Darryl Sutter

Jonathan Quick was pulled after allowing two goals on eleven shots Thursday night. (Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)

Thursday night in Sunrise, Florida the Los Angeles Kings couldn’t have possibly looked more like themselves. (An explanation? Ok.)

It was an offensively challenged contest from start to finish with neither the Panthers or visiting Kings being able to generate more than a few scoring chances. The Kings recorded only twenty-three shots over the course of the game, twelve of which came in the first period. That first frame also handed Los Angeles two power plays, neither of which amounted to m...

Justin Williams (14) gives scores his gives his team a 2-1 lead. The Kings are 73-0-5 since April 2009 when leading after two periods. (photo courtesy of NHL.com)

After all, the Kings were due for a win. The team has been alternating winning and losing efforts since the twenty-eighth of December (that’s eleven games and nearly three weeks). It’s a stretch that surely frustrates head coach Darryl Sutter, but nonetheless has the boys in white earning a pivotal two points earlier tonight.

A goaltender duel of sorts featuring Jonathan Quick and Roberto Luongo took the game to an extra overtime period and s...

The Kings are now 7-1-3 under Darryl Sutter. (photo courtesy of NHL.com)

If one were to get caught up in all the subplots surrounding last night’s game between Los Angeles and Calgary, one might forget that there actually was, you know, sixty minutes of hockey to be played. Yes, one Sutter (Darryl) went toe-to-toe with another (Brent) and Mike Cammalleri scored in his much ballyhooed return to the Flames, but it was Darryl and the Kings who came out on top by a 4-1 score.

After a scoreless and offensively challenged first period for the Kings, they would quickly grab two in a three-minute span. Mike Richards ...

Much like Velma Kelly, Jonathan Quick cannot do it alone. (photo courtesy of NHL.com)

This has to be heartbreaking for Jonathan Quick. The goal he allowed 11:25 into the second period effectively sealed the win for Columbus and gave Los Angeles their first loss in regulation under Coach Darryl Sutter. It was the only goal he gave up and yet, his team was unable to score just once to turn the contest the slightest bit competitive.

Perhaps most alarming of all was the Kings’ inability to net a single power play goal in eight attempts, which included a combined 2:03 of two-man advantage time. They were even give...