LA Kings Beat the Detroit Red Wings with the Primary Assist Going to the Refs
The LA Kings did not deserve to raise their arms in victory tonight, but the refs made sure they'd have plenty of chances against the Detroit Red Wings.
After blowing a call on a head shot to Dan Cleary towards the middle of the third period, and then missing another to Brendan Smith not two minutes later, Anze Kopitar managed to put the home team ahead for the first time of the evening. This, of course, came after LA had three five-on-three power plays throughout the game and several blown calls in their favor.
That unearned and crappy Kings lead would stick and Detroit would end up on the losing end of a suddenly "hot" LA squad.
I can't believe the Detroit Red Wings lost this game. I really can't.
After securing a 1-0 lead on an odd goal from Kyle Quincey(!) the Red Wings were more or less forced to relent that lead and the points in this game. Dustin Penner got away with a nasty interference/head shot that all eight officiating eyes on the ice apparently missed while Dan Cleary was still being cleaned up on the bench after a head shot from Slava Voynov, and the Kings were handed their fifth straight victory.
As a side note, I'd like to ask the "ultra-dedicated" LA fans what it feels like to hear pro-Red Wings chants at their home games. It's a joke that Kings fans, on the heels of a Stanley Cup victory, can't paste together enough support to drown out a "ref you suck!" chant in the third while the game is on the line.
Regardless, the Wings could not have bought a victory tonight, which is unfortunate.
Smith made his triumphant comeback for about two periods before having his head taken off by an overweight, talentless and scratch-worthy player, and while the defense finally seems to be getting healthy for the luckless Wings, it didn't help tonight.
But I'm not going to lose any sleep over this one, because I know who the better team was.
Detroit played a full 60 for the first time in I don't know how long, and the effort was there. Jim Howard made several key stops, but our boys in Red and White just couldn't get through the combined effort of the Kings and the zebras this evening.
I still don't understand Datsyuk centering Abdelkader and Cleary, but what do I know.
I'm still fuming over this loss, but it's refreshing that I'm mad at the opposing team and/or the refs for somehow stealing a win instead of being pissed that the Wings left their collective effort in Detroit.
Awww boo hoo! You sound like Canucks fans, your team lost so instead of blaming your team, you blame the refs.
As soon as our 4th line got that icing and Kenny pointed out they were putting in Kopitar I knew LA was going to score. If you watch the replay of the last goal, you will see Emmerton trips up Ericson which led to Kopitar being wide open. Big Rig had him tied up in the corner.
The no call on Cleary was the right call - even the Red Wings today are saying so - clean hit and his own mask cut him - stop whining - the Penner hit - yes totally should have been interference - but the extra flopping around canceled that call out - as Darryl Sutter said, sometimes the Hockey God rears his head - and as badly as the Kings outplayed the Wings two weeks ago and lost - payback is a bitch - so is the whining on here - hilarious you call the Kings crappy - steamed thru the playoffs to win the cup and now getting their footing with a 5 game win streak - just because your Wings are mediocre, doesn't mean the rest of the league is too - seriously was hoping for more from this site - but the opinions are so one sided - and WOW - what a whiner...
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There is a huge difference between the first two games, and to say that last night was payback for the first game is absolute garbage.
In the first game, Detroit was, for a good portion of the game, outplayed by the Kings. Yes, I will agree with you there. The Wings caught a lucky break and scored a late goal. The hockey gods did rear their heads that night, and the team that played better hockey for a longer period of time in the game lost. It happens in hockey. It happened when the Wings lost to Nashville in OT just a few nights ago.
My favorite team lost last night, and yes I'm a little disappointed whenever that happens. That's not why I'm mad. Not even close.
Last night was not an act of the hockey gods - it was an act of officiating. The Kings had *THREE* 5 on 3 opportunities, while the Wings ONLY had three power plays all night. You mean to tell me with as physical as LA was playing in the third, that they were honestly only guilty of one hooking infraction? BULLSHIT. In the last 10 minutes alone I saw at least 6 penalties that could have easily been called on the Kings. But I'm not upset about an occasional missed call here or there. Those things happen and missed calls can go both ways, and often have a way of canceling out over the course of a hockey game. Same thing with bad calls - and the hockey gods seem to have a way of making up for it with a lucky bounce here and there. But, like I said before, last night was not an act of the hockey gods. It was a blatant act of absurdly, atrociously, piss-poor officiating.
The missed calls and bad calls that happened in the third period were so heavily stacked in LA's favor that it's laughable. Of course, the big one is the missed call against Brendan Smith. At the very least, it should have been an interference call. Some people want to say Smith embellished the hit. I would argue that he was hit from behind, in the head, far away from the play, with no reason to expect the hit was coming. Oh yeah, and this was his first game back from injury. You still think he embellished it? Okay, fine. So call him for diving, call him for embellishing the hit, call him for unsportsman-like conduct. I don't care what you call it, JUST CALL SOMETHING! Make it a 4 on 4! But to not call ANYTHING on the play? There's simply no excuse. No, the referee did not put the puck in Detroit's net. No, the referee did not leave Kopitar in front unchecked. No, the referee did not make Emmerton trip Ericsson. But the fact is, it SHOULD have been a Detroit power play, the faceoff SHOULD have been in LA's zone, and if that were the case, it is almost absolutely certain that that play and the resulting goal would have never happened. Even if they called it a 4 on 4, the play still almost certainly would have not developed as it had.
Yes, Detroit should have scored more than one flukey goal. Yes, they had scoring chances they did not capitalize on. But none of that changes the fact that poor officiating DIRECTLY IMPACTED THE OUTCOME OF THE GAME.
I wish I was on Reddit so I could downvote yo ass. You're on a Wing's blog. Shut up and GTFO.
What doesn't kill you - makes you stronger. I wanna see an angry and pissed Red Wings team tonight. LGRW!
I posted this on the live blog thread, but I need to re-rant here.This game is the most poorly officiated game I have seen since the Fraser-fellating-Colorado days. I counted at least 20 egregious penalties committed by LA, a couple potential suspension worthy, yet they don't call anything. LA running around insane trying to hurt people (and succeeding), yet no call. Pav on the other hand gets his face smashed to the ice and his hand grazes the puck and it's a faceoff violation penalty. Penner sees Smith standing not looking and far away from the puck and throws a flying elbow to the head that results in injury and nothing. This game was rigged on "Rivalry Night." The NHL wants its SoCal team that finally won a Cup to keep momentum and they couldn't do it themselves. How many hours of 5-on-3 did they have for no reason? Just atrocious. Abominable. Repulsive. Vile. Disgusting. Horrendous. Embarrassing. Ok, I'll stop. Oh, Cleary's visor couldn't have cut him if you watched the video of where the cut was. When they were stitching him on the bench, the cut was clearly over his right eye. Since he doesn't wear his visor like Kronwall, it couldn't have cut him without denying all the laws of physics. Also, Abby needs to be waived or traded for pucks. Abby is the new Abby, as he at least is throwing hits. I can't think of a worse forward on this team to have up with Pav, maybe even in the entire NHL.
I don't like complaining about calls/no calls, but when they are blatant, its a different story. Some games, you have to wonder, you really do. Wings may have had some bad calls against them, but damn, we just threw up 8 goals on Luongo. Our offense was lagging last night. Bad calls that lead to PP chances hurt for sure.. No doubt....
the Cleary hit wasn't as bad but the Smith hit should have been called, especially when you see the ref skate past the damn camera that watched it. Detroit played well but you could tell they backed off after that first goal and you can't go two periods without being aggressive in their zone. But one thing you didn't mention was Smith. Honestly I felt he did well in our zone but in their zone, not so well; ESPECIALLY on the PP. He looked so indecisive with the puck.
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Reading below, Burke and Ryan clearly don't watch a whole lot of hockey. The Wings deserved this one, solidly and consistently outplaying the Kings, especially special teams. The refs were desperate for the Kings to tie this one up, and the non-calls at the end were a joke. Yes non-calls happen, so does war, famine and murder, but that doesn't make it acceptable!
Ian Fleming Dunham, like I said above, tonight I just felt like something went wrong.. was wrong in the way the game unfolded. They've been sloppy in several others games - I just don't feel like they deserved to lose this one. -Frank
At the end of the day, we all say "Go Wings". Appreciate the chat guys. Heading out. Enjoy your Thursdays. -Frank
We enjoy having you Gavin R. Brandl. No problems in disagreeing. It'd be no fun if we saw everything the same way, ya' know? I'll re-watch tomorrow and probably have a more critical eye for it, but tonight I felt like something.. wrong happened. I see red and white occasionally. -Frank
To clarify, I enjoy reading. We just disagreed on the assessment of this game lol. Thanks.
definitely will rather then bothering reading the bullshit you guys put and complain about lines some more ha
All im saying is, at the end of the day we didn't do enough to get the two points. I dont believe in excuses, and I thought my fellow wings fans were above it. Thats all.
Yes sir Gavin R. Brandl. The rest of us might as well be walking on the sun for "crying" and being "babies" about a "visor the cut Cleary's eyebrow." -Frank
Burke Ryan, let us know how it goes. Maybe we can fund some kind of research project or something. Visor cuts a man's eyebrow! Team clearly didn't work hard enough in response. *shrug* -Frank
Are all my fellow wings fans so naive to think this is the first time a player received a cut and a call wasn't made? Holy. Making us look like a bunch of babies.
Play through what? The missed head shots? The terrible phantom hooking calls? What are we talking about exactly. Just so we're on the same page, Gavin R. Brandl. -Frank
I'm wearing my visor to practice tomorrow and allowing guys to throw hits at my head and see what cuts me, a visor would have cut his cheek not upper near the eye, funniest part is that argument on Twitter
Chris Bob, that no-call on Smith was one of the worst blown calls I've seen this season. That and the Duchene offsides. Was clearly a hit to the head and away from the puck to a player that had no idea it was coming. Predatory. -Frank
You dont explain it. You play through it and do what it takes to get the two points. As I said. We didn't capitalize and an untimely defensive breakdown cost us the game
The hit on Dan cut him open. I'm not buying the "his visor cut him" argument. The refs obviously didn't leave the player open there, but they did magnify the meaning of that goal. Kings were outplayed and out-hustled for almost all of this game. -Frank
The hit on Cleary was shoulder to shoulder. Last time I checked, playing a full sixty meant capatalizing on your opportunities. Didn't happen. And the refs certainly weren't the ones who left kopitar wide open out front to get the go ahead.
