Stoll drew ire of Pronger

As noted earlier, that well-known thug, Jarret Stoll, clearly drew the ire of the dainty Chris Pronger — or something like that — yesterday when he hit Pronger in the corner in the third period. Was it possible that Stoll could have received a boarding minor? Yes. Pronger’s reaction, though, was to return to his feet and smash Stoll to the ice with two hands, thus drawing an ill-timed roughing penalty with less than seven minutes remaining in a one-goal game. The suggestion, by at least one Philadelphia media member, that Stoll’s hit might be subject to supplemental-discipline review, is perhaps bit “off-page,” and today Terry Murray (not surprisingly) said he felt the exchange was handled properly.

MURRAY: “Well, it [Stoll’s hit] was just a hockey play. It wasn’t anything more than that. Pronger could have got four minutes out of that play, quite honestly. I thought Stoll was playing the game hard. It was a critical part of the game, obviously. It was just a real good hockey play. You get those reactions from players sometimes, and I think the referee certainly made the right call.”

In general, the Kings did a good job of handling the physical play. The days of the Broad Street Bullies are over, but the Flyers are still a big, physical team, and the Kings didn’t look out of place. According to the official stat sheet, the Kings recorded 20 hits to the Flyers’ 23 and had 15 blocked shots, to the Flyers’ eight. Murray was pleased with his team’s attitude.

MURRAY: “It can be a hard building to go into. That’s a great hockey club. They’re built very well and they’re built for this year, right now. It can be intimidating if you don’t deal with it the right way and just get yourself prepared to play. I think when Clifford stepped up right away, at the start of the game, on his first shift the way he did, it meant something. Then with Westgarth doing the same thing, it certainly has meaning. It shows that your team is there to play hockey and that we’re going to do whatever we can to get the points on the board. It was a very strong statement that was made by both of those guys at that time. I know the history of the L.A. Kings going in there is not very good. That history can carry over very easily if you’re not aware of it. I really liked the way the tone was set and established right away.”