Kings 2, Coyotes 4

Before I go into the game tonight, I'd like to give a shout out to all of the people driving north on the 110. Fuck you very much! Why were so many goddamn people on the freeway at 6pm on a Saturday night?

First Period:
- Starting lineup is Lubo with Modry, with Ratti, Anze, and Zeiler out in front. Aubin in net, GREAT.
- Most exciting part about the game so far, seeing Gretzky on the bench. The last time I saw that guy was when he was still playing at the Forum. Ahh, those were the days.
- Zeiler has been showing his presence out there, especially when he maneuvered the puck through the neutral zone and through some Coyotes all the way to the Coyotes' end boards and THEN layed up a nice HIT.
- Aubin - Makes a lucky save. But he didn't actually MAKE the save. The inside of the left post did when the Yotes had a 3-on-2.
- Brownie - HIT
- Carcillo decides to start some shit with Sully and gets a roughing penalty, which bring out the top line. This line comes through with Anze (13) scoring from Brownie and Lubo at 6:24. There was crisp passing and no one held the puck for too long, which put Phoenix' s D out of position. Brownie holding onto the puck the way he did showed patience, which caused Bryz to fall for the fake.
- Ratti gets called for roughing and 30 seconds later Blake gets called as well. I thought this was complete bullshit. Thanks to the ref for giving the Yotes a 5-on-3.
- Watching Handzus and Modry on this PK made me VERY uneasy. It might be their lack of finesse that causes that feeling. Aubin is definitely getting some lucky breaks with the Coyotes not being able to follow through on plays they set up. Ok, now that Vish and JJ are out, I feel more confident that they'll kill the 5-on-3 advantage, which they do. Whew, dodged that bullet.
- Ratti - HIT
- Thoughts on Gauthier: He's small and I don't know how I feel about his play on the ice because he hasn't played much from what I've seen. He definitely looked like a little kid next to Ratti.
- Kings on the PP - As Phoenix is trying to clear the puck Blake snatches the puck out of the air, drops it, and takes a hard slap to the net. I love that. For the rest of the PP, I thought the majority of players were milling around the neutral zone. It didn't look like there was too much effort to get it to into the Phoenix zone.
- Phoenix was able to set up a play, which Hanzal later fanned on. But Aubin should have covered up the first damn rebound that was right in front of his face so that Hanzal didn't get the opportunity to fan on it in the first place!
- Phoenix goal - Tjarnqvist at 18:30. This was shot from inside the blue line in front of the Kings' bench and it went through everyone's legs, including Aubin's. Terrible terrible goal.

End of the First:
- So I'm just going to now say that I am UNSURE OF AUBIN. I think that he should be pulled right now just for his sloppy play.
- At the end of the period Blake is talking to the ref on the ice about the roughing penalty. He is then given a 2-minute penalty for unsportsmanlike, a 10-min for misconduct, and a game misconduct. WHAT THE FUCK.

2nd Period:
- Willsie serves Blake's minor penalty. This is problematic because JJ is back to being paired with Modry, which is not a good sign because now all of the defensive pairs are shuffled around AGAIN.
- Gauthier was actually out on the ice but did not complete a hit that he went for. Zeiler is able to chip in and ROCKS the Yote's world. And in dramatic fashion the Yote's stick goes flying.
- Kings are on the PP. Cammy's actually noticeable tonight and is helping out in plays. He and Kopi got a nice rush and quickly took it to the net but were denied by Bryz. But after the first minute the Coyotes clear it and the Kings weren't able to regain their composure for the rest of the PP.
- Brownie - HIT
- Zeiler - HIT
- Aubin is just not doing it for me. Put in Quick.
- Gauthier is also not doing it for me. Has he even played more than 3 shifts? Thank god Klemm was sent back to Manchester. Why was he even here in the first place? So Crawford, are you gonna bring back Moulson now or what?
- Kings PP - Brownie definitely caught a Yote with his head down. You should really be more careful. I thought the Kings had good puck movement and got some good shots on.
- Stuart has been a nice surprise in this game. He's blasting shots from the blue line that are actually hitting Bryz and not going wide.
- Zeiler - HIT. His hits are definitely the loudest, which make me happy. Plain and simple.
- Sully - He's making a bit of a showing. But he definitely is not as studly tonight as he has been in previous games.
- A Yote got a break with the puck; just him and Aubin. And Aubin actually saved it! Is it sad or normal that I was genuinely surprised that he made the save?

End of the second period:
- I definitely thought that this was the poorest last minute of any period. It's like the Kings didn't want us to get the McFlurrys! What's the deal? Why you gotta hate? Where's Fro?
- Thoughts on Gauthier after 40 minutes: Wow, I can't even say that you're sucking ass because I don't even see you out there on the ice. Are you still suited up?

3rd period:
- Kings PP - Once again, too much passing. The puck needs to get on net for scoring chances, right? Or am I completely off base here.
- There was a lot of messy coast-to-coast playing for a couple minutes at the beginning of the 3rd. A little too much; the Kings need to get something started, like cycling the puck and ATTACKING! Oh yeah, and grabbing a rebound or two would be nice.
- I felt that JJ was moving slowly in this game. You could tell that he was thinking about his next move, but he wasn't hopping on anything too quickly. Was it because Blake was out and he was back with Modry? He just kind of looked lost out there for the last 40 minutes.
- To Aubin - STOP coming out of the crease to play the puck. You look awkward and your stick-handling skills are sub-par. Huh! True to fashion, he just came out and got caught up in the trapezoid.
- It seems that the Calder-Handzus-Willsie line is the energy line tonight with Willsie at the helm.
- Goal - Handzus (3) with assists to Calder and Willsie at 10:39.
- The Yotes were able to cycle the puck and get it into the slot with Aubin exposed. Aubin let's another one in. That makes it 3-2 Yotes at 12:16 by Keith Ballard.
- Willsie is called for hooking and the Kings are on the PK. Stuart has definitely been pulling his weight this game. His partner, Preissing, on the other hand...
- Oh my god, Gauthier, you're still playing?!?!
- A Yote goes for a clean breakaway and the ONLY thing that saves Aubin is the crossbar.
- DAM line - They were able to get some great opportunities. Brownie threw up another solid HIT, and Cammy actually broke through two Yotes right inside the blue line to go to the net.
- The Kings pull Aubin for a 6-on-5 at the end of the third. But what was the point? The Kings literally shut down in the neutral zone. The last three minutes were piss poor hockey and the Coyotes totally owned the Kings. Oh yeah, Shane Doan got a goal on the empty net.

End of game:
- Kings 2, Coyotes 4,
- Aubin should NOT have been in net tonight. I felt cheated by not seeing Quick get his second NHL start.
- If I ever see Ryan Smyth on the street, you know fists will be flying and hair will be pulled.
- Zeiler needs to learn how to skate with efficiency. I'm tired of his choppy strides that aren't effective in getting him from point A to point B. Other teams are now realizing what role he's playing out there and he needs to start stepping up other parts of his game or he's just gonna get manhandled.
- After checking the game summery, I saw that Gauthier played for 5 minutes and 45 seconds. Ok, Blake played in only the first 20 minutes of the game and was out there for 7 minutes and 53 seconds. What the hell is Gauthier supposed to be doing? The fact that he's from Torrance, CA does nothing for me if he's not contributing on the ice.