Here’s the link to the video of one of the better fights you’re likely to see this season: https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/milan-lucic-has-marathon-fight-for-la-kings-vs–ducks–video-134305566.html
The Ducks’ Corey Perry was speaking to reporters about his game-winning goal in overtime when teammate Ryan Kesler strode through the locker room, announcing to anyone and everyone, “What, there’s no almond milk in this motherf@#ker?”
Pivotal play: Corey Perry, left criminally unmarked in the slot, scored 43 seconds into overtime to give the Ducks a 2-1 victory. Kings defenseman Christian Ehrhoff left the former 50-goal scorer all by himself. Perry didn’t miss after receiving a centering pass from Rickard Rakell. Perry had both goals for the Ducks.
Three-on-three: Tuesday’s game was designated ahead of time to highlight the NHL’s latest gimmick, a 3-on-3 overtime period. The move was designed to produce more results on the ice, rather than determine them by the previous gimmick, a shootout.
Notable absences: Top-line centers Anze Kopitar of the Kings and Ryan Getzlaf of the Ducks sat out the game. You could imagine each of them at home, watching something other than the game on TV and counting the days until the regular season begins.
Featured bout: The Kings’ Milan Lucic and the Ducks’ Josh Manson engaged in a lengthy second-period bout. Manson gave away pounds and inches to the more veteran Lucic, who ended up with a mouse under his right eye.
In goal: Jhonas Enroth of the Kings and Anton Khudobin of the Ducks engaged in a battle of the backups, with Jonathan Quick and Frederik Andersen sitting on the benches. Enroth is expected to serve as Quick’s backup this season with Khudobin backing up Andersen.
Next: The Kings face the Colorado Avalanche in their exhibition finale Saturday in Las Vegas. The Ducks play host to the Avalanche on Thursday at the Honda Center.
The Kings really, really, really don’t like to talk about injuries or injured players. Here’s a Monday update, however:
Defensemen Matt Greene and Jake Muzzin suffered unspecified upper-body injuries during the Kings’ shootout victory Sunday over the Colorado Avalanche in Denver. Neither finished the game and coach Darryl Sutter said Monday each was considered day-to-day.
It’s uncertain whether they can play in Tuesday’s home exhibition against the Ducks.
Sutter played only four defenseman for most of the final two periods plus overtime of a 2-1 victory, which resulted in 30 minutes, 18 seconds of ice time for Christian Ehrhoff and 27:52 for Drew Doughty. Sutter joked that he might try four defenseman again against the Ducks.
I’m planning on writing more on this later in the week, but check out the box score from the Kings’ 2-1 shootout victory Sunday over the Colorado Avalanche. Look at the time on the ice (TOI) for their defensemen. It’s pretty high for an exhibition game, even with two out because of injuries suffered early in the contest. Here’s the link:http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20152016/ES010061.HTM
The Ducks on Monday trimmed their training camp roster to 34 players.
Defensemen Sheldon Brookbank and Vitaly Vishnevski, two former Ducks, were released from their pro tryouts.
Forwards Matt Bailey, Joseph Cramarossa, Nicholas Krediles, Brian McGrattan, Stefan Noesen and Harry Zolnierczyk and defensemen Jaycob Megna, Brandon Montour, Andrew O’Brien, Shane O’Brien and Shea Theodore were assigned to the San Diego Gulls of the AHL.
In addition, forwards Antoine Laganiere, Kyle MacKinnon and Kenny Ryan, defenseman Eric Knodel and goalie Ryan Faragher were released from their pro tryouts and assigned to the Gulls. Forward Bryan Moore was released from his amateur tryout and assigned to the Gulls.
The Ducks also returned forward Julius Nattinen to Barrie of the junior-level OHL. The team released forward Matt Berry from his amateur tryout and released forward Charlie Sarault and defenseman Kevin Gagne from their tryouts, pending assignments.
The Kings on Sunday sent center Andrew Crescenzi to the Reign of the AHL and returned defenseman Erik Cernak to his junior-level team, Erie (Pa). of the OHL. The Kings have 32 players on their roster. Cernak was the Kings’ second-round draft pick (43rd overall) in the 2015 draft.
Here’s a link with the relevant details: http://espn.go.com/nhl/boxscore?gameId=400814590
The Kings made their first significant cuts Saturday, reducing their roster to 34 players the day before playing the Colorado Avalanche in an exhibition game Sunday in Denver. They assigned 14 players to the Reign of the AHL and released four from their pro tryouts. Here’s the list of players sent to the minors:
Forwards Justin Auger, Jonny Brodzinski, Nic Dowd, Adrian Kempe, Maxim Kitsyn, Scott Sabourin and Valentin Zykov, defensemen Nick Ebert, Kevin Gravel, Zachary Leslie, Alex Lintuniemi, Kurtis MacDermid and Alex Roach and goalie Patrik Bartosak were assigned to the Reign.
Forwards Sean Backman, Paul Bissonnette and Ryan Horvat and defenseman Kevin Raine were released from their pro tryouts.
Here’s Kings coach Darryl Sutter on a 2-1 exhibition loss Friday to the Ducks at the Honda Center: “It was a close game. It was a 2-1 game. Score on goal on the road, you won’t win very often.”