Michal Handzus’ postgame thoughts… (on coming back after the late night…) HANDZUS: “It was desperation, mostly. We lost four in a row, and we want to get back in the race. Obviously we lost three close games, and we knew we didn’t play that bad. We just had to step it up a little bit [...]

Terry Murray’s postgame thoughts… (on winning after the late night…) MURRAY: “That’s a character win. That’s digging in and playing with the right kind of an attitude to get back in the win column. Just building off the momentum of the last couple games. We talked about that. They were good efforts, and we just [...]

Rob Scuderi’s postgame thoughts…. (on the game…) SCUDERI: “We didn’t take stupid penalties, especially in the offensive zone. I thought our forwards did a great job of cycling the puck down low, which really made it tough for their D to get the puck back. We just took it to them all night. That’s something [...]

Ryan Smyth’s postgame thoughts… (on scoring a goal…) SMYTH: “I was pretty excited. Obviously when you miss a chunk of games, you want to feel like you’re contributing and being a part. When I scored, it was pretty exciting. It was big. We scored on the power play and we contributed that way, and that [...]

Alexander Frolov scored two goals, including one into an empty net with 1:38 remaining, as the Kings broke their four-game losing streak and ended the first half of their season (and the calendar year) with a victory. Brad Richardson, Ryan Smyth and Michal Handzus also scored goals and Jonathan Quick made 27 saves. More from [...]

The Wild had only one shot on goal in the third period until, with 6:03 remaining, Owen Nolan scored to make it a two-goal game. Nolan, in front, took a centering pass from Marek Zidlicky and beat Quick to make it 4-2.

Lots of extra-curricular activity after the horn, as all 10 skaters were pushing and shoving. The Kings are outshooting the Wild 24-20, although it was 20-10 at one point. The Kings are 15-0-0 when leading after two periods this season.

The Kings continued their scoring early in the second period. In a delayed-penalty situation, the Kings controlled the puck, then Alexander Frolov fed a perfect cross-ice pass to Michal Handzus, whose one-timer from the right side beat Backstrom 3:17 into the second period for a 4-0 lead. The Wild answered at the 4:50 mark. Jonathan [...]

Shots were 14-6 in favor of the Kings in the first period. The Wild were booed off the ice by the home fans at the end of the period. The Kings had been 2-for-23 on the power play before Ryan Smyth’s goal.

The Kings scored a power-play goal with 1:06 remaining in the first period. Drew Doughty made it happen, as he blocked a clearing attempt, then sent a puck to the net. Ryan Smyth, parked in front, got the tip-in to give the Kings a 3-0 lead.

The Kings took a two-goal lead with 4:11 left in the period with more nice work in front of the net. Michal Handzus centered the puck from the corner. Alexander Frolov, all alone in front, first had the puck poked away by goalie Niklas Backstrom, then had a shot blocked by a defender, then shot [...]

The Kings took the lead after some good play around the net. Scott Parse sent the puck to the net, and Brad Richardson, parked in front, fought off defenders and took two or three whacks at the puck before he scored, 6:35 into the first period. Wayne Simmonds and Davis Drewiske picked up assists.

Here’s how the Kings are skating so far… Smyth-Kopitar-Brown Parse-Richardson-Simmonds Frolov-Handzus-Segal Ivanans-Moller-Harrold Scuderi-Doughty O’Donnell-Johnson Drewiske-Greene

Teddy Purcell is the Kings’ healthy scratch tonight, with Peter Harrold going back in the lineup. We’ll see, shortly, how the lines look…

Who is the Kings’ leading scorer in December? That would be Brad Richardson, with 10 points. What would the odds on that have been at the start of the month? Pretty high, considering Richardson didn’t have a point this season before Dec. 1. Richardson is now on, arguably, the Kings’ best line at the moment, [...]

It would appear, since it’s already 5 p.m. in the East, that no suspensions/fines are coming down to Dion Phaneuf, for his hit on Anze Kopitar, or to Raitis Ivanans, for his elbow/misconduct. Here’s what Terry Murray said today, first about Phaneuf’s hit and then about Ivanans… (on the Phaneuf hit…) MURRAY: “You have a [...]

Given the one fight, two misconduct penalties and the four roughing penalties, it certainly looked, on the stat sheet, as though the Kings responded to Dion Phaneuf’s early hit on Anze Kopitar. But did coach Terry Murray see the type of reaction he wanted from his team, not just in terms of aggression? It seems [...]

After the team meeting today, Terry Murray said he hadn’t yet decided whether he would make any line changes tonight, but indicated that he was considering it. Murray said Anze Kopitar was OK, and Murray again maintained that Phaneuf’s hit was reckless. Other than that, not a lot of news this afternoon. I’ll have some [...]

Here’s what Calgary coach Brent Sutter said about Dion Phaneuf’s hit on Anze Kopitar — or, as they’re calling it in parts of the Canadian media, the point at which Phaneuf “made contact” with Kopitar (tapped him on the shoulder, perhaps?) SUTTER: “It’s a non-call. The icing was waved off, it’s a foot race for [...]

With another game just more than 15 hours away, here’s tonight’s game story, complete with video and stats. Thanks for reading! Flames defeat Kings 2-1