Utter Ridiculousness & A Solid Showing

On Monday the 16th, the Kings faced the Atlanta Thrashers at Staples Center and it was a wild game. Having the emotional and physical highs and lows with 6 goals for and 6 goals against caused me sheer exhaustion. If I ever wanted to know what it was like to be bipolar, I got a good taste of it. This game was basically a must-win with the worst case scenario being the Kings getting a single point, but when the Thrashers scored the first three goals in the opening 8 minutes, it looked like the Kings were toast. But they came back, but then the Thrasher went ahead, and back and forth and back and forth with broken plays everywhere. Heading into the third period, the Kings were still down a few goals with the shots far in their favor. The goal to tie the game came with only 5 seconds left from Anze Kopitar and caused Staples to erupt.

The overtime was just as exciting and just as dominated by the Kings. After five minutes of stress, the shootout began with Atlanta's Erik Christensen getting the game winner. Once again Jack Johnson got an opportunity in the shootout without scoring. I'm sooooo curious to know why he's getting opportunity after opportunity. The Kings scruffed up one point in this game and looked like they cleaned up a bit for the next game against the Ducks.

Side note: This game was also celebrating Armenian Heritage Night and the arena was in full swing. Zach Bogosian is the first Armenian player in the NHL so the Kings celebrated that fact since there is a very large Armenian population in the Los Angeles area. Here's an interview from the Thrashers website with Bogosian. Also I met up with James Gralin, blogger of the Colorado Avalanche persuasion. He is on a west coast swing of the hockey teams and he went to two Kings games. Go to his blog, Jerseys and Hockey Love, to get an outsider's point of view and take a peek at his pictures!

(Getty Images/Victor Decolongon)

Too cute

Tonight's game against the Anaheim Ducks was a different beast altogether. The Kings never trailed in the entire 60 minutes and ended the game without having any brain cramps. Interestingly enough the Kings only tossed 26 shots on Jonas Hiller while Jonathan Quick saw 31, but I kind of see this as the Kings playing a more efficient game, especially compared to that strange game on Monday. Overall the game was a bit boring, but as long as it ended with the Kings grabbing two more points, I could be satisfied. There wasn't too much going on overall, but there was a fight (Wayne Simmonds and Mike Brown) and a scuffle at the end of the game with Quick getting mixed up in it but only because the scrum began with him getting taken down behind the net.

(Getty Images/Debora Robinson)

Wow, what a waste of space.

At the end of today the Kings have 59 points (tied with the Minnesota Wild) and are 3 points out of the 8th position. Tomorrow the Kings go into the Shark Tank where the Sharks have been tearing it up. They are 24-2-3 at home, but the Kings have been riding a hot streak on the road. Games against the Sharks are always unpredictable, so this one will definitely be exciting.

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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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