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#Six

“Purple  days  daze”

The Kings broke ties with a chapter of the organization’s aesthetic history on March 19th, ditching the color scheme that’s emblazoned their uniforms since 1998, and the template they’ve donned since 2002.

Since November of 2009, when the current home uniform was introduced as an alternate sweater, the team has been slowly developing into making that modernized design their primary look. They did so officially prior to the start of the 2011-2012 season, introducing a white version to compliment a fully-clothed home and road set.

The purple and black crown hemline jerseys remained as the Kings’ third (alternate) uniform until March of this past season.

It was a two-day, two-game stretch at Staples Center against the Phoenix Coyotes that sent this rather unfortunate image of the franchise off forever.

The Kings even brewed together a huge sale for the affair.

Liquidation Station

Did you need that XXL white/purple blank away jersey that still has the folds from sitting in a box for four years, or that old ass thing that has Bailey’s picture on it?

That sale was a f*cking joke.

How do you fool willing minds into a store full of willing items?

A lot of new merchandise was sold that night.

On March 18th, the Kings beat the Coyotes 4-0, and the day after on March 19th, they beat Phoenix 3-2. Both times in purple, and the last time you’ll see it.

Here’s how they looked

Things couldn’t have looked better in local confines heading into the game that would see this organization say it’s farewell to a symbol and design that’s been a regular sight on home ice at Staples Center for so many years.

When the old brings in the new

Tyler Toffoli, who played his second career NHL game in the Kings’ purple crown hemline sweaters, recorded his first career NHL goal in the Kings’ now-defunct look.

One door closes while another opens.

Crowning Moment

Lighting that Fire

Drew Doughty would finally break his scoring drought on the Kings’ final night in the purple crown hemline sweaters on March 19th against the Phoenix Coyotes, tallying his first goal of the 2012-2013 season, and his first goal in 28 games.

Purple Attire

Bernt Out

First and Last

Jonathan Bernier started in the crease for the Kings’ final appearance in their purple crown hemline sweaters, making a whopping 40 saves against the Phoenix Coyotes on March 19th at Staples Center to fuel a 3-2 victory for the Kings.

September 29, 2007

Ironically so, Jonathan Bernier was the first Kings goaltender to start a game in purple crown hemline sweater, if we’re talking the Reebok Edge era style of uniforms. Bernier started the Kings’ opening game of the 2007-2008 season against the Anaheim Ducks during the 2007 NHL Premiere in London, England.

This was the first season the NHL adopted the current Reebok Edge uniform style, which changed many teams’ uniform templates, even if just slightly.

Jonathan Bernier, who’s appearances in a Kings uniform are most certainly few and far between, happened to be in the crease for the first and last struts of this unique hockey sweater.

Stoll and Out

Jarret Stoll is your last goal-scorer in this chapter of Kings aesthetics.

No uniform in the league looks better than that shot though. What a way to send ‘em off.

#TopTen

#TEN – “Lasorda snubs Johnson“

#NINE – “Kopitar’s got Wings“

#EIGHT - “Hats-Off for Carter“

#SEVEN - “Calgary for Two“

#SIX – “Retiring in Style”

We’re halfway there. And of course, the best is yet to come. Keep us company here at KingsCast for the final countdown of the Kings’ top moments of the 2012-2013 season.

Episode 204 KingsCast TV: LAK-CHI Game 5 WCF RECAP – HERE
2012 VS 2013: An EXCLUSIVE KingsCast TV Digital Short – HERE
Follow the blog on Twitter HERE
Get your Official KingsCast Apparel HERE
KingsCast Hockey Podcast on  —  Facebook  -  Twitter  -  Youtube

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#Seven

“Flame-out at Staples”

The Kings, like all NHL clubs, had quite the quirky schedule this past year due to the lockout-shortened season. The revamped 48-game schedule called for some odd dates, including consecutive contests against opposition in the same building, which you don’t see very often, if at all, during a regular 82-game schedule.

The Calgary Flames visited Los Angeles for back-to-back contests on March 9th and March 11th at Staples Center, and the Kings were as hot as the visiting club’s name – ousting the boys from Alberta, British Columbia in exquisitely decisive fashion in both games.

It was a sad final chapter for Jarome Iginla‘s 17 years in a Calgary Flames uniform, as the veteran superstar was dealt to the Pittsburgh Penguins prior to the NHL‘s trade-deadline on March 28th.

Prior to the two dates with the Flames, the Kings were already on fire, winning 8 of their last 9 contests at Staples Center, and 9 of their last 11 games overall.

They improved those numbers defiantly.

The Kings outscored the Calgary Flames 9-3 in the two contests, with goals coming from eight different players on the roster. Vyacheslav Voynov, in the midst of another marvelous season, led the Kings in points during the two-game set with four assists.

The assists were just as wide-spread as the scoring for the Kings, with eight different names registering at least one assist in the two-game set.

Voynov finds Lewis

Muzzin finds Stoll

In the Red-Light District

#TopTen

#TEN – “Lasorda snubs Johnson“

#NINE – “Kopitar’s got Wings“

#EIGHT - “Hats-Off for Carter“

#SEVEN - “Calgary for Two”

#SIX –

We’re staying in mid-season form here at KingsCast. Keep an eye out as we near the middle stages of the countdown of the Kings’ #TopTen moments of the 2012-2013 campaign.

Episode 204 KingsCast TV: LAK-CHI Game 5 WCF RECAP – HERE
2012 VS 2013: An EXCLUSIVE KingsCast TV Digital Short – HERE
Follow the blog on Twitter HERE
Get your Official KingsCast Apparel HERE
KingsCast Hockey Podcast on  —  Facebook  -  Twitter  -  Youtube

Well, it was a good run but in the end the Los Angeles Kings just couldn’t get it done against the Chicago Blackhawks. In this new episode we discuss Game 5 & why the Kings aren’t moving on, show a final Playoff Beard update, present our Stanley Cup Final picks, present a SeeYa! for the 2013 LA Kings and look ahead to a critical Off-Season. Thank you for all of your support! GO Kings!

Featured Music: “Burban, Herb, ‘n Turban” by One Eye Open and “Gameshow” by Suburban Rhythm.

It’s the team no one wanted to face. The bruised and battered LA Kings traveled to the United Center to face the Chicago Blackhawks in the Western Conference Finals. And, in typical Kings fashion, the team couldn’t get it done on the road. In this episode we talk about Games 1 and 2, address our Conference Finals picks, give a playoff beard update, present our Top 10 Things We Would Have Rather Done Than Watch Game 2 and we’ll preview Game 3 at Staples Center. Go Kings!

Featured Music: “Gameshow” by Suburban Rhythm, “Animal” by Tracy Jupiter and “Sumfin’ 4 Da Quincy” by One Eye Open.

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It was just as much an exhale as it was a scream of joy.

After getting pushed around for two games at HP Pavilion, and welcoming San Jose back into this Western Conference Semifinals series, the Kings shoved back.

They shoved back with authority, pushing the San Jose Sharks to the brink of elimination.

The Kings’ convincing 3-0 victory against the Sharks in Game 5 at Staples Center stopped San Jose’s surge before the Sharks could take control of the series. The Kings did so by taking control themselves. It was a matter of the Kings’ early efforts Thursday night, which not just settled the game’s pace into the Kings’ favor, but into their complete command as well.

*NEW KingsCast TV: Episode 199: LAK-SJS Game 5 WCSF RECAP

It’s about winning the small battles. If you can control the tempo in the simple facets of the game, the tide will flow in the direction best suited for you.

That’s what ultimately decides the big picture.

The “big picture” killed the Kings in Games 3 and 4 in San Jose at HP Pavilion. The mindset was altered after the Kings built a 2-0 lead in the series. Instead of concentrating on thorough play, the Kings concentrated on a win.

It’s play-by-play in the NHL‘s postseason. Every encounter on the ice matters.

Ever heard of it coming down to a bounce?

For the Kings, Game 5 was a bounce-back. For Anze Kopitar, it was a scoresheet comeback.

Eleven’s Bounce House

Seeing Red

Finding Red: The Kings undoubtedly played their best game of the Western Conference Semifinals in Game 5 Thursday night at Staples Center, and it was arguably their best performance of the entire postseason thus far.

The organization’s appointed leader, Dustin Brown, was demoted to Darryl Sutter‘s third line for Game 5. The team took notice, and the entire Kings’ roster shouldered leadership, with all cylinders clicking on every line, at every position.

Like mentioned before, it’s the small, simple battles that paint the big picture.

It’s when being stingy is the best thing.

Without Stoll’s Gold

Jarret Stoll‘s injury situation worsened on Saturday after the preliminary assumptions were a concussion to the Kings’ veteran, and all-important forward.

He skated with the Kings at Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo Saturday with harsh instructions to not be included in any contact-inducing drills or plays.

To call Stoll’s skate with the Kings on Saturday a “head game” would be too soon. Although, call it mentally stabilizing for Jarret Stoll and the Kings’ roster as a whole.

The mental game, this time, is huge.

The Kings’ faceoff-wizard, and special teams specialist Jarret Stoll is down with an apparent brain injury.

Strollsy Ain’t Here

And Vancouver Still Ain’t There

Man-Down and Gunning: The Kings, still without Jarret Stoll, finally upped the San Jose Sharks in the faceoff circle Thursday night, winning 37 of the 72 referee puck-drops in Game 5.

Physical was their name, their game. The Kings came out in full-force physically early and often, laying a foundation to the game that put the San Jose Sharks back on their heels, eliminating the Sharks’ intensity and confidence they had in Games 3 and 4 of the series at HP Pavilion.

It was rapid-fire for the Kings. It was all-day, all night, as the Kings more than doubled their hit-count against San Jose, laying the body 51 times to the Sharks’ 24.

Kings’ sticks were on fire, with Darryl Sutter‘s roster peppering San Jose Sharks‘ goaltender Antti Niemi with 29 shots in what was an extremely tight defensive battle. A detrimental theme was starting to grow before Thursday night’s contest, and that was San Jose’s ability to land more shots on net than the Kings, especially so in the 1st and 2nd periods of their contests this series.

They shut down San Jose’s powerplay in Game 5, which as we’ve discussed, is the Sharks’ Achilles heel if they can’t put the puck past the goal line in at least one man-advantage situation during a contest.

Both of the Kings’ losses in this series have come when they have surrendered a goal to the Sharks on the powerplay.

Voynov’s Key

The only thing more astounding than Vyacheslav Voynov‘s stat-line is himself.

Don’t Look At Me

Good god is #32 in true form right now.

History at HP

Sometimes you don’t play on the most hospitable sheet of ice.

The San Jose Sharks have played 28 games to-date on home ice at HP Pavilion this season. Number 29 comes Sunday evening against the Kings. San Jose has lost in regulation at home only twice this season.

If that isn’t a tough going, consider the Kings’ recent reputation in Northern California. It ain’t too swell. The Kings haven’t won a contest in regulation at HP Pavilion since December 27, 2010.

And to specify the setting’s meaning to the series’ trend, every single contest in this Western Conference Semifinals series has been won by the home team.

And all of that, at this point, means nothing.

It’s even sweeter when you do it on the road.

What you have to do, is act like it’s home.

Puck drops up North for Game 6 of the Western Conference Semifinals at HP Pavilion against the San Jose Sharks on Sunday evening at 5:00PM PST.

Episode 199 KingsCast TV: LAK-SJS Game 5 WCSF RECAP – HERE
Episode 198 KingsCast TV: LAK-SJS Game 3&4 WCSF RECAP – HERE
Follow the blog on Twitter HERE
Get your Official KingsCast Apparel HERE
KingsCast Hockey Podcast on  —  Facebook  -  Twitter  -  Youtube

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Warning signs are amidst.

Things have gone from comfortably controlled to ice cold.

Game 5, for the Kings, is about as close to “must win” as you can get without meaning it literally. If the Kings are to lose tonight at Staples Center, they head back to face the San Jose Sharks in Game 6 at HP Pavilion where the “must win” terminology will be as real and literal as it could possibly get.

The Sharks are undeniably phenomenal on home ice, they’ve lost only two games in regulation time in their home confines at HP Pavilion this season.

*NEW KingsCast TV: Episode 198: LAK-SJS Game 3&4 WCSF RECAP

The Kings, likewise, own their ice sheet. Downtown Los Angeles has been a brutal location for opposing NHL clubs this season. Aside from owning the best home record in the NHL throughout the regular season, the Kings have won all five of their postseason games at Staples Center this season, including both of the opening contests against the San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference Semifinals.

Let’s hope the trend continues, or else the Kings are in major trouble.

The word to describe it rhymes with ‘pucked’.

King Threat

Looking for an Answer

Domination Station: Although the Kings were only beat 2-1 in each of the last two contests on the road at HP Pavilion, they were outworked, outplayed, and thoroughly controlled by the San Jose Sharks in every facet of the game.

If the Kings don’t have Jonathan Quick in the crease, this series could be a lot uglier than it is right now.

In fact, it could already be over.

Quick has regained the stellar play that earned him the NHL‘s Conn Smythe Trophy last season, and has undoubtedly been the reason the Kings have been able to maintain pace with the San Jose Sharks thus far.

A goaltender, no matter how solid, can only save the team as a whole for so long. To compliment fantastic play from a goalie, the players in front of him need to return the favor by not allowing constant puck control in their own zone, and creating it on the other end – away from their own crease.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Needs it, deserves it: And that respect needs to come in the form of on-ice production. You can praise his play all you want through analysis, but it’s going to do nothing for the Kings’ overall success unless he’s a label of perfection of tonight.

And even for Jonathan Quick, that’s asking a lot in the NHL postseason, and against one of the league’s most lethal offensive tandems in the San Jose Sharks.

It begins at, well, the start of the game, where the Kings have been brutally lackadaisical the previous two contests. The Kings don’t need just early pressure on the Sharks, but an early goal. Against San Jose, your chances only get worse the longer you fail to score, the longer you play Russian Roulette with San Jose’s offensive-prone lineup.

Darryl Sutter needs to work a bit of lineup magic tonight, possibly juggling lines until the Kings show signs of their regular selves.

The Replacements

M.I.A: The Kings were granted quite possibly the most crucial aspect to finding success in the NHL playoffs last season, and that folks, is health. It hasn’t been the same story this season, the Kings heavily weakened on the defensive end without Willie Mitchell, and with a less-than fully productive Matt Greene.

The offense is hurting as well, which shows in the Kings poor offensive results in the previous two games of this series, tallying one goal in each of the past two contests at HP Pavilion.

Offense comes with controlling the puck. And controlling the puck comes from winning faceoffs. Without Jarret Stoll, who has been out with concussion-like syndromes since Game 1, the Kings have been absolutely dominated on referee puck-drops.

Faceoffs set the tone for the upcoming play. And quite frankly, puck possession will bode quite well for you. The Kings, without a doubt, need to win some pucks tonight at Staples Center.

Since Jarret Stoll went down after Raffi Torres‘ high hit in Game 1, the Sharks have gone 113-79 against the Kings in the faceoff circle. The Kings are sorely missing Stoll, their top player in the circle.

And it’s not in faceoffs alone, Jarret Stoll is a staple on the Kings special teams rotation, and the San Jose Sharks have executed in those situations the past two games.

The Sharks won their Western Conference Quarterfinals series against the Vancouver Canucks by getting rich on the man-advantage, scoring an astounding seven powerplay goals in four games. The Sharks have scored two powerplay goals on the Kings in the past two games, winning Game 3 in OT and taking an early lead in Game 4 on the man-advantage.

The only two losses for the Sharks this postseason have come when the Kings have shut down their powerplay.

It’s about staying out of the penalty box. It’s oh so crucial against this team.

Two’s Company

Bad Visit

The Skate of Shame

And those shuffles to the box could quickly lead to a much worse situation than a 2:00 minute personal sit-down with an off-ice official.

It could be the stride to the Kings’ elimination, and their summer.

Lineup Shuffle

Hot-Hand Needed: There are some pretty notable lineup changes heading into tonight’s Game 5 contest at Staples Center. Darryl Sutter hasn’t been receiving quality production from a few big names on this roster, namely the first line likes of Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown, who have been almost invisible on the offensive end.

Brown, who’s mixed in time in the penalty box along with his rather uncharacteristically struggling play, will be demoted to Darryl Sutter‘s third line tonight, playing alongside Dwight King and Trevor Lewis. However, he will be back at his normal position of Right Wing.

Swapping spots with Dustin Brown, and joining Anze Kopitar and Justin Williams on the Kings’ first line tonight will be Kyle Clifford, who, when not out with injury, has consistently been one of the biggest assets of energy and effort on this roster.

Clifford has a good Résumé against the San Jose Sharks, both during this past regular season, and the Kings’ matchup against the Sharks in the 2011 Western Conference Quarterfinals.

Clifford buried two goals against the Sharks at Staples Center on March 16th, and also found time to feed Douglas Murray his own teeth.

Change is good.

Catch ‘em From A Different Angle

But Hit ‘em Square

Lookin’ at You

You’ve gotta earn it.

Tonight’s contest is huge. The Kings, who look to get off the backs of their heels tonight, are facing a challenge unlike any they saw last series, or throughout the entirety of last year’s playoffs.

Tonight’s a test.

Puck drops in Downtown Los Angeles at Staples Center for Game 5 of the Western Conference Semifinals against the San Jose Sharks at 7:30PM PST.

Episode 198 KingsCast TV: LAK-SJS Game 3&4 WCSF RECAP – HERE
Episode 197 KingsCast TV: LAK-SJS Game 2 WCSF RECAP – HERE
Follow the blog on Twitter HERE
Get your Official KingsCast Apparel HERE
KingsCast Hockey Podcast on  —  Facebook  -  Twitter  -  Youtube

And like that, the series is tied. The Los Angeles Kings lose a difficult game on the road 2-1 to the San Jose Sharks to net the series at 2 games a piece. In this new episode, Keith makes his triumphant return as we breakdown Game 4, give a Playoff Beard update, present our Top Ten fun facts about San Jose, California and preview Game 5 at Staples Center. GO Kings!

Featured Songs: “Battlelines” and “The People” by Bella Novela and “Gameshow” by Suburban Rhythm.

The 2nd round of the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs has begun and the Kings start off strong with a shutout W. In this episode we breakdown Game 1 between the Los Angeles Kings and the San Jose Sharks, discuss the similarities and history between the 2 teams, give a Playoff Beard update and preview Game 2 at Staples Center. Go Kings! http://www.kingscast.net

The tide has turned! In a series momentum shift the Los Angeles Kings have taken a 3-2 lead after a tight OT win against the St. Louis Blues. In this episode, KingsCast blogger Alex Kinkopf co-hosts as we discuss Game 5, breakdown the scoring, goaltending & physicality of the series, present a Playoff Beard update, preview Game 6 and read the best post-win comments from Facebook. Close it out Kings!

Boom! The LA Kings storm back to take the game and even the series with the St. Louis Blues at 2 games a piece. In this new installment we breakdown Game 4, discuss the full team effort, give a Playoff Beard update and preview Game 5 in St. Louis. Go Kings!