LOS ANGELES — The play went up and down, back and forth. There were turnovers and great scoring chances and uncertainty and tension — everything you could want, really, in a hockey game with so much on the line.
Then the third period started and the Los Angeles Kings imposed their will on the New York Rangers.
The shots were 22-5 over the final 20 minutes of regulation, plus 4:36 of overtime — the amount of time it took for Justin Williams to freeze the clocks with a perfect shot high to the blocker side on Henrik Lundqvist.
Whether you think this will become a compelling Stanley Cup Final or not depends heavily on if you believe that closing stretch was an aberration or the Kings simply waking up from an early Game 1 slumber. After all, we’ve come here to see if the Western Conference really is as superior as it seems and received some mixed signals in a 3-2 Los Angeles victory on Wednesday night.
“We have a lot of things to clean up,” said Williams. “Certainly not our best game by any standards, especially ours. But we were able to get it done. That’s the most important thing.”
“It was not a good hockey game for us, we kind of got away with one,” added Kings defenceman Willie Mitchell. “(Jonathan Quick) was outstanding to let us find a little bit of legs. We still didn’t have great legs out there. I think maybe the trainers put gumboots in our stalls instead of skates today.
This will now become a series of adjustments. There are two days to regroup before Game 2 on Saturday — a benefit for both playoff-weary teams — and the Rangers will be looking to find ways to maximize their speed. They used it effectively at times in the opener, especially on the pair of breakaway goals that gave them a 2-0 lead.
Benoit Pouliot took advantage of a Drew Doughty turnover before speedster Carl Hagelin beat Slava Voynov in a race while short-handed and ended up seeing the puck go in off the left skate of the Kings defenceman.
Predictably, Los Angeles rebounded with a quick Kyle Clifford power-play marker and another on a great individual effort by Doughty, but what stood out most after 40 minutes was how even this thing was. There had been 43 total shots and no sense of equilibrium.
It almost felt like order had been restored when Los Angeles began cycling the puck over the final 20 minutes and throwing everything at Lundqvist.
“They were playing simple,” said Kreider. “They were getting pucks in and they were making us play defence.”
“I didn’t think that the ice was tilted at any time before that,” added teammate Brad Richards. “It seemed like they came with a big push there and we let it go too long. But that being said, it’s a one-goal game, we’re going into overtime.
“We got a taste of what they’re going to be and we learn from it and move on.”
What shouldn’t be overlooked, however, is the way that period ended. Sure, it had taken nearly 11 minutes for Marty St. Louis to register the first Rangers shot on goal but one of the next ones came on another Hagelin breakaway in the final minute of regulation.
Quick had to be sharp in turning that away or we’d be talking about New York pulling one out of the fire.
“We probably got a little lucky tonight,” said Kings centre Mike Richards.
It was encouraging to see that these teams are capable of playing an entertaining brand of hockey. There was more excitement in this game than might have been present during the entire Kings-Devils final in 2012.
The focus for Los Angeles will be on bringing more attention to detail to Game 2. They are a team that exacts death by a thousand passes, methodically working their way around the ice.
Once they got the Rangers turning the puck over on Wednesday night, New York’s speed became less of a factor. This appears to be a battle of patience versus explosiveness.
“They pretty much played exactly the way we expected them to play,” said Lundqvist. “We know what’s coming.”
That isn’t necessarily a good thing.
Teams winning the opening game of the Stanley Cup final have gone on to lift the trophy 77 percent of the time — an amazing stat that seems to speak to the grind of the NHL’s post-season. When you get to the fourth round, the finish line is in sight and the push is on.
However, no one should overlook the fact that this is the year of the comeback around the NHL. Nothing can be assumed.
“We’ve talked about that,” said Brad Rangers. “They’ve come from 3-0 (down in a series) and 3-2, so we know there’s not going to be any quit. At the same time, we can play with them, too.”
That remains to be seen. We’ll be watching closely.