On the Road with the Kings.. Kinda

I'm currently on the East Coast on "official" business. So my Los Angeles Kings viewing over the next 2 weeks will be limited by the power of my Slingbox and my access to illegal internet streaming.

NHL Hockey... the way it was meant to be seen.

Kings 5, Stars 4

The only thing sadder than the Kings nearly losing this game by giving up 3 3rd period goals is the Kings broadcast crew trying to make some traction out of memorable Kings moments during the Staples Center's 10 year anniversary. Yeah, I got your LA Kings Staples Center memorable moments right here... how about the first 3 years of the Staples Center when the Kings made the playoffs... and then nothing else but the Lakers.

Don't be so impressed by Luc.
He's looking up at the South Park cartoon making fun of the Dallas Stars.

I watched the first 2 periods with no audio and the 3rd I watched in the comfort of my corporate apartment. So I'm not going to pretend that I really got a sense of how the Kings played in this game. But up until that 3rd period... they looked pretty good to me. Coach Murray was in mid-season form... changing his lines up all over the place. And you got to admit... how cool was it to see Wayne Simmonds on that first line.

This guy looks cool even during an in-between periods interview.

But the Kings rallied to win the game in overtime... and that is exactly what you want from a young team that has lost a 4-1 lead in the 3rd period. They didn't panic and in fact came out very strong at the start of the overtime. After all these years of constantly losing to the Stars... these last 2 games have felt so great. But in a few years... that James Neal is going to be skating circles around the Kings and the rest of the NHL. But that is far enough away.

Let's not forget that Anze Kopitar had a hat trick tonight and now is tied for the league lead in points with some dude named Alex Ovechkin. To say that this has been a breakout season for Anze Kopitar is an understatement. Now where would we have heard that before?

Saturday is a matchup against the Pacific Division leading Phoe-nix Coy-otes??? (Shared with the Kings and the Stars actually) These are not your Phoenix Coyotes of years past... but then again... are these the Kings of the past 10 years at the Staples Center?

Shake It Up

Kings 4, Ducks 3

A great game to watch on tv. I'm way too tired to go full on blog about it... but Coach Murray spoke and this team responded. More to come tomorrow.

Line Cha-Cha-Changes

Wow. What a response to the drubbing the Los Angeles Kings took a few days ago. It seems like Coach Murray's Line Combinations of Fun™ paid off well tonight, as the forwards were all shifted around... as were the defensemen. Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown were finally split up and it seems that Coach Murray does read this site... just as I suspected. But let's be honest... as good as the team played tonight (and the team did look great out there), it really was the former first line of Kopitar, Brown and Patrick O'Sullivan that did most of the scoring while on the Power Play. I'm all for breaking them up during the game... as long as they get back together on the man advantage.

Kings 6, The Andy Murray Experiment 2

Your Los Angles Kings all-time winning coach.

How great is the defensive pairing of Kyle Quincey and 19 Year Old Drew Doughty going to be? Like for the next 7 years? Sean O'Donnell has done his job and helped Doughty get comfortable in the league, but now it's time to see what the Kings best 2 defensemen can do together. How good has Quincey been?

This good. Again, reminder... the Kings got Quincey for nothing.

Isn't it strange that Kyle Quincey and Ed Norton have never been photographed in the same place?

Heidi Androl was also in full effect during tonight's game and she was even wearing her 3rd jersey!

Oh Heidi, you could do so much better.


Ok, now you're talking.


Whoa! Way out of your league, Heidi!

I've been a bit fascinated with the Fox Sports West on-camera graphics this season. Well tonight, the viewers saw something new... the totally akin combination of exciting NHL action and Hitler Assassination Movie Thrillers!

I believe Sweden remained neutral in WWII.
Maybe they should have used St. Louis Blues defensemen Roman Polak instead?
Too soon?

Also, the St. Louis Blues finally figured out a way to contain Kings enforcer Raitis Ivanans.


You smother him.

Finally, I think that the Fox Sports West slo-mo camera is so slow, that it went back in time tonight. Because if you wanted to see what I looked like when I was a kid going to Kings games at the Forum...

A mirror image... except I would have been wearing a Bob Kudelski jersey.