or fewer, as did 14 of the 36 shots he stopped in Game 4.

And one period after Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick’s turnover allowed Doan to break the ice for the Coyotes, the home skaters nearly pulled Smith even with their own backstop. During a penalty kill late in the second period, Anze Kopitar pounced on Smith’s giveaway from behind the net and set up captain Dustin Brown for a facile short-handed strike.

If Brown had taken a better split-second grip on the puck before releasing his wrister, he most likely would have whittled what was by then a 2-0 deficit in half. He would have symbolically issued at least a half-response to his counterpart, Doan, and continued the day’s trend of the captains filling the cages.

And the Kings would have had a rejuvenated Staples Center crowd along with 23 minutes and 42 seconds of playing time left to dig for the equalizer.

Under altered circumstances, Quick’s costly gaffe may never have occurred. Smith committed another turnover upon vacating his crease at the 13:51 mark of the opening frame. But as the Coyotes netminder returned to his post, he drew an interference minor on Justin Williams that set up Quick’s giveaway and Doan’s first strike.

With less contact and a swifter pounce on the puck, the Kings might have burned Smith and penned a few names to the right half of the score sheet rather than add Williams to the penalty column.

That, too, would have uncorked a helpful buzz from the home masses.

But Los Angeles never so much as hatched the goose egg, which granted Smith his third playoff shutout and a most redeeming game after a few comparatively shaky outings in the series.

On the other hand, while Quick saw his eight-game winning streak halted, he confined the opposition to no more than two goals for the ninth consecutive time and the 12th in 13 total outings in this playoff run. His self-esteem will likely not be undergoing any X-rays in the wake of Game 4.

Granted, Phoenix’s season-saving victory and the resultant shift back to Jobing.com Arena cracks open the question as to how much longer the Kings can foster their perfect (7-0) road record in the 2012 NHL playoffs.

But the Kings went through this exact scenario in the conference quarterfinals versus the top-dog Vancouver Canucks. And as it was then, there is no legitimate sign of anything unraveling on Darryl Sutter’s bench.

The Kings out-shot the Coyotes for the fourth consecutive meeting and out-disciplined them for the third time in a row. Do both again while also issuing another balanced attack, and Game 5 should be about as even as Game 4, only with a slightly keener thirst on L.A.’s part.