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

Guest blogger Alex Kinkopf chimes in with his thoughts on last night’s game in Alberta. Your thoughts on the game?

The Kings entered tonight with 8 consecutive losses to Calgary in Alberta. As many of you know, Canada named their official roster for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver this morning. What made me somewhat optimistic for a victory tonight? The last time Los Angeles pulled off a victory in the Saddledome was December 21st, 2005; the day Canada named their official roster for the 2006 Olympics. Let’s put that aside, just a fun fact, if you want to call it that.
This was the final time these two teams met in the regular season with Calgary taking the 4 game affair as Los Angeles could only earn a victory in one of the four contests. However, I’ve had a feeling for a while now these two clubs will be seeing each other again this season. More on that later..

Thoughts on the game:

What I Liked:

* Playoff Atmosphere: Immediately after Phaneuf’s hit on Kopitar, you could feel the electricity from the building through the broadcast. (Yes, even if you were struggling through an internet stream as I did. C’mon now FSW!!) The intensity was heightened above any level we’ve seen this year in a Kings game.
* Murray’s Intensity: I love the guy. All year we’ve seen him send the message to his players that it’s his way or you’re taking a seat. We’ve seen Fro and Randy as prime examples. From what I’ve seen, he’s not too fond of stupid retaliation, but knows there is a time and a place to stick up for your players. As Brent Sutter threw a tantrum after Phaneuf’s game misconduct, Murray let him hear about it. I felt this was similar to an MLB manager arguing until ejection, ultimately firing up the ballclub. Unfortunately, the Kings reacted with less passion than I had originally expected.
* Brad Richardson: Good performance all around. If you can back-track to the play when Dusty was awarded a penalty shot (god knows why) take a look at the hustle Richy utilized to clear that puck out of the zone. Beautiful. They guy backs it up with pure effort and intensity.
* Knee-jerk line to start the 2nd frame. Simmonds – Moller – Parse. Great hustle all around for that goal.
* Scotty Parse: GOOD THINGS HAPPEN WHEN YOU SHOOT THE PUCK. Second consecutive game Scotty wastes no time playing with the biscuit and buries it for a goal. Atta Boy!
* Parse – Simmonds – Richy: Liked the line in general. However, why did Moller get the call to start the 2nd with Scotty and Brad?
* Brandon Segal makes return: Boy, the adrenaline must’ve been pumping for Segal tonight. He made his first return to the arena that hosted him for four years as a member of the Calgary Hitmen of the WHL. Solid performance as well, great scoring chance.
* Smyth’s effort: The results haven’t been there since his return, but the effort has. Note the continuous foot movement and puck control in the offensive zone to draw a 2nd period hooking penalty on Robyn Regehr.

What made me swear:

* Teddy Purcell: Move your feet, terrible tripping penalty at the end of the 2nd.
* Lack of Poise: C’mon Drew, Calgary’s announcers associated your play with “great poise” multiple times tonight. Sorry, but throwing a punch in mid-play doesn’t show that.
* Stupid Retaliation: Haven’t I mentioned this already?
* Erik Ersberg: I take it back, unfair to judge this play. Disagree, as I feel many of you will. Give him a home start! Please! To have a confident backup goalie, you must present him with the opportunity to build it, Terry.
* Nystrom: Am I crazy? Was he not pulling on the back of Ersy’s Jersey/Pants during Calgary’s 2nd goal?
* Lack of puck possession in the final 3 minutes: Enough Said.

Final Thoughts:

For the past few months, I’ve had a weird feeling about these two clubs meeting in the 1st round of the playoffs. Both teams are playoff bound, but are both capable of ending up in the top, middle, or bottom of the 8 seeds in the Western. We’ll see, just a feeling. Off to Minny.

The Los Angeles Kings have done something they haven’t done all season long: lose four games in a row. The Kings were in Calgary to face the Flames and, again, they just couldn’t generate any offense. Dion Phaneuf had a brutal hit on Kings center Anze Kopitar that even had the coaches taking jabs at each other. It’s rare to see coach Terry Murray yelling but it was well deserved as Phaneuf’s hit was dirty.

Read Alex Kinkopf’s post-game blog: Lasso’ed at the Saddledome Again.

Gann Matsuda of Frozen Royalty is busy over the holidays covering the Kings. Here’s his latest on Dustin Brown and Scott Parse. Enjoy!

EL SEGUNDO, CA — The Los Angeles Kings finally emerge from the dark, wispy shadows of an eight-day hiatus in their schedule tonight at Phoenix, and all expectations are that they should be stronger with the return of left wing Ryan Smyth, right wing Wayne Simmonds and defenseman Jack Johnson, who all missed time with injuries in recent weeks.

If all goes according to their expectations, the Kings’ offense should be bolstered by the return of these players, especially with Smyth being reunited with center Anze Kopitar and right wing Justin Williams on the first line.

The Kings will have to shift some players around on all of their forward lines to accommodate Smyth and Simmonds, and they hope the juggling will help get right wing Dustin Brown untracked.

After scoring 33 goals and adding 27 assists for sixty points in 78 games in the 2007-08 season, followed by 24 goals and 29 assists for 53 points in eighty games last season, Brown has just eight goals with nineteen assists for 27 points in 37 games this season.

Despite ranking second on the team in overall scoring, Brown has scored just four goals in his last 26 games, and has had several goal scoring droughts this season including goal-less streaks lasting six, four and fourteen games.

Brown is currently on pace to score eighteen goals this season.

Read the rest on Frozen Royalty

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

 

 Season 4, EP3: Injury Bugged [31:07m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

No doubt the loss of Ryan Smyth has not been good for the Los Angeles Kings. Here, Gann Matsuda of Frozen Royalty takes an in-depth look at the loss.

LOS ANGELES AND INGLEWOOD, CA — A little over a week has passed since the Los Angeles Kings lost veteran left wing Ryan Smyth to that mysterious “upper body injury” and since then, they have lost to the Philadelphia Flyers and the Calgary Flames.

In both games, the Kings not only put in spotty efforts, but their offense sputtered without Smyth’s constant presence in front of opposing goaltenders and in his tenacious work along the boards and in the corners.

“What he does very well is his composure with the puck,” said head coach Terry Murray. “He handles it in pressure situations, makes the game look easy, slows the game down, takes the puck to the net, makes plays in the offensive zone. He can make something happen out of nothing and he has that mentality that it has to end up at the net.”

Indeed, that mentality, or the lack thereof without Smyth in the lineup, is like a black hole on the ice. But the Kings know they have to overcome his absence.

“He’s definitely going to be missed on the team,” said defenseman Drew Doughty. “He’s one of the best players in the league, but we’re going to have to learn to step it up that extra notch and try to replace what he does for us.”

“[Smyth is] one of the key guys on our team, but that doesn’t matter right now,” said center Anze Kopitar, who leads the National Hockey League in overall scoring with 33 points on fourteen goals and nineteen assists. “He’s going to be gone for a month. Somebody else is going to have to step up. We’re going to have to play hard without him and win games.”

Read the rest on Frozen Royalty

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?

LOS ANGELES — Washington Capitals superstar forward Alexander Ovechkin has been leading the National Hockey League in scoring to start the 2009-10 season, which should not be a surprise to anyone who follows the NHL.

But, at least for one night, Ovechkin has some company at the top from an unexpected source.

On Thursday night, the Los Angeles Kings held on for a 5-4 overtime victory over the Dallas Stars in front of 15,042 fans at Staples Center.

The Kings were led by center Anze Kopitar’s three goals, his first NHL hat trick, giving the Kings a three-goal lead heading into the third period.

Kopitar has now scored eight goals and has added eight assists for sixteen points, matching Ovechkin, who has nine goals and seven assists for sixteen points through games played through October 22.

But Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick had a poor third period, allowing the Stars to tie the game on two soft goals allowed by Quick and another while he was partially screened.

Center Michal Handzus was the Kings’ savior in the overtime period, scoring 55 seconds into the extra frame.

Listen to Anze Kopitar, Matt Greene, Dustin Brown and Terry Murray courtesy of

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read the rest on Gann Matsuda’s Frozen Royalty