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?

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.

*~*~*~*~*~*

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.

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.

Wait, the Los Angeles Kings are one point behind the San Jose Sharks? Really? The Kings? That’s right, folks, the LA Kings are playing some serious hockey this season. Last night, against the Coyotes, they gave up the lead and took things to a shootout….and it was a long one. Quick was, again, spectacular in net last night. What is your biggest surprise this season?

Read Connie’s post-game blog

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

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

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

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?

As it turns out, the Phoenix Coyotes do lose games from time to time. The Los Angeles Kings went into Jobing.com arena looking to finally get a win against Phoenix and they did just that. Wayne Simmonds has filled in nicely for an ailing Justin Williams. Check out the video!

Just when you thought the Los Angeles Kings had it all figured out, they open the 2009-10 season with the poorest performance I’ve seen… since last season! But at least at the end of last season they were playing with full effort for entire games; tonight lacked consistency and teamwork. For example, does Terry Murray really want them to be bunching together at odd places on the ice? Let’s make sure we’re spread out and covering all the important spots on the ice, mmkay?

I watched this game on a massive delay last night and I’ve come to realize that I don’t think I made a bad decision in not renewing my season tickets. The utterly poor performance of the Kings was quite embarrassing, and I don’t think it mattered that they played the Phoenix Coyotes. They could have played anyone and it would have been just as bad.

(lakings.com)

Is it season-starting nerves? Do all the players have the flu? What do you supposed it is? The Coyotes dominated the Kings for basically the entire game, and not all 6 goals against were Jonathan Quick’s fault. There were plently of mistakes coming from all over the Kings roster. Drew Doughty was particularly noticably making a some timely (bad) decisions while players like Teddy Purcell and Anze Kopitar were nearly invisible. The most frustrating part of the game was the 2nd Kings goal where they spent nearly the entire PP trying to get the puck past Ilya Bryzgalov. Missed shot after missed shot finally found Kopitar getting the puck in the net off a Ryan Smyth rebound. Ugly.

I must end this post here since I have other things to attend to. The season opener was a poor excuse for effort on behalf of the fans and themselves. I’m sure no one was happy with that so-called performance, so we’ll see what happens between now and Tuesday’s game against the San Jose Sharks.

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

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

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

Which team is bankrupt and has no owner again?

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

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

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

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

For post game audio, visit Frozen Royalty

It may be over 91 degrees in Los Angeles but there is an unmistakable smell of hockey in the air. The regular season opens tonight with four exciting games on the schedule. On Saturday, October 3rd, the Los Angeles Kings will open their regular season at Staples Center against the Gretzky-less Phoenix Coyotes. But the Kings and the Coyotes aren’t the only teams playing on Saturday night. Every NHL team will take the ice on Saturday.

To celebrate, the National Hockey League has introduced a contest on Twitter they call the #NHLPick15. The rules are simple. First and foremost, you need to get an account on Twitter. Next, you need to predict the winning team in all 15 games played on Saturday, October 3. The one fan that picks all 15 games correctly will win a trip for two to a regular season game of his choosing. Ten other entrants will be selected at random to receive a free season of NHL GameCenter Live.

To enter, send a message to @NHL, and pick the 15 teams you think will win using the three letter team code below. You must include the hashtag “#NHLPick15″ to be entered, you must answer the tiebreaker question, “What is the total, combined number of penalty minutes that all 30 NHL teams will have in the games played on October 3rd?”

Here’s my entry into the contest:

@NHL CHI, DET, VAN, BOS, BUF, NJD, PIT, NYR, WAS, TBL, CBJ, NSH, CGY, SJS, LAK, 268pims #NHLPick15

Here’s the match-up for Saturday, October 3rd:

CHI @ FLA
STL @ DET
VAN @ COL
CAR @ BOS
MTL @ BUF
PHI @ NJD
PIT @ NYI
OTT @ NYR
TOR @ WAS
TBL @ ATL
MIN @ CBJ
NSH @ DAL
CGY @ EDM
SJS @ ANA
PHX @ LAK

For more information (including all rules in English and French), visit NHL.com.

KingsCast Take: The National Hockey League is taking the fans seriously. With teams taking to Twitter and Facebook to promote themselves, you can now interact directly various members of the organization. Gone are the days when you had to wait for the latest issue of The Hockey News to appear at your doorstep. Not only that but there are cool prizes given out almost daily by individual teams and the NHL. The push the NHL is doing in social media is huge and it’s great for the fan.

I know most of you interact with the Los Angeles Kings on either Twitter or Facebook so what is the coolest thing you’ve heard from the organization lately? Tell us here!

Don’t forget to friend us up on Twitter and Facebook. See you at Staples!

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Kings opened the 2009-10 pre-season schedule by earning a split in their split-squad series against the Phoenix Coyotes on Tuesday night.

At Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, Arizona, Wayne Simmonds scored two goals for the Kings, but that was not enough as the Coyotes handed the Kings a 4-2 loss.

Erik Ersberg got the start in goal for the Kings, allowing two goals on sixteen shots in 40:00 of ice time.

Jeff Zatkoff started the third period for the Kings, allowing two goals on fourteen shots.

Ilya Bryzgalov went all the way in goal for the Coyotes, allowing two goals on fourteen shots.

At Staples Center in Los Angeles, defenseman Jack Johnson scored two goals and added an assist while Teddy Purcell and Justin Williams each scored a goal and added an assist to lead the Kings to a 4-3 victory over the Coyotes,

Mikkel Boedker, Keith Yandle and Peter Mueller scored for the Coyotes.

Johnson’s second goal at 11:06 of the third period drew oohs and ahhs from the crowd as he took a lead pass at the Kings’ blue line from defensive partner Rob Scuderi. Johnson carried the puck through center ice, splitting two Coyotes’ defenders at the Phoenix blue line. He them moved in on Coyotes goalie Al Montoya, deked in front and then lifted a backhand top shelf, beating Montoya over his left shoulder for a spectacular, highlight reel goal while the Kings were shorthanded.

Read the rest on Frozen Royalty.

Hockey is back in Los Angeles! Keith and Chris head over to Staples Center for the 1st pre-season game of the season, discuss the participating players and give their thoughts on the LA Kings fan experience.

EL SEGUNDO, CA – After the first game of their 2009-10 Rookie Tournament, a 6-1 blowout loss to the young prospects of the Phoenix Coyotes, one might think that the Los Angeles Kings’ prospects should have stuck with the drills they were working on during the first three days of their rookie camp.

Indeed, the Kings prospects were a step slow from the opening face-off on Wednesday night at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo, California. They were outworked and outhustled throughout by the Coyotes prospects who seemed to be intent on skating on, over and through their counterparts.

In that first game, the Kings took some early penalties and immediately put themselves at a big disadvantage and things spiraled out of control from there.

“You get four power plays in the first period, that really set the tone [for Phoenix],” said Kings head coach Terry Murray. “We were outshot 17-4 in the first period. It gets to be an easier game once you get a 2-3 goal lead.”

“They’re good, young players,” added Murray. “They’re talented guys. They’ve got to start playing more together. There was a lot of individual stuff. Whenever you get behind by a couple of goals you want to try to do too much by yourself and, as a result, it goes the other way.”

“Especially in that first period, once you get behind the eight-ball like that it’s really tough to chip away when you’re down,” said Kings defenseman prospect Thomas Hickey. “That’s was the biggest problem. Tomorrow, our focus will have to be on starting [our] game early and getting more shots because they really outplayed us in the first and that set the tone.”

“That’s where the young guys need to manage the game better,” said Murray. “When you’re playing against a team that’s going to line up at the blue line, like they did when they had a 2-3 goal lead, the open ice is what’s behind them. Again, that’s where you get into too much individual stuff, stick-handling, over-thinking and trying to create something that’s not there.”

The Coyotes prospects were intent on taking the game to the Kings physically, and it was evident that Hickey was their primary target. But Hickey did not help himself in that regard, either.

Read the rest on Frozen Royalty.

In the last week before Pre-Season, Keith and Chris talk about what’s going on in the NHL, including Dan Cloutier, the Phoenix Coyotes, Paul Kelly, Derek Armstrong, Kings Rookie Camp and the KingsCast Frozen Fury event.

Gann Matsuda of Frozen Royalty got a chance to hit up Rookie Camp this weekend and had got some interesting comments. Take a read.

EL SEGUNDO, CA — National Hockey League training camps are still almost a week away, but NHL rookie camps are open across the league, including at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo, California, where the Los Angeles Kings are getting a close look at their young prospects.

The Kings opened their 2009-10 Rookie Camp on Saturday, September 5, with meetings and physical testing.

The rookies began two-a-day, on-ice practice sessions on Sunday and that will continue through Tuesday, September 8.

A two-game rookie tournament against the Phoenix Coyotes is scheduled for September 9 and 10 (details here).

Since their July Development Camp, Kings head coach Terry Murray has noticed improvement overall among his young prospects.

“[Saturday] was a very good day with the on-ice/off-ice testing,” said Murray. It was very demanding and we’re seeing a real good upside to a lot of the guys.”

“I see a change in players coming back from the Development Camp,” added Murray. “Physically, they look better, young guys getting stronger and improving.”

Although anything is possible, no one should expect one of the young prospects to make the Kings roster this season, especially not one coming straight out of junior hockey.

“Never say never and I mentioned that yesterday in our introductory meeting,” Murray emphasized. I pointed out that at the end of the season there were five guys—rookies who made major contributions [on our team last season]. We’re looking for good things—I want to throw that encouragement out there.”

But Murray was rather blunt in adding that no one should get their hopes up too high…

Read the rest at Frozen Royalty

It may not feel like hockey season in Los Angeles but it’s almost there. With the first pre-season game at Staples Center less than two weeks away, the Los Angeles Kings have announced their schedule for training camp, as well as the roster.

Training Camp Schedule

Training Camp Roster

If you have the spare time, head on over to the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo at 555 North Nash Street and take in the workouts. After Hockey Fest, the LA Kings have set the bar fairly high that this will be an important season. So let’s see who’s going to make the team and who’s not this season.

Also, coming up this weekend on September 6 will be the Kings rookie camp and tournament (where they will face off against the Phoenix Coyotes). The first game will be held on Wednesday, September 9, at 6:00PM PDT and the second game will be held on Thursday, September 10, at 2:00 PM PDT. To purchase tickets head on over to LAKings.com/rookie09.

Who’s heading to camp?

Gann Matsuda is back to the blog on HockeyTalk.biz talking about the troubled franchise known as the Phoenix Coyotes. I personally think they should be re-located and that Jim Balsillie would be a great owner. What do you think?

LOS ANGELES — The last thing commissioner Gary Bettman and the National Hockey League wants during the Stanley Cup Playoffs is embarrassing controversy off the ice and that is exactly what they have with the Phoenix Coyotes filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in recent days.

To be sure, there is a great deal of controversy brewing over whether or not Coyotes majority owner Jerry Moyes had the authority to file for bankruptcy and move to sell the Coyotes to Jim Balsillie, Co-Chief Executive Officer of Research In Motion, Inc., the makers of the wildly popular Blackberry.

Balsillie, who also attempted to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Nashville Predators (both attempts failed), would like to move the Coyotes to Hamilton, Ontario’s Copps Coliseum.

Read the Rest on Frozen Royalty