It seemed like Marc-Edouard Vlasic was going to be quite the surprise hero on Thursday. Instead, he was one of many San Jose Sharks players left stunned by a late Game 2 surge as the Los Angeles Kings rode a 5-on-3 power play to a 4-3 win and 2-0 series lead.
That’s try to make sense of the madness.
- Ignoring how you feel about the puck over the glass rule for a moment and taking it at face value: did Vlasic deserve a delay of game penalty there or did the puck hit Jeff Carter’s arm? Sharks fans might treat that moment like the Zapruder film in the next couple days.
- Should Kings fans be concerned that Anze Kopitar is injured despite coming back from a puck to the head? Sometimes these issues end up being a bigger problem than they appear at first.
- Can the Sharks recover from this punch to the gut? It’s a pretty brutal way to lose, and now they find themselves down 2-0 in this series.
- The Kings power play scored three of their four goals on six opportunities. Are the defending champions the NHL’s top contender if that special teams unit can be an asset?
- The shot totals were identical at 31 tonight. How close is this series despite the 2-0 score? Does San Jose deserve a better fate?
- Jonathan Quick has obviously been fantastic. How do you feel about Antti Niemi’s performance so far?
- Assuming the Kings advance, which remaining team presents Los Angeles the biggest challenge?