Kings' beat Habs, but look to keep their 'foot on the pedal the whole 60 minutes'

Published Mar. 6, 2015 1:53 a.m. ET

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It's that time of the season when playoff spots are being chased. Staying engaged and playing a full 60-minute game is crucial as every step -- and misstep -- could be the difference in whether or not a hockey team is chasing or being chased.

Coast even for one minute and your opponent will make you pay. It doesn't matter which opponent that is, every team in the NHL is desperate at this time of year, and once a team is knocked off its game it becomes tougher and tougher to execute. 

Thursday night at the Staples Center, the Los Angeles Kings took their foot off the gas for a couple of minutes in the second period. From there, things quickly spiraled, as they gave up three unanswered goals against the Montreal Canadiens. 

But what an escape they made.  

With only a minute left to play, Darryl Sutter pulled his goalie on a power play and Marian Gaborik scored his second goal of the night to tie the game at 3-3 and put it into overtime. The Kings have been nothing short of disastrous in overtime and shootouts and disaster could have struck had David Desharnais' shootout attempt been just a half inch lower.

The puck hit iron. 

The Kings won just their second shootout of the season to defeat the Eastern Conference-leading Habs 4-3, but it shouldn't have come to that point. 

"It should have been 3- or 4-nothing," Sutter said. "But we didn't put it away when we had glorious opportunities to do it in the second."

After the Habs gave up two goals and registered only two shots on goal in the first period, they knew there was work to be done in the second and third periods. Work was exactly what they put in. So much so that they completely out-worked the Kings through the next 39 minutes and 15 seconds. 

They scored two goals in less than two minutes in the second period and a third goal seven minutes into the third period. Montreal had the Kings chasing the puck and looking out of sorts on defense. The Kings' Jeff Carter got behind the Canadiens' Max Pacioretty as he cut to the net and tipped home Desharnais' pass from the boards for a lead. 

The goal was enough to bring the Kings back to life. When Gaborik scored, it gave the team what it needed to endure overtime and win in the shootout for only the second time all season.

"We had a sense of confidence when we went into the shootout that we could do it," he said. "We were fortunate we did because they could have pulled it off."

But with fewer and fewer chances to earn points, the Kings don't want to have to be brought back to life.

The Kings are still doing the chasing. With 74 points they're tied with Calgary in the Pacific, but still out of the playoff picture in both the division and the Wild Card standings as the Flames own the tiebreaker. 

A 58-minute effort isn't sufficient when you're on the outside looking in. 

"We need to play more like we did the first half of the game, and that's just the bottom line," Gaborik said. "We don't have a lot of home games left to take advantage of and get points but tonight we did. We have another game in a couple of days so we have to regroup and keep our foot on the pedal the whole 60 minutes."

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