WSD Sports Page: Kings dominate against Blackhawks in 3rd period, tie series

Photo via Flickr

In the first 38 minutes of the game, Chicago was up 2-0 and cruising to take a 2-0 lead in the third round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Then, things escalated quickly after Los Angeles broke through with a goal.

Five more goals were scored by the Kings after Justin Williams scored on a tip-in with under two minutes left in the second period, winning by the final 6-2 tally and evening up the series. The Kings took advantage of two power play opportunities early in the final period and Jeff Carter had a hat trick in that final stretch.

It was incredibly uncharacteristic for Chicago to get ran out on their own ice like that. Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews admitted that it just got away from them once the Kings were able to garner all the momentum (via NHL.com):

"You're bound to give up something," Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews said. "If they score a goal to pull within one it doesn't mean they have to score six unanswered. I think we always want to close out periods. We want to try to keep that momentum going into the next one but sometimes it happens. So we just needed to find a way to bounce back early in that third and we didn't do it."

The second power play opportunity given to LA was a mental error by Chicago's Brandon Saad, but that likely put the nail in the coffin after the Kings were able to grab the 3-2 lead just three minutes into the final period.

Don't forget about Jonathan Quick, who had a stellar first period just to keep the game within reach. He saved 19 shots in the first two periods before Chicago was held to just six in the final frame.

It took five periods, but the Kings finally broke through to make it a series against the Blackhawks.


Other Headlines

MLB: Giants beat Rockies 5-1, lose pitchers Cain and Casilla

Matt Cain continues to have the worst luck this season. After three innings, San Francisco's starter pulled his right hamstring and had to exit the game. He gave up zero hits and walks along with recording three strikeouts on 36 pitches, en roue to what looked like a great start. Luckily, the bullpen was able to break through and save the day, with Yusmeiro Petit picking up the win after three innings of work himself.

Another injury was sustained by reliever Santiago Casilla, who was trucking to first base and landed awkwardly on his leg, tumbling down and was in agony for quite a few minutes. With a quick turnaround today thanks to a day game, the Giants have to work quickly to come up with a plan to replenish the pitching roster as they deal with injuries.

In better news, the Giants got the much-needed win with solo long-ball shots from Hunter Pence, Pablo Sandoval, and Brandon Crawford.

NBA: Spurs flex muscles again, throttle Thunder to take 2-0 lead

I don't want to say a series is over after two games, but Oklahoma City is on life support. The loss of Serge Ibaka was a huge loss for the Thunder, and Scott Brooks needs to figure out a game plan to both slow down San Antonio and get more of his players involved. Russell Westbrook took over the game and missed a billion shots during the Spurs' huge run that spanned the second and third quarters.

There's plenty of time to work some magic, but clearly, Gregg Popovich is showing how superior he is as a head coach and how much better of a team that he has in the Western Conference -- which is an unbelievable statement.

NFL: Smith pleads no contest to three felony weapons, two misdemeanor DUI charges

Sentencing will happen shortly after training camp opens up this summer for the team. Obviously, being an NFL player and all, he won't be facing much, if any, jail time. But he should easily see a suspension from the NFL, or at the very least a suspension from the team. His actions are indefensible, and so was the abomination at LAX last month. Smith shouldn't be seeing action until October, but we'll see how severe his punishments are.


Today's Slate
(Central times listed)

STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS - ROUND 3
Canadiens at Rangers (NYR 2-0) - 7:00 NBCS

NBA PLAYOFFS - CONF FINALS
No games

MLB
-Giants at Rockies - 2:10 MLBTV
Dodgers at Mets - 6:10 MLBTV
D'backs at Cardinals - 6:15 FSMW
Cubs at Padres - 9:10 CSCH

CBB - BIG 12 TOURNEY
Kansas vs Baylor - 9:00a FSSW+
Texas Tech vs Oklahoma - 12:30 FSSW+
TCU vs W Virginia - 4:00 FSSW+
-Oklahoma St vs Texas - 7:30 FSSW+

WSD Daily Sports Page (4-21-14): Los Angeles Kings can't figure out incredible surge by San Jose Sharks

The Lede




NHL Playoffs 2014: LA Kings get blown away in San Jose, 13 goals scored against in first two games

Jonathan Quick and the Los Angeles Kings' impressive playoff run two years ago seems much, much further away after an extremely disappointing start in their first playoff series against the San Jose Sharks over the weekend, getting smacked around giving up six goals on Thursday night and seven goals on Sunday night.

The wheels fell apart in the final minute of the first period in Game 1, when the Sharks went up 3-0 before intermission. They tacked on two more in the second period but it could have been a lot worse of Quick didn't make some great moves in front of the net. Period 3 was better after San Jose stopped choking down LA, and gave some spark to the team and fans for the next game.

It started out well. LA put up the first two goals in the first period of Game 2, and order looked to be restored. Then once both teams hit the ice for Period 2, the Sharks got hot again with seven different players scoring a goal in a 7-0 run that buried the Kings into submission.

After being outscored 13-5 in the first two games, it's hard to figure out exactly how the Kings can slow down the Sharks as the series shifts to Staples. No, Quick hasn't been his usual self giving up goals he wouldn't have two years ago, but his team isn't doing any favors. In four of the first six periods of the series, San Jose is destroying LA in possession and shots at the goal. It's not Quick's fault when a Sharks player swipes the puck away before the Kings can clear it and nails a 1-on-1 shot against Quick.

The series resumes Tuesday night. The Kings have plenty of work ahead of them now needing to win four of the next five. Hope seems lost, but hockey is one crazy ass sport that can't be predicted.


Top Five Headlines

1. NBA: Rick Adelman retires after 23 seasons as a head coach. Dude won 1,042 NBA games. Fantastic coach will be missed, and it's a bummer that the Minnesota Timberwolves couldn't play better under him this season.
2. BPL: Man United manager David Moyes expected to be sacked. Man U lost to Everton 2-0 on Sunday, and they may not even make Europa League qualifying currently sitting at 7th in the BPL behind Tottenham by six points.
3. NBA: New York Knicks head coach Mike Woodson is officially fired. His fate was going to be determined early this week according to reports late last week, and it only took a couple hours for him to find out on Monday morning.
4. NHL: Jesus resurrected at the Detroit-Boston game on Easter Sunday. He was seen being escorted out after sneaking into the bottom half of the arena, but he magically made it back in the third period to become the fan of the game. That's Jesus for you.
5. NBA: Gregg Popovich gives a message to ailing Craig Sager on the air. CS Jr. was on sideline duties filling in his father, and Popovich gave a heart-felt quick comment to Sager to wish him well and wanting him back on the sidelines. He would even be nice to him. That's love.

Yesterday's Favorites




NCAA Baseball: TCU 3, Texas 1 (F/Saturday)

The Horned Frogs completed the amazing sweep of the Longhorns. Texas was able to get on the board with hits, but only scored their lone run in the first inning. Nathan Thornhill was sharp again giving up five hits and two runs with six strikeouts in 6.2 innings of work, but the Texas offense just couldn't get anything going against TCU all weekend. With the sweep, TCU is now just one game back of Oklahoma State for the top spot in the Big 12 and Texas now sits at 3rd.

MLB: Giants 4, Padres 3

San Francisco had their 10th straight game decided by one run, and finally they were able to break a 3-game schnide and avoided a sweep at San Diego. Buster Posey hit his fourth home run of the season, a two-run jack, and SF put up two runs in each of the first two innings despite having just three hits. While Tim Lincecum had a hiccup in the third inning but gathered in his first win of the season after giving up seven hits, three runs, and recording seven strikeouts in six innings. The bullpen held it down the rest of the way -- four players didn't give up a hit and allowed just two walks.


Stanley Cup Playoffs Report

• Flyers 4, Rangers 2 (Tied 1-1)
• Bruins 4, Red Wings 1 (Tied 1-1)
• Canadiens 3, Lightning 2 (MON 3-0)
• Sharks 7, Kings 2 (SJ 2-0)

We've already touched on the Kings' debacle in SJ. That was the only Western Conference game in action yesterday while three Eastern Conference tilts happened earlier.

After sweeping the Lightning in Tampa Bay, Montreal continues to dominate and take a commanding 3-0 series lead with Game 4 at their home for a chance to sweep the series. Rene Bourque scored just 11 seconds into the game for the Canadiens to get on the board early and they didn't look back. Kudos to the Lightning for keeping it close the rest of the way, but it's a hard sell to win four straight games to move on.

Elsewhere, the Flyers were able to rebound after a crushing loss to the Rangers and tie up the series while the Bruins looked more like themselves in a dominating 4-1 win over Detroit. 

NBA Playoffs Rundown

• Spurs 90, Mavericks 85 (SA 1-0)
• Heat 99, Bobcats 88 (MIA 1-0)
• Wizards 102, Bulls 93 (WSH 1-0)
• Blazers 122, Rockets 120 (F/OT) (POR 1-0)

Road teams won five of the first eight games in the NBA playoffs, creating a lot of questions for Indiana, Chicago, LA Clippers, and Houston. The Pacers can never seem to rebound offensively and Roy Hibbert continues to struggle. Washington took over in the fourth quarter to get past the Bulls, outscoring the team 30-18 behind Nene Hilario's team-leading 24 points. And LaMarcus Aldridge's 46 points and 18 rebounds before fouling out helps the Blazers get past the Rockets in a high-flying game with zero defense to be found anywhere.


Today's Slate

BPL
West Brom at Man City - 2:00 NBCS

STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS - ROUND 1
Penguins at Blue Jackets (Tied 1-1) - 6:00 NBCS
Avalanche at Wild (COL 2-0) - 6:00 NHLN
Blues at Blackhawks (STL 2-0) - 7:30 CNBC
Ducks at Stars (ANA 2-0) - 8:30 NBCS

NBA PLAYOFFS - ROUND 1
Grizzlies at Thunder (OK 1-0) - 7:00 TNT
Warriors at Clippers (GS 1-0) - 9:30 TNT

MLB - NL West
D'backs at Cubs - 7:05 FSAZ/CSCH+
Padres at Brewers - 7:10 FSSD/FSWI
Giants at Rockies - 7:40 CSBA/RSRM
Phillies at Dodgers - 9:10 CSPH/SNLA

LAX

CBB - Big 12
Texas Tech at New Mexico - 3:00
CS Bakersfield at Kansas St - 6:30 FCS