A Not So Surprising Trade

I had a feeling something was going to happen between Monday's game against Columbus and this Saturday's game against the Philadelphia Flyers. To say that I knew there was going to be a trade going down would be a total fabrication; rather, I just thought four days was too long for a team to sit idle especially with this elephant in the room called "a ridiculous logjam of goalies."

For those that don't know yet, Jason LaBarbera was traded to the Vancouver Canucks for a 2009 7th round draft pick. On the upside there have been some high-quality picks coming out of the 7th rounds in past draft years: Henrik Lundqvist (2000), Johnny Oduya (2001), Joe Pavelski (2003). So not... too disheartening, but only time will tell. Vancouver, on the other hand, is dealing with their own goalie situation with Roberto Luongo still out, but I'm not going to look at that since the Kings have their own problems. Barbs was on the lower end of the pay scale this season and I had just assumed that he was going to be allowed to walk when his contract was up because I really didn't see anyone taking a chance on Barbs, even through waivers. So high five to Dean Lombardi for getting SOMETHING in return. That being said, I'm a huge Barbs fan because he couldn't be a nicer guy.

The start of the season saw Terry Murray name Barbs the #1 during training camp; you could infer that this was because Erik Ersberg was ill during part of the camp. After 10 straight starts, Ersberg FINALLY got his own set of starts and played very well. It was clear to the fans who the number one was but I'm sure Murray kept saying Barbs was the number one to save face and not seem like a flip flopper to whichever goalie was on a decent streak. That's fine, no one likes a flip flopper, but it was hard to ignore the raw numbers the guys were putting up and the sense of confidence or lack thereof that was displayed by the rest of the team depending on who was in net.

Ersberg went down with a temporary groin injury and the Kings were able to recall Jonathan Quick on an emergency basis. Quick proved that he deserved some starts... or was it that Barbs couldn't prove he belonged there? Either way, Quick has been lights out in net and we (I'm sure) were all hoping that Quick wouldn't be sent down when Ersberg came back. I didn't want to face the situation of Quick being reassigned to Manchester and having Barbs as the other goal for the rest of the season, but I didn't have to face that music because of Barbs getting shipped off to Vancouver. Now we have one less goalie and another pick for next year's draft. Lombardi, how do you do it?

To Barbs: I hope you find some success in the NHL in Vancouver or perhaps in the AHL. Either way, happy holidays and now you get to start a new year with a new team! Thanks for your hard work the ast few seasons and good luck in Canada!

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Year-In-Review – 3 – Jason LaBarbera

(Bernstein Associates/Getty Images)

Good Ole Barbs

I’m not sure how to really tackle the goalie situation because there are seven (7) to talk about. Perhaps I'll speak of them by tandem…or however I feel like it. But let’s first review the goalies that have guarded our poor pipes this season.

For how much talk there is about how we need goaltending, we sure have a LOT of netminders to choose from. That being said, I don’t want to bag on any of the goalies that have been given time in LA this season because being a goalie is a thankless job sometimes. That is something that I'll fully acknowledge. Let's do a quick review of the netminders this season before I go in depth. Jason LaBarbera was the #1 for much of the season and as a goalie and a person he's totally chill. I honestly did feet bad when J.S. Aubin was placed on waivers and sent down to the AHL, but the numbers spoke for themselves; he was also the subject of the first ever trade between the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks, which produced quite a few laughs from yours truly. Jonathan Quick had some face time mid-season as did Jonathan Bernier at the beginning of the season. The two goalies dressed at the end of the season were Erik Ersberg and Dan Cloutier, the former being a relative unknown while the latter is well-known to Kings nation. Management had shown some faith with bring Clouts and his beach balls back to LA for another go. During the last couple of games, Clouts was temporarily sidelined and Daniel Taylor was recalled to be the bench warmer. Ersberg had been quite impressive, but I am annoyed that Kings fans have voted that they want Ersberg as the starting goalie for next year according to a poll done by lakings.com before the season even ended. Have they forgotten about Barbs? Have they so easily brushed aside his injured ribs and willingness to backstop a struggling defense?

I think doing this somewhat chronologically will be easier, but, as of this writing, Jonathan Bernier has just finished his short playoff run with the Manchester Monarchs against the Providence Bruins in the first round for the Calder Cup in the AHL. Even though he started the season in net for the Kings, I think I'll hold off on writing about him until I get to all the other goalies since he is the touted future and I have already (read: completely) bought in.

I'll start with Jason LaBarbera; the number one goalie for most of this season, and, on this site, is the resident snazzy dresser. He ended the season with 17 wins, 23 losses, 2 overtime losses,1 loss in the shootout, with a 3.00 GAA, and a .910 save percentage. Not terrible numbers when you consider who he was backstopping. (I don't mean to bag on my boys and be a jerk, but I can't help it. Maybe it won't be so bad if you think of it as more of me putting a mirror up to their season for them to see.) I felt like after Jonathan Bernier was sent back to Lewiston that maybe the Kings would be able to get their act together and help Barbs keep the puck out of their own net. They seemed to be doing well as October went along and somewhat into November. But that faithful day when the Kings played the Avalanche on December 1st proved to be the demise of the Kings' season. To keep a short story short, Ryan Smyth decided it'd be a good idea to spear Barbs in the third period. This put Barbs out for I can't even remember how long, which was beyond an unfortunate incident because it felt like this started the revolving door of goaltenders. But we're sticking with Barbs for the purposes of this post so let's continue.

I felt like Barbs was good but not particularly fantastic as Nabokov or Osgood was; but that's not to knock his effort this season. He did as well as he could considering how much the team in front of him was struggling with their own issues. This could be promising for next season if Barbs could stay healthy for all 82 games, which is hoping against hope because unless you're Nabby or Brodeur, you're gonna be sitting some games. This isn't necessarily too far of a stretch for Barbs either because if you look at the goaltenders in the first round of the playoffs, you see that there were some who were good in the regular season “but not fantastic,” and when they hit the first round, they played lights out (excluding a one Martin Gerber; but you can't blame him in his situation. The Senators have been their own soap opera this season). So Barbs could feasibly come back next season and play to his potential, but this is contingent on how he's feeling when training camp rolls around. I'm only wary because of the double hernia surgery that ended his season prematurely.

Out of all of the goaltenders this season manning the pipes, I felt like Barbs was a picture of “Old Faithful.” He took the Monarchs deep into the playoffs last season and was in LA making his case, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt, especially when he played like a number one goalie. It was comforting to see his purple pads in net warming up the exact same way every time Jim Fox was telling the viewing audience his stats. Going back to December 1st; I never had a dislike for Ryan Smyth. I really didn't; the only thing that really stood out to me when I heard his name was that he cried a shit ton when he was traded to the New York Islanders at the trade deadline in 2007. But after his spearing of my goalie, I will forever see him as a jerk. I felt like after Barbs' recovery from this injury he wasn't the same in net. He didn't have that same sharpness and confidence about him and it made me nervous and unhappy.

In conclusion, hopefully Barbs can get back on the horse and man the pipes behind a more confident team next season. I'm not sure who will make a killer showing at training camp, but it will definitely be interesting.

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Q&A With Jason LaBarbera

I was at the Toyota Sports Center today for the Kings practice and I caught Kings' netminder Jason LaBarbera and he agreed to answer some questions.

First, some thoughts on their practice:
- Caught my first glimpse of Teddy Purcell. He looks like he's fitting in well with the group. He's got a slick, quick release on the puck. There have been comments of his size (6'3", 177 pounds), but he didn't look scrawny by any means. I'm excited to see what he can do out on the ice.


- They were practicing an outbreak passing and back checking drill. My thought was, "Good, they need it." =P
- And how come their neutral zone trap comes out effectively in practice but is no where to be found during the games?
- I'm pretty sure Army told Barbs to "suck it." Ahh, good times.

The Red Wings were practicing at the same time, which I had no idea about until they started to walk by me from the other rink.
- Mike Babcock looked silly in a hoodie sweatshirt and mesh shorts.
- Some of the guys were watching the Kings and I tried to be slick and asked one of them, "Scoping out the competition?" But all I got was a very tired-looking nod of the head.
- I was like 3 feet from Dominik Hasek. SWEET!

Nichole Glaze Photograhy

Q&A with Barbs
So I actually interviewed some other guys (Purcell, which was interrupted by Sully, and Jack Johnson), but Barbs was the player I ACTUALLY wanted to interview. The first section was for him to just pull questions out of a hat and answer; the questions weren't really serious and I was looking to just keep the mood light. I was going to read the question when he pulled it out, but he just read it and answered it.

Barbs: (Pulls question and chuckles) "Whose rear do you dislike most parked in your crease" ...Thomas Holmstrom.

Barbs: "Have you ever been star-struck while out on the ice? If so, who?" ...Uhh...probably Jessie James and Sandra Bullock.

CKim: No, players! (Hearty laughter from both)

Barbs: Oh players! We're in LA, why can't they be celebrities?

CKim: Cause that's not how the game works.

Barbs: Umm, Joe Sakic. (Pulls another question from the hat) "What is your favorite thing to do on an off day? And sleep isn't an answer." Hanging out with my girlfriend.

CKim: Sounds good.

Barbs: Pretty lame...or hang out with my dog we just got. How about that? (Pulls a question) "Patrick Roy or Marty Brodeur." ...Patrick Roy

CKim: Good answer.

Barbs: "Best fighter - Ray Emery, Dan Cloutier, or Patrick Roy." I'm gonna say Jason LaBarbera.

CKim: (Hearty laugh from myself) Alright, I want to do a little...I'm gonna give you a name and two options and it'll kind of be a rapid fire thing. So "Sean Avery - perfect agitator or annoying pest."

Barbs: Annoying pest

CKim: George Parros - well-quaffed mustache or 1970's swinger

Barbs: Well-quaffed mustache

CKim: Vincent Lecavalier - softest hands on the puck or softest hands on the ladies

Barbs: (Laughs) I'll give him the ladies

CKim: Alright. Joe Thornton - exquisite playmaker or too much booty in the pants

Barbs: Exquisite playmaker

CKim: Ilya Kovulchuk - speedy sniper or Ivanans' next target

Barbs: (laughs) speedy sniper

CKim: Dominik Hasek - crazy Czech goalie or fish out of water

Barbs: Both!

CKim: Let's go with...Dion Phaneuf - the Terminator or soft as a snowflake

Barbs: Hate him. None of them, all of them. I can't stand him.

CKim: What? I. Then you should go with the second option. (laughing for a little bit). Okay, "Rick Nash - human bulldozer or a pushover."

Barbs: Human bulldozer

CKim: Sam Gagner - shootout master or baby-faced Oil

Barbs: Baby-faced Oil

CKim: Jonathan Toews - sweet puckhandler or Patrick Kane's sidekick

Barbs: Sweet puckhandler

CKim: Alright, last two. "Top fashionista - Ray Emery or Jason LaBarbera."

Barbs: (Laughs) That one's easy, that's me.

CKim: Wayne Gretzky - best player ever or best player ever

Barbs: (confused) Say that again?

CKim: (incredulous) Wayne Gretzky...best player ever...or best player ever

Barbs: ...best player ever

CKim: Thank you very much!

It ended kind of playfully because of the nature of the last question. But he said that he liked my questions and we went our separate ways. I'm glad Barbs played along with the questions and had a little fun with it.

Much thanks to Barbs for answering my questions! I really appreciated it!

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So This Is What The Basement Feels Like

Pre-game:
I took in this game not up in the 300 section or on the radio, like usual, but in the 100 section. KQ and her family had an extra ticket on their hands and were extremely gracious in inviting me to sit with them. It was unbelievable to be sitting 13 rows back from the glass. So, much love and thanks to her and her family who were unbelievably kind.
- On to some news: Fro is back in the lineup, which makes me very excited because he is a big body on the lines and was the highest point holder before his injury.
- Scratches: Willsie, Dallman, Nagy (good thing his contract is only a year long), and Barbs (obviously)

1st period:
- Starting lineup is JJ and Blake on D with Sully, Cammy, and Fro out in front. Aubin's between the pipes and, once again, I AM UNSURE.
- The first couple of shifts bring a free-flowing type of game with no real puck possession for too long. Zeiler is moving around and being the gnat that he is.
- Army has two HITS in the first 3 minutes.
- Fro - HIT (I just hope these hits don't aggravate his injury since he hasn't been playing at this high of an intensity for awhile)
- Calder and Sully are getting in some forechecking trying to keep the energy levels up.
- Wild Goal - Gaborik nets it at 3:48 going top shelf on Aubin from the right circle. Apparently it's gonna be one of THOSE games.
- It is clear that neither side is taking ownership of the neutral zone. Where is the Wild's Trap that I've heard about?
- Giuliano - HIT (I think I'm just gonna start calling him my Manchester Boy)
- As I look up at the scoreboard and see that there is 13:08 left in the first, I also see that the Wild has only one shot on net. What the hell? Damnit Aubin!
- Ahh, there's that Wild Trap. BUT, Zeiler is able to break through two Minnys just outside the blueline and charges into the Wild zone. Obviously he doesn't score.
- Anze is called for hooking at 10:14. So this is the first of about 100 penalties that Mick McGeough calls tonight. Yes, it's McGeough at the helm and he is quite whistle happy. Handzus gets a break into the Wild zone but Harding solidly denies him. The puck gets moved out but it appears that the Wild are pretty good at this Trap business. Anze comes out of the box and immediately makes a break for the net and throws the puck at Harding on the backhand. Wild still up 1-0.
- Ratti - HIT
- Anze - HIT
- Sully, Anze, and Brownie are out on the Kings PP. They're getting chances and I thought something was going to happen when Blake moved his 6'4" self in front of Harding. Vish gets the puck and slaps it right at Harding's midsection.
- 2:23 left - Blake gets a break on his own into Wild territory, but instead of awkwardly going all the way to the net, he stops and takes a slapper from the top of the circle. Harding saves and the score remains the same.
- Calder receives two for holding at 19:06. C'mon guys, just get through this period! I'm still unsure about Aubin here because Minny is setting up well on their PP. The minute ends and it's 15 minutes of rest.

End of the first period:
- Kings have 12 shots on to Wild's 10.
- It looks like the Kings are losing steam and, once again, they have to play down on the scoreboard. It must be so mentally tiring to ALWAYS be down.
- Who's gonna come with energy into the second? The Kings? The Wild? Well, I know Ratti's always up for some trash talking.

2nd period:
- This is the start of a seemingly non-stop slew of penalties. After a while, I really had no idea who was called for what when it was a 5-on-3 for the Kings or 5-on-4 for the Wild. It was utter pandemonium so I stopped keeping track.
- The woman sitting to my right was super nice and I loved her commentary through the game. She made me laugh even when the Kings were making me sad. (KQ, don't be so sad! When the Kings hand you lemons, you gotta smash them back in their faces!) The reason I mention this woman was because she called Giuliano a "sparkplug," which I thought was a very appropriate descriptor. My Manchester Boy was looking productive out there, which is more than I can say for some of the guys...
- Anze gets rocked and Moore takes down Brownie.
- 15:06 left and the Kings can't get anything set up on this PP. Hmm, sounds familiar.
- The Kings get called for too many men at 4:54 (p.s. I'm now looking at the box score for these times).
- This just getting ridiculous; I don't know who's in the box, on the bench, on the ice.
- It's a 5-on-3 now (I don't even know what's going on), and Rolston gets the puck right in the slot at the top between the circles and slaps it toward Aubin into all of the traffic. What do you know, Minnesota scores and it's now 2-0. The Kings look like slugs out there.
- Modry is doing his work on the PK, as my right-hand woman said to me. Ok, I'll give props where props are due. I'm not one to shun effort.
- So I mentioned this previously, but it looks like Handzus is more concerned with trying to get a short-handed goal than actually trying to clear the puck on the PK. He really should be more focused on getting the damn puck outta the zone first!
- Dizzzam, Stuart just got rocked into the boards. Hope he got the license plate number on that fella.
- 11:10 left and Calder is called for holding. (Damn, I can't read my own notes for this PK...ha...ha....)
- 7:22 left and the Kings have another PP. I thought they did well setting up in the neutral zone and controlling the puck into the Wild zone. There was a good chance here with Kopi getting a solid opportunity. Once again, Harding comes through for Minny. Damnit, Kirsten!
- There was one play where Sully was on the right-wing half boards and cross passed it to Fro who one-timed it but was denied. Surprisingly, the same exact play happens when Sully gets the puck again. This time, Harding is ready for it. Blast!
- Kopi is just not having a good night; here's another play where he is denied. Cammy is on the goal line on the right side and passes it to Kopi on a backhanded fancy spin move. *sigh* Harding is just a wall tonight.
- Kings PP at 15:35. They're able to cycle it enough, but nothing is working. They get some shots on, but to no avail.
- Right after this PP ends, the Kings go on the PP again.
- Then Blake gets a penalty for interference. I was just amazed at how many times McGeough blew his whistle.

(What did you call me? That's 2 minutes for name calling. Get in the box.)

End of the second period:
- Fred Roggin was sitting by the glass with his wife and kid. His tiny blond woman had some major bling on her finger. Whoa.
- So I guess I'll give someone else some credit here. Aubin has actually been making some saves here and there. I'm not as pissed at him as I have been in other games. I mean, at least it isn't 6-0, right?
- This view 13 rows back is crazy close!
- Fro is definitely making his presence known on the ice but his frustrations are highly visible.
- I wonder what Handzus' face off percentage is so far?.....

3rd period:
- The rest of Blake's penalty was killed without a hitch.
- Brownie actually had a break on his own, but it was him versus 3 Minnys and a Harding. Obviously he was shut down, but I liked the effort! If I had a "Vote for Lubo" cookie, I'd totally give it to Brownie.
- There was a point where (I think) the Wild should have been called for too many men (Crow was standing on top of the bench all kinds of pissed off), but I guess McGeough didn't feel like calling that one.
- Brownie - HIT
- We're just getting shut down left and right. Rolly McGeough helps this by calling a play dead when Harding didn't even have control of the puck. Argh.
- The face off at 15:05 brought in some good chances. Carney flat out denies Cammy's shot. Talk about frustrating; my energy level is dying...
- Schultz absolutely smashes Ratti. Something else I've noticed lately is that Zeiler isn't falling all over the ice anymore. He actually possess the ability to keep himself upright.
- 11:05 left and the puck is moving from end to end to end to end, aka, no one has clear possession for too long. Calder gets boarded but McGeough decides he doesn't want to call this either.
- Kings are on the PP again at 10:25. They're able to keep it in the Wild zone but this doesn't look like a PP at all. Fro is getting annoyed.
- 7:19 - On the scoreboard I see that Minny has 10 less shots on (22) than the Kings (32). Why are they up 2-0? Aubin...
- Kings on the PP again - Passing and passing and passing and passing. Minny is just getting their PK done. They're being aggressive and forcing the Kings into lameness.
- Cammy falls on Harding during a scrum and gets a goalie interference penalty at 16:05.
- Kings Goal - Blake at 18:48 with assists to Cammy and Sully. They had a 6-on-5 by pulling Aubin and got a result. There's hope. And if not, at least they didn't get shut out. Always gotta look on the bright side.
- The end of game rush begins after this goal. There is a mad dash by the Kings and the play is whistled with 4.3 seconds left. All they have to do is win the face off and get a shot on. It's happened before. Just please don't let Handzus take the face off....
- Cammy steps up to the plate and draws. We get the puck but it's scramble, scramble, scramble, scramble in front of the net and the game is over.

(Hey Staples Center, maybe you should clean your glass)

End of the game:
- Kings 1, Wild 2
- Shots on - Kings 36, Wild 24
- A total of 18 penalties were called, with the majority coming in the second period. In looking at the score sheet, can you really blame me for not knowing who was off for what, when, why, how?
- Surprisingly Anze gets the third star of the night with 0 goals and 0 assists. Can someone tell me why? Why didn't Blake get it? He scored the only freaking goal!
- Kings Talk on the dreary drive home. Some guy called in saying he read online that DL came out saying that he wanted high draft picks and so signed the free agents to make it so. Ok, this was just about the most asinine thing to call in about. What website was he reading? Or, more likely, what message board was he on? The internet is filled with gossip and it's people like this guy that perpetuate this crap. I was so irritated at this guy for saying this on the air. Do you really think a GM of multi-million dollar professional sports team would really say this? "Hey guys, I want high draft picks so I'm just gonna sign guys to make this team suck. Sound good? Ok, it's set. Go Operation Kings Suckage." I can't believe this caller thought DL actually said this. It's obvious he doesn't read any websites of substance and reliability.
- Ummm...the basement sure is cold.

Follow up:
1) Watching the after game interview Crow is pretty fired up. It's 4 minutes and 40 seconds of heated comments. But they don't even show the full interview, so who knows how long it actually went for.
2) Jason LaBarbera is now on IR (retroactive to December 1st).

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Wow! That Kinda Sucked!

The Aves were in town and I honestly thought this was gonna be an easy win for the Kings. WOW, was I wrong. After 5 unanswered goals, the Kings lose 5-2. Let's take a little trip down memory lane, shall we?

Ahh Staples Center, how I love the bright lights, parking lot dudes with red flags, and bums asking for money while I'm just trying to get inside. And plus, these freaking little kids standing next to the glass and pounding it the whole time during warm ups annoy me. The players aren't gonna look at you and you're just wasting time doing that. Plus you're in my way since I want to take pictures. P.S. climbing onto the small ledge and gripping the top of the glass probably isn't the best idea. As I make my way up to the upper concourse with my bro, I am in a completely agitated state for reasons prior to arriving, so he buys me a shot and a beer to get my ass to calm down. He buys both for himself and the tab is $33. Thanks, AEG!

1st Period:
- Line up for Kings - JJ with Modry and Sully joining Anze and Brownie (Barbs in net) I was SO happy to see Sully on this line; in my eyes, he's been doing noticeably well the past couple of games.
- Line up for Aves - Liles with Finger on D and Hejduk, Stastny, and Smyth (Theodore in net).
- Penalty - Liles called for delay of game.
- Kings Goal - Ivanans (2) and Sully with the assist at 5:20. The Kings actually scored in the first period!
- Preissing - HIT
- Some dude in section 313 won a snowboard during a commercial break. A SNOWBOARD!
- Sully got a nice shot on net, but Kopi wasn't ready for the rebound and lost the opportunity.
- Barbs makes a nice save (as usual).
- BIZARRE - So this was REALLY WEIRD. Aves Karlis Skrastins gets a penalty for hooking and the camera followed him into box, which is normal. He then nonchalantly puts his hand down the front of his jersey and pulls out a makeup compact, which he opens and uses to start powdering his face. WHAT THE FUCK???? (There was NO explanation....so...yeah....)
- Brownie - HIT
- Zeiler - HIT
- Kings Goal - Kopi (11) with a ridiculous back pass from Sully at 7:12. But this goal would not have happened were it not for Brownie's fore checking.
- Brownie - HIT
- Aves Goal - This was the weakest goal ever! By Stastny from Smyth and Hannan.

End of 1st:
- Kings are up 2-1 with 9 shots on goal to the Aves' 8.
- I thought there were some pretty productive shifts out there making this seem like it was going to be an exciting one up to the last minute.

Second Period:
- Sully - HIT
- So the theme of "stop passing so much and just take the f-ing shot" continues with Sully getting a break with the puck with a man on but no one in between him and Theodore. What does he do? Passes it back....to NO ONE.
- Hilarity from my seat - Some of the players were in a corner digging out the puck and Moulson was in the fray. What does he do to get the Aves player to get the hell outta his way? He just sticks his hand out and pushes the guy down completely off his feet.
- JMFJ - HIT
- In the second half of the period it started to get a little hectic with a rush from the Kings with some close calls but ending with no goals. Then the rush moves in the other direction by the Aves with nothing for them either. Kind of exciting, kind of stressful. Should this unpredictable play be happening more? I dunno, but it's better than being bored...or annoyed.
- Poll - During commercial break the announcer says to vote to hear a song selected by three Kings players. Gotta text in your vote! (Results at the end of the period)
** Kopi - "Living On A Prayer"
** Cammy - "All Night Long"
** Army - "Rock and Roll All Night"
- Kopi - HIT
- Fight between Stuart and Wojtek Wolski that resulted in a roughing penalty against Stuart at 11:30. You probably could have guessed that this was met with some resounding BOOs.
- The face off for this PK was delayed a little because Handzus skated out to be the 5th man. I guess he forgot the memo of Stuart being in the box. (Follow up in third period)
- There were two Aves fans sitting in the row behind me and my bro, and they yelled "Let's go Aaaaa-ves!" To which we ALL responded with "Aaaa-ves suuuu-ck!" Ahh, good times.
- There was a wraparound attempt by an Aves player, which JJ did a good job shutting down.
- Aves Goal - Henson with assists from some guys.
- Modry - HIT
- Zeiler - HIT
- You know, for so many hits being tossed up in this game, I didn't feel like there was much of a result from them.
- About 8 minutes left in the period it looked like the Kings were in a PK situation for 5 minutes. What the freak. Thank god Barbs was there to save them. Hmm, that sounds familiar, Barbs makes brilliant saves while the team isn't doing a good job protecting him.
- Is this about the point where the Kings start to dwindle? Ratti takes a slashing penalty and the Kings are working the PK. The most painful part about these 2 minutes was when Stuart lost his stick. After an eternity, Sully mans up and give his stick to Stuart. But he's actually unable to clear the puck when it was near him a couple seconds later. That was a stressful two minutes but successfully killed.
- So Cammy's song pick won. I probably would have picked Army's choice, but then again, I haven't heard "Living on a Prayer" in a long time. What would you have voted for?

End of 2nd:
- Score is 2-2. Shots on goal 13 (Kings) to 25 (Aves). A little lopsided, no?
- Those who were not really visible to me: Nagy, Cammy, and....Klemm. Nagy, I don't know what's going on with him and Cammy's just being shut down left and right and can't get anything started. What about Willsie? Scratch.
- My bro and I went to the TeamLA store and bought some stuff, but something that annoyed me was when we were going back to our seats. There was a kiosk thing and one of the guys stopped my bro and asked if we were together and after he says that I'm his sister, the guy is all, "Wait, let me show you something." I have ants in my pants wanting to get back to our seats since the 3rd period has already started. So my bro denies him and we start to quickly walk away and the guy starts calling to me, "Wait! BLAKE! BLAKE!!" Dude, don't call after me if I CLEARLY don't want to buy what you're selling. The more times you call me Blake (because I'm wearing his name on the back of jersey), the more desperate you sound.

Third period:
- We miss the Aves third goal by Smyth while we were running back to our seats and we also miss Stuart getting a penalty.
- There was a pileup on Barbs after a save that didn't look good since he was motionless for a bit, which is obviously never a good sign. Apparently Smyth had run into him in (with a broken stick?) which the Kings wanted a call for spearing? Is this right? Nothing was called, so I don't really know what that was about. But this puts Barbs in the dressing room and Aubin in net.

What do you think Smyth is thinking at this point?

- Brownie - HIT
- Aves' Guite gets called for slashing, which was killed off without too much of a problem except that it looked like Brownie got tripped up and nothing was called. What's the deal ref?? Do you even have your eyes open?
- Brownie - throws up another solid HIT
- But a helmet-less Smyth puts the puck into the net and I am sad.
- Update: it's 4-2 Aves with 7:30 left. The Aves now have 31 shots on and the Kings have 18.
- Aves Goal - Hlinka scores bla bla bla.
- So going back to Handzus accidentally coming onto the ice to be the 5th man when Stuart had taken a penalty. None of the four officials noticed that the Aves had 6 men on the ice. Hey refs! How about calling for too many men!
- Everything the Kings are doing is getting shut down and they're getting sluggish and the Aves are taking advantage of every turnover and loose puck. JJ looses an edge and falls. Zeiler brilliantly throws up a hit into an Aves player who also crushes Moulson. Yeah...and when I say "brilliantly" I hope you know that I was actually very annoyed with that.

End of game:
- Kings 2, Avalanche 5
- Shots on goal - Kings 19 Avalanche 33
- And you know who was a scratch for Colorado? FREAKING JOE SAKIC.

Another loss

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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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Kings 2, Sharkies 1

So I turn the TV on to FSN for the start of the Kings game. What do I see instead but a WSU/WASH game in the last 5 minutes, which they've decided to show until the end since it's tied 35-35. What the hell!! I have to wait for this to be over before I can see my Kings whomp on the Sharks? With each minute that ticks by, I get angrier and angrier. Let's see how I pass the minutes by:

7:39 – 2:08 left in the game. Switch back to Mr. And Mrs. Smith since it's on another channel. Might as well ogle at Brad Pitt for a bit.

7:45 – 15 seconds left on the clock. Things that I'm missing: any pre-game interviews, any game analysis, ANYTHING!! Switch to Wedding Crashers, which is on another channel.

7:53 – The clock has been at 9 seconds for too long. Get it over with! Ok, it's FINALLY over, now go to the game!!! What? Post-game interviews??? CRAP!

7:56 – I'm so fucking pissed. FSN, I'm so mad at you right now.

1st Period: We come into the game with 9:14 left in the first and Brownie (9) has just scored a goal. Wow, I'm even MORE mad at FSN now.
- Calder is on the first line? Well, it doesn't really matter since Crawford is changing up the lines on every shift. I could be out there for 30 seconds and I bet no one would know. I'd put up a hit on Setoguchi and skate away while saying, “That's for colonizing my ancestors...and scoring a lot of goals.”
- On Marleau's penalty, Blake took 3 shots on, which made me happy since he hasn't really been doing that this season because it's been the norm up until this year. What's the deal?
- Zeiler – Way to completely miss that attempted hit. Good job.
- Side note: Calder now as 5 titanium pins in his thumb to match the pin that's already in his shoulder.
- Kopitar (9) scores on the PP from awesome passing from Brownie, to Vish (who fakes a shot, only to pass), to Kopi who one-times it past a stiff-looking Nabokov. Sick.

End of 1st: I'm still pissed at FSN, but the Kings are up 2-0 so I guess I should relax a little.
- Looking at the stats, the Kings have only one hit to the Sharks' 4? And 5 shots compared to the SJ's 7? Those numbers have got to come up.

2nd period: Fun fact: Rob Blake has 215 shots on goal, which is the most by any NHL defenseman. AWESOME.
- I thought the PK from Nagy's penalty was good; they were clearing the puck and shutting down the Sharks.
- In always hoping their passing improves, I thought at 10:38 in, Moulson's turn around pass to Blake was a nice setup. Even though it was blocked, it still brought in a shooting opportunity.
- Nagy was awarded a penalty shot and tried to go 5-hole on Naby, but was denied. No worries, they're still up 2-0.
- Side note: Ivanans now has 4 plates in his left cheek courtesy of Rob Blake.

End of 2nd: Hmm, it appears that Handzus is actually being effective and making a noticeable difference on the ice.
- The Kings were outshot 13-6 this period. Crap guys! What do we gotta do to get the puck to the net more? And by “we” I mean “YOU.”
- Even though the shot total wasn't ideal, I thought the Kings transitioned their energy well from the first to the second period.
- During the intermission, they showed a clip of Cammy while in London. The season opener was a while ago, and they're just now showing this? Anyway, since I am pretty critical on speaking skills and the ability to talk without using “umm,” “like,” and “you know” in everyday vernacular, I have something to say about Cammy. I am SO GLAD that the Kings have captains who are competent in their speaking abilities. Blake, Thornton, and Cammy are well-spoken and I definitely appreciate that.

3rd period: Off the bat, the energy levels are still there making this a very hectic period.
- Sully – HIT! (and appears to not be wearing his teeth tonight)
- Zeiler falls. Hmm, why is that not surprising? I see this guy as being like a spastic younger sibling in that he just gets out there and starts running around. But, I mean, it's his job as being part of the energy line, right? But lately, with Crawford changing up the lines like there's no tomorrow, who knows what Zeiler is supposed to be doing....besides falling down a lot.
- The Kings are still skating with energy and hustle, which is actually causing me to feel a bit stressed even though they're still up by two goals.
- Goal for Sharks by Milan Michalek. Damn, Barbs almost got a shutout.
- At the end of the game, Joe Thornton almost scores on his own goal from the Kings end but hits the post. Oh well, I'll take the one goal win.

Game: Kings 2, Sharks 1. Five-game losing streak SNAPPED.

When Barbs was being interviewed after the game, did anyone else think the guy sitting behind the glass to his left looked like Newman? Seinfeld anyone?

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Another Lackluster Performance

Looking back on this game as a whole, I think the best part for me was the pregame interview with Cammy. When Patrick O'Neil asked him about the lines and what they might look like, he got a huge smile on his face and said that things would be looking a bit differently. In reference to the Coyotes, he said, “We might throw the shocker at them.” And he thoughtfully added a little WINK on the end of that sentence. OK CAMMY. Do you even know what The Shocker is????? hahahah, WOW! I think I might have fallen off the couch laughing.

Note by commentators: Brownie leads the NHL in hits. =) Ahhh, that's what I like to hear. I'm not an advocate of violence, but a good solid hit will from my team will ALWAYS put a smile on my face.

So this is Cammy's idea of what The Shocker is: 1st line of the night: Kopi, Brownie, Nagy. 2nd line being himself, the Fro, and Sully. Somehow, his version of The Shocker isn't quite as scandalous as the known version. Oh Cammy, you and your 5'9” frame kill me.

This game really didn't hold much excitement so this review will be reduced down to a list:

1) Zeiler definitely put up a hard hit and drew a cross-checking penalty. Wow....good job... The thing to note is that this was the longest delayed penalty I've ever seen (as agreed upon by Jim Fox).

2) Brownie – HIT!

3) 2 shots on that PP? Umm...

4) Jim Fox - “Can't get caught sucking down low.” Umm...

5) The first period had a lot of coast-to-coast playing with not much going on. Not surprisingly the Kings had 10 giveaways compared to Phoenix's 3.

6) During the first intermission – Video montage of Gretzky. Aww, I LOVE Gretzky!

7) Airborne was on HBO and I started flipping at the commercials. If you've never heard of Airborne, let me say that it is horrendously awesome and everyone should check it out. If not for the stellar acting of 1993, then for the terrible ice hockey moments scattered throughout the movie.

8) In the second period they kept the camera on Anze on the bench for a minute or two. So what exactly was he sniffing (smelling salts?) and why was he shooting water everywhere BUT in his mouth?

9) Lone goal by Doan. Damnit, Vish and Blake for giving them a 5-on-3.

10) Is this post interesting anymore, because the game sure wasn't. *sigh*

11) Crawford decided that the DAM line needed to get back out there and actually start producing. This resulted in a much-needed push, so good job for that. Yet the constant stoppages by Bryzgalov were killing any momentum the Kings were trying to build. Oh yeah, the Coyotes picked him up off waivers this morning. (More on this later). Side note: Cammy, nice roller hockey turn on the skates. ha

12) So I've said it before, but I feel I need to reiterate this point: The Kings need to stop passing so much when desperate times call for ACTION. NOT PASSING.

13) After not taking advantage on 5 PP opportunities in these 60 minutes, the Kings continued their losing streak (3) and gave Bryzgalov a shutout. What did they end with? A whopping 3 or 4 shots on net in 5 PP chances? Cool.

14) On a happier note: I will give a props to the goaltenders for the night, Barbs and Bryzgalov. I thought both played well and saw them both as walls in front of their respective nets.

15) After the game Kings Talk with Nick Nickson and Daryl Evans brought up a interesting/comical/terrible point. A caller asked if the Kings would have picked up Bryzgalov if the opportunity had presented itself. Nick (or was it Daryl, they kind of sound alike) said this most likely would not have happened due to the number of goalies the Kings have (Barbs, Aubin, and Cloutier – with Bernier on the rise) AND the amount of money that is tied up by these guys. Do you realize that (according to the math done by Earl Sleek over at BofC) the Kings would have just needed to pay out the remainder of his salary worth $900,000? Wait, what's that? We're spending $3.1 MILLION on Cloutier so that he can continue to be a losing goaltender even at the minor league level? That's fantastic, guys. Money well spent.

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