The Throne Room

Just realized this is my first post of the new year, the new decade if you will.

Of late, the Kings have put together some reasonably good efforts. Not all of them have been wins, but the last two games have been.

What’s more satisfying than a win over Anaheim? How about crushing them, shutting them out, demoralizing them, and winning every physical confrontation in the process. The Kings claimed the second installment of the Freeway Faceoff decisively with a 4-0 win, the Ducks showed their true colors by spending most of the 3rd period trying to take runs at Kings’ players. When the second period ended with the Ducks trailing by 4 goals, my immediate concern was that Randy Carlyle was going to do what he usually does when they’re getting their asses handed to them: Instruct his players to start taking cheap shots at Kings players, particularly Kopitar, Brown, Doughty and/or Quick. Predictably, Anaheim did just that, but the Kings held them accountable for every move. Ryan Carter, another in a long line of dirty Ducks, attempted at least two runs at Dustin Brown and got his ass handed to him as a result. Bobby Ryan made a completely cheap and unnecessary run at Oscar Moller with less than 10 seconds remaining in a game that had already been decided. It was a dangerous hit, and if Moller had been any farther from the boards, he might be a vegetable right now. Thankfully Moller nor anyone else was hurt in the third period.

The best part of the entire game was a sequence in which Wayne Simmonds, who was on fire all night, threw the puck at the net and scored (hotly contested by all four of Anaheim’s fans but insignificant to the game’s outcome), and then proceeded to beat the tar out of Ryan Getzlaf, possibly the Ducks biggest crybaby. Simmonds also took down Ryan Carter in the third period.

The game gave the Kings decisive 2-0 lead in the season series and helped reinforce what most of us already know: The Kings are a much better team than Anaheim this season.

Saturday saw the Kings battle back from a 3-1 deficit in the third period to oust the Boston Bruins 4-3 in a shootout. While the game wasn’t the epic goaltending duel one might expect from a Jon Quick-Tim Thomas matchup, it was highly entertaining. My brother, a longtime Bruin fan, accompanied me to Staples, smirked and gloated while the Bruins led, and walked out dead silent – just the way I like it.

Tuesday the Kings welcome San Jose back to Staples. The Kings have outplayed the Sharks for the vast majority of minutes in the season series this year, and can continue their dominance with a win here. San Jose’s only regulation victory in the series was a 2-1 win at Staples last Monday, in which both Shark goals were controversial at best: The Sharks’ first “goal” was tipped by a high stick from San Jose’s Scott Nichol, and the second, and deciding goal of the game came on a power play, just seconds after the Sharks Joe Thornton was a good two feet offside at the King blueline as they entered the zone. Backup goalie Erik Ersberg played very well and deserved a much better fate than the Zebras handed him. A very well played game by both squads was decided on two major officiating blunders. Expect the Kings to play well enough Tuesday that the officiating won’t matter.

Kings and Sharks wrap up the season series from downtown Los Angeles Tuesday night. S

See you at Staples.

-JS