Some notes from last night’s game…
– The Kings won their third consecutive game by beating Calgary 2-1 on Thursday night at Staples Center.
– Under coach Terry Murray, the Kings had been 1-8 against Calgary and had totaled only 12 goals in those nine games.
– Anze Kopitar scored the game-winning goal, his third consecutive game-winning goal, and also has four goals in his last five games and five goals in his last seven games.
– Kyle Clifford scored his first NHL goal, in the first period of his 22nd NHL game.
– The Kings went 1-for-6 on the power play and 2-for-3 on the penalty kill. The Kings had been the NHL’s only team not to allow a power-play goal at home this season. They had been 45-for-45 until Olli Jokinen’s third-period goal.
– The Kings are 11-2-0 at home this season, the best 13-game home start since the 1992-93 team started 12-1-0 at home.
– The Kings are now 8-2-0 in one-goal games, 12-2-0 when scoring first, 6-1-0 when leading after the first period and 8-0-0 when leading after two periods.
– The Kings outshot the Flames 32-27. In the teams’ previous meeting this season, on Oct. 10 in Calgary, the Flames outshot the Kings 32-22.
– Jonathan Quick stopped 26 of 27 shots. Quick has allowed two or fewer goals in five consecutive starts.
– Wayne Simmonds assisted on Kyle Clifford’s goal, breaking a seven-game scoreless streak for Simmonds.
– Dustin Brown assisted on Anze Kopitar’s goal and has an assist in three consecutive games.
– Jack Johnson also assisted on Anze Kopitar’s goal, and Johnson is now tied for the team lead with 15 assists.
– Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown and Ryan Smyth each had four shots on goal. Brown was credited with a team-high six hits while Alec Martinez and Smyth were each credited with two blocked shots.
– The Kings won 32 of 56 faceoffs (57 percent).
– Jack Johnson led the Kings in ice time at 24:15. Anze Kopitar led all Kings forwards at 22:45.
Also, here’s the latest Kings postgame video, with a different look…
That video was great, but maybe you could go with a crotchcam on DD the next time we play the Flames.
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MacSwede Reply:
December 10th, 2010 at 10:26 am
@jet, hahahaha, good one!
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sid the kid Reply:
December 10th, 2010 at 10:58 am
@jet, hahahahahahaaa. yeah, i def LOL’d on that one
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Shakes Reply:
December 10th, 2010 at 12:07 pm
@jet,
After careful research and observation i think something needs to be said:
Bailey is one damn good mascot. Definitely very funny during games and generally his antics are pretty goofy. My favorite move is when he dumps popcorn on opposing fans.
I went to see an Islanders/Kings game last year at Nassau (Rich I think you owe us a pic of the goalies trying to fit on the bus in full pads) and between periods they had a mascot game featuring the NHL mascots. The highlight of the event was Bailey cross-checking the Blue Jackets mascot (the weird green bee thing) and I believe he scored a goal too. Bailey then tried to start a fight. That’s what i want in a mascot. Ace Bailey would be proud.
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Three in a row!
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Williams was very good. I love the way Martinez skates – although I thought he made a few mistakes in the D zone last night. It was great seeing Poni back on the ice.
Can someome tell TM that dump and chase followed by endless cycling behind the net is both boring and ineffective?
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VanKingsFan Reply:
December 10th, 2010 at 10:40 am
@rick, 3 W’s in a row and a solid season so far disagrees with you Rick… and so do I
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jamesonafterawin Reply:
December 10th, 2010 at 10:52 am
@VanKingsFan, True, but it’s still boring. Maybe if there was some more scoring on the cycling.
Oh Van, you got your way. My girlfiend doesn’t listen when I talk and I forgot to get beer on the way home, so Jameson the entire game. Lucky for my job it was a low scoring game. Not that I hzve anything to do today. I still gotta show up. The life of a computer tech., is lame.
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VanKingsFan Reply:
December 10th, 2010 at 11:00 am
@jamesonafterawin, aahahah .. I love it man! You realize that means it was good luck… Jameson from now until the next game starts! Don’t jinx us
rick Reply:
December 10th, 2010 at 10:55 am
@VanKingsFan, And imagine what our record would be if we had an offense as good as our defense.
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DesertKing Reply:
December 10th, 2010 at 10:47 am
@rick,
While it doesn’t make for the most exciting hockey, I think the dump, chase and cycling strategy does achieve a few things: more time in their zone and less time in ours. It also reduces those quick stolen pucks at the blue line which quickly turn into 2 or 3 on 1 rushes against our net.
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USHA#17 Reply:
December 10th, 2010 at 11:11 am
@rick,
“Can someome tell TM that dump and chase followed by endless cycling behind the net is both boring and ineffective?”
How about this, Rick? Your lucky you have a team to follow the can cycle in the zone. Or did you not know that most Kings Teams in the past lacked the skills necessary?
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KC23 Reply:
December 10th, 2010 at 12:49 pm
@rick, Never saw a King win I thought was boring. Winning never bores me.
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mcsorleyfan Reply:
December 10th, 2010 at 1:13 pm
@rick, What USHA#17 said… It’s very effective. It wears the other team down significantly; you keep the opposing team’s line and D pairing out there long enough and eventually they wear down and break down, make a mistake, etc. It allows you to reveal inadequacies in their play away from the puck. If you look at some of our defeats this season and any season, for that matter, you may note that we got burned on odd man rushes resulting from trying to carry the puck through the neutral zone into the offensive zone. If everything goes great you enter the zone with posession. If things go wrong, that puck is back in your teeth quickly while most of your guys are headed the wrong direction. We HAVE the skill to cycle and gain posession. That allows us to fire the puck deep into the offensive zone, knowing we can recover posession without risking trying to get too cute in the NZ. SO as counterintuitive as dump-and-chase can look, it’s used to prevent that odd man rush back in your face that has cost us goals against on far too many occasions. The cycle down low is a means of holding posession until a crack in that defense occurrs, allowing a scoring chance. On fast transitionteams they often enter the zone, get a look taken away, summarily lose posession. Anyway, it may help your understanding of whether or not a tactic works if you understand what that tactic is supposed to accomplish. I may also ask you to go back and review some wins and losses; we tend to lose when we cannot maintain posession and cycle the puck. Also understand, our team’s physical size and strength is far better adapted for this type of hockey, vs. the fast transition game of Detroit. The Detroit game is a perfect example of how a strong cycling team can slow down a fast transition team and be successful against them. And as KC23 said, Winning is never boring.
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Except for the motion sickness, I want Bailey’s job. By the way, anyone else notice that Quick and DD seem to have a really good personal connection on the ice? Lots of contact and smiles when you see them together. Quick also looks less tense and a lot more relaxed and happier this season.
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blahblah Reply:
December 10th, 2010 at 11:04 am
@DesertKing,
theyre BFF’s
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Stuart Reply:
December 10th, 2010 at 12:29 pm
@DesertKing, JQ is probably getting a full nights sleep at home now too… I’m sure his familial life is starting to hit its stride will can/will attribute to those things you mentioned.
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Seeing Quick go out there and mix it up a bit after the stick to Doughty’s nards was awesome.
Can we all just agree that DD is back? I can’t wait until the Kings sign him and JMFJ to long-term deals. They both deserve it.
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USHA#17 Reply:
December 10th, 2010 at 11:23 am
@Katy Perry,
Yeah, never say anything like that. I thought may still have been in play and he look up, thought about it, decided “F… It” and went after the guy.
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David Reply:
December 10th, 2010 at 2:23 pm
@Katy Perry, I agree, even though hes been more JWTFJ.
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Clifford’s face after his first NHL goal was priceless. so glad he got that. Jonathan Quick is amazing, what else can i say. i think i have a lil man crush LOL jk. but him being inbetween the pipes definately makes me feel better about our team. Simmer goes hard!! Drew Doughty is starting to look like Drew Doughty again. my only complaint is some of the plays JJ makes in the defensive zone. i catch myself holding my breathe or yelling at the TV when JJ has the puck in our zone. Other than that i have never been more excited to be a KINGS fan.
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puck73 Reply:
December 10th, 2010 at 11:30 am
@OCDUCKHUNTER, I think it is apparrent that both Doughty and Simmonds were not in shape to start this season. WHY ? I dont know, and I am not going to speculate, but it appears that they are starting to pick up their game, little by little. And besides, I would rather have them playing their best hockey come playoff time..Hopefully !
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simmods picked up his game,as the rest of the KINGS.THOUGHT GAME WAS GREAT.dont think game was boring at all.just mho.GO KINGS
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Cool video–a nice tie in to Animal Planet channel…
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Nice one Rich! Keep them comming…
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For the most part, that 3rd period was a thing of beauty!!! I can’t remember the last time I watched a game and said “NICE!” to myself everytime a King made a smart play or a nice pass. My excitement level is back up to where it was when we were first in the league!!!
Also, nice to see DB finding his own. Even though he hasn’t potted one lately, I think he’s playing the best hockey of the season!!!
GKG
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that video sucked… keep the locker room vids!
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