Gann Matsuda of Frozen Royalty was up at a very spirited Kings practice yesterday and got some quotes from a team who won its first playoff game in eight years. Check it out!

EL SEGUNDO, CA — A lot of attention has been focused on the fact that the Los Angeles Kings are a young team that lacks playoffs experience, despite the presence of several grizzled veterans with playoff experience, including five with Stanley Cup rings.

The fact that none of the players wearing those rings are part of the young core that not only makes up the leadership group, but also are not among the team’s best players who will likely lead the team years from now, only encourages greater scrutiny.

That lack of post-season experience was apparent in Game 1 of the Kings’ Western Conference Quarterfinal playoff series against the Vancouver Canucks on April 15.

In front of a raucous, sell-out crowd at General Motors Place in Vancouver, the Kings got caught up in the excitement and their young players seemed to be a bit unnerved by the new and exciting experiences of the playoffs.

“We had a lot of guys playing in their first playoff game,” said veteran defenseman Rob Scuderi, who won the Stanley Cup in 2009 with the Pittsburgh Penguins. “It’s a different atmosphere. It’s really exciting.”

“There were a bunch of guys who played their first playoff game, including myself,” said center Anze Kopitar. “It was one of those things where you don’t know what to expect. Everybody was excited, but, at the same time, a little nervous. So it was mixed emotions.”

“There’s a lot of guys on this team who haven’t played in the playoffs,” said right wing Wayne Simmonds, who is also playing in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time. “It’s a huge difference between the regular season and the post-season.”

Scuderi had an explanation for what the younger players were experiencing.

“You’re not sure if you’re ninety percent nervous or ninety percent excited,” he said.

Whether you call it a case of nerves, over-excitement or jitters, the Kings failed to execute their game plan in Game 1 because of it.

“In Game 1, going into the third, we didn’t play as good and we didn’t know what to expect going into overtime,” Kopitar explained. “Nobody wanted to make a mistake. I felt we were just sitting back too much.”

Read the rest on Frozen Royalty.

Take a quick look to the left of the screen; If you can bear to. It was that close. That close. But what good would harping on Roberto Luongo‘s last-ditch effort to stop a re-directed shot from the point do? Hard not to, but not necessary; as we saw a very impressive Kings performance. What a great opportunity to steal a game. Today, I don’t find myself quite as upset as I thought I would with a game 1 loss. Truth is, there were many good things to come from the Kings last night. From Jonathan Quick‘s spectacular play, to sound coaching from Terry Murray, you’ve got to believe they can rebound from a tough loss. Below I’ll share a few thoughts on where the Kings stand going into Game 2:

On Jonathan Quick:
The goaltender situation had me worried going into the playoffs. Jonathan Quick looked shaky, flat, fatigued. We had an under-played backup in Erik Ersberg, and thoughts of the playoff goalie shuffle ran through my head. Well, look who showed up last night. Jonathan Quick stood on his head. 41 saves, and cutting off a 1st period Vancouver ambush kept the Kings in the game. Quick will last the entire series, and will be a deciding factor in the result.

On Ryan Smyth:
The Vancouver defense had Smyth on target all night. Playing to keep him away from the front of the net, they took it to him physically. Smyth got handled in the corners all night long, but that’s not his game. If someone on this team wants the Cup, it’s Ryan Smyth. His passion showed in the hits he took last night.

On Who Stood Out:
Randy Jones saw plenty of ice time last night, and played well. He continued to move his feet with the puck, didn’t cough up the puck very often, and played the body. Michal Handzus had an outstanding game. He seemed to be in the vicinity of the puck all night. Leading the Kings in shots, and almost burying a game-winner in overtime, Handzus continues to be reliable. Fredrik Modin didn’t shy away from shooting the puck, and scored a goal in his trademark spot; in front of the net.

On Who Didn’t:
Anze Kopitar was surrounded all night. Vancouver’s defense did an impressive job containing Kopitar, rarely giving him much room with or without the puck. Justin Williams hasn’t looked great since his return from the injury, and failed to contruct any chances on the 1st line. Drew Doughty didn’t disappoint, but may have lost his head a bit. The intensity was good to see, but can’t cross the line to grant a power-play to Vancouver.

On Terry Murray:
Terry Murray coached a solid game last night. He didn’t so much concentrate on the match-ups as he made sure the entire dressed roster got their legs into the game. As much as I was pleased with this, I’m afraid he may hold back in Game 2. A few changes could be made in his strategy now that the Kings are down a game.

I know, I know, it’s shocking: the Los Angeles Kings are in the playoffs. And, while unlikely, it is possible that this team can win. Here, Gann Matsuda from Frozen Royalty chimes in with his thoughts on the first round of the playoffs against the Vancouver Canucks.

LOS ANGELES — Quit pinching yourselves, Los Angeles hockey fans. You are not dreaming.

Yes, the Los Angeles Kings have made the playoffs for the first time since 2002 and for just the fifth time since 1993, when the Wayne Gretzky-led Kings went all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Like that 1992-93 team, this year’s Kings started the regular season hot. But unlike the 1992-93 team, which peaked at just the right time, this season’s Kings have struggled since the Olympic break and are not going into the post-season playing their best hockey.

Earning a 9-7-5 record since the break, the Kings were often plagued by slow starts, poor puck support, a non-existent forecheck, taking too many penalties, shaky goaltending, a lack of urgency…you get the idea.

In the last handful of games of the regular season, the Kings showed some improvement, but were unable to put it all together consistently. Indeed, if they got off to a good start, their puck support and forechecking was lacking. Or, when those aspects of their game were solid, they failed to get to the front of the net and get the puck there as well.

A prime example of that came on April 10, when the Kings poured 55 shots on backup goalie Devan Dubnyk, but lost to the worst-in-the-league Edmonton Oilers, 2-1, in a shootout.

“[Dubnyk was] real good, but I felt, and we talked about it between periods and on the bench, he saw a lot of pucks coming from the blue line,” head coach Terry Murray said. “We were doing a great job with our cycle, possession, low to high, getting shots through from the top end. But we didn’t have the traffic. There was a loose puck there on almost every shot that came to the net and we were not in position to put second and third opportunities to the net. That was really the story of the game.”

Read the rest on Frozen Royalty

In this exclusive guest blog for KingsCast, Clayton Corley from OpiatedSherpa.com stops by and gives us his breakdown, and the Canadian perspective, of the Vancouver vs. Los Angeles series starting Thursday, April 15.

Thankfully, it’s just about that time again. Time for the playoffs to get started around the NHL and as fans (of teams that made the playoffs), we get to see how our team test’s their mettle against the other qualified teams that each provide their own challenge and reason for winning. I suppose I wouldn’t be doing a guest blog here, if I wasn’t going to do one for the Kings and Canucks series, the latter being my favourite team; plus, I think this is going to be one hell of a series to watch for both sides. I like to be fair when it comes to categorizing some teams, that way I know what to expect when I watch two teams go head-to-head and I really think this young & exuberant Kings team will be jumping on the learning curve with a lot of enthusiasm against the Canucks team that has been trying oh-so-hard to build their team on patience and puck-possession and try to seize a winning opportunity.

Since I had Anze Kopitar on my fantasy hockey team this season, I actually watched a good number of Kings games this season and enjoyed watching them in their number of stages this year. When Kopitar was burning up barns to Quick being lights out and then a more well-rounded approach when both their superstars became a little bit more human. There is a lot to like about this Kings team, especially their desire to want to play hard, skate fast and not quit, which will make them a tough team to play against. With players like Dustin Brown, Wayne Simmonds, Brad Richardson and Jack Johnson, the Kings have a great core of players that should be able to lift their “x-factor” into new levels when Game One starts and really have an influence on the game.
I’ve watched the Canucks all year and the key to their success, as much as I hate to say it, has been coaching and the system in place. If it wasn’t for the two rounds in the playoffs in 2009, there probably would have been a little less hope for this team that had a very hard time getting started this season. With injuries to some key players early on in the season, the Canucks managed to stick to their game plan and brought some new players to the forefront, while some of the old favourites took their game to the next level. In this early round, I’ll be looking towards Ryan Kesler, Alex Burrows and Kevin Bieksa to help build the team up when its slipping a little bit and earn their way out of some tough spots. That’s what the playoffs are really about in the end.
Thanks to the Kings website, I managed to look at some of the statistical comparisons between the two teams and it’s fairly safe to say that they do tilt in one direction a fair bit, north. In a lot of cases, the tilt isn’t that big or terribly significant, but in more cases than not, the Canucks do hold a slight advantage in categories. When we start the playoffs, there is plenty of excitement to get going that a lot of teams, especially the young ones that haven’t been to the dance before, get a little overexcited and try to do too much when it gets going and that leads to penalties and the special teams. I’m expecting a pretty physical series between Los Angeles and Vancouver, so the blood is likely going to boil over quite quickly and we’ll probably see more than our fair share of rough stuff from either side, but it will be the team that stays out of the box and/or the team that has the better special teams that will move on to round two. Both the power play and the penalty kill for both teams are exceptionally close, according to their regular season numbers and both have combined percentages over 100%, which is a good index for comparison for NHL teams. It will definitely be interesting to see what lessons learned during the regular season get applied to the meaningful games of the playoffs.
The Canucks hold an edge in the regular season series, going 3-1-0 against the Kings, but Los Angeles did avoid the season sweep in the last game of the season, thanks in large part to a big offensive push and a good outing from Jonathan Bernier on April 1st. I try not to hold too much stock in the season series, because there are a lot of mitigating factors when it comes to what it really means, but it also doesn’t hurt to use against your opponents in trash-talking or clever word play.
Like any good playoff series, goaltending will be front and centre and this series will feature a couple of goaltenders who have had their seasons questioned a little bit from some inconsistencies in their recent games. Both Jonathan Quick and Roberto Luongo are workhorses when it comes to their respective team’s nets, so it should come to no surprise to anyone when fatigue levels start to sink in a little bit. Quick was an absolute warrior in the NHL this season, ranking 2nd in minutes played by a goaltender and picking up 39 wins. Luongo did have a spell where he was injured, so his minutes played numbers are down to Quick’s, but an Olympic appearance and a 40-win season was still manageable for the Canucks keeper, which is likely considered to be a pretty big plus. Like I said earlier, it has been a shaky go of it leading up to the playoffs, as Quick has gone 0-1-3 in his last five appearances for the Kings, including two fantastic appearances in overtime against the Coyotes and Ducks, just falling short in extra time. Luongo, in his last five appearances, did go 3-1-1, but had some shaky performances, including the last game to the Kings, where he was in for all eight of the Kings goals in the 8-3 loss.
Looking at the stats again, the last bit of comparison that I think should be done should look at the experience levels of both teams. The Kings have a 11 players that have played in the playoffs before, while the Canucks have 23, thanks to keeping a good core from last year’s appearance. The Canucks do have a pretty big edge when it comes to playoff experience, but I don’t want to count out the Kings, because there are certain levels of leadership that the Canucks do not have that the Kings are spoiled with from Ryan Smyth, Sean O’Donnell and Rob Scuderi. Now, whether or not those three players can reel in some of the youth on the Kings team is another question that can only be answered on the ice, but you have to know that the Kings dressing room will have a fair bit of confidence oozing from the pores. If anything, Dustin Brown will get a very thorough learning experience on how to become a great NHL captain, thanks to these rugged, playoff-tested veterans.
I think all things considered, it’s pretty lopsided towards the Canucks to start this playoff run, but for Kings fans that saw an excellent regular season, there should be a lot of good taken from this playoff experience for a lot of the young leaders on the Kings, because the team is being built to be a contender for the foreseeable future. It might not be an immediate championship, but much like the Canucks and their slow build towards being an elite team, it does take a lot of time when you’re not drafting players like Sidney Crosby or Alexander Ovechkin 1st overall. Then again, that Drew Doughty guy is already blossoming into a purebred superstar himself and he’ll be the cornerstone of this franchise for years to come.
My official prediction is seeing the Canucks go through in five games, with the Kings taking one in front of their home fans. It’ll be a high-tempo, hard-hitting series, but experience and system should prevail, much like it did against the St. Louis Blues last Spring.

Visit Clayton Corley at his website www.opiatedsherpa.com.
Follow on Twitter: @opiatedsherpa.

The Kings entered today’s regular season finale in Colorado with nothing more to do than ensure positive vibes heading into the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Mission accomplished. With their 2-1 Overtime victory, the Kings await the start of the Western Conference Quarterfinals against the Vancouver Canucks, coming off of an all-around solid performance. Backup goaltender Erik Ersberg got the call in the finale and impressed. With 31 saves, Ersberg may have strengthened head coach Terry Murray and the rest of the organization’s confidence in him entering the postseason. A solid defensive showing held the Avalanche to only one goal, while a poised offense tied the game late; And carried that momentum to clinch the victory in overtime. Below are my notes on today’s regular season finale:

Notes on the game:
– Let me reiterate on Erik Ersberg‘s strong performance. Quite comforting, especially with starting goaltender Jonathan Quick looking shaky in his recent starts. Look for Terry Murray to trust Ersberg if Quick struggles early in the Western Conference Quarterfinals.
– As for Colorado’s only goal, you could argue a whistle should have been blown to stop play. Ryan Stoa shot from the top of the right circle and was able to crash the net to bury his own rebound. Can’t really blame Ersberg on this one.
– Another third period comeback results in another victory. This offense has consistently showed the ability to utilize poise and patience facing late-game deficits. Matt Greene‘s decision to put the puck on net was perfect. Jarret Stoll, parked in front of the net, was able to deflect the shot to beat goaltender Craig Anderson to tie the game with only 4:32 remaining.
– The Kings beat Craig Anderson in overtime as Dustin Brown, with great positioning, was able to score on a close-range rebound off of a Drew Doughty shot. The Kings continue to show their force in front of the net, capitalizing on outside shots.
– The Kings (6) will face the Vancouver Canucks (3) in the Western Conference Quarterfinals. Keep posted here at Kingscast for a series preview.

For those who have said a first round match-up between these two teams would be boring, you’re wrong. Both teams played well on each end of the ice, maintaining a fast pace and playoff-like atmosphere. The Phoenix Coyotes have certainly proved their surprising 4th place season with consistently solid play here at the end of the season. With 1 point earned in the shootout loss, the Kings bumped themselves up to 5th place in the Western Conference with 98 points. If the regular season were to end today, the Los Angeles Kings would face-off against the Phoenix Coyotes in the Western Conference Quarterfinals. Former Kings goaltender Jason LaBarbera had a solid outing with 22 saves, and Jonathan Quick looked sharp in net stopping 25 Phoenix shots. Two young defensemen stepped up for the Kings tonight; literally. More on those d-men below along with my notes on the game:

Notes on the game:
– Both Kings goals came via aggressive offensive defensemen tonight. First, with Drew Doughty‘s spectacular split of two Phoenix defensemen who walked in alone on Jason LaBarbera and beat him to the far side. Note, Doughty risked the rush knowing Justin Williams was back on the play to cover. Williams fed Anze Kopitar up the sideboards, who saw the streaking Doughty, and led him perfectly to eventually score the 1st Kings goal.
– As for Jack Johnson‘s goal, it was almost impressive. Johnson caused the turnover, and finished the transition of that turnover with a goal. After winning the battle with two Phoenix defensemen, Johnson cleared the puck to an open Ryan Smyth in the neutral zone. Johnson caught up to the play, went straight to the net after reading Smyth’s fake shot, and capitalized on Smyth’s pass with a goal.
– Phoenix’s two regulation goals came off of face-off wins. First with Wojtek Wolski winning the puck in the corner, and feeding an open Matthew Lombardi who beat Quick from close range. The second goal came off a point-shot off of another face-off. Zbynek Michalek‘s point shot was deflected by Taylor Pyatt and beat Jonathan Quick with just under 6 minutes remaining.

In what was a stunning comeback victory on the road, the Kings showed their poise and perseverance fighting back from a couple of three goal deficits to earn a shootout victory. Moments prior to Anze Kopitar‘s back-handed drag shootout winner, the Anaheim Ducks were officially eliminated from playoff contention. The Colorado Avalanche buried any of Anaheim’s hopes by clinching a spot of their own with a 4-3 victory over the Vancouver Canucks. You’ve got to be impressed with the capability of this young roster to rebound being three goals down to earn a victory. Jonathan Quick‘s play? Not so impressive. Quick has shown signs of fatigue, and just hasn’t been nearly as sharp as he was earlier in the season. More thoughts on the goaltender below. With tonight’s victory, the Kings bump up to the 6th seed in the Western Conference. With 97 points, the Kings are only one point behind the 5th seed Nashville Predators, and have a game in hand. It’s safe to say Los Angeles is safe from falling to the 8th seed, as the final push could very well have the 5th, 6th, and 7th seeds jumble around quite a bit. Below are my notes on tonight’s game, as well as video of Anze Kopitar’s highlight reel shootout winner on Ducks goaltender Curtis McElhinney:

– It’s quite obvious to say Jonathan Quick has looked flat in net for a while now. If there’s one thing contributing to this, it’s fatigue. I’ve stressed this all season long now, and we’re seeing the results. Another possibility? Jonathan Bernier‘s footsteps. I am a believer that Quick may have a little more pressure on his shoulders now that Bernier has impressed the big club. Quick now not only has to perform well as the playoffs rapidly approach, but has a statement to make for training camp next season. This is your fault, Terry Murray.
– Even with Quick’s sub-par play, Anaheim earned most of their goals. Bobby Ryan showed great puck control and patience on a 1st period power-play to find a wide-open Jason Blake who opened the scoring.
– As for Anaheim’s second goal, Teemu Selanne simply beat Sean O’Donnell. Anaheim’s third tally came thanks to a flat-footed Randy Jones, who fumbled the puck behind the Kings net. Bobby Ryan jumped on the puck, and ended Jonathan Quick‘s night.
– If the comeback wasn’t impressive enough, the Kings showed strong effort and skill on all four regulation goals. Starting with Dustin Brown, who muscled his way to the net and recovered his own rebound to put the Kings on the board. Alexander Frolov used his strength to get to the front of the net as well, burying a rebound courtesy of Dustin Brown.
– You say comeback, I say Justin Williams. Wow. If there was one player to fuel the the third period for the Kings, it was Williams. Scoring the Kings third goal, Williams moved cross-ice as he entered the slot, turned toward the net, and held on to the puck to beat a helpless Curtis McElhinney. Williams was also the key to Michal Handzus‘ game-tying goal. Entering the zone with the puck on the side-boards, Williams fed a streaking Handzus who received the pass in the slot and scored thereafter.
– As for Anze Kopitar‘s game-winner. Man, oh man. We’ve seen it many times before, but it never gets old. Check it out below.

LOS ANGELES — Here in the Los Angeles area, if you listened carefully, one could probably hear sporadic cheers, glasses clinking, maybe even a few car horns honking in celebration…and, oh yeah…even the Earth moved.

Indeed, Los Angeles area hockey fans had great reason to celebrate on April 4 because with the Chicago Blackhawks handing the Calgary Flames a 4-1 defeat, the Los Angeles Kings secured a playoff berth for the first time since 2002 and just their fifth playoff appearance since 1993, when the Wayne Gretzky-led Kings went all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Qualifying for post-season play was the goal for the mostly young Kings going into this season and, especially for some, it has been a long, long time coming.

“It’s a long time coming for me and a few other guys who have been here for awhile,” said right wing and team captain Dustin Brown. “We’ve grown a lot.”

“This is the most fun I’ve had since I’ve been in the league,” added Brown. “Just the prospect of playing in the playoffs and having these last ten games [of the regular season] mean something is always a lot of fun.”

But the big question facing the Kings now is if they are just going to be happy to have made the playoffs and be satisfied with that, or are they going to go into the post-season determined and ready to be a formidable opponent?

To be sure, the Kings’ highly inconsistent play since the Olympic break only raises serious doubts, and as their 7-7-3 record since the break indicates, intensity, urgency and effort have all been cited as deficiencies too many times in the last six weeks.

After two solid wins, at Nashville on April 1 and against Vancouver on April 3 at Staples Center, it appeared that the Kings had figured things out and turned their game around.

“We talked about bringing home the attitude we showed in Nashville,” head coach Terry Murray said after his team’s win over Vancouver. “We had a good game there. We started that game with energy and puck movement that was as good as any other game this year, and it’s time we did that at home. It’s what we needed.”

Read the rest on Frozen Royalty.

With the Calgary Flames losing to the Chicago Blackhawks by the score of 4-1 this afternoon at the United Center, the Los Angeles Kings clinched a spot for the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs. If the playoffs were to start today, the Kings would meet the 2nd seed Chicago Blackhawks in the Western Conference Quarterfinals. With four games remaining in the regular season, the Kings stand at 7th place in the Western Conference with 95 points. The only possible rotations as far as seeding goes are the bottom four spots. Here’s how the bottom four teams stand:
Western Conference seeding (5-8)

5. Nashville Predators: 98 points, 46 wins with two games remaining.

6. Detroit Red Wings: 96 points, 41 wins with three games remaining.

7. Los Angeles Kings: 95 points, 44 wins with four games remaining.

8. Colorado Avalanche: 89 points, 41 wins with five games remaining.

As for the remaining four games on schedule for the Kings regular season, here’s a look at the opponents.

Los Angeles Kings remaining schedule:
Tuesday, April 6th @ Anaheim Ducks – Honda Center.
Thursday, April 8th vs. Phoenix Coyotes – Staples Center.
Saturday, April 10th vs. Edmonton Oilers – Staples Center.
Sunday, April 11th @ Colorado Avalanche – Pepsi Center.

In a game in which the Kings never really played well, Saku Koivu was able to steal the game with a late 3rd period goal, and snag a win for the Anaheim Ducks with a 3rd-round shootout goal. For the second consecutive game, Koivu has recorded a game-tying goal late in the 3rd period. Anaheim, who now stands at 10th place in the Western Conference with 85 points, continue to hold on the their slim playoff hopes. The Kings remain at 7th place in the Western Conference with 95 points. Goaltender Jonathan Quick returned to the starting lineup with a solid performance; Stopping 32 of Anaheim’s 33 shots. Quick was a positive note to a Kings team that struggled tonight. This is a good sign, after Quick sat behind Jonathan Bernier for two consecutive games. Jack Johnson, who has been playing well lately, including a superb game Thursday against Vancouver, recorded the Kings only goal of the night. Below are my notes on tonight’s game:

– Solid effort from Ryan Smyth to contain a loose puck on a first period Kings power-play. Smyth, who was able to set his feet and control the puck inside the zone, fed an open Jack Johnson on the point, who released a one-timer that deflected off Anaheim’s Troy Bodie to beat goaltender Curtis McElhinney.
– I was impressed with Jonathan Quick‘s performance tonight. With two consecutive games on the bench behind Jonathan Bernier, Quick looked sharp. Able to get some rest and concentrate on practice time, it certainly showed as though it paid off. Quick has consistently showed his ability to rebound from sub-par performances, and he did so tonight; Even in a losing effort.
– With the Anaheim Ducks desperate for points as they try to maintain their stake in the Western Conference playoff race, Saku Koivu came up huge. Koivu buried a rebound while crashing the net after a shot of his own, tying the game late with only 1:32 remaining. Koivu clinched a Ducks victory beating Jonathan Quick up top to the right in the final round of the shoot-out.