Imagine the viewpoint from the player's standpoint for a moment. You can feel the roar, before you even push your way through the double castle doors. You skate out to AC/DC's Back in Black to a raucous arena filled with fans wearing all black and waving white towels, bellowing with the pent-up intensity of six failed seasons.
Staples is not normally known to be particularly loud from a fan standpoint. But this is the Stanley Cup playoffs, and everyone loves a winner in this town. The Kings start Game Three with overwhelming pride, enthusiasm and momentum, before the puck even drops.
But all that enthusiasm is sucked out of the building in two minutes, when Vancouver's Mason Raymond draws first blood. Peter Harrold fell down by the board, which allowed the dangerous Canucks an out-numbered attack on Quick, and they capitalized. Ryan Kesler fed the puck across the crease to Raymond, who shot it in for his first playoff goal.
But as they seemingly have done all series, the Kings battle back, and Brad Richardson draws a slashing penalty on Christian Ehrhoff to give L.A. a power play opportunity. And it's Drew Doughty who takes advantage of the opportunity, when he snaps a low writer near the blue line past Luongo to tie the game, as Staples Center explodes. Doughty's PP goal is L.A.'s fifth out of ten chances with the man advantage this series.
To say the fans are excited is an understatement. When P.A. announcer David Courtney simply said the words "Kings goal...," he got a huge pop from the crowd. John Shannon from sportsnet.ca makes a valid observation when he tweeted:"goalies will have trouble seeing the puck above the glass, with all the fans wearing black at Staples." The L.A. fans certainly heeded the call by the club to wear all black to the game. My heart skipped a beat when I actually saw some face-painting going on. Tremendous.
The first period finds both clubs tied with 22 hits...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Kings
