8 Straight wins ties a franchise record. 8 Straight victories for Jonathan Quick establish a new franchise record and give the NHL lead in wins with 33. 2 more goals (and 4 more points) for Anze Kopitar. Jack Johnson’s first career 4 point night. The Kings also improved to 12-4-1 against Pacific Division opponents. Oh yeah, and it all came against the hated Anaheim Ducks.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, it’s pretty obvious by now that the Kings OWN Anaheim this season. 3 games so far (and 3 wins)have shown them to be a superior hockey team. The Ducks are on the outside of the playoff bubble looking in, and all the sudden Honda Center is mostly empty except for road fans most game nights. Not that anybody is really surprised at that.

The Kings weathered a bit of a storm in the first 13 minutes of the game, but after that dominated all but a five minute stretch in the third period. That five minute stretch saw Anaheim score 3 times to rally from a 4-1 deficit – although two of those tallies were the result of Randy Jones blunders. I wonder if this will convince Terry Murray that it’s time to insert Davis Drewiske  or play Peter Harrold on defense against Detroit on Saturday. Randy Jones has been mostly nerve-wracking in his own zone, while being pretty good in the offensive zone. To give you an idea of Jones’ ineptitude inside his own blueline: Jack Johnson was -1 tonight despite scoring 4 points. His defense partner is, you guessed it: Randy Jones.

Kings now lead the 2009-10 Freeway Face-Off 6 points to none. If the Kings gain a mere point in any of their last 3 meetings, they will win this years’ prize. The worst they can do is tie, and in that event, the team with the better overall record wins it, meaning the Kings have all but clinched this years Freeway series.

Up next: Detroit, who the Kings beat to start their perfect road trip two weeks ago. In 3 meetings with the Red Wings this season, the Kings have dominated two of them, but trail the series 2-1 on account of Jimmy Howard making 51 saves and stealing a win in the Wings’ last visit to Staples Center. Kings will be looking to set a new franchise record with 9 straight victories. Detroit is getting healthy again, so it will be a big test for the Kings despite the Wings’ recent struggles.

Kings and Red Wings, 1PM Saturday at Staples.

GO KINGS!

Last time the Kings played in Edmonton, it was Matt Greene scoring the game winner. Tonight it was Sean O’Donnell. What is it with Rexall Place and unlikely goal scorers?

Kings remain atop the Western Conference with the 3-2 victory over the Oilers. While O’Donnell tallied tonight’s game winner (on a beautiful feed from Sascha Frolov), the first star of the game was Jon Quick, without whom the Kings wouldn’t have had the opportunity to escape Edmonton with two points.

The bad news – Jack Johnson took a shot off the ankle and sat out most of the 3rd period as a result. Johnson is scheduled to be evaluated in Calgary tomorrow. The Kings are already without Ryan Smith and Wayne Simmonds, and losing Johnson for any substantial period of time would most definitely hurt.

After playing a very lackluster game in Vancouver last night, the Kings wrap up their Western Canadian swing in Calgary Thursday night. Kings’ wins in Calgary have been a rare occurrence the past few seasons, and especially with a shorthanded lineup the odds are not in their favor. If there is any solace, it’s that the Flames have lost three straight, although that may be bad news considering coach Brent Sutter will have them breathing fire Thursday. Once the Calgary game ends, the Kings will have 9 days off before resuming their schedule in Phoenix on the 26th.

Hope to have a Jack Johnson update via Rich Hammond of LaKingsInsider.com tomorrow

-JS

After that huge Kings victory over Pittsburgh Thursday night, I was afraid they might be riding a little too high and come out flat and underprepared against Nashville today. They most certainly came out flat, and stayed flat. Fortunately Nashville is not a great team this year, and they’ve suffered some substatial injuries (Shea Weber and J.P. Dumont to name a couole), so even flat, the Kings had a chance to beat the Predators. Sadly, the execution wasn’t there and the Kings’ streak of points in consecutive games and games unbeaten in regulation comes to an end.

These are the games that drive me nuts. Team you know the Kings’ should beat comes in, and the Kings skate half-effort all night and leave the ice with a loss. Last season it was Nashville, Colorado and Phoenix. This season so far it’s just been Nashville, but that’s a trend that has to change as the team improves.

Kings fly to Chicago for a Monday night game against the Blackhawks. Game will be on Versus, and I’m told also on the NHL Network (no confirmation on that).

-JS

Little bit of non-gameday news for the Kings today: Jon Quick and David Drewiske get 3 year contract extensions, and Scott Parse is recalled from Manchester. Rich Hammond of lakings.com and lakingsinsider.com reported that Quick’s deal is worth $1.8 million per year and Drewiske’s deal is worth $600,000 per season. Seems perhaps a little surprising that Quick’s deal is worth that much considering his play has been inconsistent thus far, and Drewiske’s seems low considering that he’s been a + in every game this season and he’s exceeded expectations. At any rate, it’s good to have both guys locked up long term, and realistically, if Quick puts it together and ends up being the Kings #1 guy for the duration of the deal, $1.8 million is a bargain.

Parse’s recall seems surprising when you consider Oscar Moller was with the Kings most of last season, but Parse is leading the Monarchs in scoring with 11 points (2 goals and 9 assists) and is a team-high and AHL best plus-8 and leads the AHL in assists. According to Hammond, Parse will play on a line with Jaret Stoll and Teddy Purcell in Phoenix. It would be nice to see Parse do well, and even nicer to see Purcell not be invisible as he has for a couple of games.

In other organizational news, don’t look now but Jonathan Bernier is 5-1 with a 1.34 goals-against average and a .964 save percentage in Manchester. Looks like Bernier is responding pretty well to being sent down this season. Those numbers are abso-freakin-lutely ridiculous, even in a small sample size.

I expect Quick to play through his current inconsistencies in the Kings’ net, but in the event he doesn’t do so, it’s nice to see that Bernier is knocking on the door.

Kings and Coyotes tomorrow night in Phoenix.

-JS

Much it seems, has been said about the Kings’ opening night loss to Phoenix. It was, quite frankly, the kind of thing that makes the die hard fan sick to their stomach. I know this from personal experience, as I endured my long drive back to San Diego feeling nauseous all the while.

Defensive turnovers, lack of 5 on 5 intensity, sub average goaltending. None of these things added together usually leads to wins in the NHL. Aside from the power play, which was 3 of 4 on the night, there was little for the fans at Staples to cheer about once the opening night festivities ended and the puck dropped. The Kings were in control of the game for about the first 3 or 4 minutes, generating a couple of chances right off the bat, and after that seemed to lose interest in the game. The Kings played a very sloppy game. Drew Doughty committed two turnovers that led directly to goals, Wayne Simmonds committed another, it was an off night, to say the very least. Simply put: The Kings played awful enough to make one of the worst teams in the Western Conference, if not the entire NHL, look like world-beaters. I’ll spare the speech about how this team has to beat the Phoenix’s, Colorados and Nashvilles of the world if they expect to get into the postseason – those of you who have been reading my blog here have heard it enough times. Hopefully I won’t have reason to rehash it later on this season. The people whom I feel worst for in the entire equation, are the people who watched that game and think Phoenix might be a good team based on that. They’re not, but that again is fodder for another column.

So now that I’ve broken a couple of coffee mugs rehashing Saturday’s debacle, here’s why I think it might turn out to be a good thing in the long run: Wake up call. These guys played a pretty good preseason, and they’re been undoubtedly reading and hearing some media types’ talk about how much better the team is. Never mind that a lot of people are still picking the Kings to come up just short. It looked to me like the Kings expected to step on the ice and dominate that game. Home crowd’s pumped, team’s better, weak opponent…you can see where I’m going with this. I would’ve hated to be any member of the team at practice Sunday. All the sophomores got a realistic look into the kind of prep it takes to be GOOD NHL players game in and game out. The rest of the team knows that the fans’ expectation is higher than it’s been in a long time, and they’re all pros.

I expect to see a different Kings’ team Tuesday night against San Jose. I expect to see the defensive game simplified. I expect to see a drastic cutdown in mistakes. I expect some 5 on 5 magic, at least from the top line. I expect better goaltending.

The Kings have started off the 2009-10 season the worst way imaginable. Now that that’s out of the way, it’s time to play like they’re capable of.

Kings and Sharks at Staples tomorrow night. Enjoy it whether you’re at Staples or watching in the comfort of your own home.

-JS

Kings sent first round (13th overall) pick Colten Teubert back to Regina of the WHL today, as well as prospect Dwight King who was returned to Lethbridge of the WHL.

I’ll be at the Kings practice facility in El Segundo Friday, so expect a detailed post with some analysis of the remaining players in camp and a few photos as well.

-JS

Just to clear up, I had stated earlier that Anaheim Defenseman Mathieu Schneider would be subject to re-entry waivers after clearing waivers this morning at 9AM Pacific time. Actually, Schneider isn’t subject to re-entry waivers unless Anaheim decides to send him to the AHL and recall him. While GM Brian Burke is desperate to get rid of Schneider’s contract, he did say today that he would not subject him to re-entry waivers, effectively putting Anaheim back at square one.

At this point I would be surprised to see the Kings make any kind of move for Schneider. There are other guys available who are better defensively for a lot less money. In order to move Schneider, Anaheim will likely have to package him with another player or a high draft pick to get a team to take on his $5.75 million dollar cap hit.

Expect the Kings to look elsewhere for the veteran, left shot defenseman they’re coveting right now.

The Insider On Pittsburgh Sports

According to a league source the LA Kings and center Patrick O’Sullivan are on the verge of agreeing to a 4 year deal.The deal is believed to be worth close to $4.25 million per season. Expect an official announcement later in the week. O’Sullivan was previously seeking up to $5 million per season.

Will keep my eyes peeled for other links to this on sites that might be more respectable. Thought this might help quash some of the silly trade rumors out there.

-JS

Reported again earlier today at Sportsnet.ca, looks like Jaret Stoll has indeed agreed to a 4 year deal worth $14.4 Million.

News of the signing is also up on the Kings’ homepage at http://www.lakings.com.

An official statement from the team should come later today.

-JS

Hi All. Just wanted to give a quick introduction of myself. I’ve been a King fan since before the Gretzky days (I guess that makes me a glutton for punishment, right?). I’ve been as frustrated as anyone with the team’s recent lack of success, but I believe the team is finally doing things right.

Many thanks to David for allowing me to be a contributor here. Hope those of you who read will enjoy my work.

-Jeremy Smith