Jonathan Bernier stopped all 34 shots he faced for his first career shutout, and Scott Parse and Sean O’Donnell (yes, you read that right) scored third period goals as the Kings beat Nashville for the first time in 8 tries by a score of 2-0. The win reduces the Kings’ magic number to clinch a playoff berth to 6 points in any combination of Kings’ wins and Calgary losses.

Bernier, was outstanding, earning the games first star (an honor he’s gotten in each of his two starts for the Kings this season).

While Terry Murray hasn’t tipped his hand yet, there has been some voicing of concern over the workload of Jonathan Quick, and a general lack of confidence in the Kings’ usual backup goalie, Erik Ersberg. Murray said tonight after the game that Bernier would accompany the team back to LA, and one wouldn’t be too surprised if Bernier might perhaps be in net when the Kings face Vancouver Thursday at home. At least from my perspective though, there is no controversy. Quick has earned 39 wins this season, and has largely been outstanding for the Kings. Management has said their goal is for Bernier to lead the Manchester Monarchs in the AHL playoffs this season. I don’t expect that they’re changing their minds now. It’s possible that Bernier could get another start in the NHL this season, maybe even two, but Quick is the Kings’ number one guy, and he will be the guy between the pipes when the playoffs start, barring a disaster.

With the Kings struggle to find a legit number one goalie, much less a homegrown one, this is a quality problem to have. Quick and Bernier will be the Kings’ two rostered goalies when the 2010-2011 season begins, but with Quick holding down the fort, there’s no need to rush Bernier along. The future for the Kings’ organization in goal, be it Quick, Bernier, or one of three other top prospects, is undoubtedly bright.

Next up for the Kings is Vancouver, who at press time is laying a pretty good whoopin’ on Phoenix. The Kings have only beaten the Canucks once in the last two seasons, and much like Nashville tonight, the Kings must collect points against a team they’re usually not great against. This is the stuff that shows fortitude.

In the meantime, we’ll all cross our fingers and hope for a Calgary loss tomorrow night against Phoenix and a Colorado loss against Anaheim. It kills me, down to my very soul as a Kings fan to have to root for either of those teams, but in this case, it’s rooting for the other team to lose, right?

Kings and Canucks Thursday night at Staples.

Go Kings!

-JS

Two five-on-three power plays: No goals. The penalty kill, which had gone 29 straight chances without allowing a goal, all of the sudden couldn’t stop a junior B power play. This is the least appropriate time of year to have such troubles, and right now, with points at stake in the Western Conference playoff race, it’s flat out costing the Kings games.

Tonight in Minnesota against a Wild team the Kings have flat out owned the past two seasons, special teams were the difference in the game. If the Kings are able to capitalize on just ONE of five power play opportunities, or kill a single penalty, they’re leaving Minnesota with at least a point earned. Instead they’ve now equaled their season high for consecutive losses and instead of sitting 5th in the West, sit 7th, only a point against 8th seed Colorado and 5 points ahead of 9th place Calgary.

The next two games don’t look great for the Kings. Next up is Nashville, whom the Kings seem to be absolutely cursed against. Last time the team’s met, the Predators reaped the benefit of a horrible call (or non call, depending on how you look at it) and beat the Kings 3-2 at Staples. Nashville has beaten the Kings 7 consecutive times and sits 3 points ahead of the Kings at press time. Jonathan Bernier, on an emergency recall from Manchester due to Erik Ersberg’s strained back, will start in goal tomorrow night. Considering that nothing else the Kings have done has solved the Preds, I say why not. Perhaps Bernier will steal a win and help the Kings’ playoff dreams stay the course. Perhaps the special teams become special again (not in a short bus kind of way). Perhaps the Preds will continue to have the Kings’ number.

After Nashville, the Kings return home to face Vancouver, another team that has stymied the Kings’ in recent times. Roberto Luongo seems to have a spell over the Kings (as he does over much of the league admittedly) and the Kings have beaten the Canucks only once in the last two seasons.

If the Kings can manage 2 or 3, much less 4 points against two opponents who usually don’t give them much. They’re also put in the unenviable position of having to hope for victories by Phoenix, Anaheim and Edmonton (two of which are not very good teams) to keep other teams in the race at bay. Best case scenario for the Kings if they can’t manage to catch fire, is for Calgary to struggle the rest of the way. Each time the Flames lose, the Kings’ magic number goes down. Right now that number sits at 8. If the Kings’ manage to break the Music City curse and the Flames fall in regulation Wednesday, that number becomes a much more manageable 4 with 6 games remaining.

Objectively, the Flames remaining schedule is Phoenix, Colorado, Chicago, San Jose, Minnesota and Vancouver. Of those six games, the only one you might call a gimme is Minnesota, and even they would enjoy playing the role of spoiler for a division rival. If the Kings didn’t manage another point, the Flames would have to win at least 3 of 6 to get in.

The Kings’ remaining schedule is as follows: At Nashville, Vancouver, Anaheim, at Anaheim, Phoenix, Edmonton and at Colorado. With the exception of Anaheim, whom the Kings have owned this season (and still won’t be an easy game because Randy Carlyle will no doubt have his goons running full force at the Kings’ stars in that home and home), not a single one of these contests will be easy. This is going to be a dogfight, and a serious test of the Kings’ fortitude.

The fortunate thing is, once the Kings’ snap out of their special teams’ funk, they know they can beat anybody in the league. The question at this point, is, can they right the ship before playoff dreams slip away?

Go Kings

-JS

After a promising start to the Kings’ home and home series with Colorado on Monday, the Kings have had difficulty putting together a solid 60 minutes of hockey. Wednesday night the Kings fell behind Colorado 3-1 before roaring back to tie the game and force a shootout. Kings backup goalie Erik Ersberg was perfect in regulation and OT after replacing Jon Quick in the first period (Terry Murray was critical of Quick and I have a hard time understanding why – two of the goals against went off his own defense and the other was a power play one-timer that apparently Murray thought was stoppable), but couldn’t close the five hole in the shootout, Ryan Smyth hit the post on Craig Anderson and the Kings and Avs split the series at 3 points a piece.

Tonight against St. Louis, the Kings took the majority of the first 40 minutes off, trailed St. Louis 2-0 after two, and couldn’t get a bounce or a puck past Chris Mason in the third period when they finally decided to turn it on. Dustin Brown scored  a power play marker on what was essentially a broken play to make it 2-1, and the the Kings’ were unable to capitalize on momentum to get the equalizer. Brad Richardson in particular, had the puck on his stick with most of the net staring at him, chose not to simply chip it in and lost the puck. The Blues would get an insurance goal of the “thankfully, Randy Jones didn’t decide to become a goalie” variety and the Kings’ fate on the night was sealed.

Kings were a pathetic 1 for 7 on the power play tonight. While I am mostly grateful for the coaching job Terry Murray has done this season, his musical lines philosophy may be hurting the team offensively right now, as there seems to be very little continuity and chemistry between linemates. For the love of Pete, please, PLEASE put Smyth-Kopitar-Williams and Frolov-Handzus-Simmonds back together. Let Modin, Stoll and Brown be your second line and leave the musical linemates for the fourth line. For the record, I’d make it Richardson-Halpern-Clune: CLune provides some grit and spark that have been missing from the Kings’ lineup the past two games. I don’t dress Harrold and especially not Ivanans except in an emergency. As soon as Matt Greene returns, Randy Jones gets to sit in the press box, too. Then again, I’m not the one getting paid to make these decisions.

Fortunately, the Kings next opponent is Dallas, whom they’re 5-0 against this season. Hopefully, the Stars will be just what the Kings need to get back on track.

Side note: Glad you found us at our new home! There Will be some changes to the look of the blog in the coming days/weeks, but I hope you like us here as much as we do.

Go Kings!

-JS

After a couple of dismal performances (there’s other more appropriate but not family friendly ways to say it) against Nashville and Chicago, the Kings managed to get two points the ugly way on Saturday night. In the team’s defense, they were absolutely robbed of at least a point against Nashville last Sunday due to an abysmal call (or non call as it were) that led to the Preds tying goal, but still not a great game and the game against Chicago at home Thursday just flat out stunk.

Saturday night, needing two points to keep place with the rest of the West playoff hopefuls, Jon Quick was impeccable, stopping 27. Brad Richardson scored the game’s lone goal – the only one the Kings needed to claim victory. While one might cite the Kings’ lack of offensive punch, I felt like the Kings had some decent chances, it was just a classic goaltenders duel between Quick and the Islanders’ Dwayne Roloson (who also played VERY well, and in classic Roloson form, took a nice dive trying to draw a penalty in the 3rd period). It was a gritty, playoff style game that ended 1-0 in the Kings’ favor.

With that victory, the Kings keep pace in 5th in the West, with two games in hand against Nashville. The upcoming week will be one of great importance, as they will play a home and home series Monday and Wednesday against the Colorado Avalanche, who sit just a point back of the Kings going into tonight’s action. A pit stop in St. Louis on Thursday before the Kings wrap up the week at home against Dallas on Saturday. All Conference opponents. There are no gimmes between now and the regular season’s end.

Taking a quick gaze at the West standings, one thing is clear to me. I’m no conspiracy theorist, but if Phoenix somehow wins the Pacific Division, it will be very difficult for me to escape the feeling that the NHL may have fixed the whole thing. A team that finished with the same amount of points (and wins) as the Kings did last season – in bankruptcy turmoil with the threat of relocation. A coaching change and a couple of veterans rostered in favor of developing youngsters, and you’re telling me this team is going to win the Pacific Division perhaps? I don’t buy it for a second. The NHL owns the Coyotes at this point, and Bettman’s insistence that the team not be relocated to a market where it isn’t hemorrhaging money along with the rest of the pieces make the smell emanating from the Arizona desert a fishy one at best. This is not that great a team. With the exception of the season opener, the Kings have outplayed Phoenix at every turn this season. I’m licking my chops at the potential of a 4/5 matchup with the Coyotes for that reason. In fact, the only team I’d rather play in the first round is San Jose, and that’s unlikely to happen. It will be VERY difficult for me to buy that the Phoenix Coyotes are suddenly a powerhouse – in front of all 8,000 fans that show up in Glendale for home games. I think the playoffs will quickly prove that, especially if they draw the Los Angeles Kings in round one.

Kings face off against Colorado Monday night at Staples. It’s “Star Wars night”, let’s hope the Force is with the men in black, purple and silver.

Go Kings!

-JS

To call it a breakout season for Anze Kopitar would be a bit of an understatement. Most of us as Kings’ fans already knew that Kopi was one of the Western Conference – if not the NHL’s elite center-icemen. This season, Kopitar has showed up on the rest of the league’s radar for the first time.

Kopitar, who was easily the best player in the world not at the Vancouver Olympic games, sits with 30 goals and 37 assists with 18 games remaining. I stated both at the beginning of the season and just before the Olympic break that I thought 40 goals was a real possibility for Kopitar. Heading down the stretch I still think 40 is a realistic goal, particularly when you factor in Justin Williams’ potential return.

So, for those who read, I’d like to ask you: How many goals/points does Anze Kopitar finish the 2009-10 season with, and why. I’m interested to hear what any readers who don’t follow the Kings regularly may have to say.

Go Kings!

-JS

The Kings’ return from the Olympic break started out nicely with a good thumping of Dallas, improving upon the Kings’ already stellar record in their own division. On that night, Jon Quick set a new record for victories in a single season by a King goaltender with 36. With the amount of remaining games, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Quick finishes the season with 45 or more wins, if the Kings manage to play .500 hockey for the remaining 18 games.

From Dallas, the Kings moved on to Nashville, a perennial thorn in the Kings’ side. There are a handful of things in life you just know you can count on. Death, taxes, and the Kings playing like shit against Nashville are among them. The Kings tallied first but Nashville took advantage of two turnovers behind the Kings’ net and sent the Kings back home losers by the final count of 4-2. It was, as coach Terry Murray put it, a poor effort.

Last night against Montreal, the Kings were hanging on for dear life from the gate. Montreal’s Brian Gionta scored 22 seconds in after Jon Quick made 3 or 4 saves and appeared to have the puck covered. Montreal is Montreal, and no matter where they go, the ghosts of the old Montreal Forum seem to follow them. As far as East teams go, I like the Canadiens, but I can’t recall the last time I watched them play a game where they didn’t seem to get a few favorable calls. Saturday at Staples was no exception.

Anze Kopitar tied the score at 1 on a beautiful highlight reel goal, his 30th of the season, but that was as good as it would get for the Kings, who added a late goal – the first as a King for Fredrik Modin – but failed to come all the way back and lost 4-2 after Montreal’s Tomas Plekanec scored an empty net goal.

The effort wasn’t as bad as the Nashville game, but not enough to get the job done.

It’s easy as a Kings’ fan, to search frantically for the panic button in this situation, having horrible flashbacks of 2005-06 when the Kings fell from 2nd in the conference to out of the playoffs over the last two months of the season. It’s easy to question the acquisitions of Jeff Halpern and Fredrik Modin (even though the Kings gave up nary anything of value for either of them) and wonder why at the very least, the “new guys” couldn’t watch from the press box after the asswhooping delivered to Dallas without them in the lineup. It’s easy to wantonly criticize Dean Lombardi for not being willing to give up enough to get a legitimate scoring threat like a Raffi Torres or a Ray Whitney at the deadline. Forget all of that, I say.

It’s only two games. DON’T panic. The Kings are, by all accounts, ahead of schedule this season. While many (myself included) expected a playoff berth this season (and we’ll get one, rest assured), I don’t think many outside of the locker room thought a 4/5 seed was possible, but as of right now it looks not just possible, but plausible if the Kings can play .500 hockey the rest of the way. Kings goaltending is in it’s best hands in 30+ years with Quick (as much as Hrudey was one of my heroes growing up, Quick is better, sorry), who barring any tragic turn of events should one day retire as the best goalie in Kings’ history (meaning at some point, one of 29 other team’s is going to give up a lot for Jonathan Bernier). If there’s one thing about this season’s Kings’ team, it’s been the mental toughness and resiliency shown. Two losses are not the end of the world. The ship will right itself, maybe as soon as Monday when Columbus rolls into town. Seems like every time the Blue Jackets are on the schedule, Anze Kopitar is good for at least a goal, maybe two. As long as the Kings don’t take the struggling Jackets for granted, Monday presents a quality opportunity to get back in the win column.

So, don’t panic. While teams like Anaheim, St. Louis, Dallas and Minnesota – and dare I say one of either Phoenix or Colorado -  go extinct in the NHL’s version of natural selection – the playoff push, the Kings are fit to survive. They have one of the Western Conference’s best young goaltenders, the NHL’s best young defenseman PERIOD in Drew Doughty, one of the league’s most talented center icemen in Kopitar and a veteran coach in Terry Murray who knows what it takes to prepare the Kings for the postseason.

And lest I forgot, one third of the Kings’ top line – the most dominant line in the entire NHL for the first third of this season is looking to return ahead of schedule. Don’t be surprised to see Justin Williams in the lineup in the next week or so.

Kings and Columbus face off at Staples Center on Monday night.

Go Kings!

-JS