Based on today’s morning skate, it appears that Andrei Loktionov will replace Simon Gagne as Mike Richards’ left winger. Darryl Sutter didn’t announce his starting goalie — “This isn’t baseball,” he reminded a Chicago reporter — but Jonathan Quick was in the locker room first. Sutter also didn’t offer an update on Gagne. Here’s how [...]

As noted yesterday, the Kings are holding their “fathers’ trip” with the two-game set in Chicago and Winnipeg this week — I guess they like cold weather — and it got underway with Monday’s game in Los Angeles and Tuesday’s flight to Chicago. About half of the dads made that flight, and others will join [...]

As expected, the Kings resolved their roster issue by putting Simon Gagne on injured reserve. The Kings still haven’t disclosed Gagne’s injury, but it’s obvious that he hurt himself by hitting his head after a hit near the boards. There’s no timetable on a return. So the Kings are back to a 23-man roster, and [...]

First, a bit of sad news, for those who missed it yesterday. Former Kings coach Johnny Wilson died at age 82. Wilson, the uncle of Toronto Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson, took over behind the Kings bench during the 1969-70 season and went 9-34-9 before he was fired at the end of the season by [...]

At least in the short term, the Kings’ roster situation has taken care of itself, but not the way they had hoped. Simon Gagne did not make the trip to Chicago because of his undisclosed injury, and it’s highly unlikely that he would show up in Winnipeg either. Assuming the Kings choose to put Gagne [...]

The Kings did not practice this morning and are on their way to Chicago for the start of the semi-annual “fathers’ trip.” About a dozen of the dads were at last night’s game and are on today’s flight, and a few more will meet the team in Chicago and continue on to Winnipeg. There’s a [...]

Some notes from last night’s game… – The Kings broke their two-goal-or-fewer skid as they beat the Phoenix Coyotes 4-3 on Monday night at Staples Center. – The Kings had scored two or fewer regulation goals in 14 consecutive games, a franchise-worst run. – The Kings are 9-0-0 this season when they score at least [...]

The Kings didn’t move into the top eight of the Western Conference last night — that wasn’t possible — but they did move into a virtual tie for ninth place with Phoenix, one point behind Nashville. It’s still a little early in the season to call a loss “devastating,” but a loss to the Coyotes, [...]

On Boxing Day, the Kings received an offensive outburst. Goals from Rob Scuderi and Willie Mitchell, in the same game? Maybe it was more like a Christmas miracle. Whatever it was, the Kings were able to end their two-goal-or-less run at 14 games, and picked up an important 4-3 victory over Phoenix, the team directly [...]

Darryl Sutter’s postgame thoughts… (on seeing more than two goals on the scoreboard…) SUTTER: “It’s nice to see a `W’ up there. That’s more important. You don’t want to overemphasize the importance of having to produce more offense to win hockey games.’’ (on his raspy voice…) SUTTER: “Sorry, I’ve got a sore throat. Cheerleading.’’

Rob Scuderi’s postgame thoughts… (on the strong first period…) SCUDERI: “You always want to come out and play your best hockey by the time you get to that first TV timeout, and just establish and attitude and a tone to the game, and try to stay with it. I thought we had a very good [...]

Dustin Brown’s postgame thoughts… (on the game…) BROWN: “For our team to be successful, it’s about work. We didn’t have our best second (period). We came out and rebounded with a really good third. The work ethic was there and we found the back of the net twice. At the end of the day, that [...]

Simon Gagne, who didn’t play in the third period, got “a little banged up” early in the game, according to coach Darryl Sutter. Sutter didn’t elaborate, other than to say that Gagne would be evaluated again tomorrow before the Kings’ flight to Chicago. The Kings are not scheduled to practice tomorrow.

Can the Kings make it a tough night for their former goalie, Jason LaBarbera, and finally break the two-goal curse? 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 against LaBarbera. Kings 3, Coyotes 2: [...]

This is the third of six meetings this season between the Kings and the Phoenix Coyotes, with the Kings holding a 1-0-1 record so far. It’s also a meeting between two Pacific Division teams that are on the outside of the Western Conference playoff picture, looking to get back in. The Coyotes have some injury [...]

Do the Kings have a chance to make a post-Christmas run to the playoffs? Yes, but recent history says it won’t be easy. Since three-point games were instituted, post-lockout, teams that are in the top eight in their respective conferences on Dec. 25 generally stay there, even though 3 1/2 months remain in the season. [...]

After today’s morning skate, coach Darryl Sutter, Jack Johnson and Jarret Stoll talked about tonight’s game against Phoenix, and some of the themes going into the game…

Kings prospects Derek Forbort and Kevin Gravel are on the Team USA roster and Chris Gibson is on Team Finland for the World Junior Championships, which start today in Canada. Gibson is in goal right now for Finland, in a game being shown in the States on NHL Network. Gibson, the Kings’ second-round pick this [...]

Jonathan Quick was the first goalie off the ice this morning, so even though Darryl Sutter doesn’t announce his starting goalie — remember, this isn’t baseball — there’s a very good chance it will be Quick in the net tonight. Perhaps mindful of the current lack of practice time, Sutter had the team on the [...]

First, a happy Boxing Day to all our friends in Canada and beyond. The Kings are back at it tonight, with a home game against the Phoenix Coyotes (a reminder that it’s a 7 p.m. start at Staples Center). It’s tough to imagine a less-ideal scenario than the one Darryl Sutter has walked into during [...]