LOS ANGELES — Controversy enveloped one of the most
exciting hockey games of the season Thursday night by virtue of a bizarre play
that had long-tenured hockey figures scratching their heads, trying to recall
the last time they had seen something similar.
The San Jose Sharks went into Staples Center and defeated the Los Angeles Kings
6-5 in a shootout in a game that featured 10 goals in regulation, seven power-play
goals, 67 shots and six fighting majors. But those were nothing compared to
what unfolded, with the game tied and perhaps the fortunes of both teams’
playoff lives skating up the right side of the ice, as the game was coming to a
close.
With 2:45 remaining and the score tied at 5-5, the Kings’ Jarret Stoll was
leading a power-play rush up the ice, looking for the goal that would move the
Kings one step closer to the Pacific Division crown. As Stoll skated by the San
Jose bench on his way into the Sharks’ zone, San Jose forward Ryane Clowe
deliberately reached onto the ice and poked the puck away from Stoll’s stick,
then sat back down onto the bench. The play killed the rush, sent the sellout
crowd into a frenzy, and had the Kings literally up in arms.
Stoll immediately shot his arm up. Dustin Brown pointed over to the San Jose
bench. Drew Doughty slammed his stick on the ice. The only people among a
standing-room only crowd of 18,330 who didn't see the infraction were the four
officials on the ice — which is bizarre, considering the incident occurred
while the puck was on a player's stick.
Any of the four officials on the ice would have been eligible to make the
penalty call.
"I'm not sure how all four of them missed it," Brown said. "I
don't know. I don't know what to tell you. They missed it and none of them said
they saw it. I thought it was pretty evident, but when you're in the game
sometimes you aren't going to see everything. It is what it is."
After the game, back in the Sharks’ dressing room, reaction to the play was
quite different.
"I have no idea what you guys are talking about," Clowe deadpanned.
"I'll have to see the video or something."
Of course, this happened in game No. 81 of the season, between two teams that
entered the night separated by one point in a three-way battle for the Pacific
Division title — and left it tied at 94 points. Game No. 82 is a conclusion of
the home-and-home series Saturday night in San Jose. The Phoenix Coyotes, one
point behind Los Angeles and San Jose with 93 points, can steal the division
with a game in hand, playing in St. Louis on Friday and closing out at Minnesota
on Saturday. The Coyotes, Kings and Sharks all clinched playoff berths
following losses by Dallas and Colorado earlier Thursday.
But while the teams wait to face off again on Saturday, talk Friday will likely
center on Clowe’s stickhandling — a surreal sports moment that conjured up
visions of other bizarre moments from the bench, perhaps the most bizarre since
New Jersey Devils coach Robbie Ftorek (a former Kings coach) threw — wait for
it — the
bench onto the ice in a game in 2000.
"I saw a coach lose his glasses on the ice, and he reached over and broke
his glasses," Los Angeles coach Darryl Sutter said after the game, lightening
the moment in a postgame press conference. "But I don't think I've seen
that one."
Sutter expounded when asked what his thoughts of the play were.
"What do you think my thoughts are? You can't call too many men on
it," Sutter said.
"What can you call, too many sticks?"
Do hockey players believe in karma? This is the same Kings team that benefitted
from a stutter in the Staples Center clock that allowed Doughty an extra half-second
to blast a third-period, buzzer-beating shot past Columbus goalie Curtis
Sanford in a controversial 3-2 Kings win on Feb. 1.
Clockgate has been replaced by Clowegate.
The Kings still had an opportunity to win in regulation on the power play, and again
in the shootout. But Mike Richards, Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar were stymied
by Antti Niemi. While the game will be forever remembered for the peculiar
stick incident, it was special teams that dictated the success in this game.
"We can't sit there and dwell on it," Brown said. "We had plenty
of opportunities on the power play. Our power play came up big. The PK
wasn't the strongest part of our game."
San Jose coach Todd McLellan is now looking for an even keel response from his
players following such an emotional victory.
"We're not going to get too high and we don't get too low. We'll
rest tomorrow and then we know we've got another big game to play,"
McLellan said. "I'm glad that game will really mean something because it
will set us up and, I'm sure, LA up for a good playoff run."
