Back in the Game; Kings 5, Hurricanes 2

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.

(LAKings.com)

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.

(LAKings.com)

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.

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Roster Questions Have Been Unexcitedly Answered

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!

*~*~*~*~*

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.

*~*~*~*~*

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.

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Trade Deadline Shocker

Just as I thought the Kings weren't going to make any big moves today, Dean Lombardi comes out and surprised the hell out of me. He had signed two players, the deadline passed, and I was content. But about 15 minutes later, the trade announcement rolled out as a crazy three-way deal, wait no, a 4-something deal. First the two players who were signed:

(1) Sean O'Donnell signed one-year deal - $1.25 mil
(2) Erik Ersberg signed two-year deal - $1.5 (combined)

I'm definitely very pleased with O'Donnell getting signed again, and honestly, there was no way he was going to be let go in the summer. Also, we get to keep the conditional pick from that original trade to acquire him. Having Ersberg signed for two years is a pretty good (and cheap) security blanket. He's been solid in the net and I'm glad a deal was signed before the summer began. No complaints from this humble blogger.

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Onto the big honkin' trade. For a four-square visual of the trade, go to James Mirtle's page.

(1) Patrick O'Sullivan and a 2009 2nd round pick (what the hell happened there??) was sent to the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for Justin Williams.
(2) The Carolina Hurricanes turned around and traded both to the Edmonton Oilers and sent Erik Cole back to Carolina.
(3) The Oilers then took the 2nd round pick and sent it to the Buffalo Sabres and received Ales Kotalik.

In the end these are what the teams end up with:

(1) Kings - Justin Williams
(2) Hurricanes - Erik Cole
(3) Oilers - Patrick O'Sullivan & Ales Kotalik
(4) Sabres - Kings 2009 2nd round pick (originally in deal for Craig Conroy?)

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Apparently there were still Marian Gaborik rumblings? I can't really be excited for a player that would say (taken from Russo's Rants):

Speaking of watching games, Marian Gaborik put his foot in his mouth today back in Minnesota when he voluntarily said when asked if he feels the pressure to return with the team sinking, “Quite frankly I haven’t really been watching games. I’ve been following the scores but I haven’t been watching games. From my perspective, I just really need to focus on how am I feeling, how everything goes with me and then if everything goes good I’m going to jump in to play. Definitely the pressure is on, but first of all I want to feel confident in my body and … so far everything is going well.”

Wow, talk about selfish. I'm sorry Kirsten and Elise, but I can't hide my dislike for Gaborik. From an outsider's perspective, if he leaves Minnesota on his own, without anything in return for the club, that will be the final nail in the coffin in terms of player and team relations. And I'm pretty sure it'll happen that way if he doesn't re-sign since he's going UFA status this summer.

So that was my preface for my short thought about him potentially coming to LA. If this does go down, it'll be during the summer and (hopefully) for cheap because he'll be on IR for 80 of 82 games next season.

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It’s 75 Degrees Outside And I’m Inside

Going into the weekend, there have been plenty of updates from the Kings camp that I have been keeping up with in my podcasts, but I realized that I should probably type something out for your viewing pleasure.

• I realize that I haven’t written anything about Rob Blake signing his one-year deal with San Jose, but I have addressed this in Kings World Podcast episode 1.5 and in the I’m Not a Puck Bunny Podcast episode 22. I didn’t ignore it by any means; it was just too devastating for me to write anything the moment it happened because he’s obviously more than just a hockey player to me. Please look for a question-and-answer I did for Gann Matsuda when he comes out with a piece on Lombardi…

• The Kings have re-signed four RFAs: Matt Moulson, Erik Ersberg, Gabe Gauthier, and Joe Piskula.
  
• The most important out of these four was Moulson. I couldn’t imagine the Kings releasing him into free agency waters. He made a good showing in his 22 games with the Kings last year and it just seemed natural for him to be re-signed.
  
• Ersberg was going to take the Kings to arbitration because he apparently wanted to re-sign with a one-way contract so that he’d get the same amount coming to him if he was playing in Los Angeles or Manchester. That was the word on the street before he re-signed for $700,000. I guess whatever was going on was patched up and we all moved along.
  
• The re-signing of Gabe Gauthier seems to make sense because he had a good presence in Manchester in terms of leadership last season.
  
• I... have nothing to say about Joe Piskula.

• Terry Murray was hired as the Kings new head coach. From his background as a coach, his affiliation with the Philadelphia Flyers, and his coaching philosophy, he seems like he’ll fit in well with this rag-tag bunch of young bucks. Before I was pretty indifferent about who the new coach would be after Craig Hartsburg was taken off the market, but now I’m getting excited for the start of the season with knowing that there is a competent coach behind the bench. He will be employed by the Kings for three years and will be paid $2.65 million. Apparently bloggers aren't supposed to quote from the Associated Press, so you can read about his history here.
  

• Christmas in July!!! The NHL 08-09 schedule was released today and I have spent some time perusing the schedule and taking note of specific games.
  
• First and foremost, I’ve concluded that the scheduling committee must hate me. We all know that my favorite player is now on my most hated team, and apparently the scheduling committee knows this too since the Kings’ home opener and closer are against the Sharks. I couldn’t even call that irony; that’s just straight up cruel. The first year I’m able to afford season tickets I have to watch a hostile crowd spew its venom onto the player that I hold most dear to my heart. My friend that I’m getting season tickets with, AJ, has promised to buy me the biggest beer available for those games against the Sharks. We’ll see if that’s able to stop the tears from flowing…
• I guess I also have to point out the the Kings are opening their season on the road as well. They're obviously not going to London again to play against the Ducks at the O2 Arena. No, they're playing the Sharks... at the Tank. *sigh*
  
• If I had to choose just one game that I’m most excited for it’s on Thursday, November 20th against the Washington Capitals. I’m sure the buzz in Los Angeles for Alexander Ovechkin’s arrival won’t be as big as when he goes into Canada, but this game will definitely be a huge draw for Kings fans. To see a superstar in Staples Center will definitely fill the seats. Personally, as much as I’m looking forward to seeing AO on the ice, I’m almost as excited to see Sergei Fedorov as well. He was always someone I liked watching as a kid, so I’m definitely looking forward to this game. Fer sure.
  
• Saturday, November 1st will be interesting. Michael Cammalleri makes his Staples Center debut in a Flames jersey and I’ll definitely be looking at who his linemates are. I can't actually predict what the reaction will be when he touches the puck. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was silence, which one might equate to indifference, but I wouldn’t see that as the case either.
  
• Another game to note will be on Friday, December 5th against the Edmonton Oilers. This will be Lubomir Visnovsky’s first game back at Staples and I hope the fans give him the warmest welcome possible. We miss you, Lubo!
  
• Saturday, January 3rd will be another fun one for me. The Philadelphia Flyers will be in town and I’ll get to see Daniel Briere (who I heart) and Marty Biron. There are some teams where I just can’t explain why I like them, and the Flyers are one of those teams. I think Briere being on the roster also adds to why I like them.
  
• The Kings have two 5-game roadtrips and one 6-game roadtrip in the second half of the season and all three are within a 2-month span. The two 5-game roadtrips bookend February while the 6-gamer occupies the latter half of March. Two teams that traveled to the west coast last season were the Ottawa Senators and the Montreal Canadians. This coming season, the Kings are going to their houses. I'm bummed we won't see those two teams at Staples, but no worries, they'll be on TV, right FSN?...
  

• The longest home stance is for 7 games. It starts on Monday, October 27th against the Red Wings (…yay…) and ends on Tuesday, November 11th against the Stars (…yay for Sean Avery…).
• There are 14 Saturday games AT Staples. 8 start at either 7PM or 7:30PM, which means that 6 of them will start at 1PM.
• After being confused with Cat for a couple of minutes, we figured out that neither the Kings nor the Stars were playing on Thanksgiving. Duh, right?
• The down time between Christmas and the New Year has three games going on, so Kings fans won't be too bored.
  
• Last year the Kings played the Chicago Blackhawks on New Year's Day, but this year, Kings fans will be ringing in the new year with just Winter Classic II.
• The longest period without any Kings games is from Thursday, January 22nd to Wednesday, January 28th.
  
• Last year the last game of the season was held on the same weekend as the San Diego Crew Classic. I was definitely bummed about that because being away gave the season an anti-climactic feel to it, personally. But this year the schedule will be going a week longer so I'll be able to better gauge which event I want to go to, the SDCC or a game against the Coyotes...
• April has 6 games and only 3 are against Pacific Division rivals. Thank god.
  
• There are 15 occurrences of back-to-back games.
• 9 - Both games are away
• 5 - One home and one away
• 1 - Both home games
  
• I think that's all for now. Oh, the Frozen Fury is going to ROCK.
  

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Year-In-Review – 6 – Erik Ersberg

(AP)

He looks good in purple and black.

With how many goaltenders we had in net this season, it’s a little surprising that Erik Ersberg was the first ever Swedish tender to play for the Kings. It seemed like we were rolling them out one-by-one and even overlapping sometimes. Next thing you know we’ll have an Asian kid in there! Oh wait…

In 14 games played, he recorded 6 wins, 5 losses, and 3 OT losses, with a 248 GAA, and a .927 save percentage. Even though he only played 14 games, Ersberg impressed me and the rest of Kings nation. His calm demeanor in net really allowed for the rest of the team to relax and just play hockey. I thought the team looked more like a cohesive unit in front of Ersberg at the end of the season. I'm not sure if that was more due to them having nothing to lose (since they were in the cellar anyway) or if it was because Ersberg gave them a chance to win every game. The squad definitely looked better together for this ending stretch of games than in any other run of wins. Although, the 8-game roadtrip out to the east coast wasn't too bad. Although that one against New Jersey wasn't so fun... or that one against St. Louis, but whatever.

Going back to Ersberg, he definitely provided me with some drama and laughter, I’ll admit that. The whole Jason Spezza popping Ersberg’s helmet off his head was definitely a scary incident, and I think that was the only type of occurrence that happened. But I definitely enjoyed seeing him make the occasional funny face, which I’m sure he wasn’t intending to do. Even though he’s a little older than me, he looks so young, which completely endears him to me. I wanna stick him in my pocket and perhaps occasionally pull him out and feed him a protein shake.

He is actually a Restricted Free Agent this summer, and I'm wondering when he will be signing another contract since I'm pretty sure that the Kings want to keep Ersberg around. If he doesn't make the team, then they have a solid option for the top spot at Manchester. He made $575,000 this past season and I could see him inking a 2-year contract, which would take him to Unrestricted Free Agency. I see the Kings signing him for a relatively cheap price since he hasn't REALLY been tested so he won't need the whole arbitration dealy (*ahem* Cammy...).

14 games in the NHL definitely does not make me want to proclaim him as the number one just yet. He needs to be in net for more games to prove that he’s ready to play for the majority of the season. Plus, he is one of many tenders who are going to be fighting for a ticket to the big kids’ playground at training camp at the end of summer. At this point, it's anyone's guess as to who will man the pipes next season. All I know is that I want to see some consistency with whoever is in net. I don't want to see another 7 goalies next year. Well, 6 since we all know that Clouts is out of here and, actually, 5 since Aubin is wearing orange now. If Ersberg actually makes it as the #1 or #2 and if he can stay healthy then I could see him making a big name for himself. But before I get too far ahead of myself, I have to remember that Good Ole Barbs and Baby Bernier will be fighting like hell for those two spots.

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Kings 4, Predators 1

The Kings are keeping other teams stressed out by preventing them from picking up points. But perhaps the Predators realized that they should put Dan Ellis in net instead of Chris Mason because the Kings don't suck that much, right?...

Well, Kings get the W and 2 points while the Predators remain stagnant with 78 points and in 9th place in the Western Conference.

Kudos:

• Alexander Frolov with 2 goals (22, 23)
  
• Kevin Dallman with his second goal of the season (2)

Update: After the end of the game, this goal was given to Brownie (30) on a deflection, but Dallman gets credited with an assist.

• Matt Ellis for his first goal for the LA Kings (3)
  
• Erik Ersberg gets his second win with 37 saves (2-2-2)

(AP Photo/Frederick Breedon)

Where's the puck? Oh yeah, it's sliding over the goal line. Sweet.

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Kings 2, Senators 0

Pre-game:
Before the game started the Kings were on a 5-game losing streak and the Sens were on a skid of their own, so it was anyone's guess at to who would win. In Episode 4 of the "I'm Not a Puck Bunny Podcast" I stated that I wanted to see Ray Emery in net so that he and Cloutier could meet at center ice and have a throwdown. Well, I was incorrect in both instances as Gerber and Ersberg were both in net. I was actually surprised to see Gerber between the pipes because he had dropped both games against the Sharks and Ducks, so you'd think the coach would give him a break and put in the prima donna, but that didn't happen.

This was the Swedish kid's (Ersberg) Staples Center debut and he did not disappoint, but let me backtrack and get to the game.


1st Period:
There were only two note-worthy instances in this period:

1. The first penalty kill the Kings had, they worked very well together to keep the Sens from advancing too far into their zone and cleared the puck multiple times, which, as a Kings fan is rare to see. Great kill and the players to note: Jeff Giuliano and Matt Ellis.
2. Jason Spezza takes a slapper from the blueline straight at Ersberg and his helmet pops off his head. I haven't seen the replay on tv (but I have it DVR'd so I will watch it tomorrow) but it was crazy to see that happen live and in color. I just was hoping that there wasn't going to be any blood on his jersey, and when I saw that the jersey was still white, I breathed a sigh of relief.

I found this period to be lackluster. There were some good opportunities from both teams but nothing substantial. The Sens definitely spent the majority of their time in the Kings zone, and the Sens dominated the neutral zone more often than not as well. I thought Ersberg was doing well so far seeing as how this was his first game at Staples and I was hoping for the best. He's slowly but surely gaining my trust as of this moment.


2nd Period:
- So it's here where the Kings start to play the kind of hockey they're being paid to play. Think that's harsh? Why don't you take it up with my heart that has been ripped out and stomped on multiple times by varies Kings games.
- The start of the period brought out three (3) scoring opportunities by the Kings; Brownie, Sully, and Cammy, respectively.
- Kings are on the PK at 1:56. They have another solid kill with Ellis making a showing. Another player that's been noticeable has been Spezza with his shots on; he's got some great foot speed going from a dead stop to full speed.
- Kings PP turns into a 5-on-3, and I'm not sure what was going on with the times when Frolov scored the first goal of the game, but it was awesome nonetheless. Kings Goal - Frolov (21) gets a PP goal from inside the slot at the hash marks (8:10). He gets a nice pass from Kopi who was at the half boards on the right; he gets the puck, lets it go, and it goes in between Gerber's left pad and the post.
- At one point in the second Blake was following a Sen along the boards and when they got to the goal line, Blake decided he'd had enough of him and threw an old school Rob Blake Hip Check. Seeing that honestly took me back to what he was like years ago when throwing the hip check was something that happened on a frequent basis. I really can't describe how cool that was to me.
- With about 5 or 6 minutes left in the period, the energy starts to rise. It started with a BS play by Volchenkov on Sully. Volchenkov basically hits Sully's left knee with his...body. Sully is down on the ice and Brownie rushes in. After order is restored, Volchenkov is on the Sens' bench, Sully in on the Kings' bench, and Brownie is in the box for 2 minutes. Grrrr. For some reason after this, the rest of the game turned into "let's pick on Sully as much as we can for the rest of the game." It seemed like the Sens had it in for Sully; I have no idea why and it was starting to annoy me.
- So the energy had risen and opportunities were opening up throughout this period. It seemed that both teams needed a full 20 minutes to wake up and realize that they were trying to play a hockey game!
- The standout so far is Brownie. He's going out every shift and making a difference. What about Ersberg? He's been stellar so far, but I feel that I need to see him perform the same way for more than a couple of games before I can start having any real faith in him. As an aside, Cloutier just can't get a break it seems. Maybe this is a sign that he should just hang up his skates and pursue some other career path...


3rd Period:
- Standout player of this period is definitely Kings netminder: the Swedish Kid. It seems that he's square on every shooter that he faces. In the first period I was nervous about how he would fare, but by this point in the game, I'm pretty confident in his performance. He's stopping pucks every which way, but he looks so calm in all of his movements. Differences in Ersberg compared to some Kings goaltenders:

• Unlike Cloutier, Ersberg doesn't frantically search around for his rebounds. Why? Because he blocks shots and smothers the puck immediately.
• Unlike Aubin, Ersberg doesn't let rebounds bounce off him that go out 10 feet in front of him, which give opposing players the perfect chance for an immediate second opportunity.
• Unlike LaBarbera, Ersberg is...not 6'3".

Ottawa started to put the pressure on in the last 10 minutes or so of the game. The majority of this time was spent in the Kings zone with Ersberg making some ridiculously controlled saves. With less than two minutes left in the game, the Sens score what they thought would be the tying goal, but after review, it was waived off and the game ended with Sully scoring the empty netter for this 18th goal of the season (19:55). And just to reiterate that this was "Pick On Sully Night," on the way to the empty net, Meszaros rode Sully as if he was Sully's jersey and not an opposing player. Meszaros capped off his night with a roughing minor.

Game:
- Kings 2, Senators 0
- Talk about lopsided shots on net:

• 1st period: Kings 8, Sens 16
• 2nd period: Kings 21, Sens 8
• 3rd period: Kings 3, Sens 16

All in all, this was a great game. Granted neither team really showed up for the first period, they were able to pick up the energy and get the crowed involved as well. In the end, the Senators lose to all California teams; they move onto Phoenix and face some feisty Coyotes while the Kings face the other Canadian team in town, Montreal. Why does it have to be a 1PM start? What time am I gonna have to wake up to get my ass over to Staples?

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Kings 2, Blues 3

Pre-Game:
- Kings take on the St. Louis Blues
- Rookie Dmen Jack Johnson vs. Erik Johnson
- Erik Ersberg in net
- This is the picture of Brad Boyes that was in my Kings Game Day email. Someone tell me why his head is so small... He can't be wearing his shoulder pads in this, so what's the deal??

Has anyone seen Super Mario Bros??

1st Period:
- Blues Goal - McDonald at 1:40. Umm...ok...nothing new I guess. I can't believe the three (3) Kings just stood there while the puck slid past them; but Ersberg just watched it too! That seemed way too easy.
- The Blues are dominating this period; they've spent a lot of the first 5 minutes in the Kings zone and are putting 2 Blues down low to create a wall in front of Ersberg.
- Kings PK - Ellis and JJ are in the box. I heart my PK Beast; way to sacrifice the body!! The Kings watch the Blues not take too many shots on, but the Kings aren't able to clear the puck at all. Ellis comes out of the box and charges up the right-wing for a shorty, but Legace ain't no rookie.
- Halfway through the first - these are some sloppy breakouts by the Kings from their zone. Bleh. But I like that Ersberg doesn't let a lot of rebounds out in front of him. This is in stark contrast from what J.S. Aubin liked to do, which was let the puck rebound out far in front of him that gave the offensive player another opportunity for a shot on.
- Hey, Dallman! If you grow 5 inches, gain 20 pounds, and play hockey at an elite level, I might like you!
- Kings Goal - Fro (20)!!!! Sully gets the loose puck on the left wing and skates over the blueline while looking around, makes the pass to Blake, and Legace is looking around and around and doesn't realize that Frolov had already gotten the puck past him!! (19:12)

2nd Period:
- Kings PK - Very nice kill, very nice, boys.
- Kings Goal - Brownie (29) gets the puck on the left side at the blueline and snaps it past Legace and that's it. Kings up 2-1 at 4:32. Sweet action.
- The Kings have been dominating this period, hands down. They've cleaned up their act and are actually getting the puck out of the defensive zone like a pro hockey team should be. So this Erik Ersberg; staying squared to the shooter, gobbling up rebounds, snatching pucks out of mid air? I am impressed.
- Blues Goal - Tkachuk gets the puck in the neutral zone, goes high on the short side and it's tied up at 11:53.
- Wow, the Kings 4th line is providing the exact pressure they needed after the Blues tied it up. Giuliano and Ellis are cycling the puck well and actually get some chances at the net.
- Awesome = Ivanans getting clean hits off all over the ice. Crappy = Lubo getting hit and slow to get up.
- This was a great period compared to the first; it was fast-paced and the Kings were able to dominate the neutral zone at times. I thought the 4th line did a very good job of providing the support the top two lines needed. After seeing Ivanans out on the top line for a bit of the first period, I think he only got one or two chances in this period. But it seems like his play became more noticeable when he was with Kopi and Brownie just because he knew he couldn't just skate around looking for guys to throw around. Side note: Willsie with Kopi and Brownie is no good.

3rd Period:
- Most eventful thing in the first 5 minutes is Erik Johnson getting some shrapnel to the face. He was able to skate off the off on his own, so he seems okay. The Blues are playing a little better in the first part of this period than they were in the 2nd. So the play between both teams seems more even than it was in the first 40 minutes.
- There are some great passes to the front of the net on two different plays, but Cammy and Brownie are unable to convert on both of their chances. They seem to have been a little too close to Legace which made for an awkward angle for them.
- Halfway through the period - The play from both teams is more wide open now; the plays are being broken up back and forth from both teams.
- Kings PK - This is the Kings' fourth penalty they have to kill; the Blues have taken no penalties at all. This is actually a rare sight to see brownie in the box (for elbowing no less). Ellis is a pure grinder; he did a great job on his shift on this PK. I give this kill a B+.
- Blues Goal - Ryan Johnson takes full advantage of a broken play at the Kings blueline. The puck trickles through the legs of Ersberg and the Blues are up 3-2 at 13:06.
- 4:25 left on the clock - Brownie just completely upends McKee up over the Blues bench and McKee is out of the play. That was awesome.
- Kings PP - This is the first power play for the Kings with 2:09 left in the game. Blake gets his stick snapped and the Kings are up 2 men!!!
- After a whistle with less than a minute to go, Blues Brewer goes after Brownie for something, but, really, Brewer was the one that was punching Brownie on the back of the head before that whistle! But what pissed me off was that Brewer tried to grab at Lubo when the ref was taking him off! What the fuck did Lubo do to you, you ass?!?! Don't touch my point man!
- Brownie gets 2 minutes for high sticking and 5 for fighting, and the Kings are only up 4 to 3 now. The Kings were only able to get 2 shots on in the last 40 seconds and the Blues come out the victors.

Game:
- Kings 2, Blues 3 (Shots on were 32-31)
- I've resigned myself to the fact that the Kings are just gonna lose and keep losing. But that doesn't mean I can't take positives out of the remaining games:

• Handzus won 5 faceoffs and lost only 1! Has that ever happened before??
• I enjoyed seeing Ivanans in a different role tonight by being put on a line with Kopi and Brownie.
• Ellis has shown why the Kings plucked him off waivers, but, Steph, he won't be my favorite on the PK. That role belongs to Jeff Giuliano. =)
• Ersberg impressed me with his puck control between the pipes. I actually hope that Cloutier becomes his backup while Barbs recovers.
  

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