Some notes from last night’s game…
– The Kings completed a four-game season-series sweep of Edmonton as they beat the Oilers 2-0 on Tuesday night at Rexall Place.
– The Kings beat the Oilers three times in regulation and once in a shootout this season. The Oilers totaled five goals in the four-game series.
– The Kings have an 8-1-1 record in their last 10 games, and allowed two or fewer goals in eight of those 10 games. The Kings have six consecutive road victories.
– The Kings recorded their ninth shutout of the season.
– The Kings outshot the Oilers 33-32, including 18-7 in the first period.
– The Kings went 0-for-4 on the power play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill. In their last 13 games, the Kings are 40-for-41 on the penalty kill.
– The Kings improved to 21-14-3 on the road, 34-10-2 when scoring first and 26-0-1 when leading after the second period.
– Jonathan Bernier made 32 saves for his second shutout of the season and his third career shutout. Bernier has allowed two or fewer goals in five of his last six starts and has a 6-0-2 record in his last eight starts.
– Dustin Brown scored the Kings’ two goals, and now has a team-high 27 goals. Brown has six goals and three assists in his last seven games, including four goals in his last three games. Brown recorded his third consecutive multi-point game, his 18th multi-point game of the season and his sixth two-goal game of the season. Brown had a game-high, and season-high, nine shots on goal, which tied him for the most shots on goal for any Kings player this season. Anze Kopitar had nine shots on goal on Dec. 4 against Detroit, and Jarret Stoll had nine shots on goal on Jan. 8 against Columbus.
– Trevor Lewis had two assists. Lewis had two goals and six assists in his first 64 games, and now has one goal and three assists in his last two games. Lewis recorded his fourth multi-point game of the season and his second two-assist game of the season.
– Ryan Smyth had one assist, and has one goal and three assists in his last three games.
– Jack Johnson was credited with a team-high four hits. Matt Greene, Michal Handzus and Wayne Simmonds each were credited with a team-high two blocked shots.
– Drew Doughty played a team-high 23 minutes, 58 seconds. Dustin Brown led all forwards in ice time at 20:55.
– The Kings won 30 of 63 faceoffs (48 percent). Jarret Stoll won 16 of 23 draws (70 percent) and Trevor Lewis won 1 of 12 draws (8 percent).
Great job Brownie!! Great job everyone. Love the stats Rich!
Lewis was brutal on draws though. :/ was he even facing the right way?
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number 6 Reply:
March 30th, 2011 at 10:10 am
@Newf,
He’ll learn. He just needs to sit in on some of the sessions Messier gives the Rangers centers…. Oh, that’s the other coast. Nevermind. Maybe Jarret can help him with that aspect of his game.
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mrbrett7 Reply:
March 30th, 2011 at 10:14 am
@number 6, Stoll needs to teach him how to cheat.
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Michael_DD8 Reply:
March 30th, 2011 at 10:28 am
@mrbrett7,
Wow too funny! I remember looking at Trevor last night when he was taking a face-off, and saw that he was taping his stack on the ice just like Stolly before the draw. I thought to myself “He must be learning from Stoll” i think that might of been the 1 faceoff he wont too.
Michael_DD8 Reply:
March 30th, 2011 at 10:28 am
Won*
GOKINGS Reply:
March 30th, 2011 at 12:07 pm
@Newf, liked lewis’ game, but was a little uneasy about the way Oscar Moller played. He lost a few pucks along the end boards. He also was dominated physically along the boards a couple times. That cold shoulder he took in the third period that flat backed him was brutal. That top line needs a little revision, penner has to play with size. Gotta keep Smth-Lewis-Brown togeather, but something needs to be done about the top line. Just dont know a line combo that works. Also must say somthing about the expectations of Stollie. He is going to have to fill that 3rd line center shutdown roll, that means he will be playing against the Sedins’… Thats the real player who is picking up the slack. Scoring is easy, checking the other teams best players takes skill
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tornado12 Reply:
March 30th, 2011 at 1:54 pm
@GOKINGS, i noticed that as well. hopefully its just the inconsistency of being a young player. TM should point that out to him though.
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dont for forget in our last 29 games we are 20-4-5!!!!!!!!! thats freaken awesome!!!!
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kennynakamoto Reply:
March 30th, 2011 at 10:09 am
@kennynakamoto, umm take out that “FOR”
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What's the frequency, Kenneth? Reply:
March 30th, 2011 at 11:28 am
@kennynakamoto, Yup, even if they “cool off,” they’re still dangerous. My immediate concern though, is defending against the Sedins w/o Kopitar in that lead role.
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FiG17 Reply:
March 30th, 2011 at 11:30 am
@What’s the frequency, Kenneth?,
Hopefully, we’ll be hearing lots of “Zuuuuuuuuuuues’s” tonight.
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FiG17 Reply:
March 30th, 2011 at 11:31 am
@FiG17,
Tomorrow. I meant tomorrow. College makes the days seem longer and the yearning for tomorrow so much stronger.
Didn’t mean for that to rhyme, but I’ll go with it.
KOPI – On a more serious note, Kopi is having surgery today. He may in fact already be in surgery. I don’t know what time it was scheduled but is usually in the a.m
So I think it would be nice for Every Kings Fan To Send Some Positive Energy To Kopi on this day for a successful surgery and a rapid and complete recovery.
Thanks you guys.
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DLB Reply:
March 30th, 2011 at 10:21 am
@number 6, good idea. Best wishes, Kopi, we love you.
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cpmc29 Reply:
March 30th, 2011 at 10:29 am
Get well. Hope for a succesful surgery & recovery.
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baby23 Reply:
March 30th, 2011 at 10:33 am
@DLB, Get Well Soon KOPI! We LOVE you and wish you a speedy recovery!
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Good luck Anze. One of your smallest fans, a 5-year-old girl named Kodi is having a heart procedure today. I told her she was having her operation on the same day as her “friend” Kopi and she smiled. Kodi was able to meet Kopi at HockeyFest this year and have her picture taken with him. She was going to wear her Kopi shirt to the hospital today and I gave her some Kings trading cards to take with her. Fingers crossed for both of them.
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fsd1 Reply:
March 30th, 2011 at 10:27 am
@DesertKing, good luck Kodi and Kopi!
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Blurker Reply:
March 30th, 2011 at 10:29 am
@DesertKing, +1
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cpmc29 Reply:
March 30th, 2011 at 10:31 am
@Blurker, +2. We’re with you in thought.
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Stuart Reply:
March 30th, 2011 at 10:37 am
@DesertKing, GOOD CALL! My thoughts are with them both!
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number 6 Reply:
March 30th, 2011 at 10:44 am
@DesertKing,
That’s beautiful DesertKing.
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mrbrett7 Reply:
March 30th, 2011 at 10:52 am
@DesertKing, Good luck to her!
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D Reply:
March 30th, 2011 at 10:58 am
@DesertKing, very touching, best of luck to her
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crosschecked Reply:
March 30th, 2011 at 11:05 am
@DesertKing, prayers said for both!
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SplattDaddy Reply:
March 30th, 2011 at 11:21 am
@DesertKing, Very best wishes for both. Get well soon….both of you.
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Gail Weber Reply:
March 30th, 2011 at 11:29 am
@DesertKing,
Best wishes, for a fast and speedy recovery, and prayers are in my heart for both Kodi and Kopi, and hope to see both of them at nexts year Hockey fest, being well.
Our hearts and prayers have been going since 5 AM this morning for Kopi, hope he knows how his faithful fans miss him so very much. Thanks
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BrokeKingsFan Reply:
March 30th, 2011 at 2:34 pm
@DesertKing, Best of wishes to the little one!
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The Kings have as many wins this year as Detroit and San Jose, the only difference is the overtime loss point. Feh.
That was a good road game against a team they absolutely should have beaten, the real test comes tomorrow. I’m less concerned about winning and losing that one, and more worried about how they match up and compete against the top team in the league.
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As stated the other day, Lewis will be the key going forward. He is showing the benefits of being an offensive player drafted into the Kings system, having to learn his defensive responsibilities first (ala Kopitar). Now he is in the position to inject his offensive ability into his game without forgetting his defensive responsibilities. We may be beginning to see the maturing of a very strong future two way center who may be in the second line thought process for a very long time.
Aside from the fact that we played a doormat last night, our performance was stellar. Bernier continues to look like a starting goaltender of some team’s future while growing incredibly into his role right now with the Kings! Wonder if he would be the tender if we match against Nashville in the playoffs based on his record against them?
Only disappointment last night was watching Moller. I got the feeling he was trying to carry the scoring burden on himself and ended up putting himself in the wrong place at the wrong time all night. Calm down, Oscar…just play your game.
Thursday will be interesting.
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number 6 Reply:
March 30th, 2011 at 10:46 am
@40 year fan,
While I didn’t think the Edm defense was sterling on the two goals, the passes by T Lewis (I wanna give him a basketball name, like D Wade) were first class.
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KingsGuy Reply:
March 30th, 2011 at 10:50 am
@40 year fan, Ya Moller… Man, he looked terrible, and no I am not talking about his flesh colored beard. (HA JK) He wasn’t the same player as we saw him in the previous game. I have said it before and I’ll say it again. He lacks NHL experience or perhaps being a bit harsh, he needs to stay in the minors… Prove me wrong Moller! I do think he needs to move down a line or two.
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shorthanded Reply:
March 30th, 2011 at 10:54 am
@40 year fan, Thursday will be more than interesting…..it may make or break this team. A solid win will boost our confidence, but a blowout may really hurt going forward.
If we lose and its a close game I think it still helps us. Everyone has to play 60 minutes and give 110%.
We all know they can do it!
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Shotongoal Reply:
March 30th, 2011 at 11:02 am
@shorthanded, Thursday should be looked at exactly like last night’s….one game. No matter how many injuries the Kings have, they should beat EDM, and they did. This is almost a meaningless game to VAN tomorrow, so it shouldn’t be looked at any other way than as a game the Kings could really use, but against a very good team at home. Whatever happens against VAN, it will not make nor break the Kings for the rest of this season.
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Capt Jam Reply:
March 30th, 2011 at 11:22 am
@shorthanded,
After everything the team has been through already this season, do you really think losing a game some “pundits” have already put in the VAN win column is going to break them? After everything, you think they’re THAT fragile and fickle?
Win or lose, that team is gonna come out even tighter than they were going into it. Win, and I doubt the Kings the lose another game before the playoffs start.
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CupRun2011 Reply:
March 30th, 2011 at 1:39 pm
@40 year fan, Didn’t see the entire game, but thought the same thing about the Mole. Kopi drew alot of coverage in the O-zone and Mole had time and space to move around–with Zeus, Mole needs to change it up a bit and play a more disciplined role and look for the openings where Zeus and Pen can get him the puck for a quick shot.
BTW: Dewey needs to pull the trigger a little sooner on his rushes, he gets caught up ice…and against a team like VAN, we’ll get cooked with the odd-man rush coming back…to DD, JJ and AM, pick your spots wisely…
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A bit off topic but does anyone know exactly what criteria the ref’s use to kick people out of the face off circle? Do they just get a feeling that the player is cheating too much? If so, why wouldn’t a team consistently put out it’s second best face-off man firt to cheat his butt off, then if he doesn’t get caught he has an advantage and if he does the team could still send in their best guy?
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What's the frequency, Kenneth? Reply:
March 30th, 2011 at 11:35 am
@370455VinSD, The replacement face-off man can get thrown out too, and then it’s a penalty.
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HockeyNerd Reply:
March 30th, 2011 at 12:06 pm
@What’s the frequency, Kenneth?, Did they change that recently? Vaguely remember sometimes 2 or even 3 guys would be thrown out on a single faceoff…
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What's the frequency, Kenneth? Reply:
March 30th, 2011 at 12:27 pm
@HockeyNerd, Don’t know when it started, but seems to have been that way for years.
Stuart Reply:
March 30th, 2011 at 12:30 pm
@HockeyNerd, I think it started when they cut the time between whistles to 30 seconds… around the same time they put the skate-markers around the dots. 4-5 years now? SOmething like that.
Stuart Reply:
March 30th, 2011 at 12:09 pm
@370455VinSD, they can also throw him out if another linemate jumps prematurely. And HockeyNerd, that’s been the law ever since they put those skate markers around the dots. Back in the day, I think they could exhaust every player on the ice to take a faceoff. I think the kings were called for one of those last year, if I remember correctly.
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GkingsG99 Reply:
March 30th, 2011 at 12:12 pm
@370455VinSD, I believe they also get kicked out if one of the other players moves too soon.
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GkingsG99 Reply:
March 30th, 2011 at 12:13 pm
@GkingsG99, My bad, already said so above haha.
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I think if we just play a good game, win or lose, without getting trounced, it will set us up nicely going against Dallas. Playing tough against the “nucks” should give the boys tons of confidence. Also nice to see no grmblings really about the goalies. Of course how could there be, the way both are playing? GKG!
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Linny, give Poorman a chance… lol J/K, Poorman; I’ve been a big fan for years. Get well soon, Kopi!!
the time has come for the Kings to prove something I have been saying for years. Wild Animals and Hockey Players do NOT feel sorry for themselves! GO KINGS GO!!!!!
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