It was a frustrating night at Staples Center. The Los Angeles Kings had over 50 shots on goal against Jimmy Howard and the Detroit Red Wings but only Ryan Smyth could put the biscuit in the basket. The Kings played well but they just couldn’t get it done. They now sit 8th in the Western Conference and only 3 points out of ninth. The next games are important!

You read the score correctly. The Los Angeles Kings came into the Shark Tank last night and were on the winning side of a bloodbath. The Sharks were coming off of an astounding 9-game win streak but the Kings were there to make sure it didn’t go into double-digits. The Kings got scoring from six different players. Drew Doughty had 4 assists and Jonathan Quick had over 40 save. Wow. Your thoughts?

Guest blogger Alex Kinkopf joins us again to give us his take on this very important week of Los Angeles Kings Hockey. You can friend Alex up on Facebook

On Attendance:
I’ve just about accepted the fact that section 325 will no longer be completely vacant for my pleasure for the remainder of the season. The days of scalping any ‘ol 300 level seat without care or concern about the 14th row corner section I just shelled out 10 bones for, an automatic ass-cushion in the three-two-five…are over. I noticed the sudden boost in attendance after the holidays last year, and likewise this year on the 28th against Minnesota. It’s gotta be the holiday ticket packages. It’s gotta be!

On Stolly’s Return:
Hammy said it, Jarret Stoll will be back in the lineup tomorrow night at the Pavilion. Good to hear, but don’t expect a full serving of Stoll right away. If there’s one player to feel comfortable with taking draws, its #28. I’d like to see him work his way back on the PP as well. There’s nothing like a Stoll-Doughty or Stoll-JMFJ tandem feeding each other juicy D to D passes across the blue-line resulting in absolute bombs from the point.

On Scuds:
Rob Scuderi has proven to be a great off-season acquisition for Los Angeles. Not a player that gets a whole lot of love from fans because of his style of play. He gets the job done in the defensive zone. Not a flashy player, and sticks to his priority of playing a defensive-minded game. This gives his defensive partner, whomever it may be, Doughty or Johnson, to step up in the offensive zone and take a couple of chances. Great example here from back in September.

Scuderi’s play is underrated, and I love it. When you can sign a veteran defenseman who can not only teach the youngsters in Doughty and Johnson, but give them the support to allow them to make an offensive presence, you have yourself a key player. One with a lot of playoff experience and a ring on his finger. Expect Scuds to be a gamebreaker later on this year.

On Tonight @ San Jose:
Huge game, no question about it. Like I said previously, the Kings need victories in at least two of the three meetings with San Jose this month in regulation to have any hopes of a shot for the Pacific Division Title. Jarret Stoll will be back with the 4th line centering Ivanans and Moller. Randy Jones is still out recovering from his concussion symptoms. Brown – Kopitar – Smyth leading the top line again. What do you expect to see from this game? Predictions? The win against Washington was huge, and following it with a victory against San Jose would be a shot in the arm for the Kings.

The Los Angeles Kings started off 2010 with a nice win against Alexander “the Douche” Ovechkin (more on that later on Overtime) and the Washington Capitals. As good as the Capitals are, they couldn’t get Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick to shake in net. The kid was outstanding as he lead the Kings to a win. Anze Kopitar remains snake-bitten on the goal sheet but Ryan Smyth and Handzuskept it alive for the Kings. Los Angeles remains in 8th place in the conference (4 point ahead of the Stars). Enjoy the clip!

Guest blogger Alex Kinkopf chimes in with his thoughts on last night’s game in Alberta. Your thoughts on the game?

The Kings entered tonight with 8 consecutive losses to Calgary in Alberta. As many of you know, Canada named their official roster for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver this morning. What made me somewhat optimistic for a victory tonight? The last time Los Angeles pulled off a victory in the Saddledome was December 21st, 2005; the day Canada named their official roster for the 2006 Olympics. Let’s put that aside, just a fun fact, if you want to call it that.
This was the final time these two teams met in the regular season with Calgary taking the 4 game affair as Los Angeles could only earn a victory in one of the four contests. However, I’ve had a feeling for a while now these two clubs will be seeing each other again this season. More on that later..

Thoughts on the game:

What I Liked:

* Playoff Atmosphere: Immediately after Phaneuf’s hit on Kopitar, you could feel the electricity from the building through the broadcast. (Yes, even if you were struggling through an internet stream as I did. C’mon now FSW!!) The intensity was heightened above any level we’ve seen this year in a Kings game.
* Murray’s Intensity: I love the guy. All year we’ve seen him send the message to his players that it’s his way or you’re taking a seat. We’ve seen Fro and Randy as prime examples. From what I’ve seen, he’s not too fond of stupid retaliation, but knows there is a time and a place to stick up for your players. As Brent Sutter threw a tantrum after Phaneuf’s game misconduct, Murray let him hear about it. I felt this was similar to an MLB manager arguing until ejection, ultimately firing up the ballclub. Unfortunately, the Kings reacted with less passion than I had originally expected.
* Brad Richardson: Good performance all around. If you can back-track to the play when Dusty was awarded a penalty shot (god knows why) take a look at the hustle Richy utilized to clear that puck out of the zone. Beautiful. They guy backs it up with pure effort and intensity.
* Knee-jerk line to start the 2nd frame. Simmonds – Moller – Parse. Great hustle all around for that goal.
* Scotty Parse: GOOD THINGS HAPPEN WHEN YOU SHOOT THE PUCK. Second consecutive game Scotty wastes no time playing with the biscuit and buries it for a goal. Atta Boy!
* Parse – Simmonds – Richy: Liked the line in general. However, why did Moller get the call to start the 2nd with Scotty and Brad?
* Brandon Segal makes return: Boy, the adrenaline must’ve been pumping for Segal tonight. He made his first return to the arena that hosted him for four years as a member of the Calgary Hitmen of the WHL. Solid performance as well, great scoring chance.
* Smyth’s effort: The results haven’t been there since his return, but the effort has. Note the continuous foot movement and puck control in the offensive zone to draw a 2nd period hooking penalty on Robyn Regehr.

What made me swear:

* Teddy Purcell: Move your feet, terrible tripping penalty at the end of the 2nd.
* Lack of Poise: C’mon Drew, Calgary’s announcers associated your play with “great poise” multiple times tonight. Sorry, but throwing a punch in mid-play doesn’t show that.
* Stupid Retaliation: Haven’t I mentioned this already?
* Erik Ersberg: I take it back, unfair to judge this play. Disagree, as I feel many of you will. Give him a home start! Please! To have a confident backup goalie, you must present him with the opportunity to build it, Terry.
* Nystrom: Am I crazy? Was he not pulling on the back of Ersy’s Jersey/Pants during Calgary’s 2nd goal?
* Lack of puck possession in the final 3 minutes: Enough Said.

Final Thoughts:

For the past few months, I’ve had a weird feeling about these two clubs meeting in the 1st round of the playoffs. Both teams are playoff bound, but are both capable of ending up in the top, middle, or bottom of the 8 seeds in the Western. We’ll see, just a feeling. Off to Minny.

The Los Angeles Kings have done something they haven’t done all season long: lose four games in a row. The Kings were in Calgary to face the Flames and, again, they just couldn’t generate any offense. Dion Phaneuf had a brutal hit on Kings center Anze Kopitar that even had the coaches taking jabs at each other. It’s rare to see coach Terry Murray yelling but it was well deserved as Phaneuf’s hit was dirty.

Read Alex Kinkopf’s post-game blog: Lasso’ed at the Saddledome Again.

We love it when you guys send us email, Tweets and notes on Facebook but this one takes the cake. Recently, Chris Kaliszewski and I had the opportunity to do a little dance number with LA Kings Dustin Brown, Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty. It was for the kids. But one of you out there must have had a hidden camera and captured this little ditty. Enjoy!

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 Minnesota Wild may be surging right not but the Los Angeles Kings still look a bit rusty. It was a very disappointing game for a sell-out crowd at Staples Center last night. The Kings tied it late but the Wild shut the loud crowd up quickly as they scored a few seconds later. David Courtney hadn’t finished announcing the Kings goal.