“The time has come,” the Walrus said,“To talk of many things,
Of power plays and penalty kills,
Of Capitals and Kings.”
Isn't that how the Alice in Wonderland poem goes? No matter; let’s talk those two teams, who once defined epic fail in killing penalties.
The L.A. Kings in ’79-’80 allowed a goal
1 of every 3 times they were shorthanded -
the worst PK unit of any team, any season since they started keeping track in 1963.
The Caps of ’78-’79 rank 3rd worst of all, an abysmal 70%. (behindthenethockey.com)
Now let’s talk about great Capitals penalty killing, and how it factored into a game against those same Kings.The Caps swaggered into the Fabulous Forum in L.A. on February 16, 1984 with a seven game winning streak. Washington had killed 35 consecutive shorthanded situations, until the Kings’ Brian MacLellan scored a PP goal in the 2nd period.
Still, D.C. won, 4-2. And it would be the only power play goal allowed by the Caps as their winning streak grew to 10 in a row.
MacLellan’s tally also broke an incredible personal streak by D.C. goalie Pat Riggin, who hadn't given up a road game goal for more than 241 minutes!
(Mike Vogel, washington caps.com)