The Kings took a 4-1 lead 1:44 into the third period. Jack Johnson ripped a slap shot from the left side, just inside the blue line, and it beat Hiller, with Handzus parked in front of the net providing a screen.

The Kings had only five shots on goal in the second period but scored on two of them. They also held the Ducks to four shots on goal in the period.

A power-play goal, with 2:59 remaining in the second period, gave the Kings a two-goal lead. Jack Johnson sent the puck down low to Alexander Frolov, who turned and whipped a shot toward the net. Michal Handzus, in front of Hiller, got the deflection and scored.

The Kings had a strong first minute of the second period, and got rewarded for it. Anze Kopitar held the puck low, and sent it to the front of the net. Despite some traffic, Wayne Simmonds picked up the puck and scored from close range at the 1:04 mark.

After a flurry of chances by the Kings, and some outstanding saves by Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller, the Kings caught a break with 1:06 remaining in the period. Brad Richardson forced a turnover by Scott Niedermayer behind the Ducks’ net, and Anze Kopitar ended up with the puck in the slot. Kopitar was able to [...]

The Ducks took the lead 5:40 into the first period. A faceoff in the Kings’ zone led to a scramble, and Saku Koivu ended up with the puck. He sent a quick pass to the slot, to Jason Blake, whose wrist shot beat Quick.

First, if you need to catch up on today’s non-Kovalchuk news and notes, here’s my LAKings.com notebook… Kings notebook (Feb. 4) Second, here’s a bonus quote from Terry Murray, about the state of the rivalry between the Kings and Ducks… MURRAY: “I think a rivalry is in place. It just needs to get heated up. [...]

Multiple legitimate news outlets are reporting that Ilya Kovalchuk has been traded from Atlanta to New Jersey. Dean Lombardi has yet to return a message this afternoon that was inquiring about the Kings’ status for a potential trade.

The last Kings-Ducks game, on Jan. 14, turned a bit ugly after the Kings took a 4-0 lead into the third period. The final period was filled with penalties and incidents, including two fights and a late game misconduct on Bobby Ryan for his hit on Oscar Moller. Will there be any carry-over? I don’t [...]

“Consistency” has been a word used, by Terry Murray in relation to Scott Parse, since shortly after Parse arrived with the Kings. Parse has shown good ability and, at times, has played himself into higher-profile roles, but it seems as though Parse can’t consistently satisfy his coach in terms of overall play. So Parse will [...]

Jack Johnson will have a few busy days next week, but there’s no doubt in his mind that it will be worth it. Johnson, a member of the U.S. Olympic hockey team, will play for the Kings on Feb. 11, then fly to Vancouver to march in the opening ceremony on Feb. 12. Afterward, he [...]

Scott Parse will be scratched tonight, with Brandon Segal taking his place on the line with Frolov and Handzus. Peter Harrold returns, on the fourth line with Ivanans and Moller. As Terry Murray explained it, it’s the same story for Parse: not enough consistency. No other changes… More from the skate later, including a note [...]

My LAKings.com feature for this week is on Matt Greene, and his positive influence on the Kings’ locker room as an alternate captain. If you click the “continue reading” below, you’ll also find a Greene highlight package. Thanks for reading! The Greene Room Also, a reminder that there are only a few spots available for [...]

As posted earlier, most of the Kings weren’t on the ice this morning, but they did participate in some off-ice workouts (and Drew Doughty got in at least two ping-pong games). It’s normal, at this point of the season, for teams to pull back a little on the practices. The Kings’ schedule has been fairly [...]

Ryan Smyth is back. Well, he’s been back since Dec. 26, but it seemed to me that, for a while, Smyth’s play took a dip after he returned. Terry Murray has often talked about this, the theory that when a player returns from a long-term injury, he enjoys a brief spurt of success, then dips [...]

The seventh set of Open Forum questions and answers…

I have checked, and there is no concrete update on the Kings’ pursuit of Ilya Kovalchuk. The process is ongoing, as it is with several other teams, it seems. If you’d like innuendo and speculation, there are plenty of places to go. If I get any updates of substance, I’ll post them. If not, I [...]

A lot has been made of Jack Johnson’s plus-minus rating, and after years of covering hockey, I still don’t know exactly what to make of that statistic, but that’s a debate for another time. Whatever you make of it, if you put any value on it at all, it’s probably worth noting that Johnson is [...]

No real practice for the Kings today. About five or six guys were on the ice, but for everyone else, it was off-ice workouts and meetings. That’s not to say, though, that the Kings’ attention wasn’t brought to a certain area. There’s a lot of good feelings, with the team on a seven-game winning streak, [...]

Getting back to the Open Forum answers, before the start of practice… Here’s the sixth set.