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No one was safe in Kings’ wild comeback against Ducks

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The Kings rallied from down 3-1 to tie it in the third before Nick Shore fired home the game-winner in OT to beat the rival Ducks, 4-3.

Every now and then, a game just sort of leaves you bleary eyed and confused, like you just watched an intense movie with an insane twist ending.

In the case of the Los Angeles Kings’ 4-3 OT win against the Anaheim Ducks, even M. Night Shyamalan would agree that these teams threw out an almost incomprehensible wave of swerves.

Mere hours after learning that captain Ryan Getzlaf will miss two months thanks to the unlucky bounce of a puck, the Ducks showed serious heart in taking on the red-hot Kings. They built leads of 2-0 and 3-1, but the Kings were just relentless in coming back.

This game seemed to have a bit of everything.

There was controversy in goal reviews, from a negated tally thanks to John Gibson’s masked being knocked off to a clearer instance where a would-be Kings goal was ruled offside. Los Angeles just would not be denied, with shockingly rejuvenated forward Dustin Brown shaking off those near-goals in OT, ultimately setting up Nick Shore for the game-winner.

The game featured heaping portions of violence, with this medley being an appetizer that’s the size of a buffet:

(Click here for more of the violence ... but somehow not all, because this game was bursting at the seams with bad blood.)

Ryan Miller was forced into duty as Gibson left the ice either because he was hurt, due to concussion protocols, or both. Here’s a GIF of Gibson getting his lid lifted:

Gibson isn’t the only injury situation to watch, as a low hit left Anze Kopitar shaken. The red-hot Kings star did manage to return to the game despite that event taking place in the third period, yet it’s still a situation to watch. We’ve seen players return from painful moments with the adrenaline firing, only to miss serious time once that passion levels out.

As the announce team mentioned, both teams will deploy ice packs thanks to this game (or extra ones, maybe one should say). The Ducks will also need to monitor Ondrej Kase because of this hit that got Kurtis MacDermid ejected, as another example:

Phew. Here’s a good rule of thumb for a wild game: if Jonathan Quick going after Corey Perry is a spicy subplot rather than the driving narrative, you’ve witnessed something zany.

All things considered, both teams deserved a standings point in this one. Tonight’s game is one of those rare moments in which the “loser point” feels more like an acknowledgment that no one should go home totally empty-handed.

Granted, the Ducks probably aren’t happy about squandering a lead to the hated Kings on the same day that they got bad injury news about Getzlaf, but they probably would admit that they worked hard in this one.

Now both teams’ medical staffs will need to work overtime, too.


James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.