For the first time in eight years, the playoffs are back at Staples Center and the Los Angeles Kings defeated the Vancouver Canucks in an action-packed game. Here, Keith and Chris talk about the atmosphere at Staples Center and re-cap game three of the playoff series. Question of the Day: Do we continue to bench Justin Williams for the series?

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.

That’s right, folks, the season ain’t over..yet. The Los Angeles Kings, for the first time in eight years (and four years of the show) have finally made the playoffs. In this episode we talk about the upcoming matchup with the Vancouver Canucks, give our ideas for fan giveaways and take your questions from Twitter and Facebook. So settle back and listen to the hockey talk!

With the (regular) season coming to a close, the Los Angeles Kings battle for Playoff positioning for the first time since 2002. KingsCast celebrates the post-season berth, discusses goaltending, roster issues and gives props to all the fans. Question of the Day; What players jerseys should we buy for the playoffs?

Rough one at Staples Center tonight. A potential matchup between the Los Angeles Kings and the Phoenix Coyotes ended badly in the shootout. Jonathan Quick was “fine” but he didn’t carry the Kings on his back tonight. Adding insult to injury, Jason LaBarbara took Phoenix the distance into the shootout. The Kings got a point so it looks like we’ll end up fifth or sixth in the playoffs. How would this game be different in a 5-on-5 in the playoffs?

What an ugly game last night. Randy Jones, Sean O’Donnell and Jonathan Quick were absolutely awful. It took a period and a half but the Kings remembered how to play hockey again. Erik Ersberg was outstanding in overtime and Dustin Brown showed why he wears the “C”. For the first time since the lockout, the Los Angeles Kings are in the playoffs and the Anaheim Ducks are not.

Keith and Chris are back talking LA Kings hockey. In this episode we take you back to 2005-2006 to experience our agony of what it’s like to barely miss the playoffs. We also introduce a brand new segment entitled “If I Were…” and talk a little goaltending. Question of the Day: Who Should be the Backup Goaltender Going into the Playoffs?

Gann Matsuda of Frozen Royalty, like most Los Angeles Kings fans, media, etc is pissed. This team isn’t giving the effort they should be. Check out his latest commentary with some great quotes (by Dustin Brown, especially.

LOS ANGELES — Given that the Los Angeles Kings are just 4-6-3 since the Olympic break and have put in mostly poor efforts since that time, one can imagine what an advertisement in the Lost and Found section of the local newspapers might look like:

LOST: Intensity, effort, urgency, enthusiasm. If found, please contact the Los Angeles Kings immediately.

Although their malaise began before the Olympic break, the two-week hiatus killed any momentum the Kings had going into the stretch drive for the playoffs.

“I think it was the break,” head coach Terry Murray lamented. “To me, it’s mental. This is an attitude game at this time of the year. Twenty percent talent, eighty percent attitude, and I think our attitude slipped over the break.”

Murray added that his team is not the only one suffering from this affliction.

“It’s around the league, it’s not just the LA Kings,” he said. “You’re seeing some teams taking a step back from where they were pre-Olympics. As a result, you get into these critical games and you don’t know how to shut’em down.”

Of course, some teams have been hit harder than others by the lag after the Olympics. Nevertheless, the Kings are right up there with those hit the hardest, and, to make matters worse, goaltender Jonathan Quick, who has been the Kings’ best player in many games this season, has been mostly mediocre since the break.

Although Quick represented the United States during the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, he was their third goaltender and got no quality practice time in before jumping right back into the fray with the Kings.

In short, he was rusty upon his return to National Hockey League action and has not regained top form, despite what his 2.38 goals-against average and .910 save percentage since the Kings returned to action would seem to indicate. Indeed, what is more revealing is that Quick has had five games since the break in which his save percentage dipped well under the .900 mark.

But just as significant, if not more so, has been the lack of intensity and enthusiasm from the skaters in front of him.

Read the rest on Frozen Royalty.

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.

St. Louis managed to maintain their slim playoff chances tonight with a victory over the Kings. The Kings, who have now lost two consecutive affairs, have fallen to the 6th spot in the Western Conference standings. Did the Kings play poorly tonight? Far from it. Are they continuing to struggle on the offensive end? Yes, and you can sum up tonight’s loss on that. The Kings failed to make a statement with the multiple special teams opportunities, only capitalizing on one of seven power-plays; which happened to come off of a St. Louis turnover. Jonathan Quick, coming off of a terrible outing in Colorado, played decent. The defense in front of Quick wasn’t great, and when coupled with a cold offense, you get a turnout such as we saw tonight. With 9 games to go in the regular season, and a playoff spot almost solidified, these final games are crucial to get this team back on track. As for tonight, not the type of performance playoff hockey welcomes. Below are my notes on the game:

Notes on the game:
– Davis Drewiske needs to make sure that puck stays in the zone, or on his stick for that matter. When you’re the last guy in, all intentions to keep the puck inside the zone must be upheld. Tough break here, as B.J. Crombeen was able to beat Jonathan Quick on a 2 on 1.
– The Kings power-play, especially in the 1st period, failed tonight. With almost six minutes of time on the man-advantage, and fourteen overall, you need to take advantage. Good teams do this, the Kings have showed they can, but not tonight. Some kinks need to be worked out during these final 9 games.
– Speaking of special teams, good job by Dustin Brown to jump on a Barrett Jackman turnover, and release a quick shot from in-close to beat St. Louis goaltender Chris Mason.
– Two of St. Louis’ goals came off of rebounds in front of Jonathan Quick. Were both necessarily to fault on Kings defensemen? Not completely, but better coverage in front of the crease is needed when shots are put on net.
– With the Calgary Flames losing to the New York Islanders tonight, the Kings magic number is now 10.

The Los Angeles Kings and Colorado Avalanche are continuing to make a good case why they should play each other in the playoffs: it’d be goddamn exciting. It didn’t start well as Jonathan Quick was pulled (yes, Terry Murray, sometimes Quicker needs a rest). Erik Ersberg played well until the shootout. The Kings now have 90 points with 10 games remaining.

Don’t panic now, but the Kings are starting to flirt with the edge of the cliff that is a top 8 seeding in the Western Conference. Now only 6 points ahead of the 9th place Calgary Flames, the Kings are tied with the Nashville Predators in points (85) and have fallen to 6th place in the Western. Tonight’s performance can be summed up in one word. Abysmal. The Chicago Blackhawks dominated with a roster missing key players in Defensmen Brent Seabrook, Brian Campbell and goaltender Cristobal Huet. The Kings put forth an embarrassing effort offensively, getting out-shot 37-17, and only managing 3 shots in the 2nd period. Tonight, the Kings had the opportunity to take advantage of a Blackhawks roster that was missing two of their top defensemen. That was not the case. Instead, a lowly display was put forth that included 3 Chicago goals via two horrendous turnovers (on goals 1 and 3) and a softy (on Chicago’s 2nd goal) on questionable positioning from Jonathan Quick. Yes, what may seem like an easy opponent in the New York Islanders, who sit at 13th in the Eastern Conference, come to town Saturday night; But not so fast. The boys from Staten Island are riding a 3 game winning streak. This roster needs to do some soul searching until then, and get serious about getting back on track. Below are my notes on tonight’s game:

Notes on the game:
– Can anything positive come out of tonight’s performance? Unseemingly so, as the Kings managed to kill off all 5 of Chicago’s power-play opportunities. The special teams have continued to perform well. The Kings have now had success on 19 consecutive penalty kills. However, Chicago managed to stay out of the penalty box tonight, not allowing a surging Kings power-play any opportunity.
– Chicago capitalized on two Kings turnovers tonight. Jordan Hendry stepped up on Dustin Brown, causing him to cough up the puck in the neutral zone. Great transition play, keyed by Patrick Kane beating Rob Scuderi to the outside, ended in a garbage goal finished off by Troy Brouwer.
– Jack Johnson‘s clearing attempt in front of Jonathan Quick failed miserably. Instead of looking to clear the puck to the sideboards, Johnson fed the puck up the middle to a wide-open Tomas Kopecky, who beat Quick thereafter. Give Johnson the assist on that one.
– Can’t put the blame on Jonathan Quick for this loss, but you certainly can on Chicago’s second tally. Sean O’Donnell played his man correctly, forcing him to the outside, but Tomas Kopecky beat Jonathan Quick on a quick wrister. I don’t know how, I don’t know why. NHL goaltenders need to stop that shot, especially from that angle.
– For the first time in almost 6 years, the Chicago Blackhawks came out victorious at Staples Center in regulation. Prior to tonight’s game, the Kings were 7-0-3 as hosts to Chicago in the previous six seasons.

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 Kings skated into Dallas Friday night to face an aggressive Stars team that is fighting to cling to any hopes of a playoff berth. Tonight’s affair was pretty evenly matched throughout; With both teams producing solid play on both ends of the ice, and solid goaltending from both Jonathan Bernier and Marty Turco. Shots (27) and goals (1) were even at the end of regulation, and lasted into a 6-round shootout to see Jarret Stoll claim the extra point for the Kings. Jonathan Bernier, who started in place of an absent Jonathan Quick, played an outstanding game, and was able to hold his own after allowing a 3rd period goal to Dallas. Bernier, a highly touted prospect, backed up that claim tonight; But will be reassigned to the Manchester Monarchs of the American Hockey League as Jonathan Quick re-joins the Kings. Newly acquired Fedrik Modin continues his resurgence with the LA’s only regulation goal, on a nifty re-direction that beat Dallas’ Marty Turco on a first period power-play. Below are my notes on tonight’s game:

Notes on the game:
– Great recovery on Dustin Brown‘s part to chase down a muffed pass from Alexander Frolov. Not only was he successful in retaining offensive zone presence, but slowed down, walked the puck in, and put a shot on net. Not a howitzer, but the right idea, which led to a goal.
– Fredrik Modin had an impressive game, yet again. With three solid scoring chances, he capitalized on one. His finest attributes are controlling the puck down low, and using his body in front of the net. Tonight, he did just that; Re-directing Dustin Brown‘s shot to beat Marty Turco.
– On Dallas’ 3rd period marker, Richard Clune and Jeff Halpern got caught chasing, and staring at the puck up top. Dallas capitalized on the over-committed Kings players high in the zone, eventually finding Brendan Morrow open on the back-door to beat Jonathan Bernier.
– After tonight, I’d like to see Peter Harrold take some playing time from Randy Jones. Jones had an awful game. Too many times Jones stood still with the puck, allowing defenders to close passing lanes, and shutting down offensive flow. His play in the corners has been terrible as well, concentrating more on the pressure from the oncoming hit, than making a play on the puck. This isn’t anything new with Jones, who has had Kings fans pulling out their hair with play like this on a regular basis.
– Jonathan Bernier‘s performance was quite spectacular tonight. However, I’m disappointed in Terry Murray‘s decision to sit Erik Ersberg. I felt it was a slap in the face to the current back-up goaltender, one who will be dressing come the playoffs. This has nothing to do with who I think is a better goalie, but how to manage a player who can become the team’s backbone in an instant; in the playoffs. I think it’s safe to say Bernier will be on the Kings roster come next season.

Your thoughts on the game? What did you think of tonight’s 2-1 victory? Impressed with Bernier? Frustrated with Jones? Let me hear your thoughts in the comments section below.

Leading up to tomorrow night’s match-up against the Division-foe Dallas Stars, the Kings face a big question in net. With Jonathan Quick staying in Los Angeles to be at his wife’s side as they deliver their first baby, Jonathan Bernier has been called up from the Manchester Monarchs of the American Hockey League. Which goalie should start; Erik Ersberg or Jonathan Bernier, immediately turned into a hot topic, and Terry Murray has an important decision to make. With every point being crucial as the Kings are in full-stride of a playoff stretch, Murray has to start the goalie who gives us the best chance to win. Do I think the popularity of a hyped prospect in Jonathan Bernier has swayed away from this frame of mind? Yes. Do I think Bernier has the capability to grab 2 points in Dallas? Yes. Do I think he should start tomorrow night? No. And in fact, I’m in very strong favor of Erik Ersberg. Let me explain my thoughts on why Ersberg should get the start.

Why Ersberg Should Get The Call:
Erik Ersberg will be on the Kings bench come the playoffs, Jonathan Bernier won’t. That, right there, is huge to me. Teams that expect to make a run for the Stanley Cup need a back-up goaltender they can trust. Now, Ersberg hasn’t played great, but the opportunites have come few and far between. Let’s not get into stats, because quite frankly those should be thrown out the door regarding this argument. Ersberg needs a couple more starts, some live-action, something to shake off the rust; loosen the nerves. Quick has been great, but goalies can hit a wall come post-season. The fatigue starts to set in, and playing the same opponent consecutive games can be difficult for a goalie to handle. Bottom line is, the Kings, and Terry Murray, should start to realize Ersberg needs to be a viable option down the road. And what better way than tomorrow night? If he loses? Well, I still think it’s the correct decision. Look folks, this is THIS SEASON, the Kings are striding toward the playoffs, and Erik Ersberg is THE back-up goalie. Save the Bernier – Ersberg competition for training camp. Right now, it’s time to test Ersberg; Give the guy a start, and look to build his confidence.

Who do you think should be between the pipes for the Kings tomorrow night? I’d love to hear your thoughts, disagreements, and opinions on the decision at hand in the comments section below.

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.

With the Olympic break finally over, the playoff push for the LA Kings begins. In this new installment; how the Olympics experience impacts the players, trade deadline fodder, exclusive coverage of the Stars game from Dallas correspondent Chris Bond and a special “international” shoutout.

The Vancouver Olympics are winding down and the Hockey medal race is in full swing. We take a look at the historic USA vs Canada game, present our game viewing experience and discuss this years hockey rules. Question of the Day: Who is the MVP of Mens Hockey at the Olympics so far?

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 1 of a 3-Part series, we’ll take a look at the goaltenders of the Los Angeles Kings. With 166 goals allowed, the Kings stand at 8th in the Western Conference, and 12th in the entire NHL.

GOALTENDERS

#32 JONATHAN QUICK

GRADE: A+

A great way to start off this whole rating process, huh? Makes me look like an easy grader, but let’s be honest; would it be fair to mark Quicker any lower? In his second full season in the league, Quick has already started 55 games. What Fatigue? Quick is 1st in the NHL in goals allowed (139) and Victories (35). He has proven time and time again this season that he has the ability to perform at an elite level on a consistent basis. What I’ve been most impressed with? Quick’s poise. We’ve seen a few sloppy starts from him this season, but how he reacts to these slow starts is striking. Plenty of times Quick has made remarkable saves that have changed the momentum of a game, and that is huge for the players in front of him. The team has confidence in his play, and the Kings know they can be more aggressive offensively after falling behind because of having a goalie who knows how to regroup & compose. Bottom Line: Quick is a young goalie who has validated himself in having the traits of being a prestigious goaltender. With a young roster, it is key to have a persistent leader in net to spread confidence, and ultimately, success.

#31 ERIK ERSBERG

Grade: C-
With Jonathan Quick having such a stellar season, Erik Ersberg hasn’t seen a lot of ice-time. Ersberg has faced action in only 8 games so far, allowing 20 goals. You have to realize, though, Erberg’s situation isn’t very easy. He has been called upon rarely this year, which gives him no groove to work with. His starts often come so far apart, he’s rusty in terms of live-play. The reality of the situation is that a backup goalie needs to take full advantage of the few opportunities he has, and Ersberg has not done that. He has been average at best, but I’m marking him just below. This year, the Kings haven’t developed a confidence in Ersberg. You could argue that he hasn’t seen enough ice, and you could argue that Terry Murray is relying too heavily on Quick. But, how can you blame the guy? So, it’s tough to grade Ersberg, but an NHL back-up needs to be ready to provide stability in net whenever called on, no matter how infrequently. Bottom Line: Erik Ersberg will have a few more appearances this season; And one, if not more will be important games. Back-up goalies can be the difference late in the season, can Ersberg step up?

Part II: “Dancing in the Reign” on Kingscast.net will be pulling out the grade-book on Kings defensemen on the next installment on Kings Grade Reports. What would you grade King’s goaltenders so far? Please post comments downstairs!

With the 2010 Vancouver Olympic games in full effect, we take a look at Team Canada & Team USA’s chances at Olympic gold as well as what Los Angeles Kings will make an impact on their respective teams. Question of the Day: Which Olympic teams get the gold, silver and bronze?

The Los Angeles Kings had a very nice send-off for the Olympians on the Colorado Avalanche and the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday. In total, the two teams are sending eight players to Vancouver (five for Los Angeles, three for Colorado). With the exception of Salei (playing for Belarus), the other seven player all have a shot at medaling. Enjoy the video!

LOS ANGELES — With the 2010 Olympic Winter Games now in full swing, the hockey world is now focused on Vancouver and, more specifically, on the men’s Olympic hockey tournament beginning today.

Five Los Angeles Kings players are in Vancouver, including right wing Dustin Brown (United States), defenseman Drew Doughty (Canada), center Michal Handzus (Slovakia), defenseman Jack Johnson and goaltender Jonathan Quick (USA), and they are chomping at the bit, raring to go.

“I couldn’t wait for it to happen,” Doughty said about the Olympic tournament. “It’s been in the back of my mind even though my main focus is the Kings. I can’t wait to get to Vancouver and get the games going.”

Speaking of being unable to wait, Johnson left the Kings with permission on February 12 to participate in the Opening Ceremonies.

Even though the Kings had played the night before and had another game on February 13, Johnson was not going to miss the Opening Ceremonies—he wanted the full Olympic experience.

“It’s the opening ceremony of the Winter Games,” Johnson exclaimed. “It’s a no-brainer. I had the opportunity, so why waste it? It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If I’m fortunate enough to play in the next one, it’s in Russia. I can’t just go over and back.”

Johnson not only walked into Vancouver’s BC Place with the US Olympic Team during the Parade Of Nations, but he also got the opportunity to meet his teammates in other sports and bond with them.

“Last night, when we gathered up all the athletes, we didn’t know each other, we didn’t even know what sport each other played,” he explained. “But, instantly, you’ve got that bond and connection because you’re all representing the USA.”

“It was the coolest experience I’ve ever had in my life, it’s something I’ll never forget. It was something that meant a lot to me to get the full Olympic experience.”

Read the rest on Frozen Royalty.

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?

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

When the LA Kings play the Anaheim Ducks, you know it’s going to be a spirited game. In this episode we break down the game, give some thoughts on the fan atmosphere and crown a new Fan of the Game. Question of the Day: What would you re-name the Kings/Ducks rivalry to?

The Freeway Faceoff was on tonight at Staples Center as the slumping Los Angeles Kings took on the surging Anaheim Ducks. The Kings started this game out 9th in the Western Conference and finished the game strongly. Jonathan Quick earned his first shutout of the season. Both teams played very physical. After a big hit on Oscar Moller, Drew Doughty and Brad Richardson dropped the gloves showing why this year’s Kings team has some character. Enjoy the highlights!

The Holidays come to a close, the Kings are back in action and the injuries never stop mounting. That’s right, it’s the Los Angeles Kings. Here’s hoping the team can dig deep and figure out a way to win. Question of the Day: To help cope with the Williams injury, who would you trade and for what?

The Los Angeles Kings have played two games since Christmas and have zero points to show for it. They’ve lost to the Phoenix Coyotes (3-2) and Minnesota Wild (4-3); both were one-goal games and both were heart breakers. The Kings had a 6-on-3 to end the game against Phoenix with a flurry of pucks at Ilya Bryzgalov but the clock wound to 0:00 and my adrenaline died. The game last night against the Wild was played at a pace that I wish the Kings could maintain at all times. Alas, they were outmatched in the last few minutes of regulation as the Wild shut the door on them.

Drew Doughty showed up by attacking the offensive zone for a goal that the team desperately needed. The Kings have been taking one too many passes for their own good. (Scott Parse, when you’re in the slot with the puck, take the goddamn shot!) So I say “thank you” to Doughty for getting his behind to the net and putting the Kings on the scoreboard. The goal by Parse to tie the game at 3 apiece was great, except for the fact that Eric Belanger slapped them in the face 12 seconds later. The Wild got their go-ahead goal and gained two more points.

(LAKings.com)

You can’t deny the effort and drive is there for the Kings to get as far up the standing as possible. At the same time, they’re meeting teams just as hungry as them, which makes for high-paced drama at every turn. They could have been floundering at the bottom of the standings like in the past few seasons, but they’re fighting every game and I can’t fault them there. I think they’re doing as well as they can while trying to stem the injury floodgates at the same time.

How do I feel about Teddy Purcell being on the top line? I’d call it a work in progress. Having Justin Williams out of the lineup is bad, but losing him to a broken leg is worse than people realize. He was the solid player on the top line while Anze Kopitar was struggling to find his game after Ryan Smyth left the lineup. Now that Smyth is back and Williams is out, we’ll all be sitting on our hands waiting for Terry Murray’s next move. I’m not sure how this is all going to shake out, but check back in for more thoughts and opinions about this topic.

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Michal Handzus has been names to the Slovakian team for the Olympics. Awesome. I’m looking forward to whom from the Kings is named to Team Canada and the US team.

Really? The Los Angeles Kings are still the best team in the Western Conference? Without Ryan Smyth, Wayne Simmonds and Jarret Stoll? Jonathan Quick was awesome tonight and the Kings got some excellent secondary scoring. Hey, even Sean O’Donnell had a goal tonight. Jack Johnson went down with an ankle injury tonight. How soon can our 8-game break come? Exactly!

Read Connie’s post-game blog.

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?

So I’m starting to get sick and can’t focus for long stretches, thus I will keep this short and sweet. We all love bullet points, correct?

• The Los Angeles Kings gain another two points over the Phoenix Coyotes in a 3-2 shootout victory on Thursday night. As of this morning, the Kings are a mere two points shy of the Pacific Division-leading San Jose Sharks. The Kings play the Dallas Stars tonight and another victory will bring the sort of happiness to the hearts of Kings fans that is not very often felt.
• Oscar Moller scored his first goal of the season on the sweetest shot over Ilya Bryzgalov’s left shoulder. Just to illustrate how awesome Moller is, he wasn’t on the ice for more than 7 minutes the entire game! 6:49 to be exact.
• Jack Johnson‘s goal from the high slot was almost a heart breaker, but he got the lucky bounce back right to him to get his third of the season (once again) over Bryzgalov’s left shoulder.
• In the longest shootout in Kings history, only two Kings scored while Jonathan Quick was the wall on the other side of the rink.
• I must admit, Alexander Frolov is making himself noticed on the first line creating his own chances and grinding it out, but I will also say that the first line lacks the spark from the beginning of the season. I think everyone sees that, but there’s no mistaking this current first line can notch some points.
• This has to have been the most exciting game against the Coyotes in recent memory. I wasn’t bored in the first 10 minutes of the game and it was a nail biter to the end.

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.

We love it when you send us email and love on the social networks. But, we love it even more when we can rip off your material that you send us. Christian Mora from the University of Texas – Arlington chimes in once again with some great analysis. This time, in addition to his spreadsheet, he has some graphs. You can follow Christian on Twitter. What do you think of his analysis?

Here’s the latest spreadsheet. Looking at the games 17-24 was ugly. We scored 15 goals. We gave up 28 (7 of which was on a night I’d rather not remember). To try and look at the bright side/big picture, we are still on pace for making the playoffs, although just by the thinnest of margins. I included some graphs because hey, who doesn’t like pictures? If you notice I also added 3 more tabs.

Our 5on5 ratio came back down to earth and is at .94. The 2 percentage point decline on the PP dropped us down 8 ranks to 18th overall. Fortunately our PK is ever so slowly climbing its way out of the gutter at 76.7%.

Explanation: In order to make all of the graphs look a lot nicer in terms of rankings 30th equates to NHL best and 1st equates to the worst

As you guys touched upon in Episode 4 of the podcast, Jonathan Quick’s win column continues to spit in the face of a mediocre goals against and a poor save percentage. What I really want to know is how the King’s 2nd best shots against of 26.6/G factors in to everything. To me, it could mean a few things. Either the defense is doing a really good job of blocking shots and taking away shooting lanes or Quick is just not that good. OR we do great in most of the game but break down a couple of times and give up really juicy scoring chances which other teams pounce upon much to our disappointment. Here are a couple of games that highlight my question:

11/18 vs Philly: 3 goals on 20 shots. Loss.
11/7 vs Nashville: 3 goals on 25 shots. Loss.
11/2 vs Phoenix: 3 goals on 16 shots. Win.

I know Quick played really well last night against Chicago and that’s kick-ass, but we need that kind of goaltending a lot more consistently if we want to last. Personally I think he needs to play less often. All of the people ahead of him in the win column have played fewer minutes. Brodeur has played 3 fewer games and I feel those are all important rest days. And I know a lot of people say that we can’t ease up on Quick because we don’t have much confidence in Ersberg but playing him once every month doesn’t exactly boost his bravado.

Scoring has also been extremely sparse. 13 goals the past 8 games dating back from last night. I don’t what needs to happen to get those pucks in the net but I hope it happens soon. We can’t wait on Smyth to come back and fix everything.

Hopefully the big win against a scary good team in the Blackhawks will serve as a momentum builder as the dog days of December embark upon us.

As usual, questions and comments are greatly appreciated!

Go Kings – screw Anaheim.

In another back-to-back the Los Angeles Kings win one and drop the other over the American Thanksgiving holiday. On Wednesday they won against the Edmonton Oilers (3-1) but lost to the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday (4-1).

Since this weekend has altered my schedule a bit, I’m going to go back to the quick bullet-point style that I find so useful on this type of occasion. I hope everyone has had a great 4-day weekend because I definitely have.

• Matt Greene got his first goal of the season, which was also the game-winning goal against the Oilers. It was a pass out to the point and a lob to the goalmouth that beat Jeff Deslauriers over his shoulder.
• The Andrei Loktionov experiment halted to a standstill with a dislocated shoulder at the end of the game against the Oilers, which is completely unfortunate for him and the team.
• Thank you, Patrick O’Sullivan.
• The Kings were atrocious in the faceoff circle at 42% and 38%, respectively. A certain number 28 needs to get back in the lineup ASAP.
• I’ve actually liked Teddy Purcell‘s play in these two games on the top line. He’s not the greatest replacement but I think he’ll be an adequate stand-in while not adding too much in terms of offensive production. It’s a shame Terry Murray is changing it up again by putting Alexander Frolov back on the left wing.
• Michael Handzus took out Ales Hemsky and he is now out for the rest of the season with shoulder surgery.
• The other rookie experiment of Brayden Schenn took only one game as well. He was signed to a one-game contract and will not be returning to the lineup for tonight’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks.
• The Vancouver Canucks presented a much harder challenge to the Kings than the Oilers on Thursday and they fell 4 to 1. Roberto Loungo was the wall for the Canucks and Jonathan Quick was playing well until the third period with a collapse of three goals against. The last goal was by Kyle Wellwood who is such a great player he hit the post before scoring in the empty net. Great job, guy.
• The player of these two games was definitely Wayne Simmonds. He had the most jump of everyone and was the only to get a goal in both games.

That’s all I got, folks. Thanks for stopping by. I truely appreciate it! Also, please check out the new episode of KingsCast titled Injury Bugged.

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.

The Los Angeles Kings faced the Carolina Hurricanes in the second game of this 5-game road trip. They broke a 2-game losing streak by tweaking the lineup a touch and facing a team on its own 12-game losing streak. The 5-2 victory over the Canes was indicative of the latter’s play, which looked beyond rough and the Kings exploded out of the gate with a great first period. Ryan Smyth did his job getting his 9th goal of the season in front of the net, and that’s basically the bottom line. He’s playing his role to a T and I have zero criticism going his way. Jarret Stoll‘s goal was a bit odd in that I’m not sure he could do it again if he tried. It seemed to be 90% luck and 10% skill. Either way it put the Kings up 2-0 and Randy Jones got his first point as a King. He then went and got his first goal in the third while looking very comfortable in the line up. I’m very pleased with this whole situation of Jones and am hoping it turns out to be a Kyle Quincey-like occurrence.

Of course Anze Kopitar had another good game. He didn’t notch a goal last night but did get two assists, so thumbs up to him and keep it going! Another roster tweak was that Erik Ersberg got his second start of the season with Jonathan Quick sitting on the bench. Ersberg got the solid win, and yes, he let in two “interesting” goals but I’d rather he shake off any in-game rust against Carolina than any other team right now.

As a team, the Kings had a great first period, began to falter in the second, but were able to finish in definite fashion in the third. Manny Legace was Carolina’s best player of the night and gave his team as many chances as he could to get back into the game. Unfortunately, the deal was essentially sealed after Wayne Simmond‘s goal in the middle of the third period and Justin Williams capped of the night with an empty netter.

This was a good win for the Kings, which they will continue through the Southeast Division, but there was one slight blemish on the stats sheet from this game. Teddy Purcell. 4:02 of ice time and a -1. I’m in no way angry about how he has completely disappeared the farther into the season they go; rather, disappointment accompanied by raised eyebrows comes across my face every game when I look at his play. His production is almost nil and I’m not sure how much longer he’ll stay up with the team. Maybe he needs to be sent back to Manchester for a stint?

On the other side of this NHL/AHL coin, Scott Parse is making a point. He only had 11:44 of TOI but you noticed when he was on the ice. His spark on the forecheck is very noticeable and he’s slowly earning his ice time from the coaching staff every game. Parse is how one should make an NHL showing when you’re leading the AHL team in points. I’m not saying Purcell won’t get there, but for now, he seems to have been pushed to the background for a bit while the rest of the team continues to sort itself out.

We certainly appreciate all the email, tweets, etc that we get here at KingsCast. They’re all meaningful. However, Christian Mora of the University of Texas, has been writing us lately and giving the Los Angeles Kings performance by the numbers. Christian is in the Computer Science and Engineering field and compiled the following for our enjoyment. It was unfair of us not to share it with you. This is as of three days ago (November 7). Thanks, Christian!

Kingscast,

I am a computer science major with a minor in math. I love watching numbers and trends as the season goes by (being a fantasy junkie also helps). Going into this season, I think the Kings need 96 points to ensure the playoffs – usually a 7th or 8th seed. I have made a spreadsheet which breaks down the season into 10 separate 8 game chunks (with 2 chunks having an extra game).

The results of the next 10% of the season are in. The numbers really speak for the success of the team. Compared to the first 8 games, we have increased our scoring by one goal per game and reduced our goals allowed by an even larger margin. Most importantly, the Kings are now on pace to make the playoffs! Here are some other quick comparisons:

5on5 play 1st 8 games: T-16th
5on5 play next 8 games: 3rd

PP 1st 8 games: 15th
PP next 8 games: T-9th

PK 1st 8 games: 29th
PK next 8 games: 27th

Jon Quick’s numbers are quite the anomaly as he sits in a 4 way tie for most wins(10) but has a considerably lower save percentage (.902) in comparison to Nabokov (.921) or fellow American Anderson (.936). Is this because the guys in front of him are kicking ass and taking names (Kopitar), the horrid penalty killing, something else?

Finally, the Kings won 2 games this week in which they went in to the 3rd period trailing. We only did that 4 times all of last season. Last year the Stanley Cup winning Penguins did it 11 times. They were a team that didn’t give up and the 24 points they earned in that situation are a testament to their will. I am starting to get that kind of feeling from this group – they will not quit.

Thanks again, Christian, for the in-depth analysis. We have asked Christian to keep us abreast of how we’re doing numbers-wise. As fans, we can get emotional but it’s hard to argue against what the numbers say. Have a question for Christian, leave your comments downstairs.

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.

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.

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?

Last night the Dallas Stars stepped into Staples Center for the first time this season and I was pretty confident the Los Angeles Kings were going to finish the game with the W. All signs pointed to the victory but having to get the win in overtime rendered me speechless. I’m actually unsure of what to say about this game, but I’ll try to get something out.

If games were only 40 minutes long, I’d say with 100% confidence that the Kings played their best hockey. Alas, they are 60-minute contests and, for this game, the Kings played their usual up and down, inconsistent hockey. The modified lines looked decent and actually performed wonderfully… but only for 40 minutes. It’s a bit difficult to compliment the team on how they made the Stars looks like fools when they themselves didn’t hold on to their level of play. This is definitely a bittersweet reflection.

The good: Anze Kopitar owning this game… well, the first two periods of the game by getting his first career hat trick. He is turning into the player management knew he could and has definitely been earning his paycheck. He completely controlled the game as he scored like a madman. As of today, he’s tied with a certain Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals in points (8G, 8A and 9G, 7A, respectively).

(LAKings.com)

The Kings were looking fantastic going into the third period, but their hopes were fading as they watched the Stars tie up the game 4-4 forcing the game into OT. Heart breaker. I hardly have the stomach to comment on the third period, but I was happy when Michal Handzus killed the Stars just 55 seconds into OT. His slapshot blasted past Alex Auld and the game was done. I’m very happy that overtime ended in the Kings’ favor but the two points don’t make up for the poor third period performance. I honestly wondered why Terry Murray pulled Quick at the end of the second period with just 2.7 seconds left in the game when they were up 4-1, but I definitely understood the reasoning 20 minutes later.

The Bad: First off, one thing I can’t understand is why Brad Richardson is on the ice during important times in the games. Last night, he was on the ice with just a few minutes in regulation, which is exactly the opposite of what I’d expect! Secondly, Jonathan Quick letting in the goals he did; I’m just in a little bit of shock.

The Needs to Improve: Teddy Purcell received 12:31 of ice time and ended at a minus 1. I’m sure the improvement will explode sometime this season, so I’ll continue to wait. To address Alexander Frolov; his play was fine. I honestly didn’t think he was any better or worse than before he was benched. I have zero words of wisdom for these two players. Just… focus?

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

From LAKings.com

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Keith and Chris discuss the longest road trip of the season, talk about the Alexander Frolov situation, show some exclusive footage from the Stars game courtesy of our official Dallas correspondent and throw out the burning question of the day. Unpack your bags, KingsCast is back!

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

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Currently the Los Angeles Kings are sitting 8th in the Western Conference with 10 points and are 3rd in the Pacific Division. With 9 games in I’m neither ecstatic nor depressed with the results; the Kings are showing that they can compete and that they can take a nosedive at any moment. This was the end of their longest road trip of the year and it just may be the start of something great.

On Saturday evening, I had the unfortunate occurrence of accidentally seeing the score of the game against the Columbus Blue Jackets while watching another game. Too bad Leafs TV is really good about keeping you updated around the league. The Toronto Maple Leafs started their game at 4:00 pm PST; I saw the Kings were down 4-1 around the middle of the 3rd period of the Leafs game, and (since the games began at the same time) I knew the Kings were going to lose the game. How utterly deflating. There is absolutely nothing that can salvage the feeling of already knowing the outcome of a game, especially when it’s in favor of the other team.

At first I was upset that I saw the score, and then I was irritated that the Blue Jackets got 4 pucks past Jonathan Quick. Needless to say, I was not very enthusiastic watching the game later. There’s something about watching a game knowing your team is going to lose that is very unappetizing. It might have led to my falling asleep at times. That being said, the Kings didn’t look THAT bad. In my zombie-like state, I didn’t think they played worse than some of their other losses. With that, I’m done with this recap.

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For the game I was actually awake and excited for, the Kings decided to bounce back and play like a coherent team yesterday against the Dallas Stars. They won 4-1 to the relief of everyone and proved they can play hockey like professionals. Everything about this game was better than their previous game and capped off this road trip very nicely. They were over .500 in the faceoff circle (thank you Jarret Stoll), ceased taking sloppy penalties for 60 minutes, and collapsed around their own net protecting the goalie.

Going into this game, Bob Miller and Jim Fox mentioned that the top line of Ryan Smyth, Anze Kopitar, and Justin Williams had a combined 29 points in the first 8 games. After they picked up another 6 points against the Stars, the top line is sitting pretty with 35. Okay people, I’m fully on board with the Smyth Train. Williams? I’m getting there. Also I’m over Marty Turco. I don’t quite understand the love affair people have with him. I’ve witnessed far too many meltdowns to have any confidence he’s going to stop enough pucks to win games for his team. Am I being too critical? I think not, but let me know what you think!

Also Alexander Frolov is on the hot seat. After the poor performance against the Blue Jackets, Frolov was benched for being a turnover machine while also falling down at inopportune times causing goals against, among other things. Rich Hammond of LA Kings Insider posted a transcript of his conversation with Frolov about what happened between him and the coaching staff. Per Hammond: here’s what Terry Murray had to say and here’s what Dean Lombardi said.

Decide for yourself what really is going on. I personally believe if he doesn’t shape up and sign a contract Lombardi-esque, he’s going to be sent off to wear a stranger’s crest. I will subsequently be heart-broken, but that’s only if nothing else negative comes out of this situation.

The 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.

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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!

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.

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!

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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!

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Last update: Rich Hammond has officially started writing for the Kings at LA Kings Insider. Same content, different house.

I have returned from Frozen Fury!! The game was… so-so, but they won 5-3 so it was a good ending for Kings fans. I will have a full recap in a day or two, so stay tuned!

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On the news front, according to TSN, all roster questions have been answered regarding who will make the lineup for the season opener.

• Brayden Schenn has been returned to the Brandon Wheat Kings
• Jonathan Bernier has been sent to the Manchester Monarchs along with Thomas Hickey and Kevin Westgarth

This means a few things. The first being the 4th line center position might possibly just go Peter Harrold. Secondly, Erik Ersberg will take the backup role on the bench while Jonathan Quick starts the season in net hopefully being just as awesome as he was at the end of last season. Thirdly, Raitis Ivanans is a better player than Westgarth, which is something I’ve thought from Day Uno.

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Another update from last week (23rd): Rich Hammond of the Daily News will be newly employed by the Los Angeles Kings to basically do the same exact thing he was doing before. The most important part of this news is he will be able to provide for Kings fans real coverage on the road. The lack of road coverage for almost all teams is pretty despicable so I see this as a GREAT THING. He reiterated that he will not be censored by the Kings and will have full editorial control over his content. Naive me will believe this until his content proves otherwise. I’m really excited for this venture the Kings have decided to take and am happy for Rich Hammond for being the first beat writer to gain this type of recognition, visibility, and clearance by the team.

When the story broke, Frozen Royalty gave immediate props, Jon Moncrief was quick to the draw, and James Mirtle of course took note. Today Puck Daddy wrote an interesting writeup of what this could mean for Kings fans and how they get their team news.

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.

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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.

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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.

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.”

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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.”

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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…)

We told you last night in Overtime, our goaltending situation is fine. The Los Angeles Kings have a lot to be excited about with Jonathan Quick manning the pipes. It’s an exciting time to be an LA Kings fan. This upcoming season is a different story when it comes to goaltending.

Matt Reitz, Editor in Chief of a View From My Seats stops by to write this article on Jonathan Bernier. Follow Matt on Twitter.

King fans are usually pretty good at either being eternal optimists or dooms-day pessimists. I’m not saying that each fan is locked into their categories—you’ll see someone talk about how the Kings are going to be great; then a week later how Terry Murray, Dean Lombardi and Ron Hextall all need to be fired so the Kings can start over. There just never seems to be a middle ground. Either something is the greatest thing ever or a bitter failure.

For a few years, I’ve been waiting for the time that the Kings had a bonafide superstar goaltender between the pipes. No, it hasn’t been since 2006 when the Kings drafted Jonathan Bernier with the 11th overall pick in the draft—it’s been much, much longer than that. As of my last birthday, its been more like 31 years for me.

It’s interesting to see how Kings fans have been reacting to Jonathan Bernier since he was drafted in 2006. We’ve all been waiting for a legitimate #1 netminder in LA—and he’s supposed to be The One. When talking about how the Kings are going to rebuild, there was always that caveat at the end of a discussion: “And Bernier will be in net by then…”

But here’s my question: what if he’s not?

I know that we’re all desperately craving to have a home grown goaltender that is capable of putting a team on his back in May and June. Who are the best goaltenders the Kings have ever had? Rogie Vachon? He was drafted by the Canadiens. What about Kelly Hrudey? Yeah, he was a product of the Islanders. How about Felix Potvin and his clutch goaltending that made the Kings relevant in the earlier part of the decade? We can thank the Maple Leafs for his development. But the Kings DID have Mario Lessard. That’s right; I just went back 30 years to a guy that only played 4 full seasons as an example of the best homegrown Kings goaltender. Fuck.

Teams don’t just trade goaltenders that have the potential to be superstars. That’s why there’s such a premium on identifying talent between the pipes, nurturing the talent through juniors and the AHL and then finally watching the kid mature into an NHL goaltender. Unfortunately, it’s not an overnight process and it’s far from an exact science. Impatience and bad decision making by the front office have as much to do with the goaltending failures as any one single player. If you want an elite goaltender, you’re going to have to draft him yourself. Unless you want Roberto Luongo—that guy has been traded not once, but TWICE! He must have 3 nipples or something.

The reason that I have hope has less to do with the young goalies that are in the Kings organization and more to do with the fundamental change in philosophy towards their development. Instead of watching a young goaltender rushed to the NHL, we’re watching Lombardi and Hextall slowly bring along the young netminders. For the first time in the Kings history, they’re not throwing their young players to the wolves—they putting them in the position to succeed. For a position that has more to do with the mental part of the game than the physical side, early success that breeds confidence is vital.

But what if they don’t succeed?

It’s a question that we used to ask ourselves about every goaltender, but for some reason Jonathan Bernier has gotten a free pass. Since he was drafted 3 years ago, it was never a question “if” he’d succeed, but rather “when.” Well, I’m here to ask the painful and necessary question. Will he become the goaltender that all Kings fans hope he’ll be? What makes him different than any other goaltender in the Kings long, pathetic history? What makes him different than Blueline Stauber?

By no means am I throwing him under the bus this early in his career. NHLers take time to develop and the Kings have brought him up the RIGHT way thus far. But no one is ever a sure thing—and its time that we looked at Bernier as a hopeful contributor instead of the 2nd coming. If you look around, there have been a few warning signs.

When the going is good for Bernier, it’s really good. In 2006, he played for Canada’s U-18 team. A year after he was drafted by the Kings, he won playoff MVP with the Lewiston MAINEiacs of the QMJHL. He was the BEST goaltending prospect in the entire world. Really—the world.

But we all know that it’s not always clear sailing for goaltenders. It’s just as important to watch how they deal with adversity as it is to see them make a quick glove save. Thus far in his career—his glove hand has been far better than his mental fortitude. That’s not necessarily a good thing.

After his fantastic 2006 run for the Under 18’s team, he was supposed to be a shoe-in to be a goaltender on the Canadian Junior team; but was beat out by some guys named Carey Price and Leland Irving. One of those guys is well known, but who the hell is that Price guy? I guess Montreal doesn’t have much media scrutiny on their goaltenders. It was supposed to be a breakout moment for him and Bernier didn’t even make the team.

In 2008, he finally made the Canadian Junior team—but was buried on the bench behind Steve Mason. Later in the year, the Kings needed to bring a goaltender up because Jason LaBarbara sucks, so they had to choose between Jon Quick and Bernier. To outsiders, the Kings surprisingly brought up Quick to play with the big club. To King fans that had paid attention to Manchester, it wasn’t as shocking. While their numbers were comparable at the time of the call up, Quick had been the better goaltender at the beginning of the season. Lombardi said it was because Quick had more seniority within the system, but he just as easily could have said he went with the goaltender that was playing better.

So how would he respond? Would he dig in and show Lombardi and Hextall that they made the wrong decision? Would he stop every puck that was fired in his general direction so they had no choice but to bring him up to the NHL? Well, that would have been the reaction that fans in LA would have hoped for. Instead, they got a goaltender that once again looked disinterested and pissed that HE wasn’t the one that got a call up.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t the first time that Bernier had thrown a fit. He started the 2007-08 season with the Kings when they played the first 2 games in London. He played as well as could be expected—each game slipped a little from the game before. When he was finally sent back down to Lewiston before his 10 games were up, it was undoubtedly the right move. Sure, his numbers were slipping—but it had less to do with Bernier’s play and more to do with the team in front of him. The defensive corps was poor, the offense never back-checked and the team defense philosophy was non-existent (thanks for that, Crawford). NOBODY was going to succeed under those circumstances—so why put your goaltender of the future in harms way?

But Bernier didn’t see it that way. He went back to juniors and basically sulked for the first few months back in the Q. It got so bad that assistant GM Ron Hextall had to make a trip up to Lewiston to screw Bernier’s head back on correctly. He ended up turning his season around, but he didn’t react to the experience very positively.

Does anyone remember another high Kings draft pick that had a tendency to pout and act like he was entitled to have success handed to him on a plate? If you’re a Kings fan and don’t remember Jaime Storr, then congratulations. You have successfully blocked out a part of the Kings history that ALL of us would like to forget! A lot of us remember when Jamie Storr was supposed to be the next coming—the guy that would solve the team’s goaltending woes. Hell, Storr was a HIGHER draft pick than Bernier was and was expected to be the man that took over and lead the Kings back to contender-status. We all know how that turned out. If anything, that should serve as a cautionary tale. Nothing is EVER a sure thing. Well, unless there’s a sign out front that says “Happy Endings.”

God knows that I want Bernier to be the goaltender the Kings have always needed. Part of the reason that I’ve been so happy with Jon Quick’s success is because it’s a pleasant surprise. He was supposed to be a good goaltender, but wasn’t EXPECTED to be THE goaltender. He’s playing well—but that’s just gravy. Bernier is SUPPOSED to be that good. He’s supposed to be a Top 10 NHL goaltender in save percentage and goals against. If things fall in line, he’ll be in the Top 10 in Wins as well.

But let’s not take it for granted. There’s still a long way to go…