Darryl Sutter’s postgame thoughts… (on whether this was the Kings’ best game with him as coach…) SUTTER: “I think we’ve been playing pretty good. If you got a chance to watch the Chicago game or the Winnipeg game, there’s a lot of steps that we’ve tried to make. Tonight we got contributions from different guys, [...]

Anze Kopitar’s postgame thoughts… (on scoring his first goal in 18 games…) KOPITAR: “It was big. Always, when you go through struggles like that, it always feels good when you get it off your back. No better place and time to do it, I guess, than against Vancouver too. So, it was a huge win [...]

Matt Greene’s postgame thoughts… (on what the win does for the team’s confidence…) GREENE: “It builds it up. I think it’s still a work in progress, but we’ve been having some success over the last little bit here, with Darryl coming in. This was a good game for us, obviously, but we have to keep [...]

Will the Kings send out 2011 with a victory or a loss against the Vancouver Canucks? All the action will be on Fox Sports West and on 1150-AM and affiliates, with all the game updates here as well… THIRD PERIOD In goal: It’s still Quick vs. Luongo. Kings 4, Canucks 1: The Kings had been [...]

This is the second of four meetings this season between the Kings and the Vancouver Canucks, following Vancouver’s 3-2 victory at Staples Center on Nov. 10. Where is the Canucks’ weakness? They rank in the top 10 in the NHL in goals per game (third), goals-against per game (seventh), power-play percentage (first) and penalty-kill percentage [...]

Having watched from afar before taking over the Kings 10 days ago, Darryl Sutter obviously brings a different perspective on the team and its players. Asked, in general, if there was any particular player who had surprised him so far, Sutter contemplated for a moment, then picked Trevor Lewis. A former first-round pick who had [...]

The Kings now get a chance to make things right at home. How many times has that sentiment been expressed in the last couple years? Last season, the Kings wasted a lengthy homestand, a stretch that temporarily put them out of a playoff spot. This season, they had a two-week stretch in late November and [...]

The Kings are 2-for-42 on the power play in their last 12 games. “Awesome’’ is not exactly the adjective most people would use to describe such a unit, but that’s the word that Darryl Sutter dropped on reporters today, when asked about the struggling power play. The Kings have fallen to 25th in the NHL [...]

The last morning skate of the calendar year was a short one, but it was followed by a lengthy meeting. Jonathan Quick was the first goalie off the ice, so he’s the likely starter. Alec Martinez also came off with the game group, so it’s possible that he might be a game-time choice instead of [...]

Simon Gagne, out of the lineup since hitting his head near the boards against Phoenix four days ago, remains on injured reserve and is certainly out for tomorrow night’s game, and there’s no timetable for Gagne’s return. Gagne did not do any skating today, and Darryl Sutter offered only this as an update on Gagne: [...]

One thing new coach Darryl Sutter hasn’t had to worry about is goaltending. Scoring? Yes. Power play? Yes. Goaltending? No. In Sutter’s five games, the Kings have allowed seven goals. Jonathan Quick has stopped 118 of 124 shots and Jonathan Bernier stopped 26 of 27 last night in Winnipeg. Sutter said that, after last night’s [...]

Darryl Sutter’s past would indicate that he values grit. A glance at his 2003-04 Calgary Flames team, which made a surprising run to the Stanley Cup Finals, reveals a roster with a lot of grinders. Perhaps it’s not surprising, then, that so far during his stint with the Kings, Sutter has increased the responsibilities of [...]

As noted in an earlier post, Darryl Sutter spent about 15-20 minutes, toward the end of practice today, by himself with the first power-play unit at one end of the ice. There seemed to be more talking than actual drills going on, and afterward, a couple players indicated that it was more about reinforcement than [...]

There was plenty of work today in an hour-long practice that ended with the power-play work. Darryl Sutter didn’t attribute anything particular to his hands-on approach and said the power play is a work in progress for all the coaches. Incidentally, Sutter said quite clearly today that he wouldn’t be adding to or changing the [...]

The Kings are practicing with the same lines as last night, and without Simon Gagne on the ice. One interesting note is that, at the moment, Darryl Sutter has the first power-play unit pulled to one end of the ice and is working with them on his own, while the assistant coaches tend to the [...]

It’s back to work for the Kings. After three games in four nights, including a back-to-back set on the road, it was a 2 a.m. arrival back home and now a noon practice today and, oh yeah, a game tomorrow against the high-powered Vancouver Canucks. Practice time is valuable, though, given that Darryl Sutter has [...]

Some notes from last night’s game… – Once again, defense and goaltending were there for the Kings but offense was not, as they lost to the WInnipeg Jets 1-0 in overtime Thursday night at MTS Centre. – The Kings were shut out for the fourth time this season and have recorded two or fewer regulation [...]

There’s no mystery why the Winnipeg Jets have been much better at home (13-6-1) this season than on the road (5-8-4). The arena is sold out and, well before the first drop of the puck, almost all of the fans are in their seats, cheering and chanting. The Jets play an aggressive game, and seem [...]

Is the glass half full or half empty? On the positive side, the Kings are 3-0-2 under Darryl Sutter and earned three out of a possible four points during a two-game trip, a trip that included games against Chicago (the best team in the NHL) and Winnipeg (a rested, strong home team against a tired [...]

Darryl Sutter’s postgame thoughts… (on whether his team played well enough to get the win…) SUTTER: “We played hard. We wanted to get through the first (period). They’re a really good first-period team, if you look at their offense and what they’ve done in the first periods this year. I think they’ve scored 40 of [...]