For Los Angeles Kings fans, today’s announcement of Drew Doughty being named to Team Canada in the Olympics was fantastic. Doughty was the under dog to get named to the Canadian roster with the likes of Mike Green, Jay Bouwmeester, and Dion Phaneuf possibly making the team. I am absolutely ecstatic and cannot wait for the Olympics to start!

GO DOUGHTY!!!!

The Los Angeles Kings have played two games since Christmas and have zero points to show for it. They’ve lost to the Phoenix Coyotes (3-2) and Minnesota Wild (4-3); both were one-goal games and both were heart breakers. The Kings had a 6-on-3 to end the game against Phoenix with a flurry of pucks at Ilya Bryzgalov but the clock wound to 0:00 and my adrenaline died. The game last night against the Wild was played at a pace that I wish the Kings could maintain at all times. Alas, they were outmatched in the last few minutes of regulation as the Wild shut the door on them.

Drew Doughty showed up by attacking the offensive zone for a goal that the team desperately needed. The Kings have been taking one too many passes for their own good. (Scott Parse, when you’re in the slot with the puck, take the goddamn shot!) So I say “thank you” to Doughty for getting his behind to the net and putting the Kings on the scoreboard. The goal by Parse to tie the game at 3 apiece was great, except for the fact that Eric Belanger slapped them in the face 12 seconds later. The Wild got their go-ahead goal and gained two more points.

(LAKings.com)

You can’t deny the effort and drive is there for the Kings to get as far up the standing as possible. At the same time, they’re meeting teams just as hungry as them, which makes for high-paced drama at every turn. They could have been floundering at the bottom of the standings like in the past few seasons, but they’re fighting every game and I can’t fault them there. I think they’re doing as well as they can while trying to stem the injury floodgates at the same time.

How do I feel about Teddy Purcell being on the top line? I’d call it a work in progress. Having Justin Williams out of the lineup is bad, but losing him to a broken leg is worse than people realize. He was the solid player on the top line while Anze Kopitar was struggling to find his game after Ryan Smyth left the lineup. Now that Smyth is back and Williams is out, we’ll all be sitting on our hands waiting for Terry Murray’s next move. I’m not sure how this is all going to shake out, but check back in for more thoughts and opinions about this topic.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Michal Handzus has been names to the Slovakian team for the Olympics. Awesome. I’m looking forward to whom from the Kings is named to Team Canada and the US team.

The Los Angeles Kings lose one in Vancouver last night and win one tonight in another back-to-back. With Jarret Stoll, Wayne Simmonds, Ryan Smyth, and whoever else out of the line up, the Kings had to lose another key player in tonight’s game. Jack Johnson “took one off the ankle” in the first period and was basically out for the rest of the game. Just great. It’s no secret the roster has been slowly picked off by the injury monster, and tonight was no different. The Kings faced the Edmonton Oilers with a win to go into Thursday’s game against the Calgary Flames still atop the West.

The rock for the Kings has been Jonathan Quick all the way. Erik Ersberg sat out this back-to-back but I felt quite comfortable with Terry Murray going with the number 1 goalie for these important games before the 8-day rest. On a personal note, I missed last night’s game because, for some reason, I was recording the “wrong feed.” Apparently there were two feeds coming through from Vancouver and I was on the one with horrible audio and no video. I don’t even want to go into the logistics of what in the hell was going on there, but I ended up not watching the game at all. Just as well; all reports led to the conclusion that the Kings laid a rotten egg in a 3-1 loss. Gross.

On the other side of “gross,” Brad Richardson had a great game notching a goal and an assist with a line mate who was equally having a great game in Dustin Brown. Speaking of, it definitely looked like Brownie was hurting after he scored his goal. Slamming into the boards when you’re horizontal usually doesn’t produce a good result, but he got up and was back on the ice as soon as he could. He had great chemistry with Richardson and I’m starting to see a glimpse of maybe why the Kings traded a second round pick to acquire the latter.

I’m glad Raitis Ivanans went at it with JF Jacques, but, man, a 2, 5, and 10? See ya later, Raitis. Hope that locker room keeps you company. Someone who actually stayed on the bench the entire game was Corey Elkins making his NHL debut. The consensus? He’s a rookie kid. No one should be surprised by this non-revelation and I’m positive he’ll be better in his next game. With having so many kids in the lineup, the shorthanded roster spread out the minutes with Matt Greene making a big showing with six registered hits and seemingly getting under the skin of Dustin Penner. Sheldon Souray and Ryan Potunly tied up the game with one goal each, but veteran Sean O’Donnell closed out the game with the winner from the point.

This current swing through Western Canada isn’t breaking down doors; one win and one loss is decent and I’m content so far. The Kings were due for a loss and having it come against the Vancouver Canucks doesn’t break my heart in the least bit. They always find a way to stick it to the Kings, so I’m fine with just moving along. They have one more game before this long Christmas break and I’m thinking that I should take a screen shot of the standings because you never know how long something like this can last.

Go Kings!

The Kings are currently sitting at the top of the Pacific Division and, more importantly, top of the Western Conference. This is a rare feeling for me that hasn’t really set in. I can’t remember the last time I felt this feeling of bliss. That being said, I will definitely loathe the day when the Kings are no longer at the top, but for now I am happy as a clam about how the Kings are performing game in, game out.

They play tonight against the Vancouver Canucks, tomorrow veresus the Edmonton Oilers, and the Calgary Flames are up on Thursday. Any evening of games could surely alter the standings, and these next three will definitely be a big test for the Kings in all aspects of their physical and mental play since they will not face another team until after Christmas on Saturday, December 26th against the Phoenix Coyotes.

The big question for this week is, how will the Kings hold up with Ryan Smyth still out of the line up along with Wayne Simmonds?

So I’m starting to get sick and can’t focus for long stretches, thus I will keep this short and sweet. We all love bullet points, correct?

• The Los Angeles Kings gain another two points over the Phoenix Coyotes in a 3-2 shootout victory on Thursday night. As of this morning, the Kings are a mere two points shy of the Pacific Division-leading San Jose Sharks. The Kings play the Dallas Stars tonight and another victory will bring the sort of happiness to the hearts of Kings fans that is not very often felt.
• Oscar Moller scored his first goal of the season on the sweetest shot over Ilya Bryzgalov’s left shoulder. Just to illustrate how awesome Moller is, he wasn’t on the ice for more than 7 minutes the entire game! 6:49 to be exact.
• Jack Johnson‘s goal from the high slot was almost a heart breaker, but he got the lucky bounce back right to him to get his third of the season (once again) over Bryzgalov’s left shoulder.
• In the longest shootout in Kings history, only two Kings scored while Jonathan Quick was the wall on the other side of the rink.
• I must admit, Alexander Frolov is making himself noticed on the first line creating his own chances and grinding it out, but I will also say that the first line lacks the spark from the beginning of the season. I think everyone sees that, but there’s no mistaking this current first line can notch some points.
• This has to have been the most exciting game against the Coyotes in recent memory. I wasn’t bored in the first 10 minutes of the game and it was a nail biter to the end.

The Los Angeles Kings had a great showing last night in their 2 to 1 win over the visiting Calgary Flames. The action was great and I can’t say I’ve been disappointed with any one particular player as of late. Although there was one surprise from my point of view; I felt like the Kings dominated the Flames in virtually all facets of the game (except for the PK, which the Flames attack more aggressively than any other teams I’ve seen so far this season), but there was one particular stat that I found quite surprising. It was that the Flames outshot the Kings 27 to 16. Only 16 shots? That is pretty amazing considering how much time the Kings had possession of the puck.

Stream of consciousness to follow: Did anyone else notice that Justin Williams had a ridiculously fantastic game? He was definitely the standout for me registering the primary assist for Jarret Stoll’s GWG in the second period. Stoll has also been strong on every shift; he played 19:25 last night and I think he has deserved every minute. Speaking of more minutes, Brad Richardson has been rewarded with more and more time and has been effective on all shifts as well. His hop has been pleasantly surprising along with Scott Parse‘s continued production. It’s fantastic that these guys are utilizing their short amount of minutes, and I’ve been very pleased all around with everyone’s play.

(LAKings.com)
There’s obviously the elephant still in the room with Anze Kopitar‘s lack of scoring. It has been quite a while (I’ll admit), but I personally am not panicking. I’m sure everything will smooth itself out in the near future (a.k.a when Ryan Smyth gets back in the lineup).

Oscar Moller was called up for this game, and it’s looking like he will stay for awhile. Awesome for him and for the fans. Once again, no complaints here.

Final thought on the game: Raitis Ivanans actually dropped the gloves and scraped it out with Brian McGrattan. Finally! Ivanans is doing what he’s supposed to be doing.

*~*~*~*~*~*

I’ve been a little behind on the updates, but the best one of month is that the 2010 NHL Entry Draft will be held in Los Angeles!!! I’m incredibly excited for the entire event and will be counting down the days the closer it gets. Click here for the logo, which I think is sharp.

Drew Doughty‘s birthday has come and gone. He is now a ripe 20-year old. Crazy.

Don’t forget I’m on Twitter! Follow if you’d like.

The win tonight against the Ottawa Senators marks the third win in a row for the Los Angeles Kings. The difference from this game to the past two was that tonight it felt like neither team was in control from one shift to the next. Even Jim Fox described it as a game of shinny, very wide open with not too much dominance overall. I was neither impressed with anyone on the Senators just as I was unimpressed with any one player on the Kings. Obviously different players had flashes of elite play, but nothing toooo impressive. Even Justin Williams seemed lackadaisical about his two goals at the end of the game. Awesome for him, but everything was all over the place!

A great stat from the night was that Michal Handzus and Anze Kopitar both rocked it in the faceoff circle with 81% and 80%, respectively. Also, Wayne Simmonds has continued to impress everyone watching. Tonight he drew a penalty shot where he faked out Mike Elliott and slide the puck between his legs getting the lead back for the Kings. I’m so pleased with his entire game and development so far this season. Go Simmer!

The most surprising part of the game was the goal by Randy Jones in the first minute of the game. In the past that would be the kind of thing the Kings wouldn’t be able to do. I seem to recall a game against the Detroit Red Wings two seasons ago where the puck dropped and I could feel it in my bones that the Kings would utterly fail. As predicted, Henrik Zetterberg scored about 51 seconds into the game. Someone can check that number, but I don’t think I’m too far off since that memory is seared into my memory bank.

The power play still needs some work. The Kings had two 5-on-3 opportunities back-to-back. That’s all I need to say about that. My apologies for the short post and the fact that I’m jumping around a bit, but life is getting in the way for now. Go Kings!

The Los Angeles Kings defeated the hottest team in the NHL with a win in overtime. The Chicago Blackhawks came in tonight with a record of 8-1-1 in their last 10 games and brought with them a style I wish the Kings could play with on a regular basis, which is an up-tempo, puck-moving mentality. It took until the second round of the shootout, but the Kings pulled through for the W. Regulation had a lot of open play geared more north-south than anything else, and Chicago far outshot the Kings (33-22) especially in the third period. All of the excitement during regulation was transferred to the overtime frame and continued into the shootout.

Wayne Simmonds scored in the second period to put the Kings up, and it would have been epic if he had notched the game-winning goal in OT. He played a great game and his rise in the past few games has been very impressive. He played only 15:24 tonight but it seemed like he was all over the ice. He was popping up in the correct places and times and was definitely making his presence known. A return for Jarret Stoll was also made very aware with the faceoff numbers for the entire team above .500; 59% to be exact.

While the 4th line is playing more minutes, I definitely didn’t think Brad Richardson deserved ice time in OT. He didn’t have any business being anywhere away from the bench outside of regulation. I could be a bit over critical here, but let’s be serious. One player who actually made the most of his 11:53 of TOI was Teddy Purcell. I noticed him pouncing on pucks and getting in the corners. I think he may just be coming around! One thing to note is his reluctance of getting the puck to the goal on the power play. He’s getting minutes there but is like a deer in headlights when he has an open lane. Granted the open lanes only appear for just a second at a time, he should have the confidence to not hesitate when he can see them.

All of the wide open play made for a ridiculously exciting overtime frame with a shootout result left to the goaltenders. Cristobal Huet did not fare so well as Anze Kopitar faked him out and let the puck slide through his legs. Jonathan Quick stuffed both Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane for the win, and Jack Johnson adds another shootout goal to his numbers, which are now 3 for 5 (60%) this season. Quick’s confidence is ticking up with each game and the Kings are looking strong as the league passes the quarter mark of the season.

This gives the Kings another 2 points to keep them 2nd in the Pacific Division. They trail San Jose by 6 points and the Kings don’t play until Tuesday against the Anaheim Ducks who are still last in the Pacific. The team is fighting through every game and the best update of the morning was that Ryan Smyth was on the ice for light practice.

In another back-to-back the Los Angeles Kings win one and drop the other over the American Thanksgiving holiday. On Wednesday they won against the Edmonton Oilers (3-1) but lost to the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday (4-1).

Since this weekend has altered my schedule a bit, I’m going to go back to the quick bullet-point style that I find so useful on this type of occasion. I hope everyone has had a great 4-day weekend because I definitely have.

• Matt Greene got his first goal of the season, which was also the game-winning goal against the Oilers. It was a pass out to the point and a lob to the goalmouth that beat Jeff Deslauriers over his shoulder.
• The Andrei Loktionov experiment halted to a standstill with a dislocated shoulder at the end of the game against the Oilers, which is completely unfortunate for him and the team.
• Thank you, Patrick O’Sullivan.
• The Kings were atrocious in the faceoff circle at 42% and 38%, respectively. A certain number 28 needs to get back in the lineup ASAP.
• I’ve actually liked Teddy Purcell‘s play in these two games on the top line. He’s not the greatest replacement but I think he’ll be an adequate stand-in while not adding too much in terms of offensive production. It’s a shame Terry Murray is changing it up again by putting Alexander Frolov back on the left wing.
• Michael Handzus took out Ales Hemsky and he is now out for the rest of the season with shoulder surgery.
• The other rookie experiment of Brayden Schenn took only one game as well. He was signed to a one-game contract and will not be returning to the lineup for tonight’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks.
• The Vancouver Canucks presented a much harder challenge to the Kings than the Oilers on Thursday and they fell 4 to 1. Roberto Loungo was the wall for the Canucks and Jonathan Quick was playing well until the third period with a collapse of three goals against. The last goal was by Kyle Wellwood who is such a great player he hit the post before scoring in the empty net. Great job, guy.
• The player of these two games was definitely Wayne Simmonds. He had the most jump of everyone and was the only to get a goal in both games.

That’s all I got, folks. Thanks for stopping by. I truely appreciate it! Also, please check out the new episode of KingsCast titled Injury Bugged.

The Los Angeles Kings dropped another game and upped the number in the loss column on Saturday when the Calgary Flames and their fans came to Staples. The ending score of 5-2 basically described the play on the ice especially the first goal of the game by Jarome Iginla just 13 seconds in. Fantastic. The two goals scored by Drew Doughty and Alexander Frolov were the only real highlights of the game. They were scored with less than a minute in between them, but other than that, once again, the scoreboard reflected the play on the ice.

Overall there’s not too much to say about this game since there wasn’t any improvement in any aspect really. Frolov was put back on the first line and absolutely nothing changed. Surprised? I think not. Ryan Smyth is probably gnashing out his teeth with every game he’s sitting out. With Justin Williams still playing solidly and Anze Kopitar‘s play at a standstill, no one here is questioning the x-factor. C’mon Captain Canada!

(LAKings.com)

I’m sure that was nice.

It is very clear that Anze Kopitar needs Ryan Smyth. The Los Angeles Kings hosting the Philadelphia Flyers was one I knew would be a feisty battle to the end. I can retrospectively say this was probably the worst game for Smyth to be out of the lineup because the Flyers came to Staples Center and left with a bashing victory. This game was wide open due to missed passes and subsequent turnovers, and the Flyers were all over the place pouncing on loose pucks and misreads by the Kings.

The first 10 minutes of the game were north-south to the max. The feeling out process for teams in different conferences takes a bit of time, and thankfully the Kings were the first to gain control. Jarret Stoll was able to score off a sharp angle on Brian Boucher for the first goal of the game. (I seem to remember Boucher letting in a similar goal last season when they faced the San Jose Sharks.) The second period went back to neither team dominating causing an overall manic feel and the third was flat out frantic. The 5-on-3 advantage the Kings had should have slowed the game down drastically in their favor, but it was just about the worst man-advantage I have ever seen. The Kings couldn’t get the puck past the offensive blueline let alone set anything up. The Flyers were aggressive all around and the 2-man advantage expired with nothing to show for it.

Let me make it clear that Alexander Frolov doesn’t belong on the top line. I’m not saying he played terribly; I’m merely saying Frolov is best served on, at most, the second line. He was supposed to up his game and compliment Kopitar and Justin Williams on the first line, but nothing changed for Frolov. He looked the same and I’m not sure what to say other than there will be a different left wing on that line Saturday against the Calgary Flames. Williams, on the other hand, had a strong showing with 8 total shots on net. Kopitar had 6 shots while Frolov had only 1. As a team, the Kings landed 39 shots on the Flyers goaltender with Jonathan Quick seeing just 20.

This was a high hitting game and I was mildly impressed with some players and not with others, as is usually the case. In this particular game, Teddy Purcell stepped up his visibility a touch while Davis Drewiske did not. I’m not going to strategically analyze their play for this one game; rather, I’m just going chock it up to playing in modified lines against a team they are unfamiliar with. (Let me know when that line gets old.)

The incredible high/low light of this game was the rolling puck parallel to the Flyers’ blueline that could have led to the Kings tying goal with just seconds left in regulation. The insanity at the end of the game could have tilted just one degree in favor of the Kings, but it predictably didn’t and the large “L” loomed upon them on the stats sheet. That, my friends, is the definition of heartbreak.

Twitter me up!

Once again it takes a shootout but the Los Angeles Kings pull out another win in the Southeast. They faced the Florida Panthers who were looking quite different from last season. I remember the Panthers to be a team on the brink of shambles, but this season has definitely been much kinder to them. They aren’t… last in the Southeast Division, so there’s that. The Kings, on the other hand, have another two points to their name bringing them up to 28 points. They have surpassed the Colorado Avalanche (27 ) and only trail the San Jose Sharks (32) in the West.

Like the game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, this contest was a physical battle with one pretty significant difference, the Panthers are more organized defensively than the Lightning. They had a much more aggressive defensive mindset, their forechecking was harder, and their defensive box was much bigger than what the Kings are used to. The extra pressure put the onus on the second D to accept that first pass out of the zone, but missed pass after missed pass put the stress on their own shoulders. In the end, it was another hard fought victory that was less physical than the last game but still saw the shootout. This time around the Kings only needed Anze Kopitar and Jack Johnson to stand at center ice, and Jonathan Quick was his beastly self in stopping all shots taken by the Panthers.

Ryan Smyth left the game twice with an unknown injury. There haven’t been any updates released by the Kings so we can only sit and wait… nervously.

Lastly, something that’s bugging me: is it legal for a player to sweep away a goaltender’s stick when it’s laying outside of the crease? I’m talking about moving a goalie’s unbroken stick to the boards so it’s completely out of his reach. That’s exactly what happened to Quick on the weird bounce ending in a goal against with a massive scramble at the goal mouth. It definitely would have been illegal if the opposing player picked up the stick and tossed it away toward the boards, but c’mon, that’s so cheap to clear an unbroken stick away like that giving your team a lame advantage. (Replace “cheap” with a harsher word and you’ll get what I really mean.)

Next up are the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday back in Staples Center; they have 23 points and are third in the Atlantic Division. I’m definitely looking forward to this game and grabbing two more points in the standings. I realize I’m getting more and more greedy for these precious points; I can’t help it. It feels so great when the Kings rack them up because it means the Pacific Division is looking more in their favor and those in the Eastern Conference are noticing more and more. Having a winning team is creating an almost (but not-yet) insatiable lust for more points!

In another back-to-back stint, the Los Angeles Kings had one fail and one lucky night. I missed the game on Friday night where the Kings faced the Atlanta Thrashers and I’m glad I did. I was fully planning on watching the game when I got home, but accidentally seeing the score caused bile to rise up from my stomach. Consequently, I did not watch the game and ended my night on a happy note. A score of 7 to 0 is plain ridiculous and there’s no reason to waste my time watching a contest like that. Plus the Chinese food for dinner mysteriously put me to sleep by 10 pm. Go figure.

The stats sheet showed an insane slew of penalties, which leads me believe it was a chip-fest to the end. I saw a few highlights, but not enough to make logical conclusions from the stats sheets. I seem to remember the Kings game against the Thrashers last year ended in a 7-6 OT victory. So two years in a row prove to be strange games. I’ll let this one go for now.

On Saturday night the Kings were in Tampa Bay to face the Lightning in their Bolts jerseys; gross. Overall this game was surprisingly even. The shots, hits, and faceoff percentage were virtually identical. Both teams had big opportunities and both also had flubbed chances. The game could have easily gotten boring at multiple times, but they were fighting for possession and control every single shift and neither goalie had too much downtime at any point in the game. Case in point, Antero Niittymaki and Jonathan Quick had identical saves robbing the other team of sweet, sweet goals. (If I can find a decent highlight package, I’ll update.)

Steven Stamkos was definitely the standout from the oppostition, but it was a joke the way he cross checked Drew Doughty. I’m not being defensive about the situation; Stamkos took his shot from the point, Doughty blocked it like a man without falling to the ice, and Stamkos cross checked him in the chest for no apparent reason. Perhaps there were words exchanged but, really, Doughty is the better player here. Thank you very much.

By the way, Wayne Simmonds getting a roughing penalty after taking an elbow to the head was complete BS. That is a joke to have something like that get by the refs when there are two of them on the ice. I find that unacceptable and the Lightning color commentator sure acted like he didn’t see it either. Where’s Jim Fox to not be a homer and tell it like it is? I hate watching a telecast run by homers; makes me sick.

On the flip side, the game went into OT and the battle continued 4-on-4. A Lightning goal was scored and it seemed to be over. But, but, but. The refs huddled and then went to take the call from Toronto. It was deemed not a goal and play continued. Here’s where I pause and give credit to the refs who actually had the balls to call back the entire Lightning team after they had flooded the ice and the coaching staff already left the bench. Quick could have possibly stopped the incoming shot were it not for the deflected-Andrej Meszaros shot. Paul Szczechura passed in front of Quick inside the blue paint and the puck was in the back of the net, but an interference call brought the teams back to reality.

The Kings got a second chance at life. They literally got a second chance to change the outcome of the game, which they were able to do. After a stressful rest of overtime, the teams went into the shootout with Anze Kopitar, Jack Johnson, and Dustin Brown taking the shots. Kopitar was his usual awesome self but the other two tried glove-side, which didn’t result in goals but Quick was the wall at the other side of the rink to shutdown all of the Lightning players who took their attempts. The game ended with the Kings getting two more points and another win the the W column.

The Kings are still second in the Pacific Division and are in a three-way tie for third in the Western Conference. I can’t do anything but smile at those numbers. I’m definitely not waiting for them to falter down the standings anymore. They are at the top not because of a fluke; they’re there because they are working hard every night and getting the effort in. There is very little to be disappointed about in these first two months of the season and I’m expecting the rest of the season to pan out that way. Tomorrow they play the Florida Panthers for the last game of this road trip. The Panthers have won their past two games but have only 15 points so I’m hoping this will be another well-fought win for the Kings.

The Los Angeles Kings faced the Carolina Hurricanes in the second game of this 5-game road trip. They broke a 2-game losing streak by tweaking the lineup a touch and facing a team on its own 12-game losing streak. The 5-2 victory over the Canes was indicative of the latter’s play, which looked beyond rough and the Kings exploded out of the gate with a great first period. Ryan Smyth did his job getting his 9th goal of the season in front of the net, and that’s basically the bottom line. He’s playing his role to a T and I have zero criticism going his way. Jarret Stoll‘s goal was a bit odd in that I’m not sure he could do it again if he tried. It seemed to be 90% luck and 10% skill. Either way it put the Kings up 2-0 and Randy Jones got his first point as a King. He then went and got his first goal in the third while looking very comfortable in the line up. I’m very pleased with this whole situation of Jones and am hoping it turns out to be a Kyle Quincey-like occurrence.

Of course Anze Kopitar had another good game. He didn’t notch a goal last night but did get two assists, so thumbs up to him and keep it going! Another roster tweak was that Erik Ersberg got his second start of the season with Jonathan Quick sitting on the bench. Ersberg got the solid win, and yes, he let in two “interesting” goals but I’d rather he shake off any in-game rust against Carolina than any other team right now.

As a team, the Kings had a great first period, began to falter in the second, but were able to finish in definite fashion in the third. Manny Legace was Carolina’s best player of the night and gave his team as many chances as he could to get back into the game. Unfortunately, the deal was essentially sealed after Wayne Simmond‘s goal in the middle of the third period and Justin Williams capped of the night with an empty netter.

This was a good win for the Kings, which they will continue through the Southeast Division, but there was one slight blemish on the stats sheet from this game. Teddy Purcell. 4:02 of ice time and a -1. I’m in no way angry about how he has completely disappeared the farther into the season they go; rather, disappointment accompanied by raised eyebrows comes across my face every game when I look at his play. His production is almost nil and I’m not sure how much longer he’ll stay up with the team. Maybe he needs to be sent back to Manchester for a stint?

On the other side of this NHL/AHL coin, Scott Parse is making a point. He only had 11:44 of TOI but you noticed when he was on the ice. His spark on the forecheck is very noticeable and he’s slowly earning his ice time from the coaching staff every game. Parse is how one should make an NHL showing when you’re leading the AHL team in points. I’m not saying Purcell won’t get there, but for now, he seems to have been pushed to the background for a bit while the rest of the team continues to sort itself out.

On the only day of the season that the Los Angeles Kings have face time on Versus, they decide to dilly dally about on the ice losing to the Chicago Blackhawks 4-1. The game began with a promising first period as the teams battled it out, but the Kings regressed into last season’s form and they slowly deteriorated with no chance of saving themselves. They faded in the second period and were virtually non-existent in the third. On paper the sum total of 2 shots on Cristobal Huet in the third was the leading indicator that the Kings were drowning, but visually it was much worse. The team had no connection with each other, but thankfully this has become a rare occurrence this season so I’m hoping this is a slight downhill trend that will right itself soon enough.

A positive for this game was Anze Kopitar who scored his 14th goal of the season putting him in a tie for the league-leading scorer, Washington Capitals’ Alexander Ovechkin. This was basically the only highlight of the game. It was pretty abysmal overall, which is such a bummer seeing this was the only shot for the Kings to be seen on a national (+ Canadian) scale seeing how it was the only game of the night. Alas, they couldn’t transition their first period momentum into the rest of the game and Kings fans were left disappointed.

I’m getting a little Negative Nancy, but one more thing. Jonathan Quick was not in his best form either letting out big rebounds and not covering his posts. He definitely had minimal help from the defensemen who were having plenty of difficulties of their own.

This was the first game of a 5-game roadtrip with the rest of the games in the Southeast Division. Moving forward, the Kings face the Atlanta Thrashers tomorrow and all I’m hoping for is for them to get themselves back to where they were so I can breathe a sigh of relief.

The Los Angeles Kings hosted the Pittsburgh Penguins last night and proved they deserve to be at the top of the standings. Things are clicking for the Kings and they show no signs of slowing down. Anze Kopitar is on FIRE and his line mates are providing support for him all the way. He is dominating the games the way he should have been doing last season.

Last night his first goal was scored less than 30 seconds in was the best wake up call the Kings could have given to the Pens who have been doing very well for themselves so far this season. Sidney Crosby looked mortal and ended the night with a -1. This game wasn’t won on pure luck but hard work by everyone on the roster.

I’m not sure what was more surprising: both teams scoring on their first shots on net or the 23 seconds between Jarret Stoll‘s goal and Michael Handzus‘ goal in the third. Actually, the latter was more surprising for me because no one is doubting Kopitar’s production. I absolutely loved Stoll’s exuberance from scoring on Marc-Andre Fleury. This was his 4th goal of the season and his faceoff percentage was back to normal at 83%. I’m not sure how Fleury was feeling last night, but I was sure how all Kings fans were feeling; total excitement and happiness. Two things Kings fans have finally been able to experience beyond a game-by-game basis.

Jonathan Quick had two of the sickest pad saves and led the Kings to their victory. The San Jose Sharks sit two points higher for the Pacific Division lead and the Kings are vying for that spot. At this point in time, the Kings don’t need to look at those in their rear view mirrors anymore. The focus is forward for every game.

Earlier this week I was asked by the Los Angeles Kings to write their Saturday Notebook. I accepted the invitation and attended practice this morning. Afterward I had access to the locker room and left with a number of quotes. The Notebook is up on the Kings website right now so you can take a look! Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

In the third back-to-back of this young season, the Los Angeles Kings lost to the San Jose Sharks and Vancouver Canucks in shootouts and yet they find themselves back at the top of the Pacific Division. Odd, I know; but sometimes weird occurrences just happen. Even though the Kings were not the victors in either game, they were both great to watch. There were hit posts, rush plays, and surprise contributions all over the place. In any other year, these are two teams the Kings usually lose to, but this season is, once again, proving they are on a constant uptick.

While viewing the game on Wednesday against the San Jose Sharks, I did not realize how much their roster had changed until I saw the lineup. Gone are Christian Ehrhoff and Jonathan Cheechoo; in are Dany Heatley and Manny Malhotra. The make up of their team seems to have remained the same but the difference in this equation is a better Kings roster. That being said, the Kings dominated the first period while the Sharks came back in the second, and the teams battled it out all the way to the shootout. My question here is, “Why was Alexander Frolov left out of the top three shooters?” He had the only Kings goal of the game and was grinding it out as much as the other players, so your guess is as good as mine. It also must be noted that he was left out of the top three shooters against the Canucks as well.

Jonathan Quick played both games and looked solid while Sharks’ Evgeni Nabokov and Canucks’ Andrew Raycroft looked just as steady. First off, who knew Raycroft could still play! He was hit with 31 shots while Quick had just 15 sail his way. Second, did the Kings not realize that Nabokov was going to stop every shootout shot that went directly towards his chest? I don’t get the logic used by the players; subsequently, the Sharks left the arena with two points.

This picture’s purpose is solely to show how ridiculous/awesome Bailey is.

Points of interest:

• Scott Parse notched his first NHL goal of his career and has made quite the statement.
• Anze Kopitar is still among the league leaders in point production.
• Hockeywood, L.A. is growing nicely and every Kings fan should check it out!

This weekend saw the Los Angeles Kings on their second back-to-back in this young season and I can’t decide who has been the star of these past two games; wait, I can, but Jarret Stoll needs props. Stoll has scored his 3 goals in the last two games and has been effective in the faceoff circle and on the forecheck. On the other hand, Anze Kopitar now leads the league in both goals and points, 10 and 21, respectively. Obviously Kopitar is the player of the weekend, week, and month! He’s been an absolute stud for the Kings and I couldn’t be happier.

Last night the Kings faced the Columbus Blue Jackets for the second time this season where they fared quite a bit better winning 6-2. The story of the game was Jason Chimera getting up ended by Rob Scuderi. Scuderi went to deliver what looked like was going to be a hip check but ended up actually clipping Chimera right in the knees. It was definitely low but it wasn’t an intentionally dirty hit. Unfortunately, Chimera looked like he got his head throttled back as he flipped over, but I honestly can say Scuderi wasn’t intending for that to happen, which I’m sure is something we all can agree on. Many people will have an opinion, so have at it. Or not.

By the way, the punch to the back of Alexander Frolov‘s head was REALLY not needed. You can be frustrated, Chimera, but let’s leave the punching off the ice. Speaking of Frolov, this weekend he notched two goals and two assists, and I can only hope that he has officially been let out of the doghouse with his production. You really couldn’t have asked for more from Frolov in last night’s game; perhaps he could have stayed on his feet more against Phoenix, but Fro isn’t perfect so I can’t hate.

Ryan Smyth continues to be his beastly self logging big ice time and making sure his presence is felt by the opposition. He was on the Fan590 on Friday and was asked about the upcoming Olympics. I don’t think anyone is surprised that he was honored by the invite and would love to be a part of Team Canada.

The difference between this game and Saturday’s game against the Phoenix Coyotes is that the Kings beat the Jackets handedly while they were on the verge of another collapse against the Coyotes. This was a 5-3 win for the Kings but, let’s be honest, it could have resulted in another OT stint or just a straight up loss. Instead the Kings readjusted themselves and finished the game with two more points.

Dustin Brown and Jarret Stoll were the highlights of this game. Brownie had over 21 minutes of TOI and had two goals. One was an empty netter, which neither the team nor he really needed. It appeared that he was just skating toward the Coyotes’ empty net with no real intention to finish the game off with a pompous gesture. I’m not even sure the puck slid past the goal line before time ran out, but I would have still been happy if it wasn’t counted. Stoll had two goals, 18 minutes of TOI, and a respectable 50% win in the faceoff circle.

Some more tidbits to chew on:

• Jonathan Quick is currently tied for first in the NHL in wins. He has 8 wins, as do Craig Anderson and Marc-Andre Fleury.
• Drew Doughty lead the team in ice time for both games: 27:38 against the Coyotes and 23:34 against the Blue Jackets.
• The most invisible player on the ice has been Teddy Purcell. What is the issue there?

Last night the Dallas Stars stepped into Staples Center for the first time this season and I was pretty confident the Los Angeles Kings were going to finish the game with the W. All signs pointed to the victory but having to get the win in overtime rendered me speechless. I’m actually unsure of what to say about this game, but I’ll try to get something out.

If games were only 40 minutes long, I’d say with 100% confidence that the Kings played their best hockey. Alas, they are 60-minute contests and, for this game, the Kings played their usual up and down, inconsistent hockey. The modified lines looked decent and actually performed wonderfully… but only for 40 minutes. It’s a bit difficult to compliment the team on how they made the Stars looks like fools when they themselves didn’t hold on to their level of play. This is definitely a bittersweet reflection.

The good: Anze Kopitar owning this game… well, the first two periods of the game by getting his first career hat trick. He is turning into the player management knew he could and has definitely been earning his paycheck. He completely controlled the game as he scored like a madman. As of today, he’s tied with a certain Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals in points (8G, 8A and 9G, 7A, respectively).

(LAKings.com)

The Kings were looking fantastic going into the third period, but their hopes were fading as they watched the Stars tie up the game 4-4 forcing the game into OT. Heart breaker. I hardly have the stomach to comment on the third period, but I was happy when Michal Handzus killed the Stars just 55 seconds into OT. His slapshot blasted past Alex Auld and the game was done. I’m very happy that overtime ended in the Kings’ favor but the two points don’t make up for the poor third period performance. I honestly wondered why Terry Murray pulled Quick at the end of the second period with just 2.7 seconds left in the game when they were up 4-1, but I definitely understood the reasoning 20 minutes later.

The Bad: First off, one thing I can’t understand is why Brad Richardson is on the ice during important times in the games. Last night, he was on the ice with just a few minutes in regulation, which is exactly the opposite of what I’d expect! Secondly, Jonathan Quick letting in the goals he did; I’m just in a little bit of shock.

The Needs to Improve: Teddy Purcell received 12:31 of ice time and ended at a minus 1. I’m sure the improvement will explode sometime this season, so I’ll continue to wait. To address Alexander Frolov; his play was fine. I honestly didn’t think he was any better or worse than before he was benched. I have zero words of wisdom for these two players. Just… focus?

Firstly, my apologies for the delayed post. My only excuse: Life is getting in the way.

*~*~*~*~*

Currently the Los Angeles Kings are sitting 8th in the Western Conference with 10 points and are 3rd in the Pacific Division. With 9 games in I’m neither ecstatic nor depressed with the results; the Kings are showing that they can compete and that they can take a nosedive at any moment. This was the end of their longest road trip of the year and it just may be the start of something great.

On Saturday evening, I had the unfortunate occurrence of accidentally seeing the score of the game against the Columbus Blue Jackets while watching another game. Too bad Leafs TV is really good about keeping you updated around the league. The Toronto Maple Leafs started their game at 4:00 pm PST; I saw the Kings were down 4-1 around the middle of the 3rd period of the Leafs game, and (since the games began at the same time) I knew the Kings were going to lose the game. How utterly deflating. There is absolutely nothing that can salvage the feeling of already knowing the outcome of a game, especially when it’s in favor of the other team.

At first I was upset that I saw the score, and then I was irritated that the Blue Jackets got 4 pucks past Jonathan Quick. Needless to say, I was not very enthusiastic watching the game later. There’s something about watching a game knowing your team is going to lose that is very unappetizing. It might have led to my falling asleep at times. That being said, the Kings didn’t look THAT bad. In my zombie-like state, I didn’t think they played worse than some of their other losses. With that, I’m done with this recap.

*~*~*~*~*

For the game I was actually awake and excited for, the Kings decided to bounce back and play like a coherent team yesterday against the Dallas Stars. They won 4-1 to the relief of everyone and proved they can play hockey like professionals. Everything about this game was better than their previous game and capped off this road trip very nicely. They were over .500 in the faceoff circle (thank you Jarret Stoll), ceased taking sloppy penalties for 60 minutes, and collapsed around their own net protecting the goalie.

Going into this game, Bob Miller and Jim Fox mentioned that the top line of Ryan Smyth, Anze Kopitar, and Justin Williams had a combined 29 points in the first 8 games. After they picked up another 6 points against the Stars, the top line is sitting pretty with 35. Okay people, I’m fully on board with the Smyth Train. Williams? I’m getting there. Also I’m over Marty Turco. I don’t quite understand the love affair people have with him. I’ve witnessed far too many meltdowns to have any confidence he’s going to stop enough pucks to win games for his team. Am I being too critical? I think not, but let me know what you think!

Also Alexander Frolov is on the hot seat. After the poor performance against the Blue Jackets, Frolov was benched for being a turnover machine while also falling down at inopportune times causing goals against, among other things. Rich Hammond of LA Kings Insider posted a transcript of his conversation with Frolov about what happened between him and the coaching staff. Per Hammond: here’s what Terry Murray had to say and here’s what Dean Lombardi said.

Decide for yourself what really is going on. I personally believe if he doesn’t shape up and sign a contract Lombardi-esque, he’s going to be sent off to wear a stranger’s crest. I will subsequently be heart-broken, but that’s only if nothing else negative comes out of this situation.

I’m not going to say the Los Angeles Kings deserved the two points against the New York Rangers nor the Detroit Red Wings. In the first game of the back-to-back, the Kings played well but the Rangers were able to get their heads together and finish the game in their favor. In the second game, the Red Wings took advantage of the Kings’ frustrations with their own play and subsequent penalties. Since life has me a bit busy, here is a bullet-point list, short and sweet.

• The Kings’ best period from these two games was the 2nd against the Rangers. The question of “Can the Kings sustain that kind of offensive pressure through the entire game?” is something they’re still addressing.
• The Kings were better in the faceoff circle against the Rangers (54%) and sustained the percentage in Detroit (52%). Jarret Stoll rocked it getting a 91% win in the 2nd game.

• Marian Gaborik got the goal that sealed the deal for the Rangers by cherry-picking the play. That was a goal Eric Ersberg should have had but he was beaten plain and simple, which he was well aware according to his post-game quotes. Jonathan Quick returned for the Detroit game and didn’t fare as badly considering he was helping to kill penalties for almost 10 minutes.
• Nicklas Lidstrom notched his 1,000th career point on just about the sickest pass slash goal to Henrick Zetterberg. That was just pure eff-ing skill.

• By the way, FSN West. The “technical difficulties” was not appreciated. I don’t want to listen to the radio if I have the option to watch the game on TV. Bad form.
• David Drewiske was on the ice causing more mistakes than he needed to. His 14:08 in New York was too long and he played more in Detroit (18:25)! Granted his play was better in Detroit, 18 minutes is still too much ice time to give to him.
• For a positive, Dustin Brown scored his first goal of the season against the Red Wings! He definitely needed this spark and his game is on track getting back to where it needs to be.

These two losses do not mean the Kings are deteriorating and that the winning streak was a fluke. This is a better team compared to last year and they will go through the season as such. They are in Columbus tomorrow playing a team that is on a 2-game winning streak. Catch it; 4:00 pm PST on FSW.

The Kings are off to a solid start to the season going 4 and 1. I found their game on Saturday against the St. Louis Blues to be a solidly won game while the win this morning against the New York Islanders was less cohesive but still satisfactory. On Saturday the Kings played a great game all around. The passing was clean, the transitions were smooth, and the lines were clicking nicely. They won 2-1 with the Blues giving it an exciting ending to the cap off the night.

Every game brings me closer to saying, “I’m cool with Ryan Smyth.” I can’t deny he does what the Kings have needed for a long time, get a body in front of the freaking net, and I can comfortably say I like Smyth better than Justin Williams. I feel like I’m never going to be sold on him; what’s the deal? Someone please have a discussion with me! I give a definite two thumbs up to this win with the only time the Kings faltering in their play was the incident that led to Alexander Steen’s goal, which was in and out of the net so quickly that play was not halted immediately. The defense looked great and Jonathan Quick was solid.

The score was also 2-1 for today’s game on the Island, but the noted difference was that both teams were allowing the play to move back and forth through both zones instead of one team asserting themselves over the other. The Kings didn’t control the game until Anze Kopitar‘s PP goal in the 2nd period. I can definitely see Kopitar’s potential beginning to show itself from his past seasons If he keeps this point and performance streak moving forward, he will definitely get noticed outside of the greater Los Angeles area. The noted player of this game was Drew Doughty wearing facial protection due to the puck-in-the-mouth incident in Saturday’s game. Jarret Stoll did an awesome job on this play drawing the opposition to him while he was bringing the puck into the Islanders’ zone, which left Doughty wide open for the pass. Doughty slapped the puck and got it far side on Marty Biron for his second goal of the season. SICK.

Even though the Kings are 4-1, there are still plenty of things the Kings need to work on, firstly, their faceoffs. Here are the percentages in the circle so far:

• 44% against the New York Islanders October 12
• 40% against the St. Louis Blues on October 10
• 38% against the Minnesota Wild on October 8
• 43% against the San Jose Sharks on October 6
• 41% against the Phoenix Coyotes on October 3

No need to paint a hazy picture from these stats; they’re poor and everyone knows it. The amount of crucial faceoffs being lost is unbelievable. If the Kings gain the possession AT puck drop, it’d definitely reduce the number of heart attacks on my part.

By the way, who scored the lone Islanders’ goal? Matt Moulson of course! He was looking quite scragly with his new coif, which probably is very much needed on the east coast. The funniest part about Bob Miller and Jim Fox’s discussion of Moulson was his relationship with Jonathan Quick‘s wife’s sister. It was mentioned twice that Moulson was perhaps Quick’s future brother-in-law. Now, now, let’s not jump the gun.

The stats for this game overall weren’t impressive in terms of shots on and hits. The Kings had 22 shots while the Islanders had 29. Hits were 22 and 34, respectively. It’s fantastic the Kings are getting the wins, but the it’s the little things that add up to carrying a solidly performing roster deep into the season. The individual players still have many parts of the game to work on, so that’s definitely promising. There is room for lots of growth over the entire season, and I’m (almost) happy with the current team on the ice.

P.S. I love Raitis Ivanans. He played 2 minutes and 44 seconds and absolutely pounded the HELL out of Joel Rechlicz, whoever that is.

*~*~*~*

A few more things:

• Happy birthday to Mr. Bob Miller! Still looking great!
• Check out Hockeywood, L.A. for great content on the Kings!

I was only able to watch the second half of this game last night and from what I saw it looked like the game against San Jose on Tuesday night. The Kings had a substantial lead, took some penalties, allowed the opposition to score PP goals, and then finished off the game by scoring a few more to seal the deal.

A sick slap into the net

Don’t have the time to do a better recap, but you can find your way over to these other guys and get your fill:

For a good time, call Rudy Kelly.

For a very in depth overall to the game at Frozen Royalty.

Also don’t forget to check out Hockeywood, L.A., which will open for viewing tomorrow!

By the way, did you ever think you’d see this?

The Los Angeles Kings redeemed themselves last night against the San Jose Sharks with a 6-4 victory. I was extremely proud of their efforts in the first period but was soon shell-shocked in the second and third when the Sharks came back to score 4 unanswered goals. Before puck drop I was still wondering about the defensive pairings that seemingly paired like-and-like instead of one offensive-minded with one defensive-minded, but anything could have been better than last Saturday so I wasn’t too worried. I soon was swallowing any doubts because the Kings showed up and played a hell of… well first period and second half of the third period. This game was no where near what the Kings would like on a per-game basis.

In looking at the positives of the game first, I’m not sure which of the Kings 6 goals was the best but I will say that Jack Johnson‘s aggressiveness and willingness to get to the net can only lead to great things. As long as he has the defensive support on the back end, I can only encourage his spark to get his stick on the puck. Michal Handzus‘ pass to the front of the net couldn’t have been better timed during the 4-on-4 play. Another positive was Anze Kopitar’s goal in that he should be scoring like that every single game. His was just about the nastiest and sickest goal I’ve seen from a King in awhile and Evgeni Nabokov never saw it coming.

My mantra of the Kings being “consistently inconsistent” continued last night by their sheer meltdown in the middle of the game. Yes, their passing and transitions were impressive, but the inevitable excitement and inability to immediately calm the nerves after their lead was built lead to the Kings suffering 4 unanswered power play goals from the Sharks. The most blatant penalty was the Too Many Men call while they were on the power play. The Kings were all over the place during their penalty kills and the bloom was quickly off the rose as the Sharks tied the game with less than five minutes in the game. Yet hope was renewed by Teddy Purcell, the player under arguably the most scrutiny, and his “hail mary” shot from a ridiculous angle. Thomas Gresiss didn’t have any control over it whatsoever and the Kings were back within getting the well-deserved two points.

I was very impressed with the 3rd line of Alexander Frolov, Handzus, and Wayne Simmonds. These guys were playing against the Sharks’ better players while generating offense at the same time. Their chemistry last night proved that this could potentially happen every single game, which makes this line more of a threat than the 2nd line of Purcell, Jarret Stoll, and Dustin Brown.

According to the stats sheet, Frolov was on the ice for only 17:29 but he utilized every single second by producing 2 points while also being double shifted on the 4th line, which disappeared pretty quickly. Raitis Ivanans did his duty playing less than 5 minutes but letting the opposition know what he really thinks about them. Here’s Raitis landing some dome shots on Jody Shelley after Davis Drewiske was slammed into the boards. Thanks, Ivanans for sticking up for the rookie!

All of the Kings were nicely either even in the +/- column or on the plus side while it was just the opposite on the Sharks end. Interestingly, Dany Heatley collected three points and was a -2, Devin Setoguchi got 2 points and ended at a -2, and Joe Thornton got three assists and had almost a team-worst -3.

Lastly, props to Drewiske for scoring his first NHL goal. Yes, it was on an empty net, but it was with full traffic between him and the goal mouth and it put the game away for the Kings.

Just when you thought the Los Angeles Kings had it all figured out, they open the 2009-10 season with the poorest performance I’ve seen… since last season! But at least at the end of last season they were playing with full effort for entire games; tonight lacked consistency and teamwork. For example, does Terry Murray really want them to be bunching together at odd places on the ice? Let’s make sure we’re spread out and covering all the important spots on the ice, mmkay?

I watched this game on a massive delay last night and I’ve come to realize that I don’t think I made a bad decision in not renewing my season tickets. The utterly poor performance of the Kings was quite embarrassing, and I don’t think it mattered that they played the Phoenix Coyotes. They could have played anyone and it would have been just as bad.

(lakings.com)

Is it season-starting nerves? Do all the players have the flu? What do you supposed it is? The Coyotes dominated the Kings for basically the entire game, and not all 6 goals against were Jonathan Quick’s fault. There were plently of mistakes coming from all over the Kings roster. Drew Doughty was particularly noticably making a some timely (bad) decisions while players like Teddy Purcell and Anze Kopitar were nearly invisible. The most frustrating part of the game was the 2nd Kings goal where they spent nearly the entire PP trying to get the puck past Ilya Bryzgalov. Missed shot after missed shot finally found Kopitar getting the puck in the net off a Ryan Smyth rebound. Ugly.

I must end this post here since I have other things to attend to. The season opener was a poor excuse for effort on behalf of the fans and themselves. I’m sure no one was happy with that so-called performance, so we’ll see what happens between now and Tuesday’s game against the San Jose Sharks.

Here is my short-and-sweet recap of Frozen Fury from last Saturday, September 26th where the Los Angeles Kings dueled the Colorado Avalanche. Frozen Fury X and Frozen Fury XI both ended in shootouts with the teams splitting wins, but this year the Kings managed to get the win in regulation. The game ended 5-3 with an empty netter by Wayne Simmonds with about one second left in the game.

But before I get to the game, I wanted to mention the players at Luc Robitaille’s Charity Poker Tournament held the Friday night before the game. A few observations:

• Matt Duchene was born in 1991 and is no where CLOSE to being allowed at the poker tables, but that didn’t stop him from joining the players at the tournament. If you don’t believe me, check out the picture I took with him up on facebook.
• It appeared that Ryan Smyth and Rob Scuderi are okay with wearing pleated pants in public.
• Anze Kopitar wasn’t looking too raccoon-eyed, so that was a nice change.
• Alexander Frolov had the girls lined up behind him. I noticed he was sans wedding ring and so did Marie!
• Jack Johnson was in a full pin strip suit and is so thick that he was like a mack truck walking around the tables.

Back to the game: overall the experience and game were up and down. The crowd walking into the Grand Garden Arena seemed more aggressively drunk than usual and the first period was worry inducing in that the Kings looked disorganized while the Aves skated with spunk. This poor showing took the life out of the not-exactly packed arena, but the noise returned when the Kings started getting the pucks past brand new Aves goalie, Craig Anderson. At the other end of the ice, Jonathan Quick wasn’t looking spectacular by any means, but this didn’t have me completely worried because of the predictability of an inevitable slow Kings start. There also was a definite lack of fights and more emphasis on actually playing like cohesive units, which caused the entire vibe of the game to be somewhat different than last year.

Standouts were definitely Jack Johnson, Simmonds, and Smyth. They were noticeable on the ice by actually being in the right spots and helping to create plays. One standout for not doing much of anything was Teddy Purcell. Talk about disappointing! Oscar Moller gets sent to Manchester and you don’t show up? Yikes. Also I didn’t EXACTLY agree with Kopitar getting first star of the entire game. Yeah, he scored on his penalty shot but didn’t stand out more than any other player. In sum, it was still good times; loved to see the excitement coming from the players and fans.

Check out the three-part video series of Overtime right here at KingsCast! Here’s the first!

*~*~*~*~*

How was Vegas you ask? Ummm, it was Vegas in that nothing really has changed except more construction has occurred since I had been there one year prior. The most notable part of the weekend was the drive back to Los Angeles. There were a grand total of 4 flipped cars on the road, 3-5 randomly stopped cars along the way, 3 Deloreans on the side of the road as well, traffic up the ying yang, and 100+ degree temperatures almost the entire way back. We are flying next year, no question!

*~*~*~*~*

Last update: Rich Hammond has officially started writing for the Kings at LA Kings Insider. Same content, different house.

According to Sharkspage Rob Blake has been named captain of the San Jose Sharks. The assistants will be Dan Boyle and Joe Thornton. The first thing that popped into my head when I read this was that Joe Thornton will never be captain material. Granted they’re not my team so I’m not sure if Sharks fans were hoping that maybe one day Thornton could take up the captaincy reins. Either way, I chuckle at Thornton and am happy to see Blake doing well in Nor Cal.

What did you think? The ridiculousness of the Sharks organization for naming Blake their captain, the hilarity of Sharks organization for naming Blake their captain, or the utter inadequacy of Joe Thornton to pick up the reins?

[Update]: Check out Sharks Hockey Analysis and Fear The Fin for some further questions, thoughts, and discussion.

(AP)

Not a far fetched headline considering that’s the word on the preseason street. Los Angeles Kings GM Dean Lombardi was on Fan 590 today and mentioned something about interest in getting Gretzky back to LA. I’m sure it’s been talked about for years, but this mention may mean something could happen in the near future.

What do you think?

I have returned from Frozen Fury!! The game was… so-so, but they won 5-3 so it was a good ending for Kings fans. I will have a full recap in a day or two, so stay tuned!

*~*~*~*~*

On the news front, according to TSN, all roster questions have been answered regarding who will make the lineup for the season opener.

• Brayden Schenn has been returned to the Brandon Wheat Kings
• Jonathan Bernier has been sent to the Manchester Monarchs along with Thomas Hickey and Kevin Westgarth

This means a few things. The first being the 4th line center position might possibly just go Peter Harrold. Secondly, Erik Ersberg will take the backup role on the bench while Jonathan Quick starts the season in net hopefully being just as awesome as he was at the end of last season. Thirdly, Raitis Ivanans is a better player than Westgarth, which is something I’ve thought from Day Uno.

*~*~*~*~*

Another update from last week (23rd): Rich Hammond of the Daily News will be newly employed by the Los Angeles Kings to basically do the same exact thing he was doing before. The most important part of this news is he will be able to provide for Kings fans real coverage on the road. The lack of road coverage for almost all teams is pretty despicable so I see this as a GREAT THING. He reiterated that he will not be censored by the Kings and will have full editorial control over his content. Naive me will believe this until his content proves otherwise. I’m really excited for this venture the Kings have decided to take and am happy for Rich Hammond for being the first beat writer to gain this type of recognition, visibility, and clearance by the team.

When the story broke, Frozen Royalty gave immediate props, Jon Moncrief was quick to the draw, and James Mirtle of course took note. Today Puck Daddy wrote an interesting writeup of what this could mean for Kings fans and how they get their team news.

Preseason is in full gear and the Kings have released three commercials to highlight the beginning of a possible burst of talent. They’re definitely well done, but I’m also done with the “Pride = Passion = Power” motto and have nothing good to replace it with.

*~*~*~*~*

It is T minus 4 days until Frozen Fury, and I’m giddy with glee to see the Kings back on the ice for the only preseason game I’ll be watching. This is a great opportunity for the young players to understand what it means to play with the big club; the excitement is unbelievable in the bowels of the MGM Grand where the Kings will face off against the Colorado Avalanche. I’m unsure what the lineup will be, but it should definitely be closer to the roster of opening night than of the one tonight at the Sprint Center where the Kings will face the New York Islanders sans John Tavaras. According to Rich Hammond at Inside the Kings, the lineup will start out with:

Let’s just say I’m glad I’m going to Frozen Fury and not this game. That fourth line of Raitis Ivanans – Marc-Andre Cliche – Kevin Westgarth looks ROUGH. Wow. Although perhaps the third line will help to energize the fourth line.

Some quick thoughts:

The only forward line that will remain the same after tonight’s game is the second one. I know what it looked like last season and am hoping for more offensive output; not too much to ask for. You know, shutdown the other teams’ top lines while trying to move the puck into the offensive zone. They’re big boys; they can do it.

I’ll admit I like the first line; Trevor Lewis stood out for me opening day of training camp. He had the most jump from the group of players who weren’t in LA last season. That’ll be a quick line off the draw if Jarret Stoll can stay loose enough on the ice. I definitely wouldn’t mind seeing this line on the ice at Staples Center, FYI.

Looking forward to Saturday, I will venture a guess that the top line of Ryan Smyth – Anze Kopitar – Justin Williams will be starting the game in Vegas. At least I hope so. I want to see the potential on the ice! I want to see the excitement! I want to hear the crowd! I will be present cheering my heart out.

*~*~*~*~*

Lastly, If you’re on Twitter, you should follow LAKingsTrainer. This is Joe Caligiuri who is a real person tweeting from this account and NOT a bot giving dry bits of unimportant information. I have yet to find any Kings players with Twitter, so this is the best for now.

Training camp for the Los Angeles Kings began on Sunday, September 14th at the Toyota Sports Center and all the players are back and ready to go. Kings Vision has one-on-one interviews posted of Daryl Evans and Heidi Androl speaking with various players and management. I haven’t actually watched any of these tidbits because I still hold the preconceived notion that athletes aren’t the most articulate bunch. They mostly say the same things from game to game, such as:

• We need to communicate better on the ice
• Our passes weren’t the greatest and we know that
• Coach-y or Coach-ie let us know what we need to focus on and that’s what we’re going to do
• That line felt really good ooot there tonight

You asleep yet?

The reason I bring this up is that KingsKoolAid informed me of a particular interview with Teddy Purcell that was worth watching. I was hesitant because of the countless minutes of my life that have been previously spent listening to Sidney Crosby or Roberto Luongo saying the same thing night in and night out. But I watched and was very impressed with Purcell! He actually had legitimate things to say and enunciated his words clearly enough to hold my attention.

You can check out his interview with Daryl Evans here. If Kings Vision doesn’t load (as it usually doesn’t for me), please inform the Kings because I don’t have the time nor patience. Thank you.

Going back to player interviews, there are a few who I will actually listen to regardless of situation. Here are a few off the top of my head in no particular order:

• Jeremy Roenick (no surprise)
• Sean Avery (not impressive, just intriguing)
• Rob Blake
• Sean O’Donnell
• Kevin Weekes (strange, but trust me, boy is SMART)
• Daniel Briere

Who do YOU think is a great interview?

Fears abound on Thursday evening were killed about 30 minutes ago by the completion of the Dany Heatley saga. TSN reports that he will be a San Jose Shark and that Jonathan Cheechoo, Milan Michalek, and a 2nd round pick are going back to the Ottawa Senators.

I can fully breathe a sigh of relief at this outcome now that Alexander Frolov and Jarret Stoll are safe (for now). I’m not sure what the rest of the day will hold as training camp starts tomorrow! I’m hoping to be there checking out the potentials for the remaining roster spots.

The current September 7th issue of The Hockey News has a preview of all 30 teams in the NHL written by Adam Proteau that includes a short statement by bloggers of each team. I was asked to write about how the Kings will fare for this new season and I graciously accepted. My only restriction was to keep it under 50 words, which was a bit stifling but I managed to power out something I hope all Kings fans can stand behind.

Here is a screen shot of the digital issue. I’m located on the top half of page 33 next to a great picture of Drew Doughty. Just in case you can’t read it, it says:

Underrated Kings GM Dean Lombardi has continued to quietly build a contender with (almost) nobody watching. This young team will play with drama-filled, Boys on the Bus exuberance worthy of a reality TV show.

A few words were snipped out of what I wrote, but it doesn’t affect the overall message, which is that this team will make other markets aware of its presence by continuing on the path set out by Lombardi years prior. For Kings fans, there shouldn’t be any surprises in the team’s potential output considering the additions and subtractions made this summer.

Thanks to Earl Sleek for the mention as he was chosen to write on the Anaheim Ducks. Congrats to fellow HLOGers Elise from 18,568 Reasons Why… and Bethany from Bethany’s Hockey Rants. And congrats to all the other bloggers who were asked for thoughts on their respective teams.

The final day of Hockey Fest 09 proved that the Los Angeles Kings remain on the path Dean Lombardi set out since he arrived on the scene, which was to strip down the roster and organization and build it back up by getting to the draft table. Since then the Kings have had more picks than I can remember (273?) and have built a franchise full of young potential studs.

From the weekend festivities I felt the main message for fans to take with them was that the Kings are still moving in the same direction toward the same goal. The management team hasn’t deviated from its original end goal and there’s no reason to think it might happen this year. If anything, the fruits of this plan should be showing itself with more goals from the forwards, continued solid defensive support, reliable goaltending, and an elevated consistency across the board. The team has been working towards this ideal, and I think they will finally make something of their potential this season. This doesn’t mean it will happen automatically; the steps to the finish line will be siphoning more blood and sweat from the players with rabid fans looking on.

Day 3 of Hockey Fest had three panels with the first consisting of current management. Dean Lombardi, Ron Hextall, and Terry Murray expressed the commitment of further improvements from the roster. As I said in my first recap, no one reinvented the wheel this past weekend; everything has been said before and other things seemed more common sense than anything else. For example, Lombardi stated that the Kings did not market Drew Doughty like the Tampa Bay Lightening did with Steven Stamkos. They let him come in and earn the respect of his teammates. Essentially if Doughty did not live up to any marketing hype, “the veterans would resent him.”

Any sort of resentment would not have been the product of unsuccessful marketing; rather, the resentment would have stemmed from the expectations of an 18-year-old kid leading this team into the playoffs. Lombardi also mentioned Doughty has been rounding out his nutrition and shedding his baby fat and was now developing into an athlete with more upside than one with minimal bodyfat coming in. This obviously has been a topic that has generated enough attention since the summer before he was drafted, which is why I made sure to ask Doughty about what steps he had been taking in regards to his nutrition.

Lombardi fielded a question specifically about Dany Heatley from the audience and I’m glad this shut down any of those still thinking his coming here was a possibility. Right after the question was asked, Lombardi spoke about two things:

1. The most important things for the team are for Anze Kopitar to step up his game and for Doughty and Jonathan Quick to keep progressing.
2. The second is to look at San Jose’s progression; they have improved six years in a row with the average age dropping each year. The Kings are on the path to now be able to find players who can be added to fit specifically into the system. He would “like this group to reach its potential before looking outside of the club.” It would be too risky of a move to take a chance on Heatley right now while the core is still forming. Basically, he doesn’t want to guess if he doesn’t have to.

If anyone is surprised by this, you should go back and read everything Lombardi has preached since he’s arrived. He wants to be sure that any big move the Kings make takes “the team to the top.” Getting Heatley could potentially do more harm than good, which would move the team backwards effectively stunting its growth. If he ends up a bust, he’ll add a negativity to the forming core while taking up the most dollars on the salary cap, which I’m sure no one else would want to deal with. The improvement of Kopitar is the key to this team making a jump. Lombardi emphatically said to look to Kopi for “that dynamic goal”and that “great things start to happen off the fundamentals of the game.”

Preaching to the choir.

DL also addressed Teddy Purcell’s roster spot saying that college players have no clue how to play in tight corners and that “he’s not going to play unless he pays the price.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It’s no surprise that the ex-goalie of the management group is the one to take goalie-related questions, right? Of course!

During the Q&A, Hextall said he considered Quick to be the number one goalie with Erik Ersberg as the backup, and Jonathan Bernier would be best served going back to the Manchester Monarchs. I’m sure the knowledge of Bernier’s impatience of getting to Los Angeles isn’t foreign, so I won’t feel too badly in completely agreeing with Hextall. Bernier’s cocky confidence is felt 3,000 miles away and I’m in the mood to keep him at arm’s length from the roster. The unknown for Hextall is definitely Ersberg. He’s a solid goalie but isn’t sure if he has the physical ability to play 60-65 games a season due to his size. To add to the bottom line, Hextall stated that there were no plans to move Ersberg. That being the case, anything can happen during the season. It appears the goalie situation hasn’t deviated from the end of last season up until now, which makes me a whole lot more comfortable than this time last year.

I got a rare insight into Quick from Dustin Brown that I’m sure the everyday fan is unaware of; the fact that he has a cocky attitude both on and off the ice. You’d never know it from watching the way he plays, but Brownie spoke very highly of him when we lobbed a few questions his way. Of Quick: “He’s cocky in a way that you actually like him,” and he ended that by saying, “You can have an average team in front of you. If you’re a good goalie, you have a good team.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Terry Murray said what Terry Murray usually says; the Kings don’t want to lose sight of last year and will focus on getting more pucks IN the net starting at training camp. He would like the team to be an aggressive forechecking team, which I am completely on board with. He also mentioned that his lines were already down on paper so he’ll have set lines to try out at training camp. The definite lines he said out loud were the first line (Ryan Smyth – Anze Kopitar – Justin Williams) and the first two defensive pairings (1 – Drew Doughty – Sean O’Donnell; 2 – Rob Scuderi – Jack Johnson). The only line up in the air for TM is the 4th line. Who could it be?

Raitis Ivanans – John Zeiler – Peter Harrold? (Whoa… I just threw up in my mouth a bit.)

Other than this little tidbit, there weren’t any earth-shattering bits of insight. But one thing I asked specifically was if he had a surprise rookie forward in mind who could make a statement out of training camp. He responded by saying he wasn’t 100% sure on anyone but that Richard Clune might make a name for himself. Regarding the playoffs, he said if they didn’t make the top 8 spots in the West, it wouldn’t be a huge disappointment but that they had to show improvement. This was a bit different than what Lombardi said earlierabout the playoffs. If the Kings didn’t make it, according to DL, it “would not be a major disaster but would be a major disappointment.”

I honestly can’t disagree with anything said during the weekend. Everything was inline with how the Kings are being built up and, in the end, I’m happy with how everything went. The venue was very nice, clean, and sent the message that the Kings were continuing to move forward in the players’ development. From the fan perspective I was pretty pleased at how everything was presented although the area could have used a bit more signage on the exterior to showcase what was going on and where to go. The heat was killer but that didn’t stop the street hockey tournament even on the black asphalt. Much thanks to the Kings for providing this opportunity

Make sure to check out all the news on the event on KingsCast, Frozen Royalty, The Examiner, and the Press Box Perspective!

Next stop: the playoffs! (…or not…)

This weekend the Los Angeles Kings held the first annual Hockey Fest at LA Live, which is another shindig in order to help build excitement for the 09-10 season. I must admit I held some skepticism about what the event would end up accomplishing, and I guess we won’t really know the success of it until the Kings hit the ice and actually start winning some games. It’s hard to build hype around a team that consistently gives so little in return.

I wasn’t planning on attending Hockey Fest was was pleasantly surprised and flattered to have been offered media access for this event. I graciously accepted and entered into uncharted territory. All-in-all it was a very relaxed Blue Room with no real stress present at any point. I will admit my heart was pumping a bit of adrenaline when I lobbed my first question at Teddy Purcell asking him what he’s done this summer to ensure his spot on the roster. His answer? Just what you’d expect a professional athlete to say; hard work, get stronger, stay focused.

Even though it was very cool to be a part of the ask-and-answer sessions, no one reinvented the wheel today. That being said, there was some very good insight by all the alumni in attendance with a few statements here and there that caught my attention.

Ray Ferraro put it best by saying the fans in the event tent are “cautiously optimistic.” The fans have been burned by their beloved team for the past 41 years and now is really not the time to state with confidence that they’re going to make the playoffs. I don’t know anyone who is currently that confident with this young roster. Of course, the fans shouldn’t be chastising the team before they can prove cohesiveness as a roster with consistent chemistry, especially with the new players in the room. There are realistic expectations for all the players that everyone has to be aware of with the best stated expectation by Ferraro (and one that I wholly agreed with) that fans shouldn’t be expecting Ryan Smyth to be a 40-goal scorer. Instead he should be a lock for 27 goals next season. I think that’s a very reasonable number and can stand behind that, but that doesn’t mean I think he’s worth his $6.25 million cap hit.

The most notable:

• Ray Ferraro stated that all of the Kings teams since its inception have never lost their commitment to win, but it was the ability to win has been absent. Cold hard truth.
• Marcel Dionne said during the Triple Crown Line session that back in his time the players controlled the game whereas today the game is controlled by the coaches. This idea was so matter-of-factly stated that I was very impressed by the simplicity and reality of that insight. Having a system placed upon players is now so normalized that no one gives it another thought, but having it verbalized for the audience today was something I really appreciated.
• I asked Ferraro about what his thoughts were concerning the hype machine that is college-stud Jack Johnson. His response was that Jack is still trying to find himself as an NHL player and that Drew Doughty’s presence shouldn’t be considered a threat. Bottom line: Jack needs to make that jump this season.

There were a lot of great things to see on the second day of Hockey Fest. The first was seeing the Kids Press Conference in the morning with Anze Kopitar, Matt Greene, Wayne Simmonds, and Teddy Purcell. The kids were asking some solid questions while the players cracked each other up.

• Ego buster: “In April where did you play golf?”
• The question that brought the house down: “Anze, do you still live with your parents?

Stay tuned for another recap from Sunday’s event tomorrow night.

Last year the NHL on Versus decided to shut the Kings out from any type of national coverage, and once again, they decided to keep it as minimal as possible for this So Cal team. Hey, I love minimalism and everything, but only for my living spaces and furniture within. When it comes to hockey, I want more Kings exposure during more hours of the day.

For the 09-10 season, Versus decided showing one game involving the Kings was enough, but it’s blatantly obvious as to why this game was chosen. If it’s not obvious, then you need to open your eyes or just have me spell it out for you. This one Kings game was chosen because it was against the Chicago Blackhawks rather than any sort of potential the Kings merit.

Seriously, folks; what Kings game is going to get the most national draw possible? A game against a team that has been put through the hype ringer and drawn as thinly as possible. Yes, people can easily just get the Center Ice package to watch all things Kings, but my point here is not that. It’s the fact that this team is, once again, attempting to get out of the usually damp and dusty cellar but are being stunted by a league that views this team as the red-headed step child. I really don’t think giving them some national coverage it’s that difficult. Why can’t Versus just show a hockey double header every night of the season? I really don’t think that channel is making its money through bull riding. Ultimate fighting, yes; bull riding, no.

Connie Kim is a co-host for KingsCast. Follow her on Twitter

Hello everyone!

Connie Kim here with my very first post on KingsCast!!  I’m really excited to begin interacting with everyone who already holds KingsCast near and dear to their hearts.  The summer is still in full swing even though the L.A. weather doesn’t exactly reflect that so I haven’t really been getting tanned these past few months; if anything, I’d call it “getting toasty.” I know everyone has been lazing about wondering what they should do on his or her nights without le hockey, so I thought I’d kick off my first post with a little Q&A to get the mental juices flowing.  The idea is for you, the reader, to ask me, the newest member, a question and I shall do my very best to give you a somewhat truthful answer.

As a gentle shove through the door, I’ll provide a few example questions (with real answers!):

Q: If you were to play a position on the ice, which would it be and why?
A: I would be a center, Zetterberg-style.  Having the ability to create something on the ice that could utilize my control-freak…ness would be highly beneficial to the likes of Dean Lombardi.  I would love to be given the freedom of executing the sickest moves under the highest of pressure.  Plus I absolutely love taking faceoffs!

If I couldn’t be a center, I’d be a right defenseman.  I’m a right-handed shot and feel more comfortable having the inside of my blade facing as much of the ice surface as possible.  And Sean O’Donnell’s backward skating absolutely mesmerizes me during warm ups.

Q: Would you trade for Dany Heatley?
A: And make the worst decision of my life? I’m okay.

Q: If you were playing in the KHL, what name would you go by?
A: According to Name Generator, I’d be Sofia Kolesnikov.

Now that you have an idea of what sorts of questions to throw my way, please make them as creative as possible (or not).  The goal here is to have fun while hopefully gaining a bit of insight into yours truly.  I wouldn’t mind a couple of “Would you rather’s” if that would pique the minds of some of you waiting diligently for the Kings to take the ice.  Hit me up!

Connie Kim is a co-host of KingsCast and the biggest Kings fan of the bunch.  Get some insight at Twitter!