A Royal Playoff Berth

by Anne

Last night with a shootout win over the Coyotes, the Los Angeles Kings clinched a playoff berth.

Woooo! Let's do a little dance:

 Playoffs, baby.

 This is not unlike my own sick victory dance moves.

With Kopitar and Williams out, the youngin's, specifically Kyle Clifford had to step up, and they did. Clifford scored a HUGE second period game-tying goal that ultimately led to the game-winning shootout. I wouldn't call behbeh Kyle a suitable replacement for Kopi or Willy, but he'll do in a pinch.

There's no way this team goes all the way without Kopi. I adore the Kings fans I follow on Twitter. I love reading their blogs and I love their passion for the game. However, some of them need to see the light and realize that while Kopi isn't the ENTIRE team, the team will never, ever be as good without him as they are with him. Most of them have, but some still cling to 2011 Cup dreams.

I see this playoff berth as an opportunity for the Kings to see players like Clifford in big-game situations. Otherwise, I'm not holding my breath for huge things for the Kings. :(

Because I've been lax, I'm sure you've all missed your daily (ok, weekly...or bi-monthly) love for Matt Greene. Please enjoy that he has been named by his teammates as having the worst car and being the worst dressed. The truth is, he dresses that way and drives that car to make his teammates feel better about themselves when they're around him. He's got to do SOMETHING to ease their stress that he's so much more bad-ass than they are.

Let's Go Kings!

Best playoffs ever.

by Anne

I didn't watch the Sabes game on Saturday because of bridal shower festivities and missed much of the Kings' game while out at a bachelorette party in the evening.

The good and the bad:

• The Sabres blew a two goal lead and lost 5-3. Jerks.
• Thomas Vanek lost the lower half of his leg
• Johnny Boychuk is a d-bag
• The Kings decided to trail by 2 goals for about half of the game.
• Fortunately, Wayne Simmonds decided to tie it up and Kopi decided to win it in OT.
• I really think the Sabres will be ok without Vanek for the time being. He was a non-factor most of the season; they won several games when he was playing like garbage.
• Stafford is back. He skated with the team this morning after a doctor in Buffalo tightened the nuts and bolts that keep his head on his neck.
• Miller was named a finalist for the Vezina. Shocking.
• I hate this semester and all the writing I have to do over the next two weeks.
• The playoffs are bananas
• I love Dan Boyle
• I love the San Jose Sharks SO. MUCH.
• Where my playoff beards at? I know it's early but: bring 'em on!!

Recap and preview-not-a-preview

by Anne

I'm in the midst of chapter 3 of my psychology book and it's just downright zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Anyway, as school makes me sleep a normal person's hours, I did not make it through the entire Kings game last night. I dozed off when it was 4-3 Kings and woke up to find the final score was 6-4 Kings. Yikes.

My love/hate relationship with Jack Johnson continues. Last night he and Kopi each had four points, JJ3 with one goal and three assists, Kopi with a pair of each. However, While Kopi was a +3, JJ3 managed to be a -1. Will wonders never cease? It's because he pretty much only scores on the powerplay, but whatevs. My fantasy team thanks them both for their contributions.

The Kings are now 22-0-0 when leading after two. Woooooo!

Tonight the Sabres take on the 'Canes. Cam Ward is out and Ray Whitney is going through an existential crisis now that Kovalchuk is off the market. He's all but guaranteed to be traded, but to where? Meh. It's the friggin' Hurricanes. They're turrrrrrible, please beat them? Pleeeeeease?

I realized that I mention my abundance of 8am classes in like every other post. But, for the record: 8AM CLASSES STINK. 8am classes on Saturday are surely the work of the Devil. Oh yeah and speaking of the Devil(s):

Like, Ilya Kovalchuk was traded to the Devils and junk. From a Kings perspective, this is fine with me. Dean Lombardi was not about to give away the future for a rental player. No, Don Waddell, you canNOT have Wayne Simmonds.

To summarize: Jack Johnson torments me, the Hurricanes are terrible and I still think Ilya Kovalchuk is a punk and I don't like his anti-backchecking ways. Also, Greener, don't move:

 

 

Sabres v. Canes tonight, puck drops at 7:30! Wheee!

Hrmph

by Anne

I am entirely NOT pleased with last night's Kings' game. They played a decent first period (as per usual) a craptacular 2nd (also typical) and a great 3rd (mostly) then Scott Parse, eager to prove himself in his call-up, scored in a comeback to tie the game at 3! Woo! Happy dance! Go Scooter! Hooray!

Then, they friggin' let Eric friggin' Belanger score TWELVE seconds later to give the Wild back the lead and THAT'S how the game ended. Repulsive.

Jack Johnson, Dustin Brown, Michal Handzus, Alexander Frolov, and Drew Doughty are all fired for allowing that to happen. 

Ok, well Dewey's not fired, because he scored, so he'll just be on probation. Although his goal was the definition of messy:

He scored a goal like that.

I love Jack Johnson immensely but he's still fired. Same goes for Brownie. Frolov was actually fired on the Wild's 2nd goal when he made the ill-advised decision to leave the PK to get a new stick as he floated through the neutral zone. Fool.

Also, please go away:

For non-Kings fans who read this blog, the Kings' most productive line of the season has been Anze Kopitar centering Justin Williams and Ryan Smyth. Smyttie was out for a while and came back last game and then Willy broke his leg/ankle and now they need to slot in yet another new winger. They chose Teddy Purcell. NO. If Wayne Simmonds isn't the other winger on the top line the next game, I'm going to hold my breath until he is. You're on notice, Terry Murray.

Quick reference guide, Wayne Simmonds is the Kings' winger equivalent of Paul Gaustad. Young, plays hard every shift, never quits, stands up for his teammates, solid in both zones, not afraid to mix it up and go into the corners. Aka, I love him and I'm biased.

Next game is Wednesday in Calgary. I'm watching you, Murray...

Oh Snap.... those interminable goalless droughts

by Anne

Wa-hoo! The Kings picked up where the Sabres left off and decided to keep body and soul together and beat the San Jose Sharks 5-4 in OT.

Erik Ersberg is still an AHL caliber goaltender but his teammates scored enough so that didn't matter.

Teddy Purcell, Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown all snapped lengthy (10+) streaks of games without a goal and helped the Kings win it. Wooo! Drew Doughty had two points (1+1) and Jarret Stoll also scored and was a +3. Hot.

Brownie scored the game-winner in OT and the Kings improve to 13-0-0 when leading after two periods.

Um, Jack? Anze?

Maybe don't crash into each other.

Yer doin' it wrong!

Greener v. Thornton.

One of Anne's favorites v. One of S(h)ara's

In most ways Thornton>Greene

However, Greene's "A" >>>> Thornton's

Small victories, people.

What a lovely evening, even if I could only listen to the Kings game.

Booo.

This feels a lot better

by Anne

Wheee!

Between Friday and Tuesday the Pens, Canucks, Kings and Sabres played eight games. In those games those four teams went a combined 0-8-0. WHAT? That's terrible. I was not too happy. Eight straight games of FAIL.

Tonight, my two favorite teams (Canucks, you'd better get your act together to try to reclaim this title from the Kings) played two splendid games.

Clearly, I saw the Sabres game, but I did not see the Kings game because they are in the midst of an East coast trip and their game was also at 7:00.

First my beloved Sabres won somewhat of a snoozer against Edmonton at HSBC Arena tonight.

Steve Montador scored his first as a Sabre and the line of Stafford - Connolly - Vanek, known (by me only) as the Should line (because it SHOULD work) contributed the first goal from Staffy and then provided some stifling offensive zone pressure to set up the Full Monty's goal. Yoyo added the empty netter to seal the 3-1 win.

The Sabres powerful is godawful terrible. Good LORD. They were 0 for 7 against the Bruins the other night and tonight they went 0 for 4. Maybe practice the power play in practice lots and lots? Thanks.

Clarke MacArthur accidentally pulverized Liam Reddox into the boards with only a few minutes left in the third period which drew a five minute major for boarding and a game misconduct. I didn't see the hit but me may be suspended. Dang. Although maybe Mairsy will play? Grier had a strained groin and if he misses time, Mair will definitely be back. Maybe Paetsch will be in at forward? I hope Grizz doesn't get suspended. I think it's clear that he had no intention of hitting him hard from behind; Maybe taking the body to knock him off the puck, but he seems to lose his footing at the last second.

Still scary, regardless of intent.

That five minute penalty was interesting. For the first two minutes of it, the crowd was holding its collective breath, as if we were willing the puck to stay out of the net. Then as the PKers started to really control the situation, a loud "Let's go Buff-a-lo!" chant energized the Arena and the penalty was killed and met by a standing ovation from the crowd.

Hey Should line.

Good job

Cookies for you.

Well, maybe not you, Tommy. You took lotsa penalties.

Next game IGGY COMES TO BUFFALO!

:) :) :)

Also on tap, and experienced by me via boxscore checks and LAKings.com highlights, was the Kings 5-2 win over the flailing Carolina Hurricanes. Tonight's loss brings the Butter Snaps losing streak to 13 games. I believe they are 0-10-3 in their last 13. Yeesh.

Erik Ersberg made his second start of the season and got his first win.  Anze Kopi-star had two assists upping his league-leading points total to 30 (14+16). Oh snap.

Randy Jones, the Kings 7th defenseman recently acquired from Philly, played in his first game as a King and recorded the game winning goal and an assist. Woo!

This line is also foxy.

This line contributed six points tonight (2+4)

Well done, boys.

I love you.

Lots.

Both teams are off tomorrow and then both teams play Friday. Then, of course, both teams play Saturday. Yeesh, schedulers!

What a night!

by Anne

Last night the Pittsburgh Penguis rolled into the Staples Center to face the Los Angeles Kings.

The reigning Stanley Cup champs v. a team that hasn't made the playoffs in 25 years (figures estimated).

Both teams played a tight, close game through two periods. The Kings were outshooting the Pens, but the Pens took a 2-1 lead into the 3rd period.

That's when this game kicked into overdrive, the kind of overdrive that all fans (of the winning team, anyway) can enjoy: lots of goal scoring to clinch a victory. Not the overdrive where players just start beating the snot out of each other or anything like that.

No fights tonight, which makes me happy.

Anze Kopitar continues to dominate teams from all over the standings. He had another two goal night to up his season total to 13 and put some space between him and those trying to catch him in the scoring race.

The Kings also got goals from Wayne Simmonds, Jarret Stoll and Dustin Brown. They fired lotsa shots on goal, played with lots of speed, and shut down the Penguins top players.

This game, particularly the 3rd period was just what the Kings needed to really draw some attention to themselves on the East coast. They didn't do so well in their Eastern trip in October, and playing this well against the reigning champs sends a statement to the rest of the NHL.

Major props to the Pens post-game analysts who were full of praise for the Kings, unlike the Sharks analysts who ripped them apart when the Sharks were defeated by the Kings. Yes, the Pens were playing without Gonch, Geno, Talbot and Kennedy, but the Kings played them the way they should play a team that depleted. The Pens have been on the other side of that score many times so I'm sure this was unfamiliar territory for most of these boys.

This was the Pens first road loss of the season which is still pretty damn impressive.

Jordan scored the Pens first goal at 1:10 of the first period

Which was actually the second goal of the game as Kopi scored at :27 of the first

Greener didn't score, obvi.

But he had some good passes(!)

And was used by Craig Adams as a battering ram to break some glass.

The Canucks won last night by an identical score but the game wasn't as crazy and exciting because the Wild aren't very good at hockey.

Darcy Hordichuk of all people opened the scoring. Raymond scored, Henrik added a shorty, Matt Pettinger scored his first of the season and Burr added an empty netter to seal the deal. Andrew Raycrot has been solid in relief of the injured Roberto Luongo. Raycroft improved to 4-1 on the season. I picked him up on my fantasy team and all four of my goalies won. Sweeeet.

 

 Somehow, Kyle Brodziak scored two goals

Christian "The Hoff" Ehrhoff's crazy face shows his disbelief

Big Bear has the flu and didn't play. Poor Big Bear, I'll be right there with Cold-Eez, soup, tea and tissues. Never fear!

What a fantastic night of hockey it was!

The Kings are doing better than the Bolts

by Anne

I started to work on a post comparing how the two worst teams of two seasons ago are faring these days, but that turned out to be a lot of work. Basically all you need to know is the Tampa Bay Lightning are not re-building well at the Los Angeles Kings are.

We all remember the freakshow that was the free agent signing craze that went down in Tampa Bay in 2008, and look how well THAT turned out for them. Hey, it got them Victor Hedman.

Whatevs. The Kings went to Phoenix with their Papas last night and walked away with a 5-3 win.

Anze Kopitar scored first but Shane Doan managed to sneak the puck in behind Jonathan Quick with only 0.4 seconds left in the first. Ugh, that one stung. Quickie had no chance on that one. The Coyotes scored the next two goals of the game and the Kings trailed 3-1. Ryan Smyth scored in the second, Justin Williams scored early in the 3rd and Drew Doughty scored with five minutes left in the game to make in 4-3. Ryan Smyth added the insurance empty-netter in the final minute of play.

I love these two

When did I start loving defensemen?

Well, it started last season, but it's become even more ridiculous this season

Dewey and Drewey

The other big positive that came out of last night's game? Kopi's three points moved him back into the scoring lead. With Ovi out week-to-week, Kopi should (hopefully) be able to put some space in between the two of them. You know when Ovi comes back, he'll be on a tear.

Wooooo!

Tonight the Canucks play the Rangers at home and the Pens play in Anaheim. On Thursday the Pens head to Los Angeles and Rob Scuderi gets to face his former team! Woo!

When the Sabres aren't playing, I talk about other teams, you're just going to have to cope

by Anne

On nights when the Sabres don't play, I appreciate it when my other teams win.

Last night, the Kings played a fantastic first period and then a solid start to the 2nd before they crapped the bed in the beginning of the 3rd, blew a three goal lead and allowed the Stars to tie. Fortunately, Michal Handzus said "Yo, eff this, I want these two points" and scored the OT winner 55 seconds in. Phew!

The biggest story of the night was Anze Kopitar's first career hat trick. Hooray! Confetti!

Bailey was so proud

This was Kopi's 12th career multi-goal game but his first hat trick. The Kings are 5-1 this season when Kopi scores. I like it.

In a related story, I really like the Kings third jerseys. Christmas is approaching. You do the math.

The Sabres are doing more stuff to make the players seem, I don't know, human? For example, a few weeks ago they started this new feature that, like most Sabres features, probably will happen three times and never be heard from again. For some reason I'd never seen it before. Here it is:

Good old Little Foot

So Tired but So (almost) Worth It

by Anne

As my secondary and tertiary teams both reside on the Western coast of North America, whenever they have home games they usually start around 10:00 or 10:30 pm EST. This stinks. Usually I fall asleep before the game is over or I watch the whole thing and am cranky the next day.

However, in Buffalo State College's infinite wisdom, we had the day off today. Buff State really really loves days off. Therefore I was able to stay up and watch the entire Kings/Thrashers game and it was totally worth it.

Things did not start out so hot. The Kings were quickly down 3-0 only eight minutes into the game and Jonathan Quick was pulled. It was his eleventh straight start, I'm thinking he might've been a little fatigued. I was about to pack it in when they scored to make it 3-1. Unfortunately the Thrashers answered right back and made it 4-1. Just when you thought it was over, those scrappy little Kings made it 4-2 and it was only the end of the first.

These Kings have a tendency to find ways to score so once I made it through the first period I was hooked.

Fast forward to just over three minutes into the 3rd and its 6-3, Thrashers on top. Last season, the Kings are toast. Heck, most teams are toast when down three goals at the beginning of the third.

Anze Kopitar scored the Kings 4th goal with 12:30 left, Denis Gauthier (ew) scored goal #5 and Anze completed his four point night (2+2) with the game-tying goal on a 6 on 4 with just five seconds left.

Kopi celebrates being wicked sweet

Kopitar also beat Hedberg in the shootout but unfortunately he was still the better goalie and the Thrashers ultimately prevailed.

The Kings could've really used those two points as eighth place gets farther away. The point puts them in 11th with 57 points, five points out of 8th place but with a few games in hand over some of the teams in between. Overtime losses have been the Kings' friend this season. The playoffs aren't completely out of the picture for them yet, but if they don't string together a few wins soon, they'll be getting farther and farther away.

What's this about the Kings and the playoffs?
Terry Murray, you fiend.

The rest of February won't be easy. They only play at home one more time this month and the rest of the time they're on the road against Anaheim, San Jose, Philly, Detroit and Minnesota. Minnesota is currently sitting between the Kings and the playoffs but who knows where teams will be by the time they get to Minnesota next week.

Its very trying to love a stay at home defenseman. Greener was a -1 with 0 points and almost 23:00 of ice time at least one blocked shot and a few hits. Its times like these when I wish I was still all about flashy offense and then I could declare Kopi my favorite. Kopitar was definitely the difference maker last night and deserves all the props he's getting aroud the interwebs these days.

Kopi and your Homer slippers, I salute you.

ETA: Give us a break, Carrie, no one cares that you're dating Mike Fisher.

Finally! A Win!

by Anne

The Canucks picked a GREAT game to decide to win at home in regulation!

A seesaw of a game saw the Canucks up 2-0, then the 'Canes rally to quickly tie. Then it was 3-2 Canucks, then 3-3. Talk about hair-pulling. When Mattias Ohlund gets a penalty in the waning minutes of the game, you're sure this is a 'Canes power play goal.

Then what happens? Short handed, Kesler takes the puck in the Canucks zone and passes it to one Alexandre Burrows streaking up the middle all alone on Cam Ward and one back-hand top shelf shot later, the game is 4-3 Canucks and that's how it ends.

That was a really really exciting game, and doubly rewarding. Not only do the Canucks get two desperately needed points (at home, no less), but they also down the 'Canes in regulation, keeping them in 9th place, two points back of the Sabres. Phew.

I watched the 'Canes feed and it was really fun to listen how bummed out they were to leave those points in the Western Conference.

In the play off picture: Unfortunately the Panthers defeated Toronto tonight in OT and they're currently sitting in 8th, one point behind us. Pittsburgh lost... again. 

Unrelated to anything affecting the Sabres, the Kings won tonight 1-0 over Ottawa. And we got to watch Anze Kopitar make these crepe-like pancakes. Thanks?

Tomorrow's game against Toronto is that much more important.

Wooooo Canucks!