LOS ANGELES — Washington Capitals superstar forward Alexander Ovechkin has been leading the National Hockey League in scoring to start the 2009-10 season, which should not be a surprise to anyone who follows the NHL.

But, at least for one night, Ovechkin has some company at the top from an unexpected source.

On Thursday night, the Los Angeles Kings held on for a 5-4 overtime victory over the Dallas Stars in front of 15,042 fans at Staples Center.

The Kings were led by center Anze Kopitar’s three goals, his first NHL hat trick, giving the Kings a three-goal lead heading into the third period.

Kopitar has now scored eight goals and has added eight assists for sixteen points, matching Ovechkin, who has nine goals and seven assists for sixteen points through games played through October 22.

But Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick had a poor third period, allowing the Stars to tie the game on two soft goals allowed by Quick and another while he was partially screened.

Center Michal Handzus was the Kings’ savior in the overtime period, scoring 55 seconds into the extra frame.

Listen to Anze Kopitar, Matt Greene, Dustin Brown and Terry Murray courtesy of

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?

It was almost a disaster in Kings nation last night as the team welcomed the Dallas Stars back to Staples Center. After a great start and Anze Kopitar netting his first hat-trick of the career, Jonathan Quick proceded to melt-down by letting in a quick three goals. Luckily, Michael Handzus came up clutch in overtime, getting the LA Kings the win.

From LAKings.com

The Los Angeles Kings have signed goaltender Jonathan Quick to a three-year contact extension, Kings President/General Manager Dean Lombardi announced Friday.

Quick, 23, is in his third NHL/Kings season and he’s started nine of the Kings’ first 10 games this season. He’s also started 50 of the last 60 Kings’ games dating back to last season and he was named the NHL’s Second Star of the Week for the week ending on Oct. 11 after posting a record of 3-0-0 while stopping 80 of 88 shots against in victories over San Jose (Oct. 6), Minnesota (Oct. and St. Louis (Oct. 10).

Quick, a 6-1, 223-pound native of Milford, Conn., is tied for second in the NHL this season with six wins. In addition, he ranks third in the league with 538:53 minutes played and seventh with 225 saves. Quick also has a 3.01 goals-against-average and a save percentage of .893.

Quick last season led the Kings and ranked third among NHL rookie goaltenders with 21 wins, a 2.48 goals-against average, a .914 save percentage, four shutouts, 44 appearances and 1,097 saves. His 21 wins were the third most ever recorded by a Kings’ rookie goaltender (Mario Lessard had 23 in 1978-79 and Bob Janecyk had 22 in 1984-85). Quick also went 4-1 in shootouts (he stopped 10 of 14 shots, 71 percent) and 3-0 in shootouts on the road last season. He started 41 of the final 50 Kings’ games in 2008-09 after being recalled from Manchester (American Hockey League) on Dec 16, 2008.

Quick recorded his fourth career shutout on March 26, 2009 at Dallas, stopping all 29 shots in a 1-0 shootout win, and his fourth shutout tied a Kings rookie single-season record (the three other rookie netminders to have four shutouts in one season are Jamie Storr in 1998-99, Lessard in 1978-79 and Gerry Desjardins in 1968-69). All four of Quick’s shutouts came on the road, which is a franchise record. Quick stopped a career-high 41 shots in 5-4 win on Feb. 5, 2009 at Washington and he recorded his first career shutout on Dec. 23, 2008 at Columbus, stopping all 24 shots in a 3-0 win (sixth career NHL game and fourth career NHL start).

Originally selected by the Kings in the third-round (72nd overall) in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, Quick made his NHL/Kings debut in 2007-08 and he recorded his first NHL win in his debut on Dec. 6, 2007 vs. Buffalo. He appeared in three Kings’ games that season, going 1-2-0 with a 3.83 goals-against-average and a save percentage of .855.

Quick, who was in the final year of his current contract, attended Team USA’s Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Orientation Camp this past summer (Aug. 17-19).

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

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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.

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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.

The Los Angeles Kings came into Dallas looking to end the road trip on a high note. They did just that. It was a pleasant experience to see former Kings head coach fuming on the opposing team’s bench. Here’s the game highlights of a nicely won game.

It was an ugly game last night when the Los Angeles Kings took on the Columbus Blue Jackets. Both young teams are young and on the verge of being contenders but, despite having 3 sick players on the roster, the Blue Jackets were hungrier. Rough game but it’s time to put it behind and win in Dallas.

Gann Matsuda of Frozen Royalty chimes in with his regular column on HockeyTalk.biz. It’s a good read, especially now that we’re at .500. Can the Kings recover from this?

LOS ANGELES — After getting off to a hot 4-1-0 start to the still very young 2009-10 National Hockey League season, the Los Angeles Kings find themselves in the midst a three-game losing streak as they head to Dallas on October 19, the final game of their six-game road swing.

Indeed, after winning four straight games for the first time since October, 2007, the Kings have hit the skids during their longest road trip of the season, and Kings fans have already begun to jump ship, writing the Kings off for yet another season.

Given the team’s woeful history of mediocrity and with the Kings having failed to qualify for the playoffs since the 2001-02 season, fans have earned the right to be skeptical.

Nevertheless, the 2009-10 Kings are still a better team on paper than they have been at any time in the past three seasons and with the team only eight games into the season, is the growing skepticism warranted?

If you focus on their woes in the face-off circle, inconsistent goaltending from both Erik Ersberg and Jonathan Quick and the fact that the first line of Anze Kopitar, Ryan Smyth and Justin Williams has cooled off a bit from their smoking hot start, the answer is yes, it is time to be skeptical. At the very least, these are causes for concern.

But the Kings’ top line is still light years ahead of anything their top forward lines accomplished last season and the team is tied for fifth in the league in scoring as of this writing. Oh…there’s also that little thing about them having played just eight of their 82 games.

Under the circumstances, while the early naysayers may be proven correct down the road and although there are reasons to be concerned, it is still way too early to write the Kings off for the season.

One of the biggest factors, assuming the Kings shore up their weaknesses, is the production of their first line, as Kopitar, Smyth and Williams came out of the gate on fire, combining for ten goals and fifteen assists for 25 points in the team’s first five games, averaging five points per game.

But during the current three-game slide, the top line has generated just two goals and four assists for six points, averaging just two points per game.

To be sure, the top line has cooled off considerably, and Williams being one of eight players who were ill going into their game at Columbus on October 17 (a 4-1 loss) did not help matters.

Even though the top line has re-entered Earth’s atmosphere, they could easily rise again.

“I’m just glad that things are going the way they are,” said Kopitar. “Everything seems to be in place right now. We’ve been building the chemistry and it’s really good to see it come through.”

“You’ve got three skilled guys, but you’ve also have three guys who work hard, and you have to put the work before the skill if anything’s going to come out of it,” said Williams. “If we keep getting our chances, game in and game out, then we should be successful together.”

Kopitar is off to fast start, leading the Kings in scoring with four goals and eight assists for twelve points in the eight games…

Read the rest on HockeyTalk.biz

It was a rough game for the Los Angeles Kings at the Joe Louis Arena last night. The Kings just couldn’t get it going and the constant penalties weren’t helping the cause. Dustin Brown did finally grab his first goals of the season and, for the first time, Ryan Smyth didn’t have a point. It’s time to set our sights on the Blue Jackets and finish this road trip out at, at least, .500.

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.