Matt Murray has been a Kings fan since the late '80s, when Wayne Gretzky grabbed headlines by defecting to the West Coast. Since then, he has been a card-carrying bandwagon member as the club soared in popularity with their sole Stanley Cup appearance to their position near the bottom of the Pacific. But things are looking brighter, as he is anxious to witness the rise of the new Kings.
Kings find O, but not a W
The Kings seem to have a hard time scoring, so coach Marc Crawford decided to juggle the line for tonight's game. The DAaaaaaaaaM line of Brown, Kopitar and Cammmalleri has been split up, and Ladislav Nagy has been elevated to the top line, in hopes to boost his scoring. Since I'm all about lines having nicknames for the lines, I'm calling the top line the Only a Lad line. Ladislav, Anze and Dustin? Get it?
And since Cammalleri has been dropped to the second line with Armstrong and Frolov, that'll be the MAD line. (Michael, Alex and Derek). I imagine Cammy's a little mad (get it) about being dropped off the top line with The Phenom and the Wrecking Ball. Handzus will center the line between Calder and O'Sullivan, which I really don't have a name yet. And rounding out the fourth line is the prickly combination of Ivanans, Murray and Thornton, which I'm dubbing the Thorn Line.
In goal is Jonathan Bernier, who last played in the home opener. Their opponents haven't been to Los Angeles since 2003, the Boston Bruins. The Bruins have one of the better re-designed Reebok jerseys this season. It also has that psuedo-tie at the top of the collar that the Kings had on their old third jerseys. Only, it's not as big as the Kings'. Looks like I might have to get another Bruins jersey. I actually have an old away Neely jersey. That's right, I got a SeaBass jersey...
Dropping the opening puck is a member of the Cirque de Soliel troupe, who is sponsoring tonight's game. She's all twisted with flowing fabric, and she drops to the ice, unwinding herself as she spinds. YThen she just daintily drops the puck between Rob Blake and Zdeno Chara. But as she steps on the ice, the carpet slides, and she falls right on her bum. Blake assisted the small woman over to the side. Funny how she didn't need a net when she was high in the air, but needed one when she stepped foot on the ice.
The Kings are putting the pressure on Manny Fernandez early. The Kings have outshot the Bruins early, 5-1. But Jack Johnson gets called for hooking, putting the third-ranked PP of Boston on the ice. Penalties killed the Kings last game, all season actually.
Raitis Ivanans just peppers Milan Lucic during a scrap. They showed it in slow-motion when they went to break. I can't help but say "Raitis Smash!" I guess that fight was for the girl I saw in Las Vegas.
You see, this girl was riding the Zamboni in the second period with her twin sister, and when she saw Ivanans, she went all cuckoo and called out to Raitis, "Get in a fight for me!" And then she sort of shadow-boxed a little before being driven on the ice. Ivanans sort of shrugged it off.
Bernier has looked solid, especially on the penalty kill for Michal Handzus's holding call. But just as time expired in the penalty, Phil Kessel, last season's Masterson Trophy winner, wheels around and takes a clear shot on goal to score his first of the season. Brady Murray seemed to have lost his stick on the play, so the Kings were effectively down two men. But that save should've been Bernier's.
Aaron Ward gets the call for hooking as time expires in the first period. And with 12 seconds left in the period, Brad Stuart scores to tie the game. Nagy and Frolov pass the puck around, as Calder and Dallman cause chaos in front of the goal. Frolov passes it to Stuart, who rockets the puck past Fernandez, for his first goal as a King.
The Bruins edges the Kings in shots, 11-10, but the Kings had more opportunities on the offensive end.
First period: Kings 1, Bruins 1
A silly penalty (too many men) caused the Kings to go on the penalty kill, and Boston capitalizes. Former King Glen Murray knocked a blocked shot past Bernier to put Boston up, 2-1. The puck hit Stuart, and dropped to the ice, and Murray chopped at it quickly for his first of the year.
Aaron Ward makes it 3-1, when he scores on a Milan Lucic pass from the point. Dustin Brown apparently has the same slippery gloves Murray had in the first, because he dropped his stick. Ward blasts a long distance shot, and snuck past Bernier on the far side for the goal. Kessel is credited with the second assist for his second point of the game.
The Kings have a double minor penalty about halfway through the period, and Phil Kessel gets his second of the game. The crowd groans, as the Kings go down 4-1. Apparently, the juggling of lines hasn't boosted scoring, and the Bruins have looked solid on the power play thus far.
Brady Murray scores an unassisted goal to halve the score, 4-2. He picked up a loose puck in the corner and skated in front of the Bruin goal, and snapped it past Fernandez for his first NHL goal. So now, two Murrays have scored in tonight's game. No real reason why I mention that, except that it's my last name. You go, my brothers from some other mothers.
A late penalty by David Krejci puts the Kings back on the power play. Anze Kopitar scores in the last minute to bring the Kings within one goal, 4-3. Dustin Brown turns and fires on net, and the rebound is hacked at by Cammalleri. The puck squirts free to Number 11, and he pops it in for his first of the season, as the Staples Center horn wails overhead. And the beautiful thing? McFlurrys for everybody!
Second period: Bruins 4, Kings 3
The Kings seemingly like to score with time winding down in the period. perhaps they should institute a two-minute drill that they could use to get that controlled chaos that they seem to do well with. But early in the third, the Bruins regain the upper hand when Phil Kessel completes the hat trick when he scores from a pass by Marc Savard.
But then the Kings strike back three minutes later, when Michael Cammelleri bats down an Armstrong pass and wrists it past Fernandez to bring the Kings back to within one.
Then Glen Murray gets the gate for hooking, and the Kings go on the power play. Anze smacked Fernandez hard with a shot, which rung his bell. He tried to shrug it off, but Anze will not be denied. Anze winds up and fires another high shot at Fernandez's head. The puck bounces off and hits the post, then ricochets off the crossbar, then fernandez, before pinballing in to tie the game.
But then the Kings get sloppy later in the period. Kyle Calder gets called for hooking, and Marc Savard scores to lift the Bruins with a power play goal. Then Milan Lucic scored to make it 7-5. Calder gets whistled for abusing the referees.
The Kings pull Bernier with a few minutes left, and the Bruins' Chuck Kobasew scores to ice the cake. Patrick O'Sullivan does tack a goal late in the period, but this one is over.
The Kings have allowed 23 goals in four games, and the last time the Kings allowed eight in the game was 1999. The free agent pickups that the Kings brought in to help add to their defensive woes just aren't getting it done. Add to the mix Bernier, who seemed a little overmatched in goal tonight, may have cemented the fact they he'll be heading down to the juniors when Aubin is available to come off the IR.
Final score: Bruins 8, Kings 6
