Hot Damn: Kings 5, Capitals 4

Breakneck speed with aggressive forecheck. That's the type of game the Washington Capitals came out and played last night. And man, talk about exciting. The Caps and Kings battled it out at the Verizon Center with the latter as the victors with all the spoils in the end. I can't really say that the Kings couldn't keep up with the Caps, because they clearly could; rather, the Kings were playing another style of game to where they couldn't get the last 20 minutes to look like the first 40. After Alexander Semin scored only 15 seconds in, the Kings played like gangbusters and scored the next three goals.


I'm not exactly sure what the style-of-play identity is for the Kings. Are they a team that is slow and methodical or are they a group that adapts to whatever style of play the other team brings? I'm not 100% sold either way; I've seen the Kings play well both ways but also play horribly as well. Sometimes they play well and shittily at the same time, but that's beside the point. I'd like to have a solid identity instead of having to think every other week, "Hey guys, can you stop playing like you're in a mini-mite league?" Maybe the team's identity is being consistently inconsistent. I remember thinking that a lot last season.

I know I'm talking like the Kings did poorly last night; the true is, they didn't. The forwards were grinding it out, the defensemen were (at times) chasing the Caps forwards around, and Jonathan Quick was a stud. Absolute stud once again. The Kings let an uncharacteristic 45 shots against, but that wasn't due to them leaving their goalie out to dry. I mean, c'mon, it's the Caps. When that much firepower is looking straight at you with some pretty solid passing, I'm just glad that only four pucks got past Quick. On the other end, Jose Theodore looked terrible. What was the deal? He looked unprepared to play any team last night and completely out of position. After Anze Kopitar's second goal, he kind of stumbled backward and had to hold on to the crossbar to keep his balance. I have no idea what was going on, but I'm not going to fret over it.

One last thing: the fact that Alexander Ovechkin plays nearly all two minutes of a Caps PP is insane to me. Yeah, he's then potentially potent for a full two minutes, but at the same time he looks lacksidasical when the puck isn't near him and only springs alive when he knows the puck is going to come his way. Is that really the best way to go about it or should I just let it go because it's Ovechkin? Oh well, the only thing that matters is that the Kings came out with the two points. They've been doing well on the road, so I'm hoping that the "consistently inconsistent" thing doesn't come back on Saturday against the Devils.

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Aaaand We're Back: Kings 5, Wild 2

The Kings break their 4-game losing streak with a win over the Minnesota Wild. The Wild were on the back end of playing three games in four nights and the Kings were rested up. You could say the latter had the advantage, but at this point, I'll take it without any misgivings. In looking back at the last game against the Dallas Stars, the Kings actually played better in regulation compared to the previous three contests. They fought all the way to the end and ended with a loss in the shootout, but this mindset was carried over to tonight's game where they won decisively over a tired Wild squad.

I basically thought everything looked good in this game:

• Jack Johnson played 17:44 and is slowly getting back into the groove of things. He looks strong and is making the simple plays, which is completely fine. After being out for so long, I don't want him trying anything fancy this early into his return. I'm still unsure who he could be paired with, and am really not interested in trying to guess. I'll let Terry Murray make that decision for me.
  
• All the other defensemen played a substantial number of minutes with the least being logged by Peter Harrold at 15:30. With JJ back in the lineup, Denis Gauthier and Tom Preissing look to be the healthy scratches with Harrold getting reduced minutes. I'm fine with this except that I'd want Tommy P back in the lineup before Gauts has another shot. With JJ being a physical presense, do we really need Gauts? We're lacking offense! Get Tommy P back; that is, when one of the top 6 can't play.
  
• All the top flight forwards picked up goals for themselves and I was very happy with the effort by these guys. Side note: Kyle Calder is not considered a "top flight forward" in my previous sentence.
• Role player and in the lineup until Oscar Moller returns, Derek Armstrong, always seems to contribute a great deal whenever he IS in the lineup. He notched another goal tonight and I've been very satisfied with his play. When he played in nearly every game last season, I thought he was just another mediocre player, but now that he's playing reduced minutes, he's making each one count and, thus, standing out much more. Whoda thunk??

The scariest part of the game was when Raitis Ivanans and Derek Boogaard dropped their gloves in the third period. This just showed me how incredibly large Boogaard really is. When someone can make Ivanans looks small, I'd make sure to keep my distance. Jim Fox basically said he wasn't sure who won the fight. C'mon, Jim, you really don't know? It's not everyday when you see Ivanans have fists land on his dome that many times. Sad face.

Speaking of sad face, I'm patiently waiting for little Moller to get his butt back in the lineup. Seeing Kevin Westgarth out there for less than five total minutes, was... interesting. He's basically a miniature-Ivanans, only figuratively of course. I was unimpressed with Westgarth's numbers last season and his play during summer training, so I'm not holding my breath for him to start racking up any sort of numbers. In the mean time, he'll be a mini-Bam Bam.

The Kings get a respectable 32 shots on the Wild netminders while only letting 27 get on Jonathan Quick. (By the way, Jonathan Bernier was looking mighty fine on the bench.) Quick looked solid positionally and had a fast glove-hand tonight. He's penciled in to start against the Colorado Avalanche tomorrow, and after this game, I'd be surprised to see Bernier in net. The next Kings game after tomorrow is on the 29th against the Chicago Blackhawks, and if Erik Ersberg isn't back by then, maybe (just maybe), we'll see Bernier. Personally, I'd rather have Ersberg back before that game and have Bernier return to Manchester so he can get as many games as he can under his belt at the AHL level. If he's gonna be the Number 1 for years to come, he needs to be great at all other levels of play. Nothing new here, just the simple truth.

So the Kings start a quick back-to-back on the road with a solid win and I can end the day on a happy note. FINALLY.

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Losing Streak? Red Wings 6, Kings 4

So the Kings have lost four in a row but it really doesn't feel like it. The previous four games have all been lost in different fashions; a shootout loss to the San Jose Sharks, an OT loss to the New York Rangers, a blowout against the Buffalo Sabres, and a regulation loss to the Detroit Red Wings, respectively. Tonight the Red Wings beat the Kings 6 to 4 and yesterday the Sabres shut them out in an ugly 5-0 contest.

The game against Buffalo was a weird one; the last three meetings have been completely one-sided with this one not being any different. I thought the Kings would get the win when they were completely outshooting and outworking the Sabres. The Kings had 40 shots compared to their 23. Jason LaBarbera was the unfortunate soul in net for four of the goals and then Jonathan Quick let in the remaining two. Virtually all were odd goals that were going in one after the other, and after Barbs got pulled I kind of lost hope for the Kings to come back, which is not what I should be thinking because they can come back. They've displayed that fight before and I generally do have confidence in them to do so, but yesterday was slowly going down the toilet.

(Getty Images/Bill Wippert)

Don't be lame, Kaleta

Side note, I thought Patrick Kaleta was a total douchebag for trying to challenge Denis Gauthier and then not even throw down the gloves! What the eff was up with that?! Why would you challenge someone when your team is up four goals to nothing and then not even follow through with it?! Well Katela got what was coming to him because Gauts didn't even hesitate. He threw off his gloves and gave Kaleta a sock in the teeth and he went down like a sack of potatoes. I shouldn't be mean and say he deserved it, but he really did.

Tonight Quick was in net and I was just hoping the Red Wings wouldn't demolish my boys. They didn't, thank god, but they definitely got stronger through the game, which forced the Kings to try and keep up with them, which is nothing new considering it's the Red Wings... With a combined four goals and 25 shots on in the first period, I wasn't sure what to expect for the rest of the game since neither team was getting too much of an opportunity to set up for too long in either zone. There was a lot of neutral zone play with a lot of subpar passing, but there were still plently of goals getting past both Quick and Ty Conklin with the most memorable one being where Alexander Frolov got a pass from behind the net and skated the half circle of the goal crease and put it past the Wings. Kinda pretty and ugly at the same time.

(Getty Images/Dave Reginek)

Is this really the lighting in the Joe or is it just the angle?

Congrats to Trevor Lewis for notching his first NHL goal and point, which he didn't even get to really celebrate. His shot didn't get through cleanly, which was why everyone thought Patrick O'Sullivan had backhanded it in. I didn't doubt Sully got the goal because he's just that awesome, but Lewis got it and I'm sure he's happy about that but it definitely is overshadowed by the loss. Can you really call this a heart breaker when you weren't expecting them to win in the first place? It's a question that keeps me up at night. Those are some long and lonely hours, let me tell you. The Kings looked like they had hope until the last few minutes of the game when Jiri Hudler scored, and then Dan Cleary, and then Kris Draper. Crud.

Teddy Purcell was moved to the 4th line in the game against Buffalo (13:29), which was where he stayed for tonight's game (6:29). His minutes were reduced by seven minutes while Lewis went from 9:14 to 15:08. Needless to say (since I've said this from the start of the season), I'm disappointed that Teddy didn't make the team out of training camp and I'm bummed that he's not doing well now that he's actually up here. He got the chance to shine in his first game up by being on a line with Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar! How can you not take that opportunity and run?! I'm keeping my eye on you, Teddy; you'd better shape up!

So the Kings begin a new week starting tomorrow where they'll face the Columbus Blue Jacket on Tuesday and I really hope they break this losing streak that doesn't really feel like a losing streak. They need some points here! I'd like to get above .500 because it feels like they're just trying to keep their heads above sea level.

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Snoozefest 2008! Kings 3, Blue Jackets 0

The Kings snap their three-game losing streak with a win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. We definitely needed this win seeing as how the boys were dropping very quickly in the standing with each loss. Even though this was a win, it started out as just about the most boring hockey ever. The first period was a little painful to stomach actually. I wasn't necessarily fighting sleep, but the brain cells that help me to function on a daily basis were slowly melting with each passing minute. Funny enough, the Kings outshot the Jackets three to two in the first frame. Let me repeat that. The Kings had 3 shots on net and the Jackets only had 2. Unbelievable.

(AP Photo/Danny Moloshok)

Jared Boll thought the game was boring too.

One thing I was looking forward to was that I got to see Steve Mason live and in color for the first time. He's a lot bigger than I thought he was gonna be, but he was competent enough even though he tallied a loss for this game. The Kings only put 18 shots on the Jackets and got three goals with one being an empty netter. The Jackets had 23 shots on Jason LaBarbera who looked pretty good again except for the occasional ugly rebound. I'm not sure why he lets rebounds out so easily like that. You're a professional athlete; you can gobble those up, right? But he got the shutout and was the first star of the game, so I can't hate.

(Noah Graham/Getty Images)

Too cool for school, Walter Cronkite

The scoring began with Wayne Simmonds who got a break in the second period and charged toward the net taking a shot that wasn't looking too promising, but it actually went in! It went far side and Mason just couldn't get it. We actually all thought the first goal was scored by a one Patrick O'Sullivan who was on his own break in the first period. But he lifted the shot, it hit the post, and bounced off Mason's back, which was why the angle of my line-of-sight made it seem like it went in. Later in the game Sully got the chance to take a penalty shot, but that one was unsuccessful too. Lame.

I know this is old news (old hat?), but I can't ignore it. You know who had too much time on the ice again? That's right, ladies and gentlemen, John Zeiler had 8:24 of TOI. He was just plain horrible; he did absolutely nothing to help the team. He's an offensive liability because he just runs around and hits whatever, and he just came off a suspension! Just please put a leash on that guy.

Conversely, can we take a guess as to who ISN'T a liability? He goes by the name of Drew Doughty and is just about our most highly coveted prospect. This kid is going up against the top flight players in the league and he can do no wrong. I think the big test for me personally was when he faced Alexander Ovechkin. When I saw that he could stick with Ovie without any problems or hesitation, I was completely confident for this game against Rick Nash. Doughty logged 25:05 of TOI and looked fantastic while doing it.

I feel like I'm repeating myself. I need something new to say, pretend that I'm actually smart. I give praises and critcisms all the time it seems. Maybe I should focus on someone else for a bit... Sean Avery? No, eff that guy. Actually, I need to drop him from one of my fantasy teams...

...Please hold...

Ok, picked up some Vancouver guy. Anyway, so I can't think of anything interesting or funny to share with my faithful readers. Although I did hear Nick Nickson say that the guys at the NHL Network recently called him up and interviewed and filmed him for their "Voices" segment that is running all through this season. Be sure to be on the look out for that! Okay, I'm going to transfer the "snooze" from this Snoozefest of a game and take it into my bed. Night all.

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Faceoff Killas: Kings 5, Blackhawks 2

The Chicago Blackhawks were in town and the Kings welcomed them with open arms, which they promptly used to squeeze the Hawks into submission. The Kings opened up the game with something that happens about once every month, score a goal in the first few minutes of the first period! A bit of confusion in front of the net concluded with Jarret Stoll being awarded the goal with Michal Handzus and Alexander Frolov assisting on the play. I think I'm getting use to hearing Handzus' name being announced over the loud speaker.

Besides the fact that the Kings won the game, there is a stat that must be put in the spotlight here. The Kings dominated the Hawks in the faceoff circle. It wasn't just a beating, it was a pounding of the epic sort. Stoll won 10 faceoffs out of 14 for a percentage of 71. Anze Kopitar beat Stoll by winning 15 and losing only 5 for a 75 win percentage! The third was Derek Armstrong with a 73 win percentage by getting 8 and losing only 3.

(Images courtesy of IMDB)

Dude Stoll, it's okay if you aren't 100% in the circle...you're doing fine...

The first period seemed to promise 40 more minutes of play from two teams who seemed evenly matched, which wasn't really the case as the Kings proceeded to slowly take the game from the Hawks. That doesn't mean there weren't close calls. The Kings have been averaging a league-leading 24 shots against, which the Hawks were able to get by the end of the game. This may not seem like a big deal, but it is when it's rare for a team to get that many shots past the defenders and onto Erik Ersberg. The little one was seeing a lot of rubber flying his way, but he looked pretty great once again. He did end with two pucks getting past him, but it's not bad when you think about the 5 that got past Christobal Huet. The Kings threw their own 28 at Huet who looked a bit odd in neon-red pads. What nutjob approved that color?

After Stoll's game-opening goal, Fro notched one of his own in the second period. In the third period Army got his second goal of the season by driving the net and being the role player that he's become. Sweet action. This turned out to be the game-winner when the door was closed by Kyle Calder of all people. Here we were sitting in our section talking crap about Calder all through the game and then he scores. What a buzz kill.

What Kopi visualizes as he approaches the faceoff dot...

The Blackhawks attempted an early salvage of the game when they pulled Huet with just under three minutes remaining. With this, Patrick O'Sullivan roofed an empty net goal and the arena started to empty out. Oddly enough, Sully played two more minutes than Kopi, but when looking at the stats, I can see why. The time that Sully was on the PK shoots his number past Kopi in that aspect, which is fine. We really don't need Kopi getting hurt by blocking shots.

Army, just because you're not scratched doesn't mean you can go kicking people...

All-in-all, I thought this was a well-rounded game. The 1PM start didn't seem to hurt the Kings in any way. The minutes played by everyone seemed to work well, sans Calder getting 15:00 of TOI. Honestly, is there no one else who can play the top line left wing?? He's not creating anything and when he does get the puck he either makes a shitty pass or waits too long to take the shot, which causes him to take a no-angle shot. Hence, he sucks. P.S. He also needs to be taken of the PP. Not just on the first or second unit, but both. He should be on the bench during those minutes. I'm completely confident that Oscar Moller could eat up those minutes without any problems.

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I Think I Have An Ulcer: Red Wings 4, Kings 3 (SO)

Whenever the Kings play the Detroit Red Wings, there is always a feeling of dread that accompanies that thought. But, first off, I must say how glad I am to have watched this gave live instead of at home on the Rinkside View, which is horrific! In my very quick (a.k.a. lazy) search, I couldn't find any Rinkside View images. It's just as well; it's horrible and should be stricken from the record.

Getting to the actual game, the closer it got to the puck drop, the more worried I was getting. We were facing the Cup champs who had added Marian Hossa, you know, just as an addendum. My thought at the first faceoff? "Wow, let me go pee my pants actually." I think the most surprising move that Detroit made was putting Chris Osgood in net instead of Ty Conklin. First off, I'm always surprised when teams put their number one against my team; and secondly, I really wanted to see Conks play. I've seen Osgood play my team enough times; put in Conks next time!

(AP Photo/Gus Ruelas)

Yes, Moller is the real deal

Even though there was a concerted effort from the Kings, the top guns were definitely not performing at their top speed. Anze Kopitar has been lacking in the points production and creativity. Dustin Brown had 23:05 of TOI, 6 hits, no points, but was a +1. Patrick O'Sullivan had 18:39 of TOI but was pretty quiet as well. My offensive guns were lagging a bit in this game, but I'm so happy that we have enough depth to where this isn't a problem in the early goings. At the same time, I could only imagine how much better everything could be if all of our lines are rolling together consistently.

In looking at the other lines, I'm not sure which line had more punch, the 2nd or 3rd. I'm going to argue that it was the 3rd line in that all three players were working their tails off whereas one third of the 2nd line was a bit invisible. As much as I love Alexander Frolov on the 3rd line and what he's doing, I'm sad at the same time. He's not really scoring at his regular clip and his offensive opportunities have been severely limited. I'm not surprised; it's just a bit hard to see him in a role change since I know he has the capability to put numbers up. That being said, he did score on Osgood, which I was extremely happy about. Question: What if Terry Murray tried Fro up on the top line with Kyle Calder/Matt Moulson on the left wing of the 3rd line? Worth a shot?

Jarett Stoll ended the night with a -1 but his contributions were shown elsewhere. He was 75% in the faceoff circle winning 15 and losing only 5. He was definitely fighting hard for every single faceoff he took, which was very nice to see; not that I'm saying he takes draws off sometimes. It's just that it's Detroit and there is a very, very large microscope on every single Red Wings game. When I watched the NHL Network's highlights after I returned to my humble abode, I thought they spent an ungodly amount of time reviewing this game. But then I remembered that it was because they were playing the Red Wings. Would they have spent that much time on the Kings if they were playing, say, the Florida Panthers? I think not.

Another player who had a great game was actually Kyle Quincey, our waiver wire acquisition from the Red Wings. He was playing a physical and intelligent game, and everything he was doing looked great. There's no one play I can thing of right now, but he just had a solid outing and I'm very happy with him. Speaking of, I'm also very happy with Sean O'Donnell. He's only done good things out there since he's joined the Kings. When I find myself surprised that he's still a physical player, I just remind myself that he used to play for the wretched Ducks. Getting back to the happy, I was super happy to see Brad Stuart again. B-Stu! Someone in my section yelled out that he sucked and I looked at KingsCast and said, "Actually... he doesn't..." *pout pout pout*

(AP Photo/Gus Ruelas)

Are these guys really that good? I mean, c'mon.. really... hello...??

This brings us to: Denis Gauthier. Ahhh, Gauts. You're on the left side with the center of the ice wide open with less than two minutes to go in the 3rd period and your team is up by one. Why in god's name did you pass up the middle? This turnover cost us the game. It literally did. How many people expect their respective goalie to stop a Valtteri Filppula breakaway? Yeah, I didn't expect Jason LaBarbera to stop that either. There were at least two other options to make with that pass, instead you go with the third and incorrect choice. I know he feels horrible about the pass; his actions after the goal was scored weren't lost on me. But still, the game was at an elevated stress level for me as it was, and watching Filppula snag the puck and charge toward Barbs was a downright heart breaker.

The Overtime frame was five minutes of ridiculousness. I'm sure the acids in my stomach were taking over and churning and churning and churning because I had a tummy ache for the rest of the evening. Ugh. So OT ends and they scrape the ice for the shootout. This was about the time where I knew we had lost. I was predicting that it was going to be Brownie, probably Moller, and Calder for the Kings and Henrik Zetterberg, Hossa, and Pavel Datsyuk for the Red Wings. I'm not sure if I got Calder right since we didn't even make it to the third round. Osgood essentially shoved his pads down Brownie's and Moller's throats while Datsyuk and Zetterberg gave Barbs a good ole "hello nurse" with their respective dekes.

Not surprisingly the Kings end with less than 20 shots on, while the Red Wings had 37. All in all, I thought the Kings played really well against the Red Wings. There were some great plays throughout the entire game with virtually none in the first period. Actually, the first half of the first period saw almost no offensive jump from either team, but the teams busted out some sick moves here and there by the end and got the energy in the arena up. In the end, it was a good game for both sides. I just wish we had came away with the two points.

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Connie, Kings, and the Price is Right

Yesterday I was going through the pregame stuff from Tuesday's game against the Ducks on my DVR and hilariously enough I saw myself on TV. It's not anything glamorous, just funny to me. I'm sure no one else in the world would have realized it was me, but I caught the shot and had to snap a picture of it to share. As you may notice, I do not have an HD TV, which makes me sad.

Those are my jeans and jersey.

Here is a little sneak peak at the Price is Right where Dustin Brown, Derek Armstrong, Kyle Calder and Denis Gauthier tested out their pricing with a certain garment. It's just a short clip and worth the viewing.

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Year-In-Review – 29 – Kyle Calder

(Juan Ocampo/NHLI)

I’m not exactly sure what happened to Kyle Calder last season. He started out the season with a regular place in the lineup, but, by the end, he was a constant healthy scratch. He played in a total of 65 games getting 7 goals and 13 assists for 20 points. I'm not 100% positive about this, but I'm pretty sure that those games were front loaded on the schedule. When I first heard his name I thought, "Oh, he played in Detroit. He has to be good, right?" Yeah, that was a misconception on my part seeing as how he wasn't anything special whenever he hit the ice in a Kings jersey.

There are only two things that pop into my head when I think about him:

1) He had broken his thumb in November, which initiated the call up of my favorite, Matt Moulson. I was completely okay with this because Moulson's presence was much more noticeable than Calder's. I mean, Moulson put up points!

2) There was one game where my friend, AJ, and I were standing at the glass during the warmup, and who was staring at her every single time he skated by? That's right, Kyle Calder. Dude could not have made it any more obvious that he was staring at her, which provided me endless laughter and much embarrassment for her. And then he was scratched for the game, which made me laugh even more.

It's the summer and you may be thinking, "Where did he go? Seriously. Is he still even in LA?" The answer is: yes, Calder is still in LA and doing summer training at the moment. He will be in a Kings jersey next season with $2.8 million going his way. After that, he'll be a UFA in which, I'm sure, the Kings will let him test the free agent pool. Until then, I foresee Calder doing bottom line duty while being scratched at times. I'm really not expecting too much from him next season, which may provide me with some surprises if he does do well. But, really, I'm not holding my breath.

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Up And (Like a Dinosaur) Roaring To Go (PT)

Player Transactions:
- Kyle Calder is out with a broken finger & John Zeiler has been recalled (March 21).
- The Kings primary affiliate, the Manchester Monarchs, sign Josh Kidd (D) to an Amateur Tryout Agreement. He was drafted by the Kings in the seventh-round (184th overall) in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft.
- Four (4) Kings prospects were named to the Western Hockey League (WHL) First Team All-Stars: Thomas Hickey, T.J. Fast, Oscar Moller, Linden Rowat.
- Jaroslav Modry was chosen as the Kings' nomination for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy.


Pre-Game:
Kings are playing the Dallas Stars for the 368th time this season. Last time these two teams met, it went to the shootout where Patty O took his turn against Turco and scored the game winner. In that game and in the game against the Coyotes on March 20th, Sully was the 4th shooter, which ended up being the game winner. This begs the question: why does Crow put in Cammy as the 3rd shooter? It doesn't make sense because he's in a little slump and can't seem to find the back of the net as much as Sully has. I'd have understood if he put in, let's say, Alexander "I am Russian Hottie" Frolov, but no, we have Michael "Short Stack" Cammalleri taking the shot. If this game goes to overtime, and then to the shootout without Sully taking the 3rd opportunity, I'll... spazz out.

1st Period:
- It had seemed that the Kings and Stars were even in their play for the first half of the period. This could be promising.
- Giuliano takes a penalty, which means my PK Beast is NOT on the kill. Harrold gets hurt pretty badly blocking a shot and I'm hoping it nothing is broken in his foot (a la JJ). Stars Goal - Trevor Daley bombs one from the blueline, which was deflected twice and Brenden Morrow gets credited with the goal at 13:08.
- Kings PP - Mark Fistric shoves Brownie and Cammy comes to save the day. Although Cammy takes a slashing penalty off the next faceoff. 4-on-4 - nothing exciting here. Harrold is back on the ice, thank god.
- Ersberg pulls a Hasek/Huet and skates out of the crease to poke the puck away from Stars player. That was...awesome and scary at the same time. It's not often (or at all) where a Kings goalie makes an aggressive decision like that. But, seriously, where was the Kings defense on that play?
- So this John Zeiler kid. You gotta feel kind of bad that the Monarchs figured that they could do without him in their playoff push. At this point, the Kings need roster fillers and Zeiler is the call up; I hope his skating has improved from the short/terrible choppy strides he had at the beginning of the season.
- This Rapid Fire thing is TERRIBLE... so awkward... at least Cammy was better than Kopi. =/

2nd Period:
- 5 minutes in, Loui Eriksson knocks down Ersberg and gets an interference penalty. One might say Dallman forced him in like that, but who shot that puck at Ersberg after the whistle was blown??
- Kings PP - Kings Goal - ROB BLAKE (8 & 160th as a Kings, 9th among all Kings) scores grabbing the garbage in front of Turco at 5:48. He now trails Jim Fox in scoring and Foxy says there's no way Blake is catching him. Ahh, I love it.

(AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Blake looks like a bully that's walking away from some havoc in the sandbox that he left in his wake

- Stars Goal - Stu Barnes scores at 11:32 and Dallas is up 2-1. P.S. Ersberg makes the best in between play faces. This goal opens up big scoring chances from both teams; even Ivanans gets a nice wrister off at Turco.
- Dallas up 2-1 with the shots even at 20 apiece.

3rd Period:
- First half of this period like the first half of the first period. I hate using the same word more than twice in one sentence; sounds awkward.
- Kings PP - Except Sully gets a holding penalty and it's another 4-on-4. I must say, as no surprise, Ersberg is making some solid saves.
- Kings Goal - Wasn't expecting this one! Dallas wasn't able to clear their zone, Michal Handzus (6) picks it up, and snaps one off and the Kings have tied it! (16:59) Apparently Handzus hadn't scored since December 17th (42 games). Go Zeus!
- Kings Goal - Lubo (8) takes the shot from the blueline at 17:54 with assists going to Army and Brownie. This is now 2 goals in 55 seconds.
- Kings Goal - Handzus!! He gets his 7th goal at 18:41. He should thank Fro for setting this up for him. Fro draws the attention of 2 Stars and takes a shot on; Zeus grabs the rebound off to the right of Turco and scores. This finishes the game with 3 goals in 1:42.

Game:
Kings 4, Stars 2 (shots 30, 27). Marty Turco hates the Kings. It's official.

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Roadtrip Game 5 - Kings 5, Red Wings 3 (PT)

Pregame and Player Transactions:
- JS Aubin was waived and cleared to Manchester
- Dan Cloutier was placed on re-entry waivers and was cleared
- Rob Blake has been placed on IR
- Dustin Brown and his wife have a new baby boy, Jake. He will be back with the Kings when they play Pittsburgh on Saturday.

1st Period:
- Detroit Goal - Would you have it any other way? Samuelsson takes a shot at Barbs and he stops it but it trickles through his legs and Kopecky pushes it across the line 49 seconds in.
- Kings PP - Boyle is taking advantage of his special team minutes. The rest of time is uneventful.
- Kings PP - Holmstrom gets 2 for unsportsmanlike. The Wings are being really chippy on this kill for them and it really didn't look like a PP for the Kings.
- Halfway through the period and the Red Wings are definitely setting the pace of this game and I just hope the Kings can keep up for the full 60 minutes.
- Kings Goal - Kyle Calder (7) gets the puck past Osgood at 10:17 who thought he had it completely covered.
- Harrold got hit hard by a wing; that one looked like it hurt. There's a little scrap after the whistle from that hit and Harrold is recovering on the bench. This basically pisses Ratti off for the rest of the game.
- Kings PK - Stuart gets called for interference. Giuliano loses his stick and then JJ breaks his stick and the fans are going nuts! But they were able to get it out and the Kings quickly recover and kill the rest of the penalty. Barbs ends the PK with a solid save.
- Oh man, there's DAN CLOUTIER sitting on the bench chewing his bubble gum.

Is that a gigantic scar on his face or is the glass just dirty.

- 3 minutes left Cleary shoots and Barbs' stick shatters into three pieces and Calder gives him his stick!! The Kings do a good job in keeping the puck more in the neutral zone and the Red Wings' zone. But he makes a solid save and the play is whilsted down.
- Detroit Goal - Zetterburg scores on the short side on Barbs at 18:51. This goal was lame.
- Kings 1, Detroit 2: shots 9 to 12

(Claus Andersen/Getty Images)

Look at that big-ass rookie

2nd Period
- Kings PK - Two minutes in Ratti takes a crappy holding penalty. Nice kill though.
- The Kings are keeping up the pace and they aren't allowing the Red Wings to completely dominate the game as they could.
- Kings PP - Kopi straight gets tripped up and the Red Wings aren't letting the Kings get down low with the puck. Eh, the Wings predictably kill it.
- Detroit Goal - Zetterburg takes the puck completely around the whole net and Barbs can't get to the opposite post fast enough (13:05).
- The Kings can't get the fucking puck out of the fucking zone. Get your heads on straight! Get the puck out of your zone!!!
- Minute to go, the Kings get stripped of the puck and instead of taking a straight shot on Barbs on a 3-on-1, the Wings pull a Kings move and pass about 3 times and they lose their opportunity.
- Kings 1, Detroit 3; The Kings aren't letting Detroit get too many shots on goal, but Detroit is still controlling the flow of the game.

(Claus Andersen/Getty Images)

Osgood was seeing a lot of this

3rd Period:
- Kings Goal - Sully (13) goes far, far side top shelf and it's an early goal 39 seconds in. That was a sexy goal.
- Ratti - HIT!!
- Kings PP - Kings Goal - Fro (14) gets a cross-ice pass from Calder with Army screening at 6:15. Game is tied!
- The game is a lot more wide open after this goal than in the first two periods. The Kings are taking back some of the neutral zone that the Wings were dominating earlier.
- Man, these line combinations are all over the place; Moulson, Boyle, and Cammy right now.
- Kings PP - Calder seems to be getting under the skin of his former teammates, which leads to a penalty against Lebda.
- Kings Goal - Stuart (5) takes a long bomb from the blue line and it gets past Osgood. This is the 3rd unanswered goal for the Kings at 13:07.
- Kings Goal - Kopi (22) gets the backhand in the low, low slot and it gets it behind Osgood!! Make that 4 unanswered goals at 14:39. I honestly can't believe the Kings have scored 4 goals in this period. Unbelievable. I guess miracles really do happen.
- Kings PK - Detroit pulls Osgood and they're on a 6-on-4 til the end of the game. The buzzer goes and I think I just peed my pants.

Game:
- Kings 5, Detroit 3
- I am officially recanting my comment about putting Cloutier in net since we were gonna lose anyway.
- This was an amazing end to this game. This third period was the best hockey that I've seen the Kings play even in the games where they've won. Even when Detroit got desperate at the end of the game, the Kings maintained their control in their zone. I'm in disbelief. But what is going to annoy me is that news articles tomorrow are gonna say how the lowly Kings beat the Wings. Stop calling us "lowly" and "the worst." I think this roadtrip has shown what they can put together.
- Yes, we're still last in the standings, but we just schooled the Detroit Red Wings.
- Another 2 points!!

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Kings 2, Ducks 3

I'm not going to begin this game re-cap with the rage I was feeling at the end of the game. Rather, I'll let the rage build up to the Kings loss tonight.

Pre-game
- I was skeptical with watching this game on the Anaheim telecast because of the negative comments that I've heard about Brian Hayward's inability to call games. And I was getting annoyed with everyone calling Hayward “Hay-ze.”
- For the Kings: they are the least penalized team coming into tonight's game (and the Fro is still out).
- I want Bob Miller and Jim Fox.
- After seeing a lot of Ducks-oriented analysis, I'm glad they went to Patrick O'Neal with Brownie for a couple of minutes. The best part about the interview was when Sully walked by and ruffled Brownie's hair. AND that Brownie now has 85 hits. Sweet action.

First Period
- Both teams have their 4th lines starting the game.
- After learning that the Kings are the least penalized team in the NHL, they come in the first period and take 3 penalties.
- The first penalty – Army was called for boarding. Their PK looked a little messy during the first minute, but killed it well in the second half.
- Second penalty – Ivanans puts up a HIT but is called for boarding. I thought this was also a nice PK and Brownie puts up another good HIT.
- The intensity is picking up quickly and this camera guy SUCKS ASS. He must be stoned or something because he can't follow the puck to save his life.
- Third penalty – Sully is called for holding and the Kings again have a nice PK.
- GOAL 1 – Cammy passes to Calder (4) for the sweet goal.
- Parros and his mustache is called for boarding. I can't believe 3 boarding penalties have been called in this game, and it's only the first period!
- Sully breaking his stick leads to a short-handed rush by the Ducks. A little stressful, but Barbs held up and stopped that shot.
- GOAL 2 – Blake takes a shot on net and Brownie (10) deflects it in. Beautiful.

End of the First thoughts
- This play-by-play is definitely not as good as Bob Miller and Jim Fox.
- This camera guy still sucks. Why can't he keep up with the puck? If I was a Ducks fan and I had to watch this every game, I'd be PISSED.

Second Period
- Shot on goal to note: At the beginning, the Ducks passing got lazy and Moulson got a clean shot to the net right in the slot. Damnit, Giguere.
- Ducks GOAL – Getzlaf (9) deflected the puck between his own legs and through Barbs' legs as well. Shit.
- Beauchemin takes down Blake... GRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!
- There was coast-to-coast playing coming from both sides that started to get messy and then became chaotic after a while.
- Half way point in the game – Anze hasn't done much of anything this entire first 30 minutes. Cammy is being shut down every time he touches the puck.
- Giguere gets a penalty for interference. I thought this was fine UNTIL Hayward said that this was “good acting by Calder.” Dude...SHUT UP! The Kings have an okay pp for these two minutes.
- So far Barbs is looking amazing in net.
- Bertuzzi swoops down in Bertuzzi fashion and slams Army drawing some blood.

End of Second Thoughts
- The game is physical and the Kings are trying to keep up. Why is Zeiler not putting up hits??
- Ivanans is getting physical even though he's got 4 freaking plates in his face! He's making me nervous.
- Stats LA – ANA: shots: 20-24 & hits 11-19.

Third Period
- To continue the trend of the commentators annoying me, they actually question Blake's ability to play in -back-to-back games! SHUT UP!
- Handzus is called for interference. Okay, Hayward sucks because he couldn't tell who the penalty was on until Handzus stepped into the box. Bob Miller would have been ALL OVER THAT. This PK was fine except for the two shots on the Ducks were able to get.
- Lubo - HIT!
- Anze – STILL not visible in this game. What is he doing? Cammy is STILL being shut down. Argh.
- Ivanans – stop trying to pick a fight! Don't get your face broken again!
- The penalties by Brownie and Moen causes a 4-on-4, which leads to Getzlaf's second goal (10). Vish lost an edge and fell, but what killed me was when Hayward said, “I don't know what he was doing.” And then mentioned something about “petite factor.” What the hell is that?
- Hits are coming from everywhere from both sides and the tension is getting higher and higher.
- Kunitz scores making the game 3-2 in favor of the Ducks.
- THIS is the point where my rage comes in.
- With two minutes left in the game, the Kings are on a 5-on-3 (which turns into a 6-on-3 with Barbs pulled) and the Kings can't set ANYTHING up. ONCE AGAIN, the Kings need to stop passing and get the puck to the net! I don't know how many times I yelled that at the TV, but you can't be passing it again and again when there are only 15 seconds left on the clock!!!

End of the Game: Kings 2, Ducks 3
- The Kings give up a 2 goal lead and also give up 2 points to the Ducks.
- I don't even know...

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