Flyers West Shred Hitch's Blues Again as Richie, Carter, Williams All Score

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One
of the great things about this year's NHL playoffs is that the league's
new deal with NBC ensures that if there's a game we want to see, we
can. Last night, with the Flyers off, the remotes got a workout between
Phillies-Cubs, Rangers-Caps, and Kings-Blues. For me, with my twisted
and temporary rooting interests, I hit the trifecta. The Phils won. The
Rangers lost. And the Kings won, with former Flyers featuring
prominently. 

It's an odd feeling, rooting for other NHL teams,
even those you hate, just because you hate them a little less than their
given opponents at the time. But that's one of the great parts of
watching playoff hockey—for a variety of reasons, you find yourself
invested in teams you usually either despise or simply don't care about.
I probably don't need to explain why I'd prefer to see the Rangers
bounced out; sure, nothing would make me happier than to see the Flyers
beat the Rangers in the ECF on their way to a Cup Finals win, but after
witnessing the Blue Shirts' dominance over the Orange & Black this
season, I could be plenty happy seeing them depart before the next
round, should the Flyers make it past the Devils. 

Out West, I'm enjoying seeing the Kings do well,
with mostly good memories of the former Flyers that are featured so
prominently in their organization. Last night, the trio of Mike
Richards, Jeff Carter, and Justin Williams all scored in a 5-2 Kings win
over the Blues, and Richie mixed it up as always. Adding to the
intrigue of this series for Flyers fans, the Kings are facing a Blues
team bossed by Ken Hitchcock, the former Flyers head coach who was fired
after the new young core, led by the once and future Kings, did not buy
into his system. 

A quick look at some highlights below. 
Richie
opened the scoring by putting home a loose puck just 30 seconds into
the game. Not the most remarkable goal from a video highlights
perspective, but keeping in mind the back story, watch the look on
Hitch's face when he sees the game start out this way. 

HITCH FACE!

Anze Kopitar's brilliance on a shorthanded opportunity bears a screening as well. Watch this:

 The first period scoring wasn't done yet, and the
Kings were soon up by a 3-0 count with less than a minute and a half to
go. Carter scored the third:

Still not done, Kopitar scored AGAIN to make it 4-0 at the first intermission. 

After Andy McDonald got one back for the Blues in
the second, it was Justin Williams' turn to light the lamp, swatting
home a rebound to extend the lead to 5-1. 

The Blues would score with five minutes to go in the
third, but it was all LA on the night, and they now hold a 2-0 lead in
the series after smoking the top-seeded Vancouver Canucks in the first
round. OK, maybe we've had our fun, and they can start losing a few out
there… 

With the score 5-2 and the game squarely in "Set the
Tone for Game 3" mode, TJ Oshie just LIT UP the Kings' Dustin Penner.
It was a legal hit, but not one a team shouldn't still have some
objection to, and you can probably guess who was there to object… 

Puck Daddy, whose video is above, has more on the final sequence here

It's only the second round, but the playoffs have already been a pretty amazing ride.

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