• 19Jul

  Kovalchuk Finally Signed

  Hockey No Comments

  Kovalchuk is staying with the Devils. He’s got a 17 year contract, but we know they don’t expect him to be playing when he’s 44. The Devils just want the annual cap hit to be as low as possible.

  Kings fans are surely upset that they can’t order the Kings Kovalchuk jersey they wanted, but they should think about what the signing might have done to the cap space when the young players’ contracts (including Drew Doughty) need to be resigned. The Kings definitely need a bit more power up front and Kovalchuk would have been that. But at what cost? I believe there are other options out there that wouldn’t tie up as much of the Kings’ cap space and may ultimately be a better fit for the team.

  Dean Lombardi tried to get Kovalchuk for the Kings, but was unwilling to sacrifice his team’s future for a quick fix. He’s been building this team properly and Kings fans should be happy Lombardi cares enough to spend the time.

  It’s good to have the Kovalchuk situation over so everyone can move on to other things. Think of all the time Kovalchuk has given the people who were on full time Kovalchuk rumor watch. I can’t even count the tweets I’ve seen go by in TweetDeck about him this last week. Now, all those tweets can be about other free agents and random rumors.

  Enjoy your Kovalchuk-free time, hockey fans!

  Tags: contract, Dean Lombardi, Devils, Drew Doughty, Hockey, Ilya Kovalchuk, Kings, NHL, rumors, salary cap

• 01Jul

  Not the End of the World, Kings Fans

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  All the LA Kings fans seem to be going crazy over the idea that Ilya Kovalchuk looks like he probably won’t be in a Kings jersey next season. I’d like to remind the Kings fans that this would not be the end of the world.

  Last season, Kovalchuk wasn’t a part of the Kings organization. The Kings finished 6th in the West and made it to the playoffs for the first time since 2002. They won a couple of playoff games against the Canucks and looked respectable during the regular season and post season. They did all of this with the team that is still mostly together (with a few unknowns still).

  Kovalchuk is better in points per game than Kopitar (the Kings’ leading scorer), but Kopi was just out of the top 25. The Kings were in the top third of the league in scoring. Their main problem was really their goaltender. Jonathan Quick, the Kings’ number one goaltender, was only tied for 26th in the league for save percentage.

  If one of the goalies in the Kings’ system, whether it’s the one the Kings fans most seem to want to see play (Bernier) or not, the Kings could be a very powerful team next season – with or without Kovalchuk. I know Kings fans had some very rough years recently, but Dean Lombardi has been doing a good job with your team, so I have this to say:

  Kings fans… RELAX

  Tags: Anze Kopitar, Dean Lombardi, Hockey, Ilya Kovalchuk, Jonathan Bernier, Jonathan Quick, Kings, NHL

• 30Jun

  What a Week of NHL Events!

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  The NHL Awards and Draft were in the same week this year, making it easier for those coming from the east and north to Las Vegas for the Awards and Los Angeles for the Entry Draft. It was a bit of a crazy week for everyone, but definitely exciting.

  This year’s show seemed a bit more polished than last year’s even if some of Jay Mohr’s jokes didn’t go over well with everyone. I heard a couple people complain that the NHL was trying to be too funny at the Awards, but I think we all need to remember that they’re trying to appeal to the masses and it’s hard to please everyone. Who knows. Maybe it’s possible that someone will flip by the NHL Network or Versus at the right time, see Jay Mohr, and watch because they think he’s funny. I suppose stranger things have happened, though many people who are huge hockey fans don’t watch the NHL Awards, so I’d say it’s pretty unlikely.

  Most of the awards this year were about as predictable as last year. I think that until Datsyuk retires they should just print his name on the Frank J. Selke Trophy at the start of the season. He’s won it three years in a row now and doesn’t seem to be letting up any on the defensive aspect of his game. It was a bit surprising that this year he only won by 33 points and only received one more vote for 1st place than Ryan Kesler of Vancouver. Perhaps he’s getting close to being dethroned as the Selke winner.

  Though I expected Henrik Sedin to win the Hart and he did, I think if you take the Hart trophy as they say it should be (“the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team”) that Ovechkin should have won it. Since Henrik’s twin Daniel Sedin was only .02 points per game behind Henrik, I’m not sure Henrik was as important to his team as Alex Ovechkin was to his – especially when you take into consideration the fact that Roberto Luongo is the goalie behind the Sedin twins. Clearly, the 46 people who voted for Henrik Sedin for the Hart 1st place disagree with me, but it’s something to consider.

  I had never attended the NHL Entry Draft (or any other league’s draft, for that matter), so I didn’t really know what to expect having just seen the draft on TV. It’s definitely different to watch the draft from the back of the floor of the arena where everything is happening and be able to duck out to interview those drafted right away. The excitement of the draft doesn’t seem to come across well enough on a TV even in HD.

  Not too surprisingly, Versus disappointed me yet again. I’m glad I attended this year’s draft live, since otherwise I would have watched it in standard definition. The first round of the draft was shown in standard definition on Versus HD for some reason. Someone messed up the feeds, I guess, since the NHL Network re-aired the TSN feed (same thing Versus was showing) in HD on NHL Network HD. Thankfully, I thought to check this out and got to watch the parts of the draft I wanted to see in HD. I don’t think I’ll ever understand the way Versus makes their decisions. If they can get the HD feed, I don’t see why they would choose not to use it. I’m sure there was some complicated reason behind it, but the NHL Network aired rounds 2-7 live in HD from TSN, so Versus should have been able to do the same with the first round.

  As usual, there were some surprises with players dropping farther than anyone predicted (like Fowler, Gormley, & Etem), but teams always have their reasons for who they choose to draft and most GMs are understandably pretty tight lipped on the matter.

  I missed it when I watched the broadcast, but I did hear TSN correct their previous statement during the second day of the draft… My dad pointed out when I talked to him that TSN had said there were eleven US players selected in the first round of the draft, breaking the record previously set. I re-counted the US players at that point and still came up with ten (the same number the NHL had mentioned in their press release immediately handed to us after the round ended). I told him that they probably got confused, since one of the non-US born players did come from a US hockey amateur club. From TSN’s discussion the second day, that seemed to be the confusion. I was pretty shocked that TSN would get anything so black and white wrong, since they’ve been covering the draft forever, but I know that draft day is pretty nuts and I’m sure they just looked in the wrong column when they were tallying the American players.

  As always, there is debate about what team did best in this year’s draft and (also as always) the truth of the matter is that there is no way to tell how well a team did until years down the line. Look at the steal the Kings got in Lucky Luc Robitaille, selected 171st overall in the 9th round. Though I wasn’t a hockey fan yet in 1984, I can’t imagine anyone on TSN or anywhere else predicting that the Kings did a great job with that pick.

  Tags: Alex Ovechkin, Daniel Sedin, HD, Henrik Sedin, Hockey, Jay Mohr, Kings, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Luc Robitaille, NHL, NHL Awards, NHL Entry Draft, NHL Netork, Pavel Datsyuk, Roberto Luongo, Ryan Kesler, Staples Center, TSN, USA, Versus

• 25Jun

  2010 NHL Draft in LA

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  There were a lot more fans at Staples Center today for the 2010 NHL Draft than I’d anticipated. The Kings fans are incredibly loyal, but the Kings didn’t have a high pick and no one was really sure how many fans would turn up. I certainly didn’t expect 11,000 fans (the approximate number the Kings mentioned) to show up on a Friday night in Los Angeles – especially when the Dodgers are in town playing the New York Yankees (who haven’t been here in years).

  The crowd wasn’t as loud as other drafts (from what I’ve heard on TV and everyone I’ve talked to who normally attends the draft) except for when the Kings (cheering), Ducks (almost all boos, though there were definitely a lot of Ducks fans here), Sharks (all booing – especially with Rob Blake at their table), and Canucks (booing, since they knocked the Kings out of the playoffs) were doing something, the crowd was relatively quiet. They were definitely thrilled that Dean Lombardi made a move and took Derek Forbort as the 15th draft pick.

  

  In other news, this year’s draft had a record-tying 10 US-born players selected in the first round including Beau Bennett from Gardena, CA who was selected 20th by the Pittsburgh Penguins and Emerson Etem from Long Beach, CA selected 29th by the Anaheim Ducks.

  Tags: Dean Lombardi, Dodgers, Draft, Ducks, Hockey, Kings, NHL, Penguins, Staples Center, Yankees

• 25Apr

  Murphy’s Law of Playoff Predictions

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  Though I haven’t read Murphy’s Laws of Playoff Predictions, I’m guessing one of them would work to ensure that the only prediction I’ve gotten totally correct so far (team and number of games – I correctly predicted that the Pens would advance, but thought they’d do it faster than 6 games) was the Kings vs. Canucks series. I predicted that Vancouver would win in 6 games and they did. Since I want the Kings to do well, that prediction was the one I most wanted to have wrong. So, naturally, it was the first I had exactly right. The last couple years, I did really well in playoff predictions. I was due for an off year, I guess. It’s very possible the Kings/Canucks series will be the only prediction I get exactly right in the first round.

  Most of the players seemed to think (as I do) that Roberto Luongo stole the series for the Canucks. Luongo made a huge difference in the series – especially the last two games in Staples Center. Ryan Smyth pointed out that he thought Luongo got better as the series continued and I agree. He didn’t look as sharp in the first few games, but he was really amazing the last few games. In the playoffs, you need your key players to step up. The Kings’ number one scorer in the regular season was almost kept too far out of the equation by the Canucks and when Kopitar hit the post today, you could tell how frustrated he was getting. He knows he’s a player that should be up there scoring more than their defense and closer to the scoring of the Sedins. Perhaps it just takes time to adjust to playoff hockey. Terry Murray thought the Sedins made the difference in this series. They really stepped up their play in the last three games and he thinks they were the reason the Canucks beat the Kings to advance in the playoffs. Murray’s got a point. Luongo played all the games in the series and only really looked like the amazing goalie everyone knows in the games where the Sedins stepped up their play.

  The last time a team similar to this Kings team got into the playoffs for the first time in a while with many players who’d never played a game in the playoffs, they didn’t even make it to 6 games. The Penguins lost a very disappointing 5 game series to the Senators. The picture of Crosby upset in the locker room seemed to be everywhere. A lot of people say you need to learn how to lose the playoffs before you can win them. When Helene Elliott asked Terry Murray’s thoughts on that, he said he agreed with the idea. The Penguins said the main thing they learned from that first playoff series for many of their players was that the playoffs are a lot of fun, but losing in the playoffs is a horrible experience. They made it to the Stanley Cup Finals the two years after that, winning the second year. If Kings fans could look forward to that outcome, I’m sure they’d be perfectly happy about their team not advancing this time.

  This was the Kings’ first time in the playoffs since 2002. Most of the fans stayed for the entire game and cheered for their team at the end thanking them for getting back to the playoffs. The Kings and their fans know the future looks bright. They have a very good young team and a lot of good players in the system. It looks like they’ll be a force for years to come and have a good streak of making it to the playoffs now. However, next year if the Kings don’t make it beyond the first round, players and fans alike are sure to be very disappointed. One round isn’t going to be enough to satisfy the Kings next year.

  As a side note, I’m a big fan of the Kings’ Back in Black logo. Every Kings fan I talked to really likes the logo. Unfortunately, the Kings only thought it was worth using this logo on one t-shirt (men’s sizes only, of course). Someday, perhaps they’ll realize that Alyssa Milano’s Touch line is a lot more along the lines of what women want than pink shirts that are too cutesy and not in line with the team’s colors.
  

  Kat
  Contact Kat

  Tags: Alyssa Milano, Anze Kopitar, Canucks, Daniel Sedin, Helene Elliott, Henrik Sedin, Hockey, Kings, NHL, Penguins, playoffs, Roberto Luongo, Ryan Smyth, Sidney Crosby, Terry Murray

• 21Apr

  Henrik Sedin’s 1st 2010 Playoff Goal Game-Winner in the Canucks’ Win in Game 4

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  Tonight’s game 4 in L. A. looked like it was going to have to be decided in overtime. The Kings scored the only goal in the 1st period. The Canucks scored early in the 2nd. Then, the Kings scored a couple minutes later, then the Canucks… It went back and forth that way until the Canucks scored two goals in a row thanks to the Kings’ too many men on the ice bench minor penalty. Vancouver hadn’t been able to score on the power play or stop the Kings’ power play in LA during the playoffs this year, but they got their power play and penalty kill going by shaking things up a bit in the line-up. Clearly, what Alain Vigneault did worked.

  Henrik Sedin, the number one scorer in the 2009-10 regular season, only had three points in the playoffs this year coming into tonight’s game at Staples Center and none of them were goals. I’m sure Canucks fans think it’s fitting that Henrik Sedin assisted on the Canucks’ first go-ahead goal of the night and scored the goal that won the game for Vancouver. Vigneault had said Monday that his top players needed to be his best players and they definitely stepped up to the plate tonight. Though the Canucks only allowed the Kings to get 26 shots on goal tonight, Luongo was called on to make some very good saves at key times in the game, which definitely had an impact.

  The Kings were outshot 37-26 tonight, which is unusual for them. Clearly, limiting shots again is something the Kings will want to work on before facing the Canucks in Vancouver for game 6 on Friday. Getting the Kings’ playoff-leading power play back on track would also be a good thing.

  With the series all tied up, the Kings are still in a position where they have to win another game in Vancouver. They’ve won one there already, so they know they can do it. Terry Murray has always been big on sticking to the routine. After examining tonight’s game as usual, the Kings will need to move on to concentrate on their game. They know if they play well they can beat the Canucks. They need to do that two more times to advance to the second round of the playoffs and the Kings are convinced they can do it. Fans of both teams are anxiously awaiting Friday’s game and wondering when they’ll be watching their teams on Sunday.

  The game in L. A. was the only game today where the team behind managed to tie the series. Many people may not have expected the Kings to ever lead their series with the Canucks, but the Kings did expect to do well and that might be enough. Kings fans are guaranteed one more game at Staples Center this playoffs. Clearly, they’re all hoping for more. Only time will tell. All the teams can do is prepare as much as possible as their fans hope for the best.

  My favorite sign of the night: “got pk?” Unfortunately for Kings fans, the Canucks found theirs.

  Tags: Alain Vigneault, Canucks, Henrik Sedin, Hockey, Kings, NHL, playoffs, Roberto Luongo, Staples Center, Terry Murray

• 14Apr

  That’s What I Get for Predicting a Sweep

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  I almost never predict that one team will sweep another team in the playoffs. I suppose I should stick to that from now on if they’re all going to work out the way the Penguins/Senators series did for the first game. The Senators clearly aren’t getting swept by the Penguins. I still think the Pens will bounce back and win the series, but they’re obviously not going to do it in 4 games. If they look the way they did in game one, the Penguins could get swept. They had their moments, but the game wasn’t as close as the final score indicates.

  I know NBC couldn’t possibly give up Minute to Win It (which I’d never heard of before I decided to see what was on tonight), Law & Order: Special Victim’s Unit (a show I’ve actually seen), & “To Be Announced” (that’s still what my DVR has listed for tonight, though it looks like a second episode of Law & Order: Special Victim’s Unit or another Law & Order). However, having all the NHL playoff games on only one channel (Versus, of course) in this round is very frustrating for someone who can’t get NHL Center Ice any more. The trade-off (not having to deal with the horrible Cox Cable any more) was well worth it, but I couldn’t watch tonight’s Flyers/Devils game and that was very disappointing for someone who missed fewer than 2 full games the last two playoff years. Four playoff games in a day and only three on TV in the United States is disappointing, but it could be worse. Last year, only two of the first four games were on Versus in the US. All of the games are, of course, televised in Canada and if it were the Los Angeles games that were being skipped by National TV, I’d be fine. Sadly, I won’t get to see ANY of the Devils/Flyers series (I can’t count the in-game updates and NHL on the Fly as watching the game). I really can’t imagine how the network deemed that series completely unworthy of national television. Of course, I guess it’s almost worse to say that the entire Penguins/Senators series is worth except for game 7 if it happens. I still don’t think that series will go to 7 games, but what if it does? If that series goes to 7 games and the only game of the series not televised nationally in the United States is the most important game of the series, Gary Bettman and Versus should be completely ashamed of themselves. Just as much as when NBC and Bettman chose horse racing pre-show coverage over the overtime ending of a playoff hockey game.

  I thought it was great to see Muhammad Ali in Phoenix for the Coyotes/Red Wings game. Perhaps he can take some of the credit for the Coyotes being the only home team to win game 1 in the first day of the 2010 NHL playoffs. Then again, perhaps it’s the Coyotes’ reaction to a completely full building. I’ve never seen the Glendale Arena so full. In talking to the players when they were here for one of the Kings’ last games, I found out that their building has been a lot more full recently and that they’ve enjoyed seeing so the building get more crowded as they continued to do well. I’m sure it’ll stay that way through the playoffs. Hopefully, the attendance burst will carry over to the 2010-11 season for the Coyotes, too. The Glendale Arena isn’t that far from downtown Phoenix. Hopefully, those living in Phoenix will figure that out during the playoffs and keep going back. The Glendale Arena is beautiful. It’d be nice to see it full more often.

  Due to the way the games were scheduled on Versus, I saw under 8 minutes of the Sharks/Avalanche game. It seemed like that game was going to go into overtime. I was thinking how fortunate it was for the NHL and Versus that the last game of the day would be the only game to go into overtime. No sooner had I thought that than I got to the Avalanche goal with just 49.3 seconds left in regulation. Stewart banked it off of Rob Blake’s skate and won the game for the Avalanche. Oddly enough, this was the only series that started out the way I would have guessed. It’s definitely going to be an interesting playoff season!

  Tags: Avalanche, Center Ice, Chris Stewart, Coyotes, Devils, Flyers, Gary Bettman, Glendale Arena, Hockey, Kings, Muhammad Ali, NBC, NHL, Penguins, playoffs, Red Wings, Rob Blake, Senators, Sharks, sweep, Versus

• 12Apr

  Kat’s 2010 Playoff Predictions

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  In 2009, I went 7 for 8 in first round predictions. Somehow, I think that’s very unlikely this year. It was difficult for me to decide who I think will win a couple of the series this year, which I hope means there will be some great match-ups. Here are my predictions…

  Eastern Conference

  Capitals vs. Canadiens
  Capitals in 5 – I don’t think this will be at all challenging for the Capitals, but I think the Canadiens will win a game, hopefully at home for their fans.

  Devils vs. Flyers
  Devils in 6 – I think the Devils will take this one unless they have a completely unexpected breakdown or the Martin Brodeur of the Olympics resurfaces. It seems like Marty is determined to make everyone forget about his horrible performance in the 2010 Olympics, which will probably help the Devils, but the Flyers are still a very good team in spite of how they were playing the last couple weeks. I think they’ll bounce back and win a couple games.

  Sabres vs. Bruins
  Bruins in 6 – I know it’s not a popular choice, but I think the Bruins are going to step up and beat the Sabres. Buffalo hadn’t been doing that great in their last couple weeks and Boston may just take their winning streak into the playoffs.

  Penguins vs. Senators
  Penguins in 4 – A lot of those who know me will say I’m being too much of a fan in this prediction, but I disagree. I think that the Penguins (especially their Captain Sidney Crosby) still remember the 2007 meeting with the Senators in the playoffs. The Penguins swept the Senators when they faced the team the following year in the quarterfinals and I think they’ll do the same 2 years later.

  Western Conference

  Sharks vs. Avalanche
  Avalanche in 6 – I know everyone keeps saying the Sharks are bound to break out of their playoff slump some year, but I don’t see it happening any time soon. The one thing that makes me a bit skeptical about this pick is that (unlike recent playoff years) the Sharks went 8-1-1 in their last 10 games of the season as opposed to barely squeaking by to win the western conference title. The Avalanche have struggled at the end of the season, so if the Sharks don’t crash and burn early, they may get past the Avalanche and lose in round 2.

  Blackhawks vs. Predators
  Blackhawks in 6 – I think the Blackhawks will take the series, though it’ll be more difficult for them than it would if they had a better goalie. A team can win the Stanley Cup with an amazing defense and an okay goalie, but Huet is near the bottom out of all ranked goalies. Niemi has been doing well, but has very little experience. Of course, many new goalies (even those like Hedberg with the Pens, who had played only 9 regular season games) have great playoff runs, so I think the Blackhawks will get through the first round in spite of the goaltending questions.

  Canucks vs. Kings
  Canucks in 6 – I’ve talked to a lot of people who think the Kings will win this one, but I have to go with the Canucks for a few reasons. First, the Canucks have a lot more playoff experience than the Kings. I don’t see them making it to the Stanley Cup Finals, but I do think they’ll get past the Kings. In 2007, I was sure the Penguins would beat the Senators and then collapse. Instead, they were out of the playoffs in 5 games. I think the Kings will win one more game than the 2007 Pens, but they don’t have much playoff experience and I think that’ll hurt them. The other issue in this match-up is the goaltending. Luongo just won the gold medal with Canada in his home arena in Vancouver. Conversely, Quick (who Terry Murray keeps reminding everyone is the “number one guy”) had never played as many games as he did this season (72). He played only 44 last season and came from college hockey, where he played fewer games. It’s been speculated that part of Nabokov’s problem in the playoffs is that he’s so tired (he played 71 games this season). If a lot of games affect a seasoned goalie the way they have Nabokov, what will it do to a goalie with a lot less experience? As if that’s not enough, the Canucks have the number one scorer in the NHL (and 3 of the top 25). All those factors add up to me thinking the Canucks will win this round and a picture similar to that of Sidney Crosby’s depressed locker room shot of captain Dustin Brown.

  Coyotes vs. Red Wings
  Red Wings in 7 – This series was the hardest series for me to pick a winner, which is why I had to predict that it’ll go to 7 games. The Red Wings have been doing so well lately (8-1-1 in their last 10 games) that I had to pick them. Until I started writing this, I was going to pick the Coyotes. I think it’ll be a great series. The Red Wings do seem to already be in playoff mode, though, and their playoff goaltending has been amazing lately (leading them to two Stanley Cup Finals in the last two years and one Cup). I don’t think the Red Wings will get as far this year, but I don’t think they’ll collapse until at least the second round. The Coyotes have been playing really well this season, but recently they’ve been good, but not great and I don’t think that’s quite enough to beat the playoff Red Wings. Would anyone have predicted that the Coyotes would have home ice advantage in this series? It’s doubtful. The Red Wings didn’t play that well overall this season, but they know how to win in the playoffs. They have a history of winning for a reason.

  Hopefully, a lot of the match-ups will be exciting this year. I think that’s all most serious hockey fans want (other than their own team winning the Cup, of course, but we can’t have that every year).

  Enjoy the playoffs!

  Tags: Avalanche, Blackhawks, Bruins, Canadiens, Canucks, Capitals, Coyotes, Devils, Dustin Brown, Evgeni Nabokov, Flyers, Hockey, Jonathan Quick, Kings, NHL, Olympics, Penguins, playoffs, Predators, Red Wings, Roberto Luongo, Sabres, Senators, Sharks, Sidney Crosby, Stanley Cup, Terry Murray

• 10Apr

  Not the Way to End the Regular Season at Home

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  The Kings tend to do pretty well in the regular season home closers (even though lately they haven’t played any games beyond that at home). However, this season when the Kings are in the playoffs and know that they will be coming back to play in front of their fans this month, they couldn’t beat the Oilers (last place in the western conference and the NHL). I realize that the Oilers aren’t in the playoffs this season and they were, in fact, they were the first team (out of all 30 in the NHL) to be eliminated from the playoffs officially. The Kings are 3-3-4 in their last 10 games, which is worse than most other teams in the league (whether they’ll be playing next week or not). This isn’t the way most teams would want to end their first regular season where they won’t be going home early in April. The Kings don’t seem worried and are determined to make it past the first round of the playoffs.

  When I mentioned the playoffs being a good way to thank the Kings fans for their loyalty through the years, Jack Johnson replied that while it was a thank you for the fans “I think the fans should expect that.” He’s got a good point. Many fans of every sport expect their team to make the playoffs. The Kings fans haven’t expected that lately, but I’m sure they’ll be happy to get back to expecting their team to make the playoffs and looking forward to their team winning the Stanley Cup someday rather than just hoping their team will squeak into the playoffs and perhaps make it to the second round occasionally. The Kings have only been in the Stanley Cup Finals once (and even those who aren’t Kings fans remember that one, since Wayne Gretzky was part of the team that lost to the Canadiens in 1993). Soon, their fans will see how the Kings do in the 2010 playoffs. Some of them already have Stanley Cup rings, but many of the Kings don’t have any playoff experience. The whole experience will be very exciting for the players and the fans. Staples Center will be back in black and completely packed once again. Today’s game was announced as a sold out crowd of 18,118, but there were many empty seats. The next time we’re in Staples center, empty seats will be a lot more difficult to find.

  This year is also the Kings’ first ever playoff Beard-A-Thon benefiting the Kings Care Foundation. Check out the information on the Beard-A-Thon here on the Kings website.

  Tags: Hockey, Jack Johnson, Kings, Kings Care Foundation, NHL, Oilers, playoff beards, playoffs, Stanley Cup, Staples Center, Wayne Gretzky

• 06Apr

  Kings and Avalanche Officially End Ducks’ Post-Season Hopes

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  This year will be another without both southern California teams in the playoffs. It’ll be great for southern CA hockey to see them play in the playoffs the same year. Maybe next year it’ll happen. In spite of the fact that so many things could end the Ducks’ playoff run (and did), before the game I was having a disagreement with a friend in the press box about whether the Ducks could make it. Sure, before the Colorado/Vancouver game ended in a shootout (not long before the Kings beat the Ducks the same way), it was still possible for the Ducks to make it to the playoffs this year. Most of us knew that wouldn’t happen. I called it in October from the way they were playing and publicly predicted the Ducks missing the playoffs in November. I didn’t believe you could fail the first 30% of your season and still squeak into the playoffs. The Avalanche and Kings helped prove me right tonight.

  The West is all sewn up for those in and out of the playoffs. Exact positions have yet to be decided, but there is no question that the Flames, Blues, and Ducks are out of the playoffs and the Avalanche will be playing in them again.

  Terry Murray pulled Quick after the third goal by the Ducks and the Kings rallied to win the game 5-4 in a shootout. Kopitar and Johnson scored for the Kings after Perry scored for the Ducks, winning the shootout 2-1. Kopitar came close to ending the game in overtime, but had to go on to use his most famous shootout move to beat McElhinne and win the game for the Kings.

  Now the debate turns to where the teams will end up in the standings and what teams will face each other in the playoffs. As usual at this time, there are many possibilities there. The last few days of the season are always exciting. Kings fans are looking forward to seeing their team in the playoffs for the first time since 2002 and many of the Kings are looking forward to their first playoffs of their NHL career.

  With their playoff spots secure, many teams are having trouble coming out strong in these last games before the playoffs. Hopefully for Kings fans, tonight’s game against the Ducks will help the Kings to finish the regular season strong so they can build on that performance when the playoffs start.

  Tags: Anze Kopitar, Avalanche, Blues, Canucks, Corey Perry, Curtis McElhinney, Ducks, Erik Ersberg, Flames, Jack Johnson, Jonathan Quick, Kings, playoffs, Terry Murray

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