8 In A Row

Pre-Game:
- Had dinner with KingsCast at the Royal Room. Thoughts: It was a little dark in there. It gave it a kind of "I'm too cool for school" ambiance. The food was good and you could definitely share one order of something with someone else.
- Sharks activate Cheechoo and the Kings scratch Cammy (ribs), Willsie (sucks), and Dallman (sucks and broke his foot). This is gonna bring some poor soul up from Manchester.
- Sharks start Carle, Rivet, Cheechoo, Thornton, Roenick (to resounding boos), and Nabokov
- Kings start JJ, Modry, Thornton (the not superstar one), Handzus, Giuliano, and Barbs
- No matter how much the Kings suck, the opening on-ice video and music presentation can always inspire me into thinking that the Kings could actually pull something off.
- When Crow's name was announced, the entire arena filled with boos. Really not surprising.

First Period:
- There were a couple of good hits thrown up in the opening minutes; Lubo is able to break through SJ's sloppy D.
- After a whistle Lubo and Goc get into a short but sweet slap fest and both get sent to the box. I think Goc wanted some cookies but Lubo wasn't willing to share. Each get 2 minutes for slapping.
- Did anyone else notice JJ taking a face off?
- Hey, guys, we're 3 minutes into this game and it already looks lifeless.
- JJ - HIT
- Preissing and Stuart - you guys could probably do better.
- Giuliano is forechecking like crazy 5 minutes in, but one guy working on his own isn't gonna get it done.
- A Shark almost gets annihilated by Blake's ass. =)
- Let me just remind everyone that Kopi's got some sweet ass moves.
- Goc just can't seem to stay away from Lubo. He's all over him and it looks like it's gonna be a long night, for Lubo, and hey, for us as well!
- Sharks Goal: Milan Michalek slaps it past Barbs at 9:02.
- At one point Kopi, Sully, and Brownie charge across the blue line and Kopi throws it up at Nabby who makes a solid glove save. Lesson from this moment: don't put it on Nabby's glove side.
- Sharks Goal: Joe Pavelski at 12:17 on a backhand from Marcel "I want some cookies" Goc.
- This marks SJ taking 9 shots resulting in 2 goals, which brings Aubin in net. Umm...

I'm sorry we suck so badly, Barbs.

- JJ breaks out and chases the puck into enemy territory. Even though Nabby makes the save, it was nice to see him being aggressive on those kinds of plays.
- JJ - HIT
- 5:30 - It appears that the Kings are shutting down SJ's offense and are taking some control of the neutral zone. This causes the Sharks revert to a dump-and-chase.
- 3:01 - Aubin! WOW! Good save!
- So the Kings don't have control of the neutral zone anymore and are lacking everything. This is where I wonder, "Hey guys, you're playing 5-on-5, right?"
- Sharks penalty on Rob Davidson for too many men. Sully tries for a sweet wraparound but can't stuff it past Nabby. JJ fans on a shot and a Shark grabs it for a break away. Score remains 2-0 because he shoots it high and wide.

End of the first period:
- You guys should really stop going glove side on Nabby. He's kinda grabbing everything.
- Nagy looks like he's figure skating out there.
- Sharks are up 2-0
- The smoking balcony is cold and filthy. Hear that KingsCast? Gross.

2nd Period:
- Kings are on the PK at 2:41, then it's 4-on-4 at 3:57, and then the Kings have a 5-on-3 for a little bit. The Kings were able to kill the first part of the first penalty against them; it was kind of boring, not gonna lie.
- But on that 5-on-3, way to NOT take advantage of that.
- Who is this Brad Stuart kid? What is your function? Conjunction junction?
- Kings Goal: Fro, way to take it to the net. Nabby blocks the shot but the rebound goes right to Blake (3) on the outside who slaps it home at 6:18.
- Sully - goes for a softy hit
- Brownie - HITx2
- Fro gave Matt Carle the behind
- There are some sloppy plays on display; one might even question if these are even "plays."
- JJ - HIT
- Ratti - HIT (Playing without the face shield; he's ready to be the resident pugilist again.)
- 10 minutes left - If the Kings were on a PK, I'd praise them for their hustle. But they ain't.
- Blake - HIT
- 6 minutes to go - Anze takes it up himself, through the neutral zone, across the blueline where he gets shut down. Good effort but no help from the teammates. Story of the season.
- Nagy loses the puck and gets leveled. Hey Sharks, don't you know this guy was injured? Leave him alone, jerks.
- 4:17 - (I am not creative so I'm going to use some well-know imagery here) The Sharks cut through the neutral zone and across the blue line like a heated knife through room temperature butter. We really should work on every aspect of our game.
- JJ & Thornton have some shit they need to work out, which draw penalties at 16:04 (JJ for cross checking and Thornton for roughing).
- Nagy is getting picked on hardcore. Rivet gets 2 minutes for elbowing, a 5 minute match penalty, and gets ejected for cross checking Nagy in the throat. Nagy sits 2 minutes for cross checking Rivet.
- I shouldn't have to say what you already know; the Kings need to stop passing so much. Period.

End of the second period:
- Stuart needs to be benched or something. He's sucking some major ass out there.
- Sully, being the stud that he is, is not playing up to par...gotta work on that.
- The second half of the period had an overall lack of focus and control from both teams.

3rd Period:
- Began this period with 2:something left on the match penalty and the Kings don't take advantage. Fro even got a good pass but hesitated a little too long and lost the shooting lane. Bah!
- A good opportunity came when Fro took it to the net at 17:20. Nabby stops it but has no idea where it is; he regains composure and stops any stuff attempt by the Kings.
- Giuliano has a spirited but unsuccessful forecheck.
- Sharks Goal: Milan Michalek tips it in at 3:24 in.
- At 5:23, the blade of Blake's stick somehow finds Ehrhoff's mouth and is called for high sticking.

There was a lot of this business going on.

- Giuliano gets rooooooooocked
- Question of the night: who do I trust less, Stuart or Vish?
- Side note: it might be worth going to Staples just for the highlight montages on the jumbo tron. They assure me that the Kings can't really suck this much.
- For a team at the bottom of the standings and who has said they're "desperate," they sure aren't playing "desperate hockey."
- 4:55 left - the shots are surprisingly even at 30 a piece.
- Holy hell, Carle gets called for slashing at 19:27, which leads to a Kings Goal by Vish (3) from the blue line.

End of the game:
- Kings 2, Sharks 3
- Has Crow just told Zeiler that he's not allowed to shoot the puck at the net? He's basically the "dump" of the "dump and chase" school of thought.
- What is with the Kings' inability to connect the stick to the puck??? Everybody's fanning out there!
- 8 losses in a row. So when's the bleeding going to stop exactly?

Just in case you've never seen the inside of the Staples Center