After winning the game for the Los Angeles Kings with a power-play marker on Monday, is it time to consider Brandt Clarke joining the team's top power-play unit?
Los Angeles Kings defenseman Brandt Clarke put his mark in their win over the Ottawa Senators on Monday.
Clarke, from the greater Ottawa area of Nepean, Ont., scored the game-winning goal for the Kings. However, it wasn’t just any game-winner.
On a team that is in the bottom 10 in goals for and power-play percentage, the 22-year-old defenseman checked both boxes, scoring a power-play goal to seal the game for Los Angeles.
Kings Rally Late Behind Clarke’s Power Play Winner to Stun Senators
The Kings finally snapped their cold streak in ugly losses against the Ottawa Senators behind a late power-play goal by Brandt Clarke to seal the victory at home.
With the team’s current struggles on the man advantage and a top unit featuring five forwards, it should be time to consider having an offence-driven blueliner, Clarke, in the team’s No. 1 group.
At times, the Kings’ power play can be a bit passive, moving the puck around too long before throwing a shot on net. And that’s only when they can solve a clean offensive zone entry.
But for Clarke against his hometown Senators, he took matters into his own hands.
"We've got to be a shooting unit,” Clarke told reporters after the game. “We've got to get pucks to the net. (Perry) switched to our unit, he's one of the best netfront guys to ever play the game....that's what my mentality was, (just get the puck to the net)."
Kings’ head coach Jim Hiller briefly touched on Clarke’s performance and the key power-play marker. In the same breath, he praised the performance of their special teams overall. That includes a penalty kill that went three-for-three against the 11th-best power play in the NHL.
“I don’t know that we were particularly sharp,” Hiller said of his team’s power play. “They killed really well, but it only takes one good play, right? Sometimes it comes at the very end. So a really, really good play on the entry, Clarkie unloads, and here we are, happy.
“We probably would’ve won a few more if we’d had one or two in some of those other games. The game, to me, is very similar to probably about five of them here that we’ve had that maybe we’ve come up short by a goal,” he said.
“Look at our penalty kill, it’s been really good, right? They’ve got an excellent power play. So our penalty kill and special teams makes a difference,” the bench boss added.
Clarke’s power-play marker to give Los Angeles the two points shouldn’t go unnoticed by the team’s coaching staff. This was his third goal of the season, and his first power-play point of the campaign.
However, if Clarke continues to drive offense from the back end on a team that lacks scoring, his increasing ice time may only get higher, especially if he gets a nod on power-play No. 1.
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