Kings beat Buffalo 4-3 in shootout

The Kings showed the resiliency, competitiveness and will to win that us fans have been waiting for years to see tonight. Dean Lombardi's creation is officially coming together and this is not only a playoff team but a team that will play deep into the spring.

As unqualified as I am there are some fairly obvious reasons to be extremely optimistic:

1. We just defeated arguably the best team in the East which also happens to employ the league's finest goaltender. All of this with our best player, Anze Kopitar, nowhere to be found. Where was he tonight? What did he do? The man that contributes more (scoring wise) to the team than any King, was able to watch his teammates completely pick him up as we beat another great veteran team yet again. And yes, I know Kopi scored in the shootout, on a beautiful move I might add, but come on, he was outside in the rain tonight.

2. Drew Doughty is the man! Doughty will be the youngest player on the world's most elite team this February. He earned first star honors with a couple nifty assists and picked up Rob Scuderi in winning a footrace very late in the game to preserve the tie. He is a stud. Period. Every good team needs a rock, and he is going to be one to rely on.

3. They just have it. Whatever it is, I've been watching this team for 10 years and I've never, ever had such a good feeling about what it is they were doing. Moving into the 7th spot tonight with the help of Chicago beating the Flames, could be leading to the feeling but I truly believe in these guys. They're just gritty. They had their heart broken twice tonight and still out battled a bona fide cup contender. And adding this to 3 wins against San Jose, and wins against Chicago, Pittsburgh, Washington and a 2 to zero season lead over the surging Ducks shows that we are absolutely for real.

The bottom line is, the game in Detroit this weekend is the biggest one we've had in a long ass time. Let's go Kings

-SVIK 1/21