Since the Kings have their first preseason game after only two days of training camp, the beginning of training camp meant very long days for the coaching staff of the Kings. Eight hours on skates without a lot of time between sessions for the three groups of players – that’s a long day. Terry Murray said they restructured training camp because of the early preseason game and got rid of the Rogie Cup (the competition between training camp teams in their scrimmages at the beginning of training camp), since there wouldn’t be time to play enough games to determine a winner. With the first game so early, the Kings need the practice time to get into game form.

One of the nicest things for Kings fans this year is probably that they have a clear number one goalie (Jonathan Quick) who has proven the ability to stop the puck and give the Kings a chance to win every game he plays. When it became clear that Jason LaBarbera (last year’s number one goalie at this point of the season) wasn’t working out for the Kings and Jonathan Quick was brought up to the NHL, coach Terry Murray refused to name a number one goalie. Murray had to do this on a regular basis, since some members of the media seemed determined to have him name a number one. Clearly, Quick did a lot to prove himself to Murray and the fans last season and he is the clear number one. As Murray said at the end of the first day of training camp, “Our number one goaltender is Quick. He’s the guy.” He continued by saying that “There’s no gray area in that for me. Right at the start of training camp – it’s his to lose; it’s his to keep.” Murray made it clear that Quick is the guy in goal this year for the Kings as far as he’s concerned.

Though everyone knows it’s easier to come into a position when no one is expecting much and your team is already so close to the bottom of the standings, Jonathan Quick did play very well for the Kings last year. It’s clear that the players and coaches have confidence in Quick to give the Kings a chance to win every game he plays, which is really all a team can ask of their goaltender. Many players have talked about how being able to trust your goalie can help a team play better. That’s why most of the best teams have great goaltenders. Kings fans are definitely hoping that Quick will be able to be the goalie to lead their team into the playoffs for the first time in years.

The focus of the players this year is clearly on getting to the playoffs. Those really paying attention at training camp probably noticed the shirts some of the players were wearing under their practice jerseys. They say “Only Reason We’re Here” on the back. Though the meaning of this seems pretty clear, a couple of the players were asked about the shirts and said that what we suspected is definitely the reason they’re here. The Kings want to be in the playoffs this year. They’re tired of having long summer breaks and going home in the beginning of April. They want to be in the playoffs, not watch them. When I asked goaltender Erik Ersberg if he’d watched any of the playoffs, he said he didn’t and “I want to watch it from the ice.” Clearly, that’s how every player wants to see the playoffs and it’s a good attitude for the Kings to have. They’re ready to move forward and believe they will be playing in the postseason this time.

Rob Scuderi, who won the Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins last season, is one of the new Kings at training camp. When asked about the mood at the Kings camp, he said, “It’s a real nice attitude. It’s really not that different from where I came from. Maybe we have a little more experience in Pittsburgh, but it’s the same type of feel. The guys are hungry to do more, they’re hungry to win.” Scuderi went on to say that it’s a good feeling and that it’s clear that the team wants to win and they want to win now. They’re sick of waiting. So are their fans. The Kings are ready to play postseason hockey. Their fans are more than ready to start watching playoff hockey live again from their seats in Staples Center. They haven’t been able to do that since 2002 and 7 years without a playoff run is a long time for fans who continue to go to support their team in spite of the outcome.

Will the Kings be in the playoffs in 2010? Only time will tell, but the players and coaches clearly believe they can make it and most of the members of the media seem to agree. The main disagreement seems to be on where they’ll finish (6th? 8th?) and how far they’ll get in the playoffs. Some seem to believe the Kings will get out of the first round. Personally, I think it’ll go more like the Penguins’ first run in the playoffs with most of their current group (out in 5 games), but even that will be a huge step up and a much needed playoff experience for the young Kings team.

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As a side note, I’m sure many of you were as curious as I about why Rob Scuderi was absent with the Penguins visited the White House last week. Scuderi explained that his daughter Kate’s 2nd birthday had to come first. He said, “Disneyland did take precedent over the President for probably the first time in history.” I’m sure President Obama would understand. Not surprisingly, Rob also said, “I would have liked to have gone, but it was an awful lot of flying for one day and I wasn’t going to miss my daughter’s birthday.” It sounds like he’s one father who has his priorities in order where his family and his team are concerned (anyone who watched the playoffs last year noticed how Scuderi is willing to sacrifice himself to block shots to make sure his team succeeds).

Jonathan Quick has been performing amazingly well since he was called up from Manchester when Erik Ersberg got injured and seems to have a permanent spot on the Kings’ roster, since they traded Jason LaBarbera to Vancouver. Tonight’s game against the Flyers led Quick to his first NHL overtime and shootout, where he shut out the Flyers. Of course, it was also helpful that the Kings (who haven’t been performing well in the shootout this season) scored two goals in the shootout. Terry Murray’s strategy in the shootout has always been to shoot first in the hopes of scoring and putting pressure on the competition. Unfortunately, it hadn’t been working that way for Murray until O’Sullivan scored leading off the shootout for the Kings. Apparently, when scoring on the first try, Murray’s approach works. Kopitar missed his shooutout attempt and Dustin Brown scored ending the shooutout before the Flyers’ third shooter.

With 31 saves (33 counting the shootout) and a save percentage of 96.9%, Quick earned the first star of the game and is listed as ESPN’s 3rd star of the day. Though Ersberg is healthy now, he remained on the bench due to the great performances Quick has been giving. I’m sure Ersberg will be in goal again for the Kings, since I can’t imagine Terry Murray not giving him another chance after his injury, but long stretches of starts have been common this season for all three of the Kings’ goaltenders.

The Flyers only had 3 power play chances today, but were held without a power play goal. After only scoring one last night, Philadelphia definitely didn’t look like the number 2 power play in the country when visiting southern California this season. The Kings did score a power play goal in one of their 6 chances against the Flyers, which means they had one more power play goal than the Flyers, just like the Ducks last night.

On the bright side for the Flyers, they went into tonight’s game tied in points with the Rangers (though still ahead of them for the Atlantic division lead because of playing fewer games) and came out of it as the sole division leader and third in the eastern conference. The Kings also moved up in the standings (to 12th from 14th in the west and back into 4th in the Pacific.

The Staples Center announced attendance tonight was a sellout of 18,118. It didn’t break any records or include any SRO tickets and there were many empty seats, but most of the empty seats were in the PR section & the suites (sold out for every sporting event in Staples Center). Clearly, the Flyers are a huge draw in southern California.

Tonight, the Kings ended the Capitals’ 13 period streak of scoring at least one goal in each period. Washington definitely looked tired after playing the Anaheim Ducks last night at the Honda Center, but the Kings kept the offense that’s ranked 6th in shots and 5th in goals to only 3 shots (all of which came in the Caps’ two power plays) and no goals in the first period. The Kings outshot the Capitals 12 to 3 in the first period, though Washington had the only two power plays. There is definitely a reason the Kings have allowed the fewest goals in the NHL, but with all of Washington’s offense, I’d expect some more shots, even without Alexander Semin & Mike Green in their lineup. The Capitals still have Alex Ovechkin, one of the most dynamic players in the NHL, and Nicklas Backstrom (one of last season’s best rookies), who just seemed to hit his stride this season and is in the top 30 of scoring, playing. Last night, by the end of the first period, the score was Capitals 3, Ducks 2. The Kings kept the Capitals off the score board in the first period and prevented them from getting a shot on goal without the man advantage.

In the second period, the Capitals scored a power play goal with a 2 man advantage and the Kings continued to keep them from shooting the puck on goal for the most part. Washington only had 9 shots against the Kings in the first two periods. Conversely the Capitals had 28 shots in the first two periods against Anaheim last night. They had more power play chances against Anaheim, which makes sense given the style of game the Ducks play, but the difference between last night and tonight is still remarkable. Clearly, a lot of the difference can be attributed to the fact that the Caps are tired from playing last night, but the Kings are playing very well, too.

The Kings got their only power play of the game in the third period, when Quincey took the puck down the ice and passed it to Brown, who had a great shot to get the goal. O’Sullivan’s return to the Kings’ first line clearly worked out well. O’Sullivan, Brown, & Kopitar all got goals tonight, though Kopi’s goal was into an empty net, and Sully was on the ice for the first three of the Kings’ 5 goals. The Capitals outshot the Kings 12-10 in the third period, but still only had 21 shots in the game to the Kings’ 33.

Though Erik Ersberg started in his 8th consecutive game tonight for the Kings, Terry Murray evaded the question about the Kings’ number one goaltender yet again, saying he didn’t think goalies needed a label above their head to play well. Whether he’s willing to admit it or not, it’s clear that the Kings’ number one goaltender is Ersberg even though Erik hasn’t played in as many games as Jason LaBarbera this season. The games may be close to even, but Ersberg’s performance has been superior to LaBarbera’s so far. He’s better at trapping the puck and preventing rebounds. Erik has one of the top goals against averages in the NHL (4th going into tonight’s game) and is in the top half in save percentage. Jason, on the other hand, is close to the bottom of the NHL in save percentage and in the bottom half for goals against average.

Drew Doughty continued to support my thought that he’s the best candidate so far this season for the Calder Trophy. He had a goal and a +/- of +2 tonight. As usual, Doughty looked a lot more mature than your typical 18 year old defenseman. Just imagine how great Doughty will be in a couple years when he’s this impressive already.

The Kings are still one of the three teams Alexander Ovechkin has never scored a goal against. The other two are San Jose & Minnesota (the teams the Capitals play next). Since Ovechkin has only been in the NHL for a little over 3 years, it’s impressive that he’s scored against 90% of the teams, especially since he’s only played the teams in the western conference a handful of times.

Ovechkin and Backstrom both seemed a bit worn out like the rest of the Capitals tonight, but Ovechkin still made some of the amazing moves we’ve come to expect from one of the best players in the NHL. I hope the NHL changes to a schedule where every team plays every other team at least twice each year (once home and once away) so those of us on the west coast will get to see players like Ovechkin, Backstrom, Crosby, Malkin, Lundqvist, the Staal brothers, and many more from the east coast every year.

For the first time since Jason LaBarbera won four games more than a year ago (October 19 – 27, 2007), Erik Ersberg has led the Kings to a 4 game winning streak and hasn’t lost a game in regulation out of the 5 games he started. (Ersberg is 4-0-1 in his five starts with the Kings this season.) Terry Murray has been very clear about Jason LaBarbera being the Kings’ number one goalie, but one has to wonder how much longer that will last. LaBarbera started the first ten games for the Kings, but hasn’t played since then. It’s a bit sad to watch this happen, since Jason is a great guy who didn’t get the chance he deserved years ago when he was hot and was benched half the time so Garon could play. I know fans that would skip games if they found out Garon was going to be in goal, since they expected a loss and only attended the LaBarbera games, but he wasn’t given a chance to prove what he was capable of accomplishing. While I wish Jason had gotten the chance he deserved a few years ago, it’s impossible to go back in time and make that up to him. I’m very happy that Ersberg is being allowed to prove what he can do in the NHL. Ersberg had a save percentage of 92.3% tonight, stopping 24 shots.

The Kings have gotten a point in each of their last 5 games and have been continuing to outshoot their opponents as they have most of the season. After the first game of the season, where the Kings were outshot 41-13 in San Jose against the Sharks, they’ve only been outshot by 3 teams and two of those were games the Kings won and only got outshot by a few goals.

Clearly, defense has been a priority for Terry Murray since the moment he was named the head coach of the Kings. It may have taken the Kings a while to get adjusted to the new system, but they seem to be doing a good job with the system now. The Kings have been enjoyable to watch almost every game this season. They’re young and play with energy the Kings fans haven’t seen in their team this consistently in years. Hockey is exciting at Staples Center and in spite of the economy; I hope more fans will come out to see the Kings play. Staples Center has been pretty empty, in spite of the attendance figures. Though it seems FSN will no longer be using their “rinkside view” the way they did in the first games of the season shown using this gimmick, it’s still better to see hockey in person. Apparently, in spite of what he originally said, Tom Feuer does want the hockey fans to watch. Hopefully, the fans will be happy with the changes. The next telecast to feature FSN West/Prime Ticket’s “rinkside view” takes place this Sunday night at 5 p.m. when the Kings play the Ducks at Honda Center. It’s also available in HD, so check it out to see the improvements. I’ll be at the game, so I’ll probably only watch portions of it when I get home, but I hope to see a better presentation and hear more positive feedback from everyone who watches the game.

I didn’t attend the Ducks home opener in Anaheim tonight, though I did record it (one of the 10 games the Ducks will have aired in HD on FSN HD this season). Unfortunately, it’s the only game airing in HD for the Kings or the Ducks this season that I won’t be attending. I wish they had chosen to do some of their away games in HD. Most people don’t record the games they attend as I do, they seem to be punishing fans who attend all the home games of their team, which doesn’t make sense to me.

The Kings hadn’t lost a home opener in regulation since 1993 against Vancouver, though they did lose their first game in Staples Center last year (their home opener was technically in London that season). Overall, the Kings played a lot better tonight than they did last night in San Jose. They were definitely shooting the puck more and playing better defense. They cut down the shots San Jose had (more than in half) and almost doubled their own shots. Clearly, this was a huge improvement.

In more good news for Kings fans tonight, the Kings only lost by one goal and only had one goal score against them. In bad news, they’ve only scored one goal in their first two games. Typically the offense is not the issue with the Kings. I think this is a result of the concentration on their defense, though. I’d be surprised if they didn’t bounce back offensively soon. It was good to see a major improvement in their defense tonight. The Kings have been perfect on the penalty kill so far. It’s only two games, but that’s definitely a great start.

The most shocking thing that happened in tonight’s game (for me) was Anze Kopitar getting a 10 minute misconduct penalty. I saw him break his stick, but hadn’t seen him arguing a lot with the refs or anything. What I missed from the press box is that when Kopi broke his stick, the glass broke, too. No one I talked to upstairs understood exactly what had happened, so we had to wait for Kopi to explain the situation. Kopitar is clearly annoyed with himself for losing his cool and said he knows something like that can’t happen again.

I can understand his frustration at that point. The Kings had two goals disallowed in the 2nd period after the Sharks had scored their goal. Though both of the rulings were called correctly, it was a very unfortunate situation and I can understand why the Kings would all be frustrated at that point.

Jason LaBarbera only let one puck get by him in the 19 shots he faced. That’s a 94.7% save percentage, which is great. Now, the Kings just need the offense and defense working at the same time and they’ll start winning a few games.

Since the Ducks play the Kings at Staples Center on Tuesday, one of the two southern California teams will break their season starting losing streak tomorrow. Both teams are without a point in their first two games, but there aren’t ties in hockey any more, so one of them will win on Tuesday.

Last night, the Kings played their first two (yes, two) preseason games. Half the team was in Kansas City playing the Blues, while the other half remained in LA to play the Coyotes. The game in Kansas City sold more tickets. The attendance there was 11,603. The official attendance at the game in Staples Center was 8,221. A lot of those seats were empty, of course. I don’t know the official count of fans in the building, but a lot of season ticket holders don’t attend preseason games, so Staples Center was very empty.

The fans who did attend the preseason game in Staples Center got a good show. Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown, and Jack Johnson were all at the game in LA.

Not too long ago, fans were booing Dan Cloutier in net (and when he was announced at the start of a game). They were chanting to put in LaBarbera. When Mathieu Garon and Jason LaBarbera were playing for the Kings, I knew fans who would only show up to the games Jason was supposed to start and many fans shouted that they wanted to see LaBarbera in net.

Last season, the fans pretty much got their wish and LaBarbera was in net… until he got injured. Cloutier was booed whenever he played and fans cheered if he got pulled from a game. That’s a rough situation for a goalie and I’m sure the fan reaction didn’t help Cloutier’s performance in net.

This season, it looks like Jason LaBarbera will be the number one goalie for the Kings and (partly because of his injury and rehabilitation from that) he’s feeling like he’s in better shape than ever. LaBarbera has really paid attention to his eating habits and training program and is ready to go. That being said, he hadn’t played in a hockey game for over 7 months. When I asked what happened last night, since he looked a bit off (allowing 4 goals in 17 shots), he said it was rust. He hadn’t played in over 7 months and was rusty. Jason’s not at all concerned about getting back into the swing of things and I think the fans need to give him a little slack before attacking him.

The fans in Staples Center last night were very quick to boo Jason LaBarbera. One fan near me shouted that LaBarbera sucked and that there had only been x shots and there were already y goals. I realize that Kings fans are looking for a hero in net and want a miracle this season. They’ve been waiting a long time for the Kings to do well. Who wouldn’t like that? Any fan of a team that’s predicted to do poorly would be thrilled if they got into the playoffs, but it’s different to dream than it is to hold the players of your team to unrealistic expectations.

When Cloutier was playing poorly the Kings fans gave him the benefit of the doubt. Many argued that Cloutier was doing great when he won games, though I argue that if a team wins 5-4, the goalie performed just as badly as if they lost 4-0 and you have to factor in the kinds of goals that are being scored, whether the goalie was well screened, etc. The score doesn’t tell you everything about how a goalie is performing. Even the save percentage (though more accurate than the goals against average, which takes into account the rest of the team, especially the defense) isn’t a perfect indicator of how the goaltender is performing. Maybe there was a crazy deflection or the goalie was well screened and couldn’t see that shot from the point.

Even if all four of the goals by the Coyotes had been easy goals (which I don’t think anyone would argue) for a goalie to see and ones that any goalie would think they should have gotten and beat themselves up over, Jason LaBarbera hadn’t played a game of hockey in over 7 months. After his injury, he only had 4 days of on-ice training camp (counting the day of the game) to prepare for his first hockey game in 7 months. I think the fans need to think about how difficult it is to bounce back from an injury and give LaBarbera a bit of time before they judge him and decide he’s not worthy. Jason LaBarbera is a good goalie. One the fans have requested in the past. They got what they wanted and now they’ve decided they prefer Bernier. While Bernier may be the goalie of the future for the Kings, he probably has some more development to do and I don’t think he’ll be in the NHL this season. I would like to see the fans step up and support the team the Kings coaching staff decides to put on the ice, rather than making their own rash judgments and condemning players before they’re given a chance.

The fans who were at Staples Center last night are the die hard fans. They’re the fans who refused to give up their season tickets after years of poor performance by the Kings and care enough to attend preseason games, which don’t count and have some players who will not be in the NHL this season. When looking around at all the empty seats last night, it was clear that most season ticket holders couldn’t care less about a preseason game. I expect more from the die hard fans than booing a player who has always tried his best to do a good job in net for the Kings and cares about the organization. I hate seeing fans boo any player on their own team and it bothers me more when the player in question is a great guy who’s determined to play well for the team and the fans.

If you’re a Kings fan, please consider the impact you could have on a player by booing him. How would you feel if every time you made a mistake in your job a big red light went on to highlight the fact and the fans booed (or in an opposing team’s arena they chanted your name taunting you)? I can’t remember who pointed out that being a goalie is really one of the most difficult jobs anywhere, but I agree with them. Think of all that pressure. Fans are very quick to blame a goalie for their problems, but Jason LaBarbera had the same save percentage as Evgeni Nabokov, Jose Theodore, & Martin Gerber last season. He was tied for 20th out of 44 ranked goalies. Just about the middle of the pack. Not at the bottom with Johan Holmqvist or Ray Emery. Give him a chance to show that he can do a good job.

I realize the Kings fans are passionate (they wouldn’t still support the Kings if they weren’t), but I would like to attend a game without hearing fans boo their own team. I think the fans who booed Jason LaBarbera last night should be ashamed of themselves. I believe it’s incredibly rude to boo someone who is trying so hard to please the fans. If he weren’t trying it would make a bit more sense, though I still think booing your team is wrong. LaBarbera tries. Fans should at least give him a month or so of the regular season to do his best before they start berating him, but even if they get to that point I’d like them to think about the fact that Jason LaBarbera is a person and he is doing his best to win (which is clearly what the fans want). He and the rest of the Kings want to win more than the fans want the team to win. Losing isn’t fun. Everyone has played some sort of sport or game in their lives, so I’m sure everyone can relate to the fact that winning is more fun than losing. Players try to win. Please give your team a chance – especially during the preseason when lines are being changed and the team is getting used to new players and (in the Kings’ case) new coaches.