After Justin Williams gave what I thought were some good thoughts on the Kings’ power play, I decided to ask Terry Murray if he saw any themes, in recent games, that pointed toward the Kings’ struggles at critical times on the power play… MURRAY: “There’s not one or two specific things. When you have issues [...]

Do numbers deceive, or do eyes? The Kings rank 13th in the NHL on the power play — not great, but not awful either — and are 7 for 33 on the power play during this recent 3-5 slide. Yet the power play seems to be faltering at critical times in the game. Today I [...]

After talking with the trainer, Terry Murray said Rob Scuderi was “much improved” after his skate this morning and was at “about 75 percent.” Murray also said Jarret Stoll felt better today and might attempt to skate during practice before tomorrow’s flight to Edmonton.

It’s still a wait-and-see thing all around. Terry Murray said Jarret Stoll felt better today, but Murray was waiting to speak with the team trainer about Stoll’s status. Same goes for Rob Scuderi. It’s likely that we’ll see at least one Manchester call-up this afternoon. Jonathan Quick will start Wednesday, and Murray said he would [...]

No Stoll, no Scuderi, no Manchester call-ups on the ice (at least not yet). More updates ASAP.

Before I head out to practice, I’ll pass along a story from NHL.com that talks about the Kings’ building process. Much of it covers familiar ground — familiar for us…but this is written for a national audience — but there’s some interesting stuff from Lombardi at the end… Kings’ rebuilding plan ahead of schedule

What do the Kings need to work on, after five losses in eight games? Well, pretty much everything. After practice, when asked about the theme for the next couple days, between games, Terry Murray described something of a back-to-basics approach, the kind of stuff that really should be second nature but can get lost during [...]

Weeks such as this one lead to interesting decisions from coaches. If you start with three basic assumptions — 1) Frequent games lead to tired players, 2) Staying off the ice is the only way to get rested, and 3) Practicing is the only way to improve — what exactly do you do, as a [...]

Rob Scuderi, still out with his “lower-body injury” — although, based on the quotes below, we now we know it’s a lower-body injury he’s never had before – skated for about 20 minutes this morning, in workout gear, before the Kings practiced. Scuderi tested his legs with a variety of little drills, and didn’t appear to be [...]

Jarret Stoll, according to Terry Murray, suffered one of the dreaded “lower-body injuries” during the last five minutes of yesterday’s game. Stoll’s status for Wednesday is not yet known, but given the other injuries, Murray said a call-up from Manchester is probable. No word on whether Rob Scuderi will be able to practice with the [...]

Rob Scuderi skated for about 20 minutes this morning before practice, and his lower body remained intact. I’m hoping to talk to him here shortly. Jarret Stoll is the only player not practicing, which could very well be a veteran’s “therapy day,” but I’ll get an answer soon. Brad Richardson is centering the second line [...]

Following up on the theme of possible team fatigue, and following up on Terry Murray’s comments yesterday about getting more minutes for his third and fourth line, here’s how the minutes played out today. I have listed each player’s average ice time, entering today, followed by how much they played today. It’s skewed in a [...]

CALGARY COACH BRENT SUTTER “We were assertive, we played an intelligent game and we were smart. We did a good job of hounding the puck and being strong on pucks. And our specialty teams; we had three power-play goals and we killed off some big (penalty kills). (Iginla) played a whale of a game (today); [...]

Here’s today’s game story, complete with stats and video. Thanks much for reading… Flames defeat Kings 5-2

Dustin Brown’s postgame thoughts… (on the overall poor play…) BROWN: “We had a couple good shifts in the second. We had a 2-1 lead and they came back and tied it up and we’re going 2-2 into the third. Throughout the game, especially on the offensive side, I mean I think we had 25 shots [...]

Anze Kopitar’s postgame thoughts… (on the lack of power-play success…) KOPITAR: “Everybody has got to take some responsibility on that. I’ve got to do what I’m supposed to do. Everybody else has got to do that. It is a five-man unit. The penalty kill has come such a long way in the NHL these days [...]

Terry Murray’s postgame thoughts… (on the late bench-minor penalty and ensuing discussion…) MURRAY: “I just wanted to talk to him. Nothing more than that. There’s a line change that happened, where the referee is waiting for them to put their player on the ice, and I get the last change. I’m the home team and [...]

Calgary’s David Moss added a power-play goal with 45.5 seconds remaining to cap the scoring. The Kings were, in effect, minus-1 for 3 on the power play, as they didn’t score and allowed a shorthanded goal. Calgary’s fourth goal also came just 43 seconds after a failed Kings power play. Shots were 32-25 for the [...]

Jarome Iginla got the hat trick with 4:07 remaining in the third period. A Calgary shot was blocked in front but Iginla, from the right circle, put a perfect shot on net for his third goal.

After a turnover deep in their own zone, the Kings allowed the Flames to cycle the puck while shorthanded, and Curtis Glencross’ pass out of the corner found Daymond Langkow in front. With both Kings defensemen in the corner, Langkow easily beat Quick 7:22 into the third period.