All good things must come to an end. The Los Angeles Kings season came to a screeching halt on Sunday night to the 3rd seeded Vancouver Canucks. KingsCast breaks down the pivotal 6th game, says goodbye to Staples and closes out the Kings playoff run.

It took another overtime and a somewhat controversial penalty but the Los Angeles Kings have a win in the playoffs and the series with the Vancouver Canucks is looking like a hell of a series. Quick continues to play very well (despite one soft goal last night) and Fredrik Modin found his scoring touch getting a goal in the win. Watching the Kings rush the ice after Anze Kopitar’s overtime goal was a treat. Monday at Staples Center will be war.

With the 2010 Playoffs in full gear, the Los Angeles Kings continue their battle against the Vancouver Canucks in Game 2 of the series. KingsCast breaks down the game, captures the roller coaster of emotions from fans and celebrates something that hasn’t happened in 8 years, a playoff win.

With tonight’s loss to the Dallas Stars, the Kings have now fallen to the 7th seed in the Western Conference. With 90 points, the Kings are one point ahead of the 8th place Colorado Avalanche and one point behind of the 6th place Detroit Red Wings. There isn’t a whole lot of pressure coming from the 9th seed Calgary Flames, as the Kings are simply fighting for playoff stature. But what came from tonight’s loss? Nothing positive. A reassurance of LA’s cold offense and their struggling defense. Goals have been hard to come by lately for the Kings, and struggles in the net have begun to show. Do I dare blame Terry Murray? Yes. He’s absolutely butchered any of Ersberg’s confidence, and has over-played Jonathan Quick. Folks, it’s starting to show, and I knew it all along. If Erik Ersberg doesn’t get the call a couple of times before the post-season, it’s going to be a short playoff-outing for the Kings. How many times do I have to say it? A backup goalie in the playoffs is a huge factor. Terry Murray has killed any chance of this being a helper to the Kings come the playoffs. Enough with this, I could go on forever, and get quite angry. Here are my notes on tonight’s game.

Notes on the game:
– Let’s start this out on a positive note. As for the Kings only goal tonight, how many times have we seen this sequence? Drew Doughty to Anze Kopitar on the sideboards, a hard wrister on net for a Michal Handzus rebound goal? Music to my ears, eye candy. Beautiful goal, an unfortunate high-point to tonight’s game.
– The Stars came out with a vengeance in the 2nd period. Dallas was able to capitalize on 3 of their 9 shots in the period, setting their tone to the game. The carousel that was the Stars power-play began to run in full-force. With three second period power-play goals, and four overall, the Stars keyed in on a struggling Kings penalty-kill.
– Former King Brandon Segal had a couple of solid scoring chances tonight.
– The Dallas Stars earned their first victory in tonight’s Pacific Division season-series finale.
– Every goal was recorded on the power-play. Tough outing for the Kings, as they only capitalized on 1 of 7 power-play opportunites, and allowed 4 goals when a man-down.

The Playoff push is on! As the Los Angeles Kings battle for post-season positioning, we break down the Chicago and New York games, interview Philadelphia hockey fanatic John Morelli and present a new segment called “I’m Sorry…” QUESTION OF THE DAY; Where will the Kings finish?

If there is one team who’s had the Kings number the past two seasons, it is the Nashville Predators. With a 3-2 victory this afternoon at Staples Center, the Predators continue to own the Kings. For whatever reason, I don’t know. Los Angeles hasn’t been able to beat the Predators since March 13th of 2008; and lost to Nashville for the fifth consecutive time on home ice. The Kings came out of the gates slow, failing to record a shot before Steve Sullivan snuck home a bad-angle shot that slipped through the legs of Jonathan Quick. Los Angeles never seemed to catch their stride, getting out-shot each period, and often looking flat-footed in the defensive zone. The Kings scraped back to take a 2-1 third period lead, but lasted only 39 seconds only to see Colin Wilson tie the game. Justin Williams had a reviewable goal waived off by a questionable goaltender interference call. Speaking of which, you could argue Jonathan Quick was victim of interference on Nashville’s game-winning tally. Below are my notes on the game:

Notes on the game:
– On Nashville’s first goal, Randy Jones did everything right in defending Steve Sullivan. Jones forced Sullivan to the outside, making him have to release a shot from a low-percentage angle. Unfortunately, the puck slipped through the pads of Jonathan Quick, who had a shaky start.
– The powerplay continues its success as the Kings were able to capitalize on their only opportunity today. Drew Doughty utilized his control and presence with the puck when under pressure, and managed to not only get the puck down-low, but drag a couple of Nashville defenders with him. This cleared up space in the slot, which Michael Handzus took advantage of by feeding a wide open Anze Kopitar for the goal.
– Good job by Dustin Brown to walk the puck in from the side-boards forcing Pekka Rinne to move. Brown released mid-stride in the middle of the slot, catching Rinne off-guard.

The team is back in action and the LA Kings are surging into the playoffs. Tonight, Keith and Chris talk about the games up to now, enjoy the thoughts of the upcoming playoffs and say goodbye to Teddy Purcell. Enjoy!

Brad Richardson played like the Brad Richardson of last season when he coughed up the puck in overtime to seal it for the Chicago Blackhawks. It was a rough start for the Los Angeles Kings but they turned up the heat to take Chicago into Overtime. Not a bad game by any stretch and it was nice to grab a point. Your thoughts on the game?

Alex’s post-game blog here.

In what I knew was going to be a tough, but solid match-up for the Kings, the boys from Los Angeles certainly provided a quality performance; A game that had the thrilling intensity that some would relate to playoff-caliber. Two teams contested tonight; Teams with stability on both sides of the puck, and two teams who are built not only for now, but for the years ahead. The Kings were out-shot by a wide margin tonight, but produced 32 shots on Chicago goaltender Antti Niemi, not a number the Blackhawks allow very often.
The Chicago Blackhawks are tied for first in the Western Conference with the San Jose Sharks and are a favorite come the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Now, tonight was a big test for the Kings, and they proved they’re on the verge of becoming a playoff threat. On the road, in Chicago, where the NHL buzz revolves around two young hotshots known as Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, the Kings were one neutral zone turnover in OT from having the opportunity to beat one of the elite teams in the league. Below are my notes from the game:

- – -

Notes on the Game:
– On Chicago’s First Goal: I’m usually harsh on the Kings defensive play, but Chicago moved the puck down-low perfectly for their first tally. Patrick Kane and Adam Burish did a wonderful job of controlling the puck behind the goal line, ultimately finding Patrick Sharp for the goal. No blame on Kings defense here, kudos to the Blackhawks.
– On LA’s first Goal: Sean O’Donnell was the key to Dustin Brown‘s wrap-around marker, making it possible as he stepped up from the blue-line to keep the puck in offensive territory that had all intentions of clearing the zone.
On LA’s second Goal: Drew Doughty and Jarret Stoll work the puck on the blue-line beautifully to feed an open Anze Kopitar who rifled a gorgeous wrist shot to beat Antti Niemi on the power-play. Great puck control on the point with heavy pressure to construct a goal.
On Chicago’s second Goal: Matt Greene, on his back feet, failed to clear the puck, allowing Kris Versteeg to find the puck in front of the net, eventually capitalizing on his own rebound to tie the game.
On Chicago’s OT winner: Brad Richardson, who was defended well with control in the neutral zone, tried to make the best of it with a blind back-hand pass. A risky play in overtime, Dave Bolland cut off Richardon’s neutral zone pass and fed a wide-open Patrick Sharp who walked in alone on Jonathan Quick and ended the game beating a helpless Quick on the back-hand side.

Nearing the crucial games that will be documented as the “playoff-stretch”, I’m taking a look at each player on the Kings roster and evaluating them with a grade on their performance thus far. A roster that has worked together to post a 37-20-4 record (78 points) at 5th place in the Western Conference has to be doing something right, Right? Which players have contributed most? Which players have disappointed? In Part 3 of a 3-Part series, we’ll take a look at the forwards of the Los Angeles Kings. The Kings have tallied 185 goals so far, which ranks them 4th in the Western Conference and 6th in the NHL. The production from this offense has been a big contributor to the Kings success this season.

FORWARDS

DUSTIN BROWN #23
GRADE: B
SYNOPSIS: Dustin Brown has had a solid season for the Kings, bringing his high intensity, physical play whenever he’s on the ice. Brown has been impressive on the forecheck, utilizing his speed and strength to create offensive zone posession. With 15 goals and 27 assists, Brown has been a key contributor, but there are still some flaws. I like to see Brown make the dump & chase work for the Kings with his heavy pressure down low, but often find myself frustrated when he enters the zone with the puck. Too often Brown is fancy with the puck with his through the legs deke, and still has an issue with missing the net with his shots. Bottom Line: You can always count on Brown to make a presence physically, but he’s had issues with the puck. A couple of scoring droughts have lowered Brown’s point totals, but his leadership on and off the ice is crucial to the team.

ALEXANDER FROLOV #24
GRADE: C-
SYNOPSIS: I’ve been frustrated with Frolov’s play all season, which I see as having a lack of heart and intensity. Whether it’s giving up on the back-check, or skating circles without the puck, Frolov has been a huge disappointment. The guy has skill, and his 13 goals and 27 assists is sub-par for a player with his capability. Frolov has made plenty of bad decisions, namely his constant wrap-arounds, and has shown his inability to occupy the front of the net. Bottom Line: Frolov has been the center of trade rumors this year, and there’s still a chance he could be dealt after the Olympic break. Frolov, even with his lackluster style of play, has the ability to create points for the Kings as they stride toward the playoffs.

MICHAL HANDZUS #26
GRADE: B+
SYNOPSIS: Handzus, with 33 points this season, has been a solid contributor up front for the Kings. Not a flashy forward, but extremely versatile. Handzus has shown he is capable of winning face-offs, scoring from the top of the circles, and creating traffic in front of the net. #26 is a veteran who can center a wide variety of wingers. Handzus’ smart play has worked well with the various line combinations Terry Murray has drawn up. Bottom Line: An essential part of the Kings offense, Handzus rarely makes costly mistakes. Whether it’s his puck control down low, his body in front of the net, or his shot selection from the top of the circles, his intelligence on the ice meshes well with his line-mates.

RAITIS IVANANS #41
GRADE: C-
SYNOPSIS: Ivanans is on the roster for one reason; To be the enforcer. If there’s a player who’s going to drop the gloves, look to Raitis. Even though it’s not his function on the ice, Ivanans has yet to record a point, which is troubling at 54 games played. My main problem with his play is the stupid retaliation I’ve seen from him this season. I have no problem with him dancing when necessary, but it’s been a recurring instance where Ivanans takes a revenge penalty that hurts the team. Bottom Line: Ivanans has a spot on the roster to have the back of his skilled teammates. #41 needs to be a little smarter when choosing to stick up for his team, and make sure he isn’t a burden to their success.

ANZE KOPITAR #11
GRADE: A-
SYNOPSIS: Kopitar had a stunning start to the season, even leading the NHL in points for a period of time. The hot start was quickly crushed with a lengthy stretch of games where Kopitar failed to produce. However, he regrouped to again become an offensive force for the Kings. I believe his slump was in part to pushing too hard. #11 never stopped working, but just couldn’t catch a break. He never left his game, but over-did it at times. Once he was able to settle down, and had healthy surroundings, he’s become the vastly improved player we saw at the start of the season. Bottom Line: Kopitar’s skill has been coupled with his revamped strength this season to create a player who is on the verge of being a superstar. A long stretch into the playoffs will only help Kopitar’s process of maturing and growing into an elite NHL player.

OSCAR MOLLER #9
GRADE: B
SYNOPSIS: I, for one, didn’t expect much out of the young Swede this season. I figured Moller would get shut-down because of his size. Yes, I judged, but you can’t deny that was the story last season. Now, he hasn’t been putting up the points, but he’s not afraid to go into corners and fight for the puck. I like to relate him to a mosquito. Small, but extremely bothersome. Moller uses his speed to disrupt the opposition. Does he always win the battles? No. But he distracts the flow of his counterparts. Bottom Line: Moller is annoying to the opposition. He doesn’t scare them, he bothers them. This is what allows him to create turnovers down-low utilizing his small stature and quick feet.

TEDDY PURCELL #54
GRADE: D+
SYNOPSIS: Late decisions, and bad ones. That can describe Purcell’s season so far. Teddy had a semi-promising ending to last season, but has completely flopped this year. 3 goals and 3 assist through 41 games, Purcell has been awful. There hasn’t been one positive to his play. At times he looks lost, and at other times he just looks bad. Bad passes, bad shot selection, poor puck control down-low, I’ll stop now. Bottom Line: I’ve just about given up hope with Purcell. Will he be a factor down the stretch? I don’t think so. A part of me wants to have some faith in him, but there’s been no reason to build it.

BRAD RICHARDSON #15
GRADE: B+
SYNOPSIS: Boy, talk about an impressive player coming from nowhere. Richardson, who was pointless for a long stretch at the start of the season, began to blossom into a key forward. The guy just works hard. Always hard on the forecheck and backcheck, Richardson works for his points. He’s provided a spark to the offense with his work ethic, and has earned every single one of his 21 points. Bottom Line: A young winger like Richardson who takes pride in hustle, he can create big plays for the Kings down the line. No question he’ll be a factor in plenty of games, and his intensity will be a great fit come playoff time.

WAYNE SIMMONDS #17
GRADE: A
SYNOPSIS: There’s no question Simmonds play has led him to become a fan favorite. A forward who mixes in a bit of everything when on the ice, he has posted 35 points. Simmonds physical play on the forecheck and ability to fight make him even more of a threat. His speed allows him to beat the opposition to the puck. His long, fluid stride helps as well. Bottom Line: In only his second season, Simmonds has been a huge surprise. A player who is still developing, only expect to get more results from Simmonds for the rest of the season and beyond.

RYAN SMYTH #94
GRADE: A
SYNOPSIS: Smyth is hands-down the best off-season acquisition for the Kings. He’s had such a big impact on the team both on and off of the ice. Smyth has managed to tally 19 goals and 19 assists even being out for over a month. His presence in front of the net is a key factor on the PP. Knowing where to be on the ice at all times, Smyth makes his line-mates better. He gives his teammates confidence when putting the puck on net or down low, knowing Smyth will be scrapping for possession or a deflection. Bottom Line: There’s no doubt Smyth will be an important factor down the stretch. Not only is his play crucial to the team, but his experience as well. Smyth went to the Stanley Cup Finals with Edmonton in 2006.

JARRET STOLL
GRADE: B-
SYNOPSIS: Stoll has fought back from numerous injuries this season to put together a solid overall performance. With 12 goals and 23 assists, Stoll has backed up his success in the face-off circle with production in the offensive zone. A key part of the PP, Stoll moves to the blue-line because of his shot. You have to be impressed with the embattled forward fighting through injuries and still bringing a strong performance to the ice. Bottom Line: Stoll’s biggest contributions to the team will be face-offs in the O-Zone and to continue to pose a threat from the blue-line on the PP.

The Los Angeles Kings closed out February with a nice win over the Colorado Avalanche and some of the team can enjoy a nice break during the Olympics. In this episode we talk about the Kings play going into the Olympic break as well as the game against the Avs. Question of the Day: What LA King will have the biggest impact on their Olympic Roster?

Well, streaks are made to be broken. On a tough road game against the streaking-at-home Anaheim Ducks, the Kings went ahead first on a goal by Oscar Moller and proceeded to fall behind 3-1 before eventually losing 4-2, ending their franchise best winning streak at 9 games. Anze Kopitar scored his 27th goal of the season and the Kings lost their first game of the year against the Ducks. Next up, the lowly Oilers visit Staples Center.

With a winning streak of 9 games in a row, there’s plenty to celebrate in LA Kings nation. Together with special guest Alex Kinkopf of ‘Dancing in the Reign,’ we cover the Saturday game against Detroit, discuss missing pieces and present a brand new Fan of the Game. Our question to you, Where does Jonathan Quick rank amongst all time Kings goaltenders?

Gann Matsuda continues his interview with Dean Lombardi and talks a little goaltending. via Frozen Royalty

Is Anze Kopitar an elite player? via View From My Seats

Everybody’s favorite LA Kings reporter has an open forum. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 & Part 7. Part 7. via LA Kings Insider

Was Don Waddell in New Jersey to talk with Dean Lombardi or just to scout opponents? via Jewels From the Crown

Breakdown of the Kings/Ducks game on Thursday night. via Jewels from the Crown

The one blog whose game day previews actually crack me up. via Battle of California

A lot of talk going on about Anze Kopitar. Is Kopi’s “resurgence” the reason why we’re in a really good place right now? via NHL.com

Who do you trust when it comes to the rumor mill? via Jewels from the Crown

Your favorite vloggers are back in action talking about the latest in Kings hockey. via KingsCast

The LA Kings are on fire. In this episode we talk about the Kings 8-game win streak, give our thoughts on the game against the Anaheim Ducks, interview a guy who didn’t have an NHL team to cheer for and discuss the Devils trade for Ilya Kovalchuk. Question of the Day: Who should the Los Angeles Kings trade for at the deadline?

John T. Meyer’s PickMyNHLTeam.com

If I told you at the beginning of the season that the Los Angeles Kings would have 71 points just 56 games in you would have laughed, right? Last night at Staples Center the Kings increased their winning streak to 7 as they took down the Sean Avery and the New York Rangers. Kopitar had a clutch shorty and Smyth had a great goal off of a nice play by Brown. Enjoy the vid!

Matt Reitz, Editor at Large for View From My Seats recently asked me if Anze Kopitar is an elite player in his recent blog. Click the link to join the discussion.

Is Anze Kopitar an Elite Player?

Do you think he’s an elite player?

That’s right, folks, the Los Angeles Kings are on fire with a nice 5-game winning streak going on. The Kings were in Boston to face the Bruins again and Jonathan Quick one again showed up fellow Team USA Olympian Tim Thomas. Anze Kopitar continues his point tear, also getting a goal in the shootout. The Kings are now in 5th in the Western Conference with 67 points. Nice!

Another 4PM game to screw with my work schedule but, as always, I found a way to take this game in. Despite some excellent first period pressure by the Columbus Blue Jackets, the LA Kings got it together and out-worked them. Anze Kopitar got his 100th career goal and the Kings are now on a four game win streak.

The game happened a few days ago but the video highlights are still fresh. It’s rare that we get a come-from-behind victory against the Detroit Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena. But that’s just what happened to the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday. What a night by Anze Kopitar and, wait for it, Peter Harrold!

Well, it’s not like a top team in the league was in town last night but the Los Angeles Kings still managed to look like an unorganized beer league team. Jonathan Quick like Jason LaBarbera last night letting in four softies. Sure, the Kings managed to make some what of a game out of it by staging a late-game almost-comeback but, in typical 2008-2009 LA Kings fashion, they circle the bullseye and miss it completely. Enjoy the vid!

Desperately clinging onto a playoff spot, the Los Angeles Kings battle the surging and usually dominant Detroit Red Wings at Staples Center. A sellout crowd of Red vs. Black provides the suspense and timing…is everything. Question of the Day: Who has the worst fans in the NHL?

Jon Moncrief of the Los Angeles Kings Examiner stops by to talk Kings hockey. Tune in as he gives us an exclusive inside perspective on Frolov, Kopitar, Smyth, possible trades, team needs and much more. Great interview from a passionate and knowledgeable hockey journalist.

Read Jon Moncrief here.

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?

The Los Angeles Kings, enter the new decade with a 2 game winning streak and an Olympic sized boost of confidence. KingsCast, attends the game, has a run-in with Alexander Ovechkin and wreaks havoc at the Celebrities vs Alumni Game. So far 2010, so good! Question of the Day: Who is your favorite hockey player?

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 joins us again to break down the upcoming month of Kings Hockey.

January presents the Los Angeles Kings with 14 games; and, with a look at the schedule, the results will play a large factor in the outcome of the season as 9 games feature Western Conference opponents. Staples Center will play host to eight of the fourteen contests, a great opportunity for the Kings to take advantage of home ice. The Kings currently stand at 3rd in the Pacific and 8th in the Western Conference with 49 points.

Ovie and the Washington Capitals welcome 2010:
Los Angeles will kick off the new year as host to a team that sits in 2nd place in the Eastern Conference. A tough opponent indeed, but all of the pieces are in place for a victory to inject a boost of momentum into this young, injury bugged club. Washington, led by Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom are coming off of losses to Carolina and San Jose. Expect the guys to come out hard in front of a home crowd in an effort to shut down the poster-boy of the NHL and start 2010, and more importantly, this month right.

Seven Game Home-stand:
Starting on the 7th against Detroit and ending on the 21st against Buffalo, the Kings have their longest home-stand of the season. A wonderful opportunity for the team to get back on their feet in the comfort of their home building. However, the opponents don’t provide Kings fans much comfort. We see the Western Conference leading Sharks twice, a Red Wings team that is close in the rear-view mirror standings-wise, and a team in Buffalo who is holding their own with a 3rd spot in the Eastern.

Five Game Road Trip:
This month ends with five consecutive matchups on the road. Tough opponents yet again including Detroit, Boston, and the Eastern leading New Jersey Devils with a couple of no-excuses stops in Toronto and Columbus against a couple of struggling teams.

Saturated with San Jose (left):
Arguably the most important three games the month of January has to offer for Los Angeles. Twice at home, once at the Pavilion, the Kings will be meeting a surging division-foe that is suddenly 10 points ahead of the Kings in the standings as well as current leaders of the Pacific Division and Western Conference. If Los Angeles wants to pose any threat as Pacific Division champs, two of these games must be regulation victories.

Erik Ersberg:
I’d like to see Erik Ersberg get a couple of starts in January, and expect him to get the call. As I mentioned in my last post, I think a key part to building his comfort and confidence is to put him in goal in front of the home crowd. Terry Murray was quoted as saying “Quick gives us the best chance to win at home” earlier in the year. That may be true, but I’m not completely on board with his statement. I could harp on this forever but here’s how I see it: Quick is a 2nd year goalie tied for the league lead in starts. Fatigue is bound to set in at some point, he’s tabbed to play in the Olympics (as a backup), and it’s vital to keep your starting goalie fresh. This may not be an issue to some, but developing your backup goaltender, and keeping your 1st stringer fresh throughout the season can eventually.. well, save your season.

Final Thoughts:
Jarret Stoll’s return from a groin injury is much anticipated, especially in the face-off circle. Will this be the month we find a winger who can mesh nicely with Kopitar and Smyth? I expect the Brown experiment to last a few more games to see how things work out. Purcell as their line-mate looks all but finished. I don’t expect Lombardi to make a trade in the near future to replace Williams’ absence, rather as a trade-deadline deal if the transaction is plausible. There’s no question we’re struggling to find a working option, but more time is needed to find the guy who can step up, and Dustin Brown may be that guy.

How do you Kings fans feel about the possibility of a trade to fill Williams’ hole? Sooner or later? Any possible transactions floating through your heads? Let’s hear it!

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!

The Los Angeles Kings are on an 8-day break so we take the time to spread some holiday cheer. In this episode we show you some Christmas cards we received from players on the Kings, talk about the team’s performance and announce our give away on December 28th. Question of the Day: What gift do you give the Kings fan in your life?

What can I say, folks, we’re on a lot of mailing lists. And this year we received a few Christmas cards from some of the players on the Los Angeles Kings. That’s right, Teddy Purcell, Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty, Wayne Simmonds and Justin Williams thought of us during the holiday season. We thought we’d spread the holiday cheer they sent us with you. Those of you that saw our Holiday Spectacular video and asked for stills of the cards, here you go. Enjoy!

Teddy Purcell sent us this:

Justin Williams sent us this:

Anze Kopitar sent us this:

Wayne Simmonds sent us this:

Finally, Drew Doughty sent us this:

Sweet gestures from these players. Which is your favorite?

Disclaimer: These holiday cards were not actually sent by players but are representations created solely by KingsCast. (Duh)

With the holiday season upon us, the Kings have given fans the gift of consistent winning…and bonus hockey. Even while battling the injury bug, the team continues to climb the standings into uncharted waters. If you could give a gift to your favorite Kings player, what would it be?

LOS ANGELES — If you’ve been telling your friends, family, or anyone else that you thought the Los Angeles Kings would be ten games above the .500 mark in mid-December, in fourth place in the Western Conference, just two points out of the conference lead, and just three points behind the Washington Capitals for the best record in the National Hockey League as of this writing, rest assured that you will find a big lump of coal in your stocking courtesy of Santa Claus this holiday season.

After all, liars never wind up on Santa’s “good” list.

To be sure, no one in their right mind would have predicted that the Kings would be right up there with the top teams in the NHL in mid-December, let alone when the season began in October. But improved offensive production, decent defense and better-than-passable goaltending have helped lift the Kings into the upper echelon of the NHL…

…for the time being.

Indeed, about four months remain in the regular season and so much could still happen to this still young, still inexperienced team. But focusing on the present, consider the following:

* The Kings have won three straight and are 6-0-1 in their last seven games.
* They are 16-3-3 when scoring first and 14-0-0 when leading after two periods.
* They are 8-1-1 vs. Pacific Division and are 10-1-3 in one-goal games.
* Six of the Kings’ last seven games have been one-goal games and they won all six of those games.

If those numbers jump out at you in a big way, they should. They point to a team that is finding a way to win on most nights.

Secondary scoring has been a big reason for the Kings’ recent success.

Read the rest on Gann Matsuda’s Frozen Royalty

When the Kings decide to start Erik Ersberg against the San Jose Sharks, we never expect to compete, much less win. However, the Los Angeles Kings exceeded expectations last night as they delivered a win in overtime at the Shark Tank. Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown and Teddy Purcell all broke their goal-less streaks last night. Did any of you expect this?

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.

While Kopitar’s points have trailed off into oblivion, secondary scoring has kicked into high gear. Here we’ll break down the games and make some observations about FSN’s TV advertising. Question of the Day: if you got a new jersey for Christmas, what player would be on the back?

The Los Angeles Kings are now 5-3-1 without Ryan Smyth and they had a good game tonight. Rob Scuderi was back and you could tell his presence was missed. Jonathan Quick had another strong game and the Kings secondary scoring kept things going.

Despite powering their way through to a shootout, the Los Angeles Kings were not playing good afternoon hockey (again). Brad Richardson continues on his goal-scoring tear with his third goal in three games. Scott Parse also added to the tally while Kopitar and Brown remain scoreless. Oscar Moller has just been called up. What does that mean for Teddy Purcell?

You know it’s a weird game when Brad Richardson scores and Anze Kopitar doesn’t. The Los Angeles Kings hosted the Ottawa Senators at a half-full Staples Center last night and it was a bizarre see-saw game right until the end. While it was nice to see some goals, it was a sloppy game by both teams. Check out the highlights!

Connie’s post-game blog.

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!

It was great to see the Los Angeles Kings pick up a win tonight against another top team in the NHL. The Chicago Blackhawks were home tonight and, yes, I’ll say it: Jonathan Quick stood on his head. Wayne Simmonds got the goal for the Kings and things weren’t decided until the shootout. With a sellout crowd watching, the Kings showed that they can win without Ryan Smyth if they get stellar goaltending. They got just that.

When the Los Angeles Kings take on the Edmonton Oilers, KingsCast drops the gloves with The Hockey Zen to break down the game and give our take on the season-long rivalry. Who wins this bet and by how many games?

The Los Angeles Kings have finally been bitten by the injury bug….and they’ve been bitten badly. Losing Ryan Smyth for a month will be a huge test for this young team. Take a listen as Keith and Connie break down the latest and greatest of what’s new with the LA Kings.

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.

The Kings return to Los Angeles after a decent 3-2 road trip, lose a couple of top players to injury and are battle tested against an Eastern Conference power. How is this team going to respond to its first taste of adversity?

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.

After the worst game of the season against the Atlanta Thrashers, the Los Angeles Kings won tonight’s game against the Lightning in a shootout. The winning goal in overtime by Tampa Bay was disallowed due to goalie interference. It was quite controversial. What’s your take on it?

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.

Another snoozer from your Los Angeles Kings last night in Chicago. The Kings looked flat against Jonathan Toews and the Chicago Blackhawks. Jonathan Quick let in a very soft goal to start the game but the Kings couldn’t recover. Anze Kopitar notched his 14th of the season. We’d love to report more but KingsCast has DirecTV and, thus, no Versus.

Knocking off the defending Stanley Cup champions is such a good feeling! Losing to the lowly Nashville Predators is not. We take you through these games, interview PsychoHockeyLady and anoint one rabid ‘Fan of the Game.’ If you’re Coach Murray, what do you do what that 4th line?

In this episode we’ll discuss the new mentality of the Kings fan, talk about Kings assistant athletic trainer Joe Caliguiri’s recent dismissal, take a glance around the 09/10 season of the NHL, and we’ll also take your questions from Twitter and Facebook. Remember, folks: it’s quality, not quantity!

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.

The Los Angeles Kings are playing great hockey right now and that was not more evident than last night’s 4 goal third period against Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins. Anze Kopitar had two great goals last night and the team got some help from secondary scoring. Great game!

Post game audio interviews courtesy of Frozen Royalty

It was a rough start for the Los Angeles Kings in Phoenix last night. But Coyotes goaltender Jason LaBarbera does what he does best and let in a string of goals allowing the Kings to easily breeze by Phoenix. Los Angeles welcomed back Justin Williams to the lineup and he notched a goal. In addition, the top line had a goal from Kopitar and two from Ryan Smyth. How sick is this line?

While the offense tapered off in the last two games, the Los Angeles Kings squeezed out a couple of points in overtime to remain at the top of the Pacific Division. Here we take you through “Canada Night” at Staples Center and give some in-game Kings analysis.

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!

The Los Angeles Kings are on a tear through the Western Conference and Anze Kopitar leads the NHL in scoring. Are these LA Kings for real?

The Los Angeles Kings have extended their win streak to four as they steamrolled the Columbus Blue Jackets last night at Staples Center. Anze Kopitar expanded his NHL scoring lead over Alexander Ovechkin by 4 points. Check the vid for highlights!

Post game interviews by Gann Matsuda on Frozen Royalty

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?

LOS ANGELES — Going into the 2009-10 season, one of the keys to the success for the Los Angeles Kings was that their core players must be better than last season, especially center Anze Kopitar.

Although the Kings are just eleven games into the season, to say that Kopitar has shown improvement would be like saying ice is cold.

To coin a phrase, oh what a difference a year makes.

Kopitar has melted the ice to start the season, scoring eight goals while contributing eleven assists for nineteen points in the team’s first eleven games.

To say that is a far cry from how he started the 2008-09 season would be, once again, stating the obvious.

Last season, Kopitar got off to a slow start, scoring a goal and adding six assists for seven points in the Kings’ first eleven games. He did not record his nineteenth point until December 5, 2008, in a 5-4 shootout loss to the Edmonton Oilers. Six days later, he finally scored his eighth goal of the season, in a 6-2 win over the St. Louis Blues.

Not only has Kopitar totally eclipsed his start to the 2008-09 season, through games played on October 25, 2009, Kopitar leads the National Hockey League in scoring.

Yes, you read that correctly. There is no need to rub your eyes, clean your eyeglasses or get your vision checked.

Kopitar’s early scoring tear has him ranked ahead of the likes of Washington Capitals superstar Alexander Ovechkin (nine goals, eight assists for seventeen points) and San Jose Sharks center Joe Thornton (three goals, thirteen assists for sixteen points).

Kopitar is also tied for second in goal scoring and is all alone in second place in assists.

Read the rest at Gann Matsuda’s Frozen Royalty

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.

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.

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!

The Los Angeles Kings took the ice at Nassau Coliseum this morning at 11AM for a little Columbus Day hockey. The Islanders were looking good and sustaining pressure but the Kings came out on top getting goals from Anze Kopitar (tied for 1st in the NHL for points) and Drew Doughty. The LA Kings are now tied for 1st in the NHL. Enjoy it!

The penalty kill might need work but these Los Angeles Kings have found a way to score in bunches. In this episode we walk you through the game against the Wild and talk about where the Kings need to improve.

It was another great night to be at Staples Center for Los Angeles Kings fans. The Minnesota Wild looked weak coming out of the gate and the Kings capitalized quick. The LA Kings penalty kill still remains an issue but lack of scoring sure isn’t. Take a look courtesy of Kings Vision!

LOS ANGELES — Although their penalty-killing continues to leave a lot to be desired, the Los Angeles Kings are riding high on the backs of their top line.

In three games to start the new season, the line of Anze Kopitar, Ryan Smyth and Justin Williams has combined for seven goals and eleven assists for eighteen points, and they were hot once again on Thursday night, leading the Kings to a 6-3 victory over the Minnesota Wild at Staples Center.

The Kings took a 3-0 lead on goals by Smyth, Williams and Kopitar, and all that came before the game was eleven minutes old.

But penalty-killing continued to be a problem, as the Kings allowed two power play goals in the second period and at that point, had allowed six consecutive power play goals, including the four power play goals they allowed on four power play chances against the San Jose Sharks on October 6, a 6-4 victory for the Kings.

The Kings did manage to finally kill off a couple of penalties to break the streak, and then sealed the win with a goal by Teddy Purcell and another goal by Smyth.

NOTES: Kopitar (goal, two assists), Smyth (two goals, assist) and Williams (goal, two assists) combined for nine points in the game and for eighteen points in their first three games (see above); Kopitar has scored three goals and has tallied five assists for eight points in the three games. Last season, it took Kopitar twelve games to record eight points; the Kings have had ten different players scoring their fifteen goals over the three games; the last time the Kings scored six goals in back-to-back games was November 11, 1997 (8-2 vs. Vancouver) and November 13, 1997 (6-3 vs. San Jose); the last time the Kings started a season 2-1-0 was in 2006-07; Kings defenseman Rob Scuderi, a member of the 2008-09 Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins, received his Stanley Cup ring after the game from Penguins minority owner Ron Burkle. Kings President/Business Operations Luc Robitaille was also present.

Read the rest on Gann Matsuda’s Frozen Royalty

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.

LOS ANGELES — After a worse-than-dismal performance from start to finish on Saturday night in an embarrassing 6-3 loss to the Phoenix Coyotes, the Los Angeles Kings blew a four-goal lead on Tuesday night and were headed for a second disaster in a row. But thanks to a bad angle goal by winger Teddy Purcell, they managed to hold off the class of the Pacific Division, the San Jose Sharks, in a 6-4 victory.

Kings center Anze Kopitar led the way for the Kings with a goal and two assists, while defenseman Davis Drewiske scored his first National Hockey League goal and added an assist. Center Michal Handzus contributed two assists.

After taking a 4-0 lead past the midway point of the second period, the Kings collapsed, allowing four straight power play goals, the tying goal scored by Sharks forward Dany Heatley at 14:24 of the third period.

But just 26 seconds later, Purcell got the puck in the right corner of the Sharks zone and wristed it towards the net. The puck snuck in between the pads of San Jose backup goaltender Thomas Greiss, who replaced starter Evgeni Nabokov at 12:16 of the second period after he allowed the Kings’ fourth goal of the game, a long wrist shot by Kopitar from high in the right circle, a shot Nabokov should have stopped easily.

Drewiske’s empty-net goal at 18:41 of the third period gave the Kings their final margin of victory.

NOTES: Kopitar’s two goals and three assist for five points in the first two games; the line of Kopitar, Ryan Smyth and Justin Williams has scored three goals with six assists for nine points in the two games; Defenseman Drew Doughty bounced back after playing the worst game of his young NHL career against Phoenix on Saturday. Against the Sharks, Doughty contributed an assist and earned a +3 plus/minus rating after recording a -2 rating on Saturday; Jarret Stoll won eleven out of fourteen face-offs (78.6%), but the rest of the Kings’ centers were awful in the face-off circle. Handzus won 30.4% of his face-offs, Kopitar won 35.4% and Brad Richardson won only 33.3% of his face-offs; Smyth has eighteen goals in 49 games against the Sharks.

Post game audio courtesy of Frozen Royalty

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.

The puck has dropped on the 09-10 NHL season. In this episode we returned to Staples Center to watch the Los Angeles Kings take on the Phoenix Coyotes. It was a very tough game. Where do we go from here?

Gann Matsuda is back with his regular post-game audio interviews. Definitely worth a listen (unless you don’t want to re-live last night’s massacre).

LOS ANGELES — One of the questions making its way through the Bob Miller Press Box at Staples Center on Saturday night was:

Which team is bankrupt and has no owner again?

Indeed, although the Phoenix Coyotes are owner-less and are in the midst of bankruptcy, it was the Los Angeles Kings who played like they were the bankrupt team in an embarrassing 6-3 opening night loss that was played before a sell-out crowd of 18,118 disappointed fans who booed the Kings off the ice at Staples Center.

The one positive was the Kings’ power play, which ended the game with three goals on four power play opportunities.

But that is where the positives ended, as the Kings were absolutely atrocious in five-on-five play and especially in their own zone, where they resembled the Keystone Kops more than a National Hockey League team.

On a separate note, there were some new faces in the press box on Saturday night, including Mark Medina, who writes for the Los Angeles Times. Virtually all of you read Rich Hammond’s work, now on LAKings.com and LAKingsinsider.com…but instead of his usual, informal but still appropriate-for-work attire, he looked rather snazzy as he followed the NHL dress code for team employees…he was wearing a suit. Of course, we had to poke some fun at him…also in the press box was Los Angeles media blogger extraordinaire, Kevin Roderick, publisher of LAObserved.com. You can read his thoughts about the game in his piece, Saturday Night At Staples Center.

For post game audio, visit Frozen Royalty

Kudos to “Kingsfan28″ for putting together this awesome YouTube video to kick off the 2009-2010 Los Angeles Kings hockey season. It’s time to drop the puck!

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.

Frozen Fury is a pre-season mecca for Los Angeles Kings fans in Las Vegas. As the Kings take on the Colorado Avalanche, Keith and Chris look at the game, and the fan experience. In this episode we introduce a new segment we call Fan of the Game. Part 1 of 3 in our Frozen Fury “Vegas Trilogy” series.

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.

The Los Angeles Kings just debuted their new commercial to kick off the 2009 hockey season. I must say, we are impressed. The Kings were criticized by many fans (including us) for their slogan of the “Only Reason We’re Here”. However, after watching this commercial, we are now reversing our opinion. This is pretty sweet!

There are some seriously talented individuals out there who can make last year’s Los Angeles Kings look like Stanley Cup champions. Who’s ready for some hockey?

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.

This is a heck of a video for the Los Angeles Kings fan. This organization is brewing. Expect big things from the LA Kings next year!

Remember this little gem from last season? The Los Angeles Kings really went out on a limb with this commercial featuring Jack Johnson, Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar. I get what they were going for. They just failed…miserably.

The brand new original series, brought to you by KingsCast, profiles the devoted, sometimes crazy world of Los Angeles Kings fans. In this inaugural installment, Keith and Chris travel down to Orange County to check out the insane hockey memorabilia collection of an LA Kings super-fan.

INTERVIEW WITH DEAN LOMBARDI: In Part 4 of this series based on an interview with Los Angeles Kings President/General Manager Dean Lombardi, he talks about what he believes is the biggest way his team can improve as well as the challenges and decisions he faces when it comes to the free agent market. Be sure to check out parts 1 and 3 right here on Frozen Royalty. You can also read part 2 on HockeyTalk. The fifth and final installment of this series will be published on Friday here on Frozen Royalty.

EL SEGUNDO, CA — Since the end of the 2008-09 season for the Los Angeles Kings, a common message coming from both Head Coach Terry Murray and President/General Manager Dean Lombardi was that their young players needed to get in the gym this summer to become stronger and to be in top physical shape by the time training camp begins.

Further, both said that this was the most important way for the Kings to improve, above all else.

In an interview on June 13, Lombardi said that he is starting to see signs of that happening, as more players have stayed in the Los Angeles area to train together. But Lombardi added that his young players still have a ways to go and he pointed to his best player as one who needs to set an example.

“When I see a lot of these kids, but in particular [center Anze Kopitar’s] case, you talk about a culture, we have a lot of work to do in terms of our best players learning to prepare in the off-season, learning how to prepare as pros physically and mentally,” Lombardi stressed. “And you can’t be prepared mentally if you haven’t prepared physically because if you show up in training camp ready to go, it means you have taxed yourself mentally and challenged yourself to get to the next level.”

Read the rest on Frozen Royalty

The Kings have a pretty empty fictitious trophy case. Watching the NHL Awards Show last Thursday in Las Vegas had me thinking. When was the last time the Kings actually won one of these and why does it seem like we are still so far out of this echelon of elite players/teams? Not that the Kings haven’t won any trophies. Except for the Presidents, Vezina, Selke, Conn Smythe, Jennings, Jack Adams and that Stanley Cup one, the Kings have picked up some hardware at the top NHL Level. It’s just, it’s only happened 5 or fewer times in any category. For a team that’s been around for 43 years, frequently had top draft picks and in certain era’s of management, spent money for top talent…you’d expect a list of trophies won to look more extensive then a grocery list. It’s depressing actually. 1 Calder, 1 Hart, 1 Norris, 1 King Clancy, 1 Campbell Bowl. In 43 Years. Throw in 2 Lester B. Pearsons, 3 Mastertons, 3 Lester Patricks (Yes!), 4 Art Ross’,  with 5 Lady Byngs and there you go for the major awards and trophies. Again, that’s in 43 years. The last trophy for the Kings? 11 years ago in 97-98, Rob Blake won the Norris. Wow. Oh and special thanks to Wayne Gretzky, Marcel Dionne, Butch Goring and Dave Taylor for receiving a majority of those.

The Kings need some trophies. At least a Calder Trophy. Come on, when you’re rebuilding there’s nothing more assuring than one of your Rookies winning a Calder. Maybe a Jack Adams trophy? The “Coach Who Leads the Young Team into Contention.” That’d be good. How about a Hart? Could you see a Kopitar, a Brown, maybe a Frolov walk up to the podium and receiving one of those big, heavy-looking, slightly strange Hart trophies? Ah, dare to dream. That era where the Kings are the team to beat, the Kings players are award winning studs and it’s the Kings having raging pool parties at former players mansions with a half submerged Stanley Cup. Someday, I hope. Right now this team doesn’t even feel like it’s playing in the same league as the Penguins, the Wings, and/or the Russian Superstars garnering world-wide attention. Someday. After 43 years…it’s time.

As for a reality check: with the Lakers raising yet another Championship banner up into the Staples Center rafters, does this mean they’re finally going to just go ahead and merge the Kings and Sparks sections? They’re at about the same relevancy: the Kings have their 1 Division Title, their 1 Conference Title and the 5 Retired Numbers. It kinda makes sense. However, the Sparks have actually won a couple Championships. Ouch.

After a solid month of watching the playoffs yet again from the outside looking in, we decided it was time for another installment. In this episode we discuss the upcoming draft, talk about the top prospects, break down the goalie pipeline, look at what might happen this summer and say our goodbyes. So, soak it all up Kings Nation, KingsCast is hear to inform and pontificate, yet again.

In this episode we analyze the games up to now, talk about the Kings March Madness promotion and give a little update on our Manchester Monarchs.

Dubbed the “Miracle on Chick Hearn” by KingsCast, this was one of the best comebacks we’ve seen by the Los Angeles Kings in quite some time. Watch as LA completely dismantles the Dallas Stars.