Being happy about this one is coping.
Ottawa came into Thursday at 8-5-0. The Kings came in at 3-6-2 and still hadn't won a home game all season. A team with those numbers, on a night like that, has no business falling behind 5-1 on the road. That it happened, and that the final line reads "one point," should leave Senators fans irritated with how it played out.
The third period was genuinely fun to watch. Down 5-1 with less than 13 minutes left, Ottawa scored four unanswered to force overtime. Dylan Cozens scored twice off Tim Stutzle feeds, Drake Batherson chipped in, and Shane Pinto tied it with the goalie pulled and 1:40 on the clock. Then Quinton Byfield snapped one home from the high slot at 3:37 of overtime, Drew Doughty picking up his third assist of the night, and the Kings had their first home win of the year.
RatingTreating that rally as proof of character misses the problem. You only need a frantic 6-on-5 goal in the final two minutes if you spent the previous two periods beating yourself. A comeback that spectacular is a receipt for how far you let a struggling opponent push you around.
Point the finger where it belongs. This game was lost long before overtime, and it was lost in Ottawa's net. Jonas Johansson, making a third straight spot start because Linus Ullmark is hurt, stopped 12 of 16 before getting hooked. Samuel Ersson's cleaner relief, 20 saves on 22, arrived with the regulation damage already done. The team's own beat was blunt about it afterward, calling it a game Ottawa lost because of a poor performance in net. When you're already playing your emergency option in goal, there's no margin for a shaky start, and Ottawa blew right through it.
The night got harder, sure. Andre Burakovsky left early with an injury and didn't return. Nick Cousins was tossed on a misconduct in a frustrating third. Hayden Hodgson got a five-minute major and an ejection for boarding Brandt Clarke, and Artemi Panarin made Ottawa pay on the ensuing power play. By the end the Senators were down to nine forwards. That's a real excuse for the stretch run, but it doesn't explain being down 5-1 to a club that couldn't win in its own building.
Losing to this version of the Kings should sting most. One hockey outlet pegged the Kings' unbeaten streak against Ottawa at 13 games (10-0-3) after Thursday's result. If that figure holds up, it's an ugly number for a team that wants to be taken seriously. It keeps finding ways to leave L.A. with less than it should.
Credit the fight for 13 minutes. Then look at the standings column, which reads one point, and remember there were two sitting right there. A team that's good enough to matter this season should be furious it only grabbed half of them.
