After the Kings-Montreal game on Saturday, Drew Doughty was the guest on Hockey Night in Canada’s “After Hours” show. Click below to check out the video. Particularly humorous was Doughty’s story of how he first met Wayne Gretzky. Incidentally, I first met Vin Scully the same way.

Continue reading ‘Doughty on `Hockey Night’’ »

Jeff Halpern, acquired last week from Tampa Bay for Teddy Purcell and a third-round draft pick, saw his most extensive action as a King last night, as he played 11 minutes, 50 seconds. Halpern played on the penalty kill again and, for the first time as a King, played on the power play (2:10).

Halpern is having to deal, for the second time in the last three seasons, with a midseason trade. In 2008, he went from Dallas to Tampa Bay. Here’s what Halpern said about his transition to the Kings…

Question: Getting to spend a few days in your new home, in L.A., has that helped you settle in a little bit?

HALPERN: “Yeah, just to try to get on a schedule and a routine. It was kind of hectic, flying into Nashville and then flying back (to L.A.), so every day I’m feeling a lot more comfortable.”

Continue reading ‘Halpern settling in’ »

What are the “conditions” for the conditional seventh-round pick involved in the Kings-Columbus trade for Fredrik Modin? In my post-deadline conversation with him, Dean Lombardi had mentioned it being tied to the number of games Modin played, but it appears that Tom Reed of the Columbus Dispatch has found the answer. In a blog post, Reed reports that Columbus will only get the seventh-round pick if the Kings win the Stanley Cup this season.

Last night, the Kings had a special postgame event for season-ticket holders who have already renewed for next season. Jim Fox hosted the event on-ice and conducted a Q&A with players Rich Clune, Drew Doughty, Matt Greene, Wayne Simmonds and Ryan Smyth. As soon as Clune’s name was announced, I thought, “Well this should be good.” It didn’t disappoint. Here are a couple of the highlights of the fan Q&A session.

(on which opposing teams the players don’t like. Most answered Anaheim or San Jose…)
CLUNE: “I hate everybody.”

Continue reading ‘Late Night with Rich Clune’ »

– Michal Handzus had one goal and one assist. Handzus now has 400 career NHL points and 100 points with the Kings. He has 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in his last 12 games.

– The Kings tied a season high with three power-play goals.

– Of the 18 skaters in the Kings lineup (non-goalies), 12 recorded at least one point.

– The Kings are 25-0-0 when leading after two periods.

Continue reading ‘Postgame notes (March 8)’ »

Here’s my LAKings.com game story, with stats and video included. Thanks for reading!

Kings beat Columbus 6-0

Terry Murray’s postgame thoughts…

(on whether he was more impressed with the Kings’ offense or defense…)
MURRAY: “The defensive part of the game. That’s a good thing. You have to do that. When you get into these kinds of games, the remaining part of the season, it’s always about the checking and defensive structure that you show. Holding teams to a fewer number of shots is always the read that I make on our hockey club.”

(on Frolov’s game…)
MURRAY: “He played an outstanding game. He gave us a big effort in all areas of the game. His strength, obviously, what was see every game, is down below the dots in the offensive zone. His cycle, his holding onto the puck in one-on-one situations, he was showing his complete game tonight. Lots of speed. I like to see that. That’s one of the reasons, one of the thoughts, I had for putting him on the right-wing side, that we might get more out of that part of the game from him. I liked his effort. … His work through the practices (coming out of the Olympic break), he was pushing hard, showing a lot of speed and quickness and puck-possession plays. It’s nice to see.”

Continue reading ‘Murray postgame quotes’ »

(on whether he’s playing like he has something to prove…)
FROLOV: “You always want to prove to people what you’re capable of, what you can do, and try to do the best you can. It’s probably the key for success for any athlete in any sport, actually. It’s your job when you step on the ice. Sometimes it’s not going well, but you have to try.”

Jonathan Quick’s postgame thoughts…

(on whether it can be tough to play a game with few shots…)
QUICK: “Well, physically not at all, but mentally it could be a bit of a battle there, to stay focused for the full 60 minutes. The team played great the whole game. We took a couple penalties there at the end, but our PK unit played great and it was real easy for me. We had some big goals and it was a great game.”

(on whether he’s feeling sharper with every start, post-Olympics..)
QUICK: “Definitely, but I didn’t come back thinking that I wasn’t sharp. There were a couple miscues, puckhandling and stuff, but I feel like, even in the Dallas game, I felt good. I made some good saves, I felt, and in that game, like this game, I had some help.”

Fredrik Modin’s postgame thoughts…

(on scoring against, and beating, his former team…)
MODIN: “It’s always nice to get a chance to score against your old team. I thought we played a good game. We had a good start. Obviously they took a lot of penalties and we were able to capitalize on them and snowball a little bit.”

(on chemistry with his new teammates…)
MODIN: “It feels really good on that line I’m playing on right now. Handzus is a great center, and able to find holes. Me and Simmer are just trying to get open and make some players, so it’s been working pretty good so far.”

Columbus’ 11 shots on goal were the fewest by a Kings opponent this season. Vancouver had 15 shots on goal in a 2-1 shootout victory over the Kings on Oct. 29. The Kings tied a season high with three power-play goals — third time this season — and Jonathan Quick recorded his third shutout of the season.

The Kings held Columbus to two shots, and shots are 26-5 Kings for the game. Jonathan Quick appeared to stay awake.

Brad Richardson gave the Kings a 6-0 lead 9:46 into the second period. Jarret Stoll shot from the left circle, and the rebound came out in front, onto the stick of Richardson, who quickly scored on the rebound. Alexander Frolov got an assist for his third assist of the night.

Columbus forward Rick Nash has left the game with a lower-body injury, and his return is officially listed as “questionable.”

The Kings didn’t treat Garon any better than they did Mason, as they scored a power-play goal 4:20 into the second period. Alexander Frolov did a good job at the blue line of pushing the puck into the Columbus zone, and Fredrik Modin picked up to the puck, cut to the net and beat Garon with a backhand shot.

A dominating period for the Kings, who scored four goals, outshot Columbus 13-3 and chased goalie Steve Mason from the game, with former Kings goalie Mathieu Garon taking over. The Kings will still be on the power play for the first 1:26 of the second period.

The Kings got a four-minute power play when Rick Nash was called for high-sticking, and they capitalized twice. First, 37 seconds into the power play, Anze Kopitar tried a wraparound and Michal Handzus twice poked at the rebound and scored after Mason was unable to glove the puck.

Then, 41 seconds later, Alexander Frolov scored on a slap shot from the top of the left circle. Mathieu Garon then replaced Mason in goal, with the Kings holding a 12-3 edge in shots.

Drew Doughty gave the Kings a two-goal lead with 6:36 remaining in the first period with a 4-on-4 goal. Michal Handzus dug out the puck from behind the net and centered it to Doughty, whose big one-time slap shot beat Mason.

The Kings took a 1-0 lead 5:49 into the first period. Wayne Simmonds picked up the puck just inside the blue line in the Columbus zone, carried up the right side and beat Steve Mason with a wrist shot from just inside the right circle.

Justin Williams was cleared, by a team doctor, to now participate in contact drills during practice. As posted earlier, that’s a big step because it now puts Williams’ return date in the hands of Terry Murray and Williams, and out of the hands of doctors. A team spokesman said that Williams “will continue to travel with the team and no timetable for his return has been established.”