Sofa King: Blues 2, Kings 0

According to Bob Miller and Jim Fox the Kings set the record for the most shutouts in a season last night. That's... really not something to be proud of. The Kings faced the St. Louis Blues and were shutout 2-0. Once again Jonathan Quick made some fantastic saves while the Kings offensive players came up with nothing. There hasn't really been any offensive showing or upside from any player lately except for maybe Jarret Stoll and Drew Doughty.

Speaking of the offense, the roster moves have been interesting as of late.

• Why was Teddy Purcell benched in the previous game? He's been getting chances and taking shots on the power play when others haven't.
• Why has Oscar Moller been scratched here and there? Injurying flaring up?
• How long has Alexander Frolov been playing with his injury (whatever that may be)?
• Why was Kevin Westgarth in the line up? He was basically useless.

There are about 10 games left and I'm just hoping the Kings don't crash land to 15th place in the West, but I actually don't see them ending in 14th as much of a stretch since the Blues have picked themselves back up and are in contention for a playoff spot. I just don't understand why the Kings can't have a season where they're magically contending for the 8th spot in the last month of the season. So what if they end up playing Detroit or San Jose, at least they wouldn't be in the basement. Still, it's a miracle in itself that they're not in Colorado's position. But I can't do an introspective while the Kings are still playing games. That being said, look for one once the post season comes around.

So the game against the Blues; it was looking like the Kings were going to come out the victors. They were dominating the Blues on their power plays; even when they were on the PK, they were forechecking like crazy. It honestly looked like they were going to eventually score to get the go-ahead goal so that I could sit back and relax. But it's just too bad that Chris Mason was a stonewall. He stopped all 22 shots and handed the Kings their pathetic new record. The Blues' Patrik Berglund scored both their goals and that was it. I'm always thinking that the Kings should just crash the net when they need a goal. They'd get more goals and learn to be more aggressive around the front of the net. They were looking for the pretty shots last night while Berglund's second goal was a scramble. Matt Greene played goal for a few seconds while Quick was forced out of position by all the bodies in front of the net. The result? A poke of the stick on a loose puck and the Blues were up by two goals.

That's all I got.

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You're My Boy, Drew; Kings 5, Blues 3

The Los Angeles Kings faced off against the St. Louis Blues last night and my boys got two more points to get out of 5th in the Pacific Division. They've also won two in a row, which may seem pathetic, I know, but really, it's the Kings. I have to take the positives where I can. This is actually going to be an abbreviated review since I have stuff to do today and don't have too much time here. Busting out the list format while dropping the wicked beats (...was that nerdy?....):

• Drew Doughty got a goal and an assist while logging in 25:09 of ice time. I don't think he needs his ego fluffed up anymore this week.
  
• Anze Kopitar finally scored his second goal of the season. He really needed this and it was an absolute beauty of a goal. To watch him take the put around the back of the net and beat Manny Legace before he could shift over the left side of the net was fantastic. He finished off the rest of the game getting 2 assists.
• Alexander Frolov, Tom Preissing, and Dustin Brown all got a goal and an assist as well.
• This was definitely a more exciting game than the last one against the Florida Panthers. The Blues were able to get on the board with 3 goals of their own, but we clinched the game with an empty-netter with less than 2 minutes to go.
• It was nice to see Sean O'Donnell sticking up for his teammates in the middle of the third period. Peter Harrold had gotten his second hit to his head of the game and O'Donnell wasn't going to let the Blues goes quietly into the night.
• I would also like to give the standard golf clap to Erik Ersberg. This was his third start and he's looked pretty damn good in all three games. Note (which I've already told 1/2 of KingsCast): if you pick up Ersberg as a goalie in your fantasy league, don't be expecting great save percentage numbers. The Kings have been letting so few shots on goal that every goal Ersberg lets in drops that percentage severely. That being said, he's pretty solid otherwise for the wins and GAA numbers.
• Last thing: three of the four goals last night were on the PP. Sweetness.

This has been a pretty good week for the Kings and I can only hope they continue the momentum through to the next week where we face the Dallas Stars twice and Nashville Predators. I would like to see Kopi and Patrick O'Sullivan get on the board in terms of goals for next week. Everyone else can continue in said fashion. Wait... I'd also like to see Kyle Calder elsewhere on the roster, like say, the 3rd or 4th line.

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