The Kings have definitely had enough shooting practice in the first two games of the Western Conference Finals. The Kings outshot the Coyotes 48-27 in Game 1, then 40-24 in Game 2. During the regular season, the Kings never recored more than 44 shots on goal in a single game. This is no accident. The [...]

Before the Phoenix Coyotes flew to Los Angeles today, coach Dave Tippett addressed reporters in the Phoenix area. Here’s how the session went… Question: What can you do to generate some offense in this series? TIPPETT: “We have to have better execution with the puck. We had some opportunities last night. We had two or [...]

The NHL has issued its rulings, with Martin Hanzal getting a one-game suspension for his hit on Dustin Brown, but with no supplemental disciplined issued to Shane Doan, Derek Morris or Mike Smith for their respective hits. Members of the Kings’ front office, perhaps not surprisingly, are said to be privately seething that the players [...]

Martin Hanzal has received a one-game suspension for his hit on Dustin Brown, as announced by Brendan Shanahan. As noted earlier, Shanahan opined via Twitter that the hits by Shane Doan (on Trevor Lewis) and Derek Morris (on Rob Scuderi) did not rise to the level of supplemental discipline. Asked today, before the announcement of [...]

As noted earlier, most of the Kings didn’t go on the ice this morning, as they held an off-ice workout and got treatment in El Segundo. Before long, the Kings might have to hire a trainer specifically for Dustin Brown. Seeing Brown with ice packs taped to various parts of his body is nothing new [...]

The only players on the ice for the Kings this morning were Kyle Clifford, Davis Drewiske, Andrei Loktionov, Jordan Nolan, Kevin Westgarth, Jonathan Bernier and Martin Jones. Colin Fraser is in Alberta with his family, Darryl Sutter said, so it would seem unlikely that Fraser will play tomorrow, but that is not certain. Sutter indicated [...]

Some notes from last night’s game… – The Kings won another road playoff game, as they beat the Phoenix Coyotes 4-0 on Sunday night at Jobing.com Arena in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals. The Kings lead 2-0 in the best-of-seven series. – The Kings are now 7-0 on the road in this postseason. [...]

The storylines for the Phoenix Coyotes today will be about supplemental discipline and composure, and that can’t make coach Dave Tippett happy. After Game 1, he talked about staying out of the box and, well, in a way the Coyotes did. Shane Doan and Martin Hanzal went to the locker room instead, after getting game-misconduct [...]

The NHL announced this morning that Phoenix’s Martin Hanzal will have a disciplinary hearing today for his hit on Dustin Brown. Hanzal was given a five-minute boarding penalty and a game misconduct immediately after the hit. Rob Blake, who is working with Brendan Shanahan in a hockey-operations capacity, and Colin Campbell were both at the [...]

There’s really no way to rationally explain the Kings’ great road success in this postseason, so they won’t try. For a team to play three playoff series, and start 2-0 in each, with two road wins, is perhaps unprecedented. Of course, every game has its own flavor, and last night’s Game 2 against Phoenix was [...]

Darryl Sutter’s postgame thoughts… (on the hits on Lewis and Brown…) SUTTER: “I think (on) Doan’s hit on Lewie, Lewie is turning back. It’s probably more of a hockey play, eh? It’s a tough one. I didn’t really have a big problem with that. But the one on Brownie, it’s hard to say from the [...]

Jonathan Quick’s postgame thoughts… (on his game…) QUICK: “Obviously I wanted to get off to a better start than I did last game there. You know, in order to win on the road, you need your goalie to make a few saves. For the most part, we did a great job of keeping a lot [...]

Jeff Carter’s postgame thoughts… (on whether he’s no longer snake-bit in scoring…) CARTER: “I hope so. Yeah, I mean, obviously I’d love to be scoring every game. They haven’t come that easily for me the last little while here. It’s something that I’ve been working on in practice, trying to get to the net during [...]

Dustin Penner’s postgame thoughts… (on all the penalties in the game…) PENNER: “I think you saw that with every team we’ve played so far in the playoffs. We try to frustrate teams, and I think that’s what you saw tonight, is their frustration level, on the other side, build up. Then we’ve got to protect [...]

Dwight King’s postgame thoughts… (on his line working hard on his goal…) KING: “For sure. All of us did, and the forwards and Dewey getting the shot through. It was good for our line to get rewarded early.’’ (on maintaining composure, despite all the penalties…) KING: “That was key, obviously with some of the penalties [...]

Anze Kopitar’s postgame thoughts… (on the key to managing the game, with all the penalties…) KOPITAR: “We were playing within the whistles. They took a few penalties after the whistles. and tonight we were able to capitalize on the power play. Other than that, it was just staying aggressive and not sit back. They have [...]

Dustin Brown’s postgame thoughts… (on whether this was the dirtiest game he’s been in…) BROWN: “I’ve probably been in dirtier games. The intensity out there, combined with the fact that we’re in the Western Conference Finals, there were some hits out there that weren’t good, but there were guys playing hard and we capitalized on [...]

Rob Scuderi’s postgame thoughts…) (on Martin Hanzal’s hit on Dustin Brown…) SCUDERI: “I’m obviously biased, but I thought it looked pretty ugly, but that’s something for the league. I thought the referees made the right call, and if there’s further discipline, that’s up to the league.’’ (on Shane Doan’s hit on Trevor Lewis…) 
SCUDERI: “I [...]

With the temperature above 100 degrees for most of the day, the air conditioners inside Jobing.com Arena will be working hard, just like the players. Which team will be hotter heading to Los Angeles? It’s the Kings against the Phoenix Coyotes in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals. All the action is on NBC [...]

This is Game 1 in the best-of-seven, Western Conference Finals series between the Kings and the Phoenix Coyotes. The Kings lead the series 1-0. The Coyotes have been resilient so far in these playoffs. In the first round against Chicago, they lost Game 2 in overtime and won Game 3, then lost Game 5 in [...]