Almost two weeks into the season, it’s finally time for the Kings to play a team from their own time zone. After games against the New York Rangers, Buffalo, New Jersey, Philadelphia and St. Louis, the Kings play their first Pacific Division game tonight when they take on Phoenix. Another game against Phoenix, and two against Dallas, are also on the horizon, and it could be a bloody battle in the division this season. Already, Pacific teams hold four of the top eight spots in the Western Conference, and that doesn’t even include slow-starting San Jose, which won’t be down for long. Dallas is off to a 5-1-0 start and Anaheim is 4-1-0. Here’s what Terry Murray said about starting a stretch against Pacific teams…
MURRAY: “Four of the next five are division games, and they are critical games on the schedule. You have to recognize that as a team and bring a big focus to it. There’s no question, as I’ve said many times, these points at the start are as meaningful as later on. We need to approach it with a real workman-like, professional attitude and respond the right way.’’
Bring it on boys! now let’s not suffer the lull after the “We just fired on all cylinders” game!
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You don’t think Anaheim’s gonna be fueled by beating the Sharks twice already?
These in-division games early on are HUGE as far as gaining momentum, as well as placing pressure on San Jose and Anaheim.
Not gonna say these are must-wins, but these next few games have a lot of meaning.
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Now just keep Westgarth out of the line up and we will pick up some wins. I was liking the 4 lines on Tuesday night.
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lafan13 Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 11:22 am
@Nick, But.. But… Who’s guna be there to slap around Biznasty 2.0… Clifford wont fight him.
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Nick Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 11:24 am
@lafan13, Come on. Westgarth barely even drops em and if he does most of the time gets handled.
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The Third Vopat Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 12:27 pm
@Nick, Rich just posted that Westy will be in.
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Nick Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 12:31 pm
@The Third Vopat, Yeah figured.. Westgarth is useless well at least I think so.
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tacomakingsfan Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 12:48 pm
@Nick,
Too late.. He’s penciled in for tonight
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TYLER Reply:
October 21st, 2011 at 10:06 am
@Nick, hope your crow is extra chewy this morning. WESTY WITH THE ASSIST!!
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What happened to Vancouver in the mix?! LOL.
Even Luongo was getting chanted out of his own building.
GKG!
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McCheese Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 12:23 pm
@KingsGuy, did the fans light anything on fire this time?
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KingsGuy Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 12:35 pm
@McCheese, Those crazy Canadians love to riot! Bring in the RCMP! (Mounted police). HA HA
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trytodethroneus Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 2:17 pm
@KingsGuy,
Paging Dudley Doright
Same time, different time zone. Right?
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Stuart Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 11:33 am
@bobknob, I think it starts at 7PST tonight.
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Mike Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 11:37 am
@Stuart, phoenix and LA are same time now. La hours adm hour back when clocks change. No change in phoenix
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yetiman_oc Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 11:39 am
@bobknob, Correct. AZ is in The Mountain Time Zone. It they do not observe daylight savings so they are the same time as us until next month’s time change back to standard time.
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Steve W Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 12:18 pm
@yetiman_oc, Daylight savings is observed on the Navajo and Hopi reservations, not sure if the other tribal reservations observe it.
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PRMan Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 12:19 pm
@bobknob, I was going to say, “Did Arizona have a vote I didn’t hear about?”
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we need to set a tone to the teams in our Div, especially PHO who’s had our number the last few seasons! I would like to see KC fight Doan…even though Doan’s as tough a customer as they come.
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bmova Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 12:17 pm
@Stuart, I can’t see Doan fighting. PHX needs him playing, not sitting for 5.
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Stuart Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 1:27 pm
@bmova, nah, me niether, but he can do it, seen it before… if rubbed just right, anything can happen. Maybe another 5-0 drubbing by the Kings will make it likely late in the third…
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spidey35 Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 12:27 pm
@Stuart, I agree with you about the yotes, at least they don’t have Bryzgalov who always killed us.
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Who is going to the game tonight? Kings fan now living inn phoenix, I’ll be there.
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Lake Forest Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 12:38 pm
@Mike, my sister might be there….she was at the last one.
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The Stars will come back down to reality soon enough. The Ducks have a good team (luckily no one can throw anything at me over the internet) and should make the playoffs. The Coyotes are what they are, a team of spare parts with an excellent coach. The Sharks and Kings should be on top when all is said and done. My .02.
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StillneedDewey FKA PakiFro Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 11:39 am
@xeropoint,
What the hell is up with Anaheim? I never thought they’d beat the Sharks twice in the first 5 games.
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KingsGuy Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 12:00 pm
@StillneedDewey FKA PakiFro, Hiller
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Steve W Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 12:19 pm
@KingsGuy, and Selanne.
Capt Jam Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 12:44 pm
@StillneedDewey FKA PakiFro,
Those two Ducks wins were as much a result of the Sharks’ now annual slow start rather than a Ducks’ fast start.
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Does anyone else find it interesting that the Battle of California doesn’t start until the 7th of November? That’s 2½ weeks from now. I feel kind of strange about it, and also anxious. Especially since Kings-Sharks games were pretty much the best games last season. Hopefully the Sharks will fix their game by then and we’ll see another great battle between the top 2 Pacific teams.
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RLane420 Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 11:46 am
@Eggplant, Good gives the Kings some time to gel. Then they can have good cemestry going into those games. GKG.
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Stagger Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 11:47 am
@Eggplant,
Hopefully they won’t and we’ll see another 5-0 Kings win!!
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Marc Nathan Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 11:51 am
@Stagger, as opposed to the 5-0 Coyotes win with Milan Hnilicka in nets
(and he was actually REALLY good that game. Should have been about 12-0)
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Eggplant Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 11:51 am
@Stagger, Well that can happen even if the other team is playing equally good. Remember the Detroit game last season? How many saves did Quick have then? 51? Now that I think of it that was the most ridiculous and also the best game last season.
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Stagger Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 12:06 pm
@Eggplant,
I know but I like to see the Sharks struggle. I have a buddy that’s a Sharks fan and we are always going back & forth with bets and smack talk.
I’ll take all the amo I can get after the playoffs last year.
Off Topic-Today’s Wall Street journal has an excellent article titled-”Have Goalies Become Too Dominant” by Mike Sielski. Well worth the read.
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KingsGuy Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 12:01 pm
@JackKent Cooke, Link would be nice
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JackKent Cooke Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 12:19 pm
@KingsGuy,
If you notice by my name, I’m an ink and newsprint guy all the way. Initially made my money in newspapers.
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KingsGuy Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 12:45 pm
@JackKent Cooke, Why are you on a blog then? Newspapers are dead…
PRMan Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 12:21 pm
@KingsGuy, Why? It just leads to a paywall anyway…
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Rich,
#NHLBattleForThePacific…
Love that Hashtag!
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points now almost seems like they count more now than later in the season, it`s weird this year .
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Kopi is gelling nicely with Gags!! I truly think Kopi will be a Selke finalist maybe even a Hart finalist.
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Too much to ask for 8 points out of the 4 games? Based on the way this race went down last year, let’s get the points now. My nails can’t handle all the biting during the regular season again.
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toughest division in hockey…
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Too early to look at the standings. Remember last year when Dallas was leading the division in like February? And then didn’t make the playoffs? Dallas and Phoenix won’t be there at the end. Anaheim will be in the middle. LA and San Jose will fight for the division.
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