The Maple Leafs California road trip rolled into LA tonight for another late game by east coast time. Frederik Andersen and Jonathan Quick stopped everything thrown at them through three periods and OT, so the game was decided by a shootout which the Kings won in the fourth round.

Here’s our recap of the game action.

First Period

Hey there’s an ex-Leaf who will probably score a goal. It’s Trevor Moore

[15:00] It’s taking a while for the Leafs to get anything going here. The Kings are breaking up their attacks pretty fast. Nylander finally gets something together on his own, but it’s a long shot that Quick stops easily.

[13:20] Clifford gets lit up by his old teammate Doughty

[11:39] Nylander gets things going again. There’s no goal, but he draws a penalty.

[10:23] Matthews has some open space on the power play to get off a nice shot but Quick is on it. Now the Kings are paying much more attention to him and the PP ends without a goal.

[8:00] You can hear GO LEAFS GO from the crowd. Lots of Leafs fans in attendance including Justin Bieber.

[7:00] Andersen has to scramble to get to a loose puck in front of the net. The Kings are outmaneuvering the Leafs in their zone.

[5:37] A blocked shot results in a turnover that Kempe gets for a breakaway. No goal but Marincin slashed him in the process so it’s a Leafs PK.

[4:38] Kapanen gets a short-handed attempt but it rings off the post. Engvall has a nice chance on the rebound too. Quick doesn’t even know where the puck is but still stops it.

[2:51] What the Frk? Another Leafs penalty. The Leafs scramble a bit in front of their net to defend from the Kings, but then do a decent job of killing it off.

The first period ends with no goals and a big share of the Leafs offence generated solely on the PK.

Second Period

[16:40] The Leafs have the puck in and around and behind the Kings net but can’t really set up any shots. Marincin decides to end this by simply shooting the puck from the blue line, which Quick easily catches.

[14:00] Dustin Brown gets a big chance but Freddie is steady.

[13:40] Tavares is doing good work in front of the net this period.

[12:32] Quick provides some comic relief when he slips on a banana peel quite far out of the net.

[11:47 PM katya] scoreless tie that goes to a 20 round shootout. Calling it now

Please no. I want to go to bed now and the game is only half over.

[8:36] Marner makes something out of nothing some times.

[4:50] The Kings have a stretch where they are in full control in the Leafs zone and setup a couple good shots. Liljegren is notably not great at stopping them in this sequence, though none of the defenders stand out as being good this game.

[3:36] The Leafs get an opportunity with a power play. No goal, but Tavares and Nylander looked good on their shift.

Second period ends with still no goals.

Third Period

[19:06] The Leafs look almost as sleepy as I feel right now.

[18:47] Nylander is awake! He gets a breakaway with no goal but it draws a penalty. Leafs to the power play. No goals.

[13:20] Five minutes has gone by and there’s been little more than dump ins for line changes and puck turnovers in the neutral zone. Clifford and Kapanen shake things up a bit with a scoring chance here.

[8:57] Now is a good time to point out that Freddie is having a good game tonight. He’s not the last line of defence tonight, he’s the only line of defence through most of this game.

[1:16] Hyman fighting to keep the game from going to OT, but it feels inevitable now. Nylander has a perfect pass to setup Kapanen rushing toward the net but Kapanen completely misses the puck.

Third period ends 0-0.

OT

Leafs start with Nylander, Tavares and Barrie. Tavares is promptly given a hooking penalty that is questionable at best.

Hyman goes out to do his usual short-handed magic but Quick won’t let him score.

The Leafs kill the penalty.

Nylander has a breakaway and Quick robs him.

So we’re going to a shootout after all. THANKS A LOT, KATYA.

Kopitar and Nylander both score in the third round so it’s on to the sudden death rounds.

Kempe scores and Marner doesn’t.

Kings win.

Thoughts

  • I can’t believe I watched all of that for it to end that way.
  • The Nylander - Tavares - Malgin line were getting things going at times, but the other Leafs felt kind of sleepy as a whole group.
  • Andersen was great, but so was Quick.
  • The Leafs defenders were not as good as they have been in recent games.
  • It would be nice to win at least one game on this road trip, Leafs.
  • It’s now 1:20 a.m. here in Toronto, which is way past my bedtime./
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