Monthly Archives: October 2015

Game report: Kings 4, Predators 3 (OT)

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Key play: Jeff Carter’s goal, on a breakaway with 17.4 seconds left in 3-on-3 overtime, gave the Kings a 4-3 victory Saturday afternoon over the Nashville Predators at Staples Center. The Kings’ victory was their seventh in a row.

Pivotal performer: Kings winger Tyler Toffoli scored his team-leading eighth and ninth goals, including a first-period strike while they were on a power play.

Quote, unquote: “I can’t tell you that,” Carter deadpanned when asked about his strategy on his game-winning goal.

Injury updates: Defenseman Christian Ehrhoff suffered an upper-body injury on a second-period hit against the boards by the Predators’ Mike Ribeiro. Defenseman Matt Greene sat out for the seventh game because of an upper-body injury. He resumed practicing with his teammates Friday.

Big save: Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick made a sprawling stop on a point-blank attempt by the Predators’ Colin Wilson in the second period.

Up next: The Kings begin a two-game trip Monday at Chicago.

Ducks center Ryan Kesler says he believes in his teammates and the coaching staff

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Here’s the reaction of Ducks center Ryan Kesler when asked Friday about GM Bob Murray’s statement that he’s going to be patient with coach Bruce Boudreau in the wake of a 1-7-2 start to the season:

“It’s nice to hear from your GM that he believes in this group, because we believe in this group. Everybody loves playing for Bruce and Trent (Yawney, an assistant coach). We have a good group in here. Like I said, the first six games, it’s a write off. The last three games, I thought we played really well. We outskated some of the fastest skating teams in the league. I like the way we’re trending. Once we win a game, the dam’s going to open and we’re going to see a lot of faces around here that are smiling, a lot of guys having a good time with it.”

Ducks winger Andrew Cogliano blames players, not coach Bruce Boudreau, for team’s bad start

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Here’s what Ducks left wing Andrew Cogliano said Friday about the team’s poor start and the blame placed on coach Bruce Boudreau for it: “Bruce has obviously taken the heat, like every coach in those situations usually does. I don’t think it’s necessary. Bruce doesn’t play the game. We have guys — top players, myself included, a bunch of guys — who haven’t scored. And we’ve been shut out five out of 10 games. So it’s pretty self-explanatory that it’s nothing about the coach. It’s about the players.”

Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf talks about his appendectomy, recovery

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Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf met with reporters Friday for the first time since undergoing a non-emergency appendectomy Wednesday. He discussed the pain he felt during four extreme bouts of pain in recent months and the decision to leave the team Tuesday in Dallas to return to Orange County to have surgery that’s expected to sideline him for up to 12 days.

“It was kind of a process of elimination,” he said of diagnosing the ailment. “I think we’ve been going through different tests the last couple of months and trying to figure out where we can make adjustments and fix things. And that was what it ultimately came down to. It more about the timing of when we could get it out and when we could get it out and how long we wanted to wait. The downside is if you wait too long and wait until it ruptures, then I was potentially out for two or three weeks. This was kind of the, I guess, the last straw that we came to where it was time to get it out before it came to the rupturing and that kind of stuff.”
Asked if it had been bad for a while, he said, “I knew going into the road trip I was going to come home. Right now it’s all about just the recovery and the pain threshold, letting the scars and stuff heal a little bit. I’m moving  a lot more today than I was yesterday, so that’s a good thing.”
Asked about the timing of the surgery, he said, “The timing sucks at this point when we’re going through the struggles that we are, the last thing I want to do is get off the ice. But it was a matter of looking at it from a season-long standpoint and what gives us a best chance to succeed throughout the whole year and be back healthy.”

Ducks general manager Bob Murray addresses the status of coach Bruce Boudreau

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Boudreau

Ducks general manager Bob Murray didn’t meet face-to-face with reporters Friday, after the team returned from a 0-4-1 trip that dropped its overall record to a league-worst 1-7-2. He did issue a statement addressing the status of coach Bruce Boudreau, who has been the subject of an endless swirl of speculation.

Said Murray: “I really don’t like commenting on rumors, but I will say this: We were one game away from the Final just five months ago. So while this has been a terrible start, I’m not inclined to make rash changes. I’m going to be patient. That said, we are severely underperforming as a group. I can’t recall a time where the vast majority of our players have underachieved simultaneously, and I fully expect a turnaround.”

 

 

Ex-Kings defenseman Slava Voynov signs with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL

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"Los Angeles Kings' Slava Voynov, of Russia, handles the puck during the second period in Game 5 of a first-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series against the St. Louis Blues, Wednesday, May 8, 2013, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)"

Slava Voynov signed a three-season contract Thursday with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL, according to news reports from Russia. Voynov, a former Kings defenseman who severed ties with the team and the NHL after serving jail time last summer on a domestic violence charge, faced a deportation hearing when he returned to his native Russia voluntarily in September.

The Kings still hold the rights to Voynov and the U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement would have to clear him before he could return to play in the NHL. He could join Russia in the World Cup of Hockey next fall, however. The games will be played in Toronto and Voynov would not need to pass into the U.S.

He remains suspended by the NHL, which banned him indefinitely after his arrest Oct. 20, 2014. He won Stanley Cup championships with the Kings in 2012 and ’14, and the team was prepared to terminate his contract before training camp in September. Voynov then departed for Russia voluntarily.

Voynov will begin practicing with SKA on Oct. 31, according to reports. The team’s next game is Nov. 10 against Dynamo Moscow.

LA Kings assign defenseman Derek Forbort to Ontario of AHL

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The Kings sent defenseman Derek Forbort to their American Hockey League team in Ontario on Thursday, a sign that Matt Greene could be ready to return to their lineup for Saturday’s game against the Nashville Predators. The Kings had a day off Thursday, so players and coaches were unavailable for comment. Forbort, 23, made his NHL debut in the Kings’ 2-1 victory Oct. 16 over the Minnesota Wild.

Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf has successful appendectomy

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Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf had a successful non-emergency appendectomy Wednesday, a team spokesman said. Getzlaf’s recovery time is still expected to be four to 12 days, which means he could miss as many as six games. He didn’t play in the Ducks’ 4-3 loss Tuesday to the Dallas Stars after returning to Orange County to have the procedure. He has been feeling pain associated with appendicitis for the last six weeks, the team said Tuesday. He has one assist in eight games this season.

Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf to undergo appendectomy

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The Ducks announced before Tuesday’s game against the Stars in Dallas that team captain Ryan Getzlaf had returned to Orange County to undergo an appendectomy Wednesday. He had been suffering from pain associated from appendicitis off and on for about the last six weeks, according to a team spokesman. Getzlaf is expected to be sidelined for up to 12 days.

Getzlaf hasn’t scored a goal and has one assist in eight games to start the season, one of the many reasons the Ducks are off to a 1-5-2 record. He also has a minus-5 defensive rating. He had a team-leading 70 points, including 25 goals last season, when the Ducks won their third consecutive Pacific Division championship and advanced to the Western Conference finals for the fourth time in club history.

The Ducks went into Tuesday’s game with only six goals scored in eight games, the fewest after that many contests in the modern history of the NHL.

The Ducks are 30-17-6 without Getzlaf in the lineup since his rookie season in 2005-06, including 1-2-2 without him last season, according to research provided by crack radio analyst Dan Wood. Getzlaf could be out for between two to six games, including Thursday’s game at St. Louis, the last stop on their five-game trip.

Rickard Rakell moved into Getzlaf’s spot on the Ducks’ line, between left wing Carl Hagelin and right wing Corey Perry, for the start of Tuesday’s game.

Final: Blackhawks 1, Ducks 0 (OT)

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The Ducks played their best 60-minute game of the season, but still lost 1-0 to the Chicago Blackhawks in the opening minute of overtime Monday, when Jonathan Toews beat Frederik Andersen with a clinical shot from the right wing. The Ducks are 1-5-2 and have been shut out five times.

Here’s the link to the scoring summer: http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20152016/GS020123.HTM

Here’s the link to the expanded statistics: http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20152016/ES020123.HTM