Posts Tagged ‘vancouver canucks’

Kings Open Season With Shootout Victory vs. Canucks

Sunday, October 10th, 2010

During the second period of Saturday night’s season opening contest between the Los Angeles Kings and Vancouver Canucks, Kings star centerman Anze Kopitar was on the ice on all fours, blood gushing from his mouth, searching for his teeth. He had been hit by Canucks’ center Manny Malhotra on a follow through of a clearing attempt – and bloodied badly. Umpteen stitches and a missing (albeit already false) tooth later, Kopitar helped get the last laugh.

It was billed as the game of the night, and it didn’t disappoint. The Kings and Canucks battled for 60 minutes are were unable to decide a victor in that span. It took overtime, and two rounds of a shootout to accomplish that.

Vancouver got on the board first with a power play goal from Christian Ehrhoff that was a bit of a lucky bounce. Willie Mitchell went down to try to block Daniel Sedin’s pass, and in doing so directed it right to Ehrhoff, who was able to chip the puck past a helpless Jon Quick. That would be the only goal Quick would surrender all night, and a lucky one at that.

The Kings got even with 4:05 remaining in regulation time on the power play when Dustin Brown fired a shot at the net. Michal Handzus redirected the shot into the pads of Roberto Luongo and Justin Williams collected the rebound and buried it.

Kings controlled the play for the majority of overtime, including a power play in which they were in the Vancouver zone for the entire two minutes. Luongo came up with some big saves, but Jaret Stoll needs to work on his accuracy big time. Memo to Terry Murray – at the end of the next practice, lock Stolli on the ice with about 300 pucks and don’t let him leave until he can hit the net with 4 out of every 5. Stoll has perhaps the teams’ hardest shot, but if you can’t hit the net, what good does it do?

The Kings put Vancouver out of their misery quickly in the shootout. After Quick robbed Mason Raymond with a stretch of the right pad, Kopitar came in and froze Luongo with a fake shot before going backhand and burying it high. Luongo didn’t know what hit him. The Canucks’ Ryan Kesler was stopped by Quick, setting up Jack Johnson – Mr. Automatic in shootouts, with a chance to win the game. Johnson skated in and beat Luongo low to the stick side – game over, Kings win.

Gary Bettman in the NHL’s offices will look at the score and with his feeble “more scoring is better” mind, probably assume – quite incorrectly – that the game must’ve been boring. How wrong he would be. Both teams played well defensively, but there were long stretched of end to end action, and throughout the game, goaltending was spectacular at both ends.

The two best King forwards on the ice tonight were Justin Williams and Brayden Schenn. Williams is skating like a man possessed right now, and if he is able to maintain and stay healthy, he may get close to 30 goals this season. Schenn played a great game – in my opinion he did not look like a rookie center. He filled in nicely on the top line while Kopitar was being stitched up in the locker room. If I’m Terry Murray, I’m already thinking about flip flopping Schenn for Stoll on the second line.

Drew Doughty had a good game for any other defenseman in the league, but he still looks to be a bit short of what we know he’s capable of. Jack Johnson was awesome. Has anyone on the team’s stock risen more since the Olympics? Mitchell looked great and other than his seemingly standing around on the Vancouver PP goal, Scuderi was his usual solid self. Jack Muzzin didn’t stand out for bad reasons, and was I thought considerably better than Drewiske – who seemed to be turning the puck over a lot tonight.

Quick was outstanding in goal. His retro brown pads and Rogie Vachon tribute mask look very sharp. From a distance on TV, it almost looked like he was wearing the real thing. Of all the vintage tribute masks I’ve seen, Quick’s may be the best. Definitely a good start to the season for Quicker.

So, on to Calgary tomorrow night. Jonathan Bernier will start in goal for the Kings per Terry Murray, as it’s a back to back situation. The Flames are a much different team than they were last time the Kings saw them. Here’s to hoping the improved Kings, and the arguably regressed Flames, will play to a different result than most in recent memory, as King victories over them, especially in Calgary have been rare.

Game starts at 5PM Pacific.

Go Kings!

-JS

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Pressure Now Squarely On Luongo As Kings Lead Series

Wednesday, April 21st, 2010

The Kings, AEG and Staples Center know how to throw a party. The team’s first playoff game in 8 years was more than just a game, it was an event. The outside of Staples Center was decorated with balloons and banners, the arena’s iconic Magic Johnson, Oscar De La Hoya and Wayne Gretzky statues were all adorned with the Kings’ new home playoff sweaters – the “Back in Black” jersey as it’s become known. Live music was played, local radio stations had promotional booths set up, and Bailey and the Kings’ Ice Crew roamed the perimeter interacting with fans. Inside, the Kings pulled out all the stops too. Black light’s helped accent the white rally towels handed out at the gates (although I was a bit perplexed – they asked all fans to wear black – why were the towels white?). The inspirational video segment with Bob Miller played on the jumbotron, and the Kings’ welcome song “This Is LA” was played live in house by The Briggs. The crowd noise was deafening. Kings fans all look forward to PA Announcer David Courtney’s traditional “Ladies and gentlemen, YOUR Los Angeles Kings!” as the team takes the ice, but on Monday the crowd was so loud that Courtney could hardly be heard over them for team and player introductions. Everyone in the house was on their feet as the team took the ice with AC/DC’s “Back In Black” blaring on the loudspeakers.

The game itself, didn’t start the way the Kings and fans hoped. Early in the first period, the Canucks’ Ryan Kesler circled the Kings’ net and found Mason Raymond wide open on the far side. Raymond buried the puck and the Kings were in an early hole. The tide would turn after that though. The Kings’ special teams were magnificent – and Drew Doughty would score the first of 3 straight power play goals to tie the game at 1. Michal Handzus scored the next two power play goals, and Brad Richardson scored on a great play, hustling deep in the Canucks’ end on his own and stripping the puck away from a Vancouver defender and slipping the puck past Roberto Luongo. To the dismay of many Kings’ fans, that was the end of Luongo’s night.

Vancouver would score twice more to cut the Kings lead to one in the third period, and had a goal waved off that in some circles has been controversial. The NHL’s War Room in Toronto ruled that the puck was kicked in by Daniel Sedin. In defense of those that are unhappy with the call, the NHL’s wording in the rule book isn’t very concise, and I’ll agree that the rule needs an overhaul (my suggestion would be to completely disallow any goal that goes in of an offensive players skate, accidental or not. For safety reasons, we can’t have the rule go the other way and have a bunch of NHL players making like Pele around the net. The amount of injuries resulting from this would be catastrophic.), but based on the NHL’s explanation I think the call was correct. Sedin appeared to put his skate forward with the express intent of redirecting the puck into the net. While it may not mimic David Beckham, in my mind it’s still a kick. If the Kings are in the same situation and the goal is disallowed, I’m not going to lose any sleep over it. Instead many Canuck fans are trying to suggest that the NHL has some sort of conspiracy theory against their team. Somebody in Vancouver is going to get rich selling tinfoil hats. If this group of Canuck fans wants to keep disrespecting the Kings and co-signing their team’s poor performance thus far in this series, if it makes them feel better taking the accountability out of the players’ hands by thinking the league is out to get them, so be it. Let me know what your conspiracy theory is when your golf game sucks too.

After the goal was waved off (Sedin would score the 3rd Canuck goal minutes later), Ryan Smyth, gassed at the end of a shift, skated into the Vancouver zone and blasted a slapshot that deflected off Vancouver defenseman Christian Ehrhoff and past Canucks’ backup Andrew Raycroft, who replaced Luongo after the Richardson goal.

Kings were 3 for 3 on the power play and perfect on the penalty kill. Special teams have been a big reason why the Kings lead in the series. Admittedly, the Kings need to play better 5 on 5. You can’t count on getting power play opportunities (especially with the inconsistency in officiating in the playoffs). The Kings were great 5 on 5 in game 2. They will have to be better if the Kings hope to make quick work (pun intended) of the Canucks.

Meanwhile, Vancouver’s biggest question mark still lies between the pipes. Luongo was shaky at best Monday night. He did what he does when he’s not on his game – he dove, he flopped, he tried to draw penalties, but he didn’t look comfortable in the net. His last two outings at Staples Center, Luongo has given up 12 goals in less than 5 periods. When he left the net Monday night, he looked completely mentally broken. He’s been outplayed by Jonathan Quick in every game in the series so far, and if Luongo doesn’t bounce back tonight in LA, the Canucks are in real danger of heading home for game 5 down 3 games to 1. The pressure is on Luongo to deliver tonight. If he doesn’t, the Canucks can start polishing up those golf clubs. They’ll need them soon.

Also not to be overlooked is the effect that the Kings’ cycle – particularly the Richardson-Handzus-Modin line is having on the already bruised up Canucks’ defense. As the series goes on, Vancouver’s backliners look more and more tired.

Meanwhile, if Drew Doughty isn’t the best defenseman in the NHL right NOW, he’s in the top 3. He may not win this year’s Norris Trophy, but he certainly deserves it. Jack Johnson has also emerged as a playoff beast. Unfortunately for the Kings, Peter Harrold looked like a fish out of water Monday night, prompting Terry Murray to re-insert Randy Jones into the lineup for Wednesday’s game. Not sure why Murray won’t play Davis Drewiske, who is much less mistake prone than Jones. Jones is almost to the Kings what Andrew Alberts has been to the Canucks in this series, and it’s troublesome that Murray seems to have some kind of unreasonable loyalty to him.

Speaking of scratches – Justin Williams, one of four Kings with a Stanley Cup ring to his credit, will sit again Wednesday.

Big game for both teams tonight. If the Kings do good work 5 on 5 (and hopefully get a couple more PP chances) and Luongo struggles again at Staples, the Kings will have a chance to put the Canucks out of their misery Friday in Vancouver. If Luongo and the Canucks rebound, it essentially becomes a best of 3 series.

Game 3, 7PM start time at Staples tonight.

GO KINGS!

-JS

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Series Preview: 3) Vancouver vs. 6)Los Angeles

Thursday, April 15th, 2010

I had intended to give my typical opinionated preview of all 8 playoff series, but since I waited until 3 game ones were in the books, I’ll stay close to home and preview the series that matters most to me. My beloved Los Angeles Kings against the Northwest Division Champion Vancouver Canucks.

If you look at the regular season series between the two teams, the Kings have managed only one victory against the Canucks (both at home) in each of the last two seasons. In the first 3 games between the two clubs this season, the Kings struggled to find offense, scoring only a goal in each tilt. The 4th and final meeting was another game entirely, an 8-3 Kings romp that saw all-world goalie Roberto Luongo struggle.

While both teams have had outstanding seasons (and are close to dead even in many statistical categories), both have questions heading into this series, and they both center around the men guarding the net. Both Vancouver’s Luongo and the Kings’ Jon Quick have been less than stellar since returning from the Olympic break. Having seen every Kings’ game since, and only a handful of Canucks’ games, I would say both players are suffering from the same issue – problems with focus. In Quick’s case, he hasn’t been in his pre-Olympic form, but he did post two shutouts and got little goal support in each of his 8 consecutive winless games to end the regular season. One thing is for certain – each of these men will need to be solid in order for their team to advance. For Quick, it’s his first kick at the playoff can. For Luongo, if he loses another series in the first two rounds, his reputation is starting to look like that of a playoff underachiever.

The Canucks strength is their offense. They have the NHL’s leading scorer in Henrik Sedin, and his brother Daniel – each scored 29 goals this season. Add Ryan Kesler, Mikeal Samuelsson, Mason Raymond and Alex Burrows – each eclipsing the 20 goal mark this season, and you’re talking about a lot of firepower (I have to admit, I always thought of Burrows as the consummate pest and it kind of shocked me just a bit that he scored 35 goals this season). Christian Ehrhoff and Sami Salo are both solid offensive contributors from the back end as well.

The Kings strength – defense. Drew Doughty at 20 years old is a legitimate candidate for the Norris trophy this year. Expect Doughty (who many thought was Canada’s best defenseman at the Olympic games) and defense partner Rob Scuderi to play major minutes against the Canucks’ top line of the Sedin twins and Burrows. Matt Greene is one of the league’s most underrated stay at home defenseman – a guy who makes smart plays and hits like a freight train. Jack Johnson has improved tremendously defensively this season. Veteran Sean O’Donnell can burn up some quality minutes. As a defensive corp, the Kings do a very good job in their own end (Doughty and Johnson can do a hell of a job in the offensive zone too), and they’ve got good support from their forwards as well. Anze Kopitar has developed into one of the league’s premiere two way centers, and the shutdown line anchored by veteran Michal Handzus and second year star Wayne Simmonds (their left winger to start the series will be Brad Richardson, a pretty capable guy defensively with great speed) has played a ton of minutes against opponents’ top lines all season. They’ve been effective in helping to shut down stars like Alex Ovechkin of Washington and Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby in Kings’ wins this season. Coach Terry Murray has instilled a defense first system in the Kings’ players – and when they’re on they buy into it perfectly.

But the Kings are no scoring slouches either. Kopitar scored a career high 34 goals – and Dustin Brown, Ryan Smyth, Michal Handzus all broke the 20 goal mark. Alexander Frolov (will be interesting to see if he finds the extra gear in postseason) potted 19, and Doughty, Simmonds and Jaret Stoll each scored 16. The Kings aren’t exactly slouches on offense either.

The series is going to be determined by goaltending – and the guy that can regain his pre-Olympic form will likely be moving on to round 2. If one or the other is unable to find form, it could potentially be a short series either way. If both goaltenders rise to the occasion, I believe the Kings’ defensive system will allow them to at least do a respectable job containing the Canucks’ potent offense. The Canucks’ defense is banged up – they’ll be without their top defenseman Willie Mitchell, and Aaron Rome and Sami Salo are both going to be playing at potentially less than 100%. The Kings’ cycle and puck possession down low over the course of the series may take it’s toll on the Canucks’ defense corps. It’s often said that you win with defense in the playoffs and the Kings have a decided advantage here in my opinion.

Another thing to keep in mind – the playoffs are a time for ugly goals – and the Kings have two guys in Ryan Smyth and Dustin Brown who have turned the ugly goal into an art form.

My prediction: The Kings’ D keeps the Canucks’ reasonably quiet, their forwards wreak havoc on the battered Vancouver D down low and generate enough offense to win a series of close games. Quick steps up when he’s needed, and the Kings win in game 6 at Staples Center.

Homer pick, I know. :-)

Series starts tomorrow night at GM Place in Vancouver, 7PM on FSN.

It’s been a long time coming.

GO KINGS!

-JS

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Another Comeback Win Sets Up Playoff Series vs. Canucks

Sunday, April 11th, 2010

As has been the case most of the past two to three weeks, the Kings did very little offensively in the first two periods. As has also become the norm lately, the Kings played a much better third period and forced overtime – the fifth consecutive Kings’ game unable to be settled in 60 minutes.

In the final minute of regulation, Dustin Brown and Alexander Frolov had a 2 on 1 and a chance to win it. Brown had Colorado goalie Craig Anderson cheating off the post and elected to to shoot, instead making the anticipated pass to Frolov that was stopped. In OT, Brown quickly redeemed himself by collecting the rebound of Drew Doughty’s shot, making a quick move with the puck and burying it to solidify only the third 100+ point season in Kings’ history.

Erik Ersberg, starting to give rest to Jon Quick, played very well, but the Kings’ offensive ineptitude over the first 40 minutes should prove to those who are paying attention that the Kings main concern is not between the pipes. When the team fails to generate offense and score goals in the first two periods of hockey for a lengthy string of games, does it really make sense to blame the goalie? Regardless, Ersberg did look sharp today – a welcome departure from his struggles early on this season, and it is nice to know that if we need him, he will be ready to go.

On to more important things! Chicago’s OT loss to Detroit coupled with the Kings’ win, secures the Kings a 6th place finish in the West and a first round matchup with the Vancouver Canucks. San Jose will face Colorado, Chicago faces Nashville and in perhaps the first round’s most intriguing series, Phoenix draws Detroit. I’m sure nobody in the Desert is happy about that!

Schedule has yet to be announced, but should be up sometime this evening per Kings’ insider Rich Hammond.

I’ll preview the series int he coming days, but for now…what do you guys think of the first round matchup? What are the keys to success in the series, how many games does it go and who wins?

It’s playoff time! GO KINGS!

-JS

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Two Nights in a Row, and More…

Sunday, November 1st, 2009

Thursday night at Staples the Kings lost 2-1 in a shootout for the second night in a row. Thursday’s game, even more than Wednesday night’s contest up in San Jose, felt like points left on the table. The Kings dominated for the vast majority of 65 minutes of play and lost.

All it took was one Kings’ lapse – a judgement error by Rob Scuderi resulting in Vancouver’s Alex Burrow’s being able to gain possession of the puck behind the Kings’ net, and a blown assignment by one of the Kings’ forwards, leaving Vancouver’s Mikael Samuelsson wide open for a one timer.

While I give Kudos to Andrew Raycroft for playing a good game (he was the first star), the Kings simply could not finish to save their lives Thursday night. There were multiple opportunities in the last half of the third period and overtime to finish the game that Raycroft never had to touch – fanned shots on wide open nets. This is really what sealed the Kings’ fate.

On the bright side, Scott Parse got his first NHL goal, and the Kings got a point in each of their back to back games, which is a reasonable result against two teams expected to compete for their respective division titles. Hard not to think, however that the Kings were good enough to win both games.

Justin Williams will return to the Kings’ lineup Monday night in Phoenix. As a result, Wayne Simmonds will move to the third line with Scott Parse and Jaret Stoll. Not surprisingly, Trevor Lewis was sent back to Manchester.

According to Rich Hammond of LaKings.com, Peter Harrold and newest King Randy Jones will be healthy scratches tomorrow night.

Beating the Coyotes twice in two tries in Phoenix would be a hell of a feat for the Kings, who seem to always have trouble with them.  Phoenix is coming off a shootout victory against our beloved dismal Ducks. My biggest concern would be rust from not playing in 4 days, and, as always is the case when we play Phoenix, underpreparation. Last Saturday the Kings played a great road game and escaped with a 5-3 victory. Let’s hope for more of the same Monday night. Who needs football anyway?

-JS

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3 In a Row At Home, 3 Points Out

Tuesday, March 10th, 2009

3 Home wins in a row, just when you thought the chase was about over for the Kings. I’m not advocating that they will make the playoffs, after all they have 3 nights without a game which gives all the other teams competing for that 8th playoff spot lots of time to get ground back, but it certainly looks more likely than it did a week ago.

After last Thursday’s dramatic come from behind win against Dallas, the Kings finished a sweep of their season series with Minnesota with a 4-3 win in which they chased the Wild’s ace goalie Nicklas Backstrom for the second time this season.

Monday’s matchup with Vancouver seemed daunting. Roberto Luongo had previously been a beast at Staples. The Canucks came out flying…for the first 40 seconds. The Kings answered with the fast start they needed on a goal by…Denis Gauthier? I was almost in disbelief when Gauthier’s point shot glanced off Luongo’s glove and eluded him to give the Kings a 1-0 lead. It’s likely that Dustin Brown’s stick wave in front disrupted Luongo to some extent, as you don’t see Luongo give up many goals like that. Kings made it 2-0 on a power play goal by Jaret Stoll, on a beautiful feed from Teddy Purcell, who has played his best couple games as a King during this recent homestand.

Vancouver evened the “softie goal meter” at 1 and cut the Kings’ lead to 2-1 on a long shot from Alex Burrows that eluded Jon Quick. Again, I could be an apologist and talk about how the puck passing between the skates of Jack Johnson could’ve contributed (and, as a goalie myself I can tell you it’s a definite possibility), but the bottom line is, that’s one that has to be stopped every time. The Kings would get it back before the period ended, on another Stoll PP goal from Purcell.

Vancouver poured it on in the 3rd period but Quick and the Kings held serve. The Canucks got a goal from Taylor Pyatt early in the 3rd to close the gap to one again, but that’s as close as Vancouver would get. In a frantic final minute with Luongo pulled for the extra attacker, the Kings’ got several saves from Quick and several key shot blocks, including one off the face of Matt Greene to hold on for the win.

So, the good news is, we’re 3 points back of the 8th seed, and only one point behind Anaheim in the West with 16 games remaining. The bad news, again, is that we don’t play again until the back half of this home and home in Vancouver on Friday night, giving the competition 3 nights to gain ground.

Again, I’m not implying that the Kings are going to make the playoffs, but it’s going to be interesting to see how it pans out.

Kings are in Vancouver Friday night.

-JS

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Kings Special Teams Missing In Dissapointing Loss

Friday, October 31st, 2008

Not really too much to say about this game other than the Kings gave up two power play goals and failed to score when they had the man advantage. Tonight you saw the difference between a fringe team with an elite goalie (Vancouver’s Roberto Luongo, who stopped all 28 shots the Kings fired at him) and a team with a marginal-at-best goalie.

While Bob Miller and Jim Fox were praising LaBarbera throughout the telecast tonight and at least two of the goals against him weren’t his fault, two of the Canucks goals were NOT good goals. The Raymond goal in the first period – I don’t care how great that shot it, from a poor angle against a goalie who stands 6-2, that should NEVER go in. That shot hits a properly positioned goalie in the chest every time. The fourth goal was another five hole dribbler from the point. How many of those will we see this season. I’ll give you that tonight it wouldn’t have made a difference since the Kings were unable to score, but for the mounting number of LaBarbera apologists in Kings land, there’s not much that can be said to salvage two of those goals. That said, Jason is obviously not the reason the Kings lost tonight, but 4 goals against on 18 shots (.777 save percentage) doesn’t exactly inspire confidence does it. Having played goalie more than half my life, I am hardly trying to blame LaBarbera for the team’s shortcomings, but let’s call a spade a spade here. Jason is sadly not going to steal many points for this team.

Kings continue their homestand at Staples Center Saturday night vs. Calgary.

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