October 2007 Archives

On his performance: ``It was solid. Obviously, it wasn't enough to get the win, but what are you going to do? They got two bounces their way in the second, pucks just ended up on their sticks and they scored. It was one of those nights where the bounces didn't go our way. We just got to rebound from it.''

On LeClaire: ``He played well. He's obviously having a good year. He's got four shutouts already. He's improved his game a lot the last couple of years. He did a good job of hitting his spots early and we just couldn't score on him.''

On Columbus: ``They did a good job of making us do things we didn't want to do. We might have turned the puck over more times than we have the last couple weeks. They did a good job of getting pucks in on our forecheck and creating turnovers, and we didn't do a good job of responding to it.''

On the streak ending: ``Any kind of winning streak, you want to keep it going but we just got to keep plugging along. We can't dwell on it too much. We have to get ready for San Jose. They are a division team and we have back-to-back with them. I'm not really worried about this game. We just have to learn from it and prepare for San Jose.''

On the attendance: ``It was pretty quiet out there, definitely more so than the last couple games. It's Halloween and a weekday game against Columbus, so not a lot of people want to watch that. But our true fans were out tonight and that's the most important thing.''

``I thought the difference in the game tonight was their third line was great and ours wasn’t. It wasn’t Nash or Vyborny or Fedorov or any of their highly skilled players that was the difference tonight. Their grinding line of Malhotra, Chimera and Fritsche was better than the lines we had playinig against them, and that quite simply was the difference in the game.''

``They got a great goaltending performance tonight. We know what that's about. Jason's played some games where he's given us some outstanding performances and their guy gave them one tonight. We had six chances on the 5-on-3 and he was just a big guy in the net. Every once in a while you get a performance like that against you and all you can do is tip your hat.''

``We had lots of great opportunities. We scored the powerplay goal and the 5-on-3 we had a number of chances, then another flurry of chances in third period, and their goaltender stood tall. I'm not disappointed with our performance tonight. We looked at this as an opportunity. We didn’t pass with flying colors by any stretch of the imagination but we worked and it wasn’t to be tonight. We know we can be better, especially in the neutral zone, and we need to be better from our peop who have the responsibility of grinding it out as well.''

``Well, I think the point was we got to come out together and make sure we take care of our own zone. If you take care of your own zone, you're going to have the puck in neutral zone and the ability to come up together. It's always better when you can attack in numbers. You show your maturity when you recongize that’s the way it’s got to be. You're not going to score on every shift. You got to realize some shifts you got to play well on your own end, some shifts you got to dump it in and some shifts it will open up and the ice will be there for you. We're still in the facet of our team where our guys are learning that. I Thought we were better in third period when we didn’t turn the puck over.''

``I thought from the midway point of the game on we actually started getting a lot more forechecking pressure and had a lot more continuity in our play, but we spotted them three goals and in this league sometimes that’s too much to overcome. It certainly was tonight.''

On LaBarbera: ``I thought he was fine tonight. It was a situation where their goalie ended up being the best guy in the game, but Jason has been best guy in game for, what, four or five games for us. He didn’t play poorly tonight. He played actually I thought quite well. They have some very good offensive players that tax your team. That grinding line was a taxing handful all night.''

``I know our guys are frustrated with the game tonight because they lost their streak, but now we got the opportunity to start a new one again on Friday and that’s where we need focus our energies. We'll take the good things from tonight and start anew.''

The Blue Jackets showed the Kings what a really good team plays like tonight. They were strong. That said, the Kings played well the second half of the game. LeClaire was just too good to let them back in.

Crawford said the difference was the third line of Malhotra, Chimera and Fritsche outplaying Calder, Handzus and Willsie, or any other combination he tried.

The Kings remain tied for second place in the division with Dallas, two points behind San Jose, with back-to-back games against the Sharks coming Friday in San Jose and Saturday in Los Angeles.

Ladislav Nagy, who assisted on Calder's goal, has six points in the last five games since returning from his benching.

The last home game with worse attendance for the Kings was 9,686 on March 4, 1999, at the Forum.

The announced crowd of 11,491 was the smallest since the Kings began playing in Staples Center in 1999. Notes and quotes from the locker room to come ...

Calder got a goal. Kings had a prime opportunity to get back in the game with a 5-on-3 but couldn't get one through.

Barbs attempt to clear went right to Jason Chimera, who passed it out to Rick Nash for the slap shot. Barbs scrambled back in position to block that shot but Chimera got the rebound and put it in for his second goal of the game. It's getting gory.

Stat of the first period: 11 giveaways for the Kings, two for the Blue Jackets.

We'll see what the Kings bring tonight against Columbus. Game is on. It looks like the fans have pulled a trick by not showing up. This place is empty. I'm disappointed in the lack of costumes in the crowd as well. I do see a Santa Clause with a big Kings crown. Bailey is in the spirit. He's dressed as a pumpkin. I'm going as Kubrick Face. I bow my head a bit but look upward with a crazy expression like the guy in Full Metal Jacket and other Stanley Kubrick movies. OK, I doubt many people get that.

Thornton and Dallman are again scratches.

Lines look like ...

Cammalleri-Kopitar-Brown
Frolov-O'Sullivan-Nagy
Calder-Handzus-Willsie
Ivanans-Armstrong-Zeiler

Blake-Visnovsky
Johnson-Modry
Preissing-Stuart

at the game for Halloween? That mask is finally going to come in handy for Sully!

The Kings' streak of winning five of six games began when coach Marc Crawford dusted off forward Brian Willsie from the bench and started playing him regularly. Coincidence? Probably, for the most part. But it's worth mention. Willsie only got off the bench for one of the first six games as the Kings opened the season 1-5.

``It was definitely frustrating,'' Willsie said. ``It caught me a little off guard. I felt like I had a good camp and I was excited about this year. It was tough sitting, especially losing the way we were.''

Willsie started to wonder if he was going to be part of the team's plans this year.

``That kind of creeps in your mind. But I was confident that I'd get my opportunity, and once I got the opportunity the ball was in my court. I knew I had to take it upon myself to stay in the lineup.''

Willsie got his shot Oct. 16 with an assist in the upset of previously undefeated Minnesota and hasn't left the lineup since. He played a direct role in one of the team's biggest wins of the season, a 2-1 victory over Dallas last week, flying through the air and reaching around the goalie to score the first goal in spectacular fashion.

``I've never had a goal like that,'' Willsie said. ``I saw a couple pictures of it that turned out cool. It was nice to contribute like that in a close game, and hopefully there's more coming.''

that players are tiring of Crawford. I ran it by Cammalleri and this is what he had to say ...

``I haven't heard anything about that. That's news to me. Crow and his staff have worked hard to get their message across to this team and I think we're definitely buying in.''

Here's that update I promised, courtesy of the Kings ...

FSN West and Jack Johnson’s team won for lowest score.

Kings Alumni of Rogie Vachon, Nelson Emerson, Ken Belanger, Ian Turnbull, and Strength and Conditioning coach Chad Smith came in 3rd.

Kings forward John Zeiler’s team from Pechanga Resort & Casino won Most Honest.

FSN West’s Patick O’Neal won the putting contest

Live Auction item – dinner with Luc Robitaille at the STAPLES Center Arena Club went for $1000

A fairly standard day at practice, with no ripples being made. The forwards practiced the same way they played the other night, and afterward Crawford said LaBarbera will get the start tomorrow. That's no shock. The question becomes, what about the back-to-back games after that? It's natural to assume that LaBarbera and Aubin will split those games, but the Kings have an entire week off following the second San Jose game. So it's not completely unreasonable to think that LaBarbera could start all three. Not likely, but not out of the question either.

More notes and quotes later, assuming I can get to them before the basketball game. Matt has stuff also.

Here's one thing...Crawford was asked about particulars in the last game, things that he was pleased and displeased with. He was pleased with...confidence, the players' on-ice connection (vision, passing, etc.) and the puck movement of the defensemen, both in the D zone in the neutral zone. What was he displeased with? The number of quality scoring chances. I think all of those, good and bad, have been themes of late, and the good has far outweighed the bad. I think goaltending is also a major positive.

Jonathan Bernier has allowed eight goals in two games for Lewiston. Maybe a little residual effect from his time with the Kings. It can also be tough to stay motivated and focused heading down to juniors when you hoped to stay in the NHL. It's a long season so nothing to be worried about right now, but something to keep an eye on.

Looking at some of the players from training camp in Manchester, Dan Cloutier is 1-3 with 11 goals allowed in four games. Brady Murray has a goal and an assist in four games, both coming in the last two. Gabe Gauthier leads the team in points with 12 in eight games. Matt Moulson leads in goals with five.

The team had an early morning skate today before heading out to the L.A. Kings Bud Light Golf Invitational at Industry Hills Golf Club. I'll try to let you know who did best in the the golf event later in the day. I hear that Michael Cammalleri is a scratch golfer and the best on the team. Jean-Sebastien Aubin told me in training camp that he has a six handicap and played golf his first day arriving in Los Angeles.

Jason LaBarbera has been named as the NHL's ``First Star of the Week,'' for the week ending Oct. 28. Brind`Amour and Ovechkin were the other two. Here's what the NHL release had to say about LaBarbera's week:

FIRST STAR -- JASON LABARBERA, G, LOS ANGELES KINGS

LaBarbera posted a 3-0-0 record, 0.67 goals-against average, .976
save percentage and one shutout as the Kings won three consecutive home
games. On Oct. 23, LaBarbera recorded his second career NHL shutout by
making 17 saves as Los Angeles defeated the Nashville Predators 6-0. Two
nights later, he recorded 29 saves as the Kings defeated the Dallas Stars
2-1. LaBarbera finished the week by making 34 saves in a 4-1 victory over
the Edmonton Oilers on Oct. 27. For the season, LaBarbera has posted a
record of 4-2-0 with a 2.06 goals-against average, .925 save percentage and
one shutout.

You guys are starting to feel bad for all of those immensely clever but seemingly premature slogans from two weeks ago!

Kings get a well-earned day off today.

I know you guys will like my lead here.

The last time the Kings won four in a row was in March of 2006.

This was the first two-goal game in Patrick O'Sullivan's young career.

Jason LaBarbera made a season-high 34 saves and has now stopped 123 of his last 127 shots against (.969 save percentage). He stopped all 15 shots in the third period. He was named the No. 1 star for the third consecutive game.

Ladislav Nagy has five points in the past four games, Anze Kopitar eight points in the past eight games and Lubomir Visnovsky six points in the last five.

The Kings were outshot 35-31. Michael Cammalleri led the Kings with five shots.

John Zeiler led the Kings with seven hits in just over seven minutes on the ice.

Jack Johnson spent 23:36 on the ice, most on the team.

Patrick O'Sullivan
``After that tough start, we knew that's not what our team was about. To come back here with these wins, we're really showing that this organization is going in the right direction.''

``Barbs is playing unbelievable right now for us. That's who he is. He really is a good goalie. I played with him last year and know what he's capable of doing.''

``It's nice to see we didn't pout about being in the situation we were in. We battled back, got back to .500 here and we're just going to keep building on this.''

Jason LaBarbera
``Right now, I'm just calm, I'm relaxed, I'm not worrying about things and the puck is hitting me.''

On stopping the wrap around in the third period: ``It was a mad scramble. They got about three shots on the left side of the net. I knew I was stuck and he was going to wrap it so I scrambled over and threw my stick over. Luckily, he didn't take a step and get it up high. He tried to stuff it and my stick got there, and that was a big save.''

``We knew we had the players here. It was just a matter of coming together as a team and trusting each other. At the beginning of the year, we didn't trust each other and I think we learned from that.''

``We worked hard in practice, the coaches did a good job of preparing us and, for whatever reason, it wasn't clicking. We didn't really know what we were doing as a group. Once we got that win against Minnesota in the shootout, you could kind of see in our faces a little more confidence and it just carried on from there.''

``We had a great goaltending performance from Jason. He deserves as much credit as anybody on the team. We got some strong performances from some other people but he was at a different level than our team was tonight and we definitely needed that in the third period.''

``The key to our victory tonight was no doubt Jason LaBarbera. He was very cool, very calm, very collected. That's nice to see. It's something our team has been waiting for a long time.''

``We struggled early this season I think with a number of new people we had here. I thought we had a good preseason. I felt good about our team coming out of Europe, and we just didn't put it together coming back. We gave up so many chances in some games that we didn't give ourselves a chance to win. Now I think we're doing a few more good things that maybe subtly go unnoticed. A lot of it is how we support the puck out of the zone, the limited number of turnovers that we're giving up and I think some smart play we're having offensively. It is something we can build on and need to continue to build on. If we continue getting goaltending like Jason is giving us, it gives us an opportunity every night. Tonight he was the difference maker and we had moments when we were pretty good.''

On O'Sullivan: ``Any time we can get another offensive catalyst for our team, it takes so much pressure off Cammalleri, Kopitar and Brown.''

On first line: They had a good game tonight. I thought they were maybe trying to put on a little too much of a show. It almost looked like they were trying to make perfect plays. They are young guys and the game tonight was one they wanted to perform well. They know they had a little bit of a spotlight on them. The more they get used to having a spotlight on them, I think the better they are going to perform with it. Let's face it, we haven't had much of a spotlight on this team, not since I've been here. And now we're putting a streak together and people are starting to take notice.''

On Nagy: ``That was a huge goal for us tonight. I thought he had a couple of opportunites to make plays like that earlier in the game and looked to pass. That one, he was selfish for the reasons and took it to the net. I thought that just did wonders for us because you could see our team get a huge boost when he scored that goal, and it was such a strong individual play. Hopefully we can get more of those plays from Ladislav.''

How about those first-place Kings? Notes and quotes from the locker room to come ...

this period. He's stopped 29 of 30 shots in the game already with 11 minutes left.

Kopitar shot an angled backhand that somehow squirted through Roloson. Kopi's fifth of the season. First place is in sight. Looks like it will have to be a tie, though. Dallas up 4-2.

Nagy wins the puck against the boards and powers across the middle for an unassisted goal on the backhand, his second of the season and second in three games. 2-1 Kings.

O'Sullivan failed to clear the puck on the penalty kill, leading to an Edmonton goal from Jarret Stoll. But O'Sullivan made up for it by taking the puck off the boards in his own zone and racing in to beat Dwayne Roloson in the final minutes. In other news, Dallas leads Phoenix 2-1 at the end of a period.

Frolov-Calder-Nagy
Willsie-Armstrong-O'Sullivan
Ivanans-Handzus-Zeiler

Cammalleri, Kopitar, Brown, Blake and Visnovsky on the ice first for the Kings. Odd combination for Crawford.

Could be. With San Jose already losing, a win and Dallas loss would put the Kings alone atop the Pacific. Game against Edmonton about to start ...

There were a couple questions the other day about the Kings' donation-drive effort, which starts tomorrow night and continues at every home game through Nov. 10.

1) For those who wish to donate with checks instead of cash, checks can be made out to the Salvation Army, with ``The Salvation Army's disaster relief efforts'' written in the memo section.

2) Jerseys worn by players during the Nov. 10 game -- which will include a special patch honoring Southern California firefighters -- will be auctioned off at Staples Center after that game.

his fourth consecutive game tomorrow, according to Crawford. LaBarbera said he's nowhere near fatigued. He started 20 consecutive games for Manchester last season, including three in three days and four in five.

Crawford gave most of the big-minute players the option of taking today off from practice. Brown, Cammalleri and Visnovsky were among the players who took him up on the offer. Blake opted to skate anyway. Crawford said he wants everyone to be totally energized tomorrow night.

``He knows where he's going to be for the foreseeable future. He’s going to be a big part of the Kings, part of our core. You look at the type of player he is, he plays sizeable minutes because he plays in the power play, kills penalties and plays a prominent role on one of our top llines. He also plays a power game. We don’t have a lot of guys who play a power game. I understand why Dean felt so strong about getting him tied up, because he does do so many good things for us. He won't change his game because he got a long-term contract. He only knows one way to play and that’s pretty straight forward and pretty robust.''

``I think he’s still got some improvement to do. The improvement you see from players like Dustin is that they start to analyze the game a little more and analyze it a little quicker. You see Cammalleri, Kopitar and Fro, they’ll sit on bench now and they’ll dissect what the opposition is doing and try to make mini adjustments with each other. For me, that ends up being a huge step for a player. When they start to get to the point where they dissect while the game is going on, it means they have great deal of confidence and they're looking at game at a different level.''

On signing Brown to a six-year contract at such a young age: ``That's just kind of the climate of this system with young players now, as you've seen with (Rick) Nash and (Ales) Hemsky and those type of guys, that in the past you were able to let things play out a little longer with free agency at 31. This is just a function of the way the system is. When you have a good, young player, you try to lock him up at a fair price that keeps with your game plan cap-wise now and for the future. In the past, as a general manager, you were able to let things play out a little more. That was a function of the old system I liked. A player had to learn to play in the league and then win in the league, and when he was 31 certainly he had matured in terms of his upside. But this is the way you've got to do things now.''

On the danger of a player not working as hard after getting a big contract: ``Part of this is he has to continue to get better. He has to continue to improve for this to work for everybody. One thing you can say about Brownie, I think he's matured a lot in the past six months as a person and a player. He's not a guy that's going to cheat you on effort or desire. I think he cares. If you're going to go long-term, those qualities are as important as his ability as a player. If you're going to give somebody that type of security, you better have a player who cares and is able to critique himself, and I think he does that.''

``It's not only the player, you also have to know the character of the guy. Because it's too easy for guys to just get comfortable. I think that's one of the biggest things with Dustin. That won't happen with him. I really believe that.''

On if Brown's play so far this year made the Kings want to lock him up: ``This is one of those things where the amount of time that can go into a contract, this (process) started as much as 2-3 months ago. It's not an easy deal to make for both sides when you're talking six years. This stuff doesn't just happen like that.''

On the possibility of the signing disrupting chemistry: ``These are the things that go through my head because, if you're trying to get chemistry, you could have an older player say why is he getting that. I think a lot of the older players are wondering when they see kids start getting this. I was thinking about it. But I don't think it's a problem with this team.''

His wife is due to give birth to their first child, a boy, in February.

On signing contract extension: ``Obviously, I'm pretty excited about it. The important thing is that six years provides me some security, knowing I'm going to be a King for a while, and that's what I really wanted.''

On risk of signing such a long contract: ``Obviously, there's a risk of the marketplace changing but I like living in L.A. and playing in L.A., so I'm willing to take that risk to be comfortable and be in the place I want to play with the team I want to play for.''

On having the negotiations over: ``Any time you're in contract negotiations, you try not to think about it. But it's nice to get it done with. Now I won't have to worry about it and can focus on playing.''

On how close he is to reaching his potential: ``I'm only 22 right now so I definitely can improve and get better. I don't think it's my full potential I'm playing at right now, but I feel like I'm playing pretty well and taking steps in that direction, and you can say the same thing about the team as a whole.''

It's a six-year, $19.05-million extension. That's $3.175 million per season.

Money-wise, a good deal for the Kings. Length-wise, a good deal for Brown. He has a new wife and a child on the way, so I'm sure that stability is a big issue for Brown these days.

Word out of practice today is that Dustin Brown has received a six-year contract extension. Figures should be available shortly and Matt will have quotes and notes in a little while...

The Kings and Stars each had 30 shots. Cammalleri and O'Sullivan led the Kings with four shots each.

Visnovsky spent the 23:27 on the ice, most for the Kings.

Cammalleri has scored a goal in seven of 10 games this year. He is scoreless in the two games against Dallas.

Frolov now has a goal in three consecutive games and a point in seven in a row. His longest point streak is eight games in 2005.

LaBarbera has stopped 89 of the last 92 shots against him (.967 save percentage).

The Kings were 0-for-3 on the power play, ending a streak of six consecutive games with a power-play goal.

Alexander Frolov
``I had some problems with my groin in the beginning and pretty much missed all of training camp. It makes a difference. I feel much better right now and feel much more comfortable playing with my linemates. I think we made a lot of scoring chances and played good offensively.''

``Our team is playing much better right now. We're playing good as a team, as one unit. We've won three games in a row, something we didn't do last season.''

On Dallas: ``It's a good team but it's not the greatest team ever. We were ready for them and felt good about ourselves, and I think we deserved this win.''

``I think it's a big step up for us as a team. There's been a lot of changes since last year, a lot of new people, and now we're proving that we're a good team and we can beat any team in this league. We showed it tonight.''

Jason LaBarbera
``I had a lot more action tonight, a lot more traffic around the net and tougher saves to make. But the team played well in front of me and that makes my job so much easier.''

``We're coming together as a team, and that's the big thing. You can see it on everyone's faces. We didn't have that confidence and swagger earlier in the year, and now all of a sudden we have it.''

``It was a game that you love to win and a good character builder for this club. Jason (LaBarbera) made a couple of great saves in the third period and the penalty kills we had late in the game were just so huge.''

``Guys like Armstrong, Zeiler, Ivanans and Nagy were all really strong with the puck tonight. And I certainly want to mention Frolov because I think that was his best game of the year.''

``We did some nastier things, some greasier things that you need to do in order to be a successful team. We got in the kitchen on Turco. We were right in the crease a lot and put a lot more pressure on the net, and got some payoffs because of it. They had some terrific saves from Turco to keep the game close.''

On Frolov: ``He looks as though he's getting his legs. He missed those two weeks (in training camp with a groin injury) and that probably set him back a little bit. He does look like the Fro we saw last year where he gets those chances and he outskates people. He's such a big man that when he controls the puck he's a handful to get it off of.''

On LaBarbera: ``According to everyone, he's a guy who thrives on work. He's getting lots of work right now and feeling more and more comfortable. We'll continue to give him a lot of opportunities, for sure.''

``I thought Army had something tonight and I could see Frolov did, so I wanted to match those guys up together. Everyone contributed tonight. That was a big goal by Willsie coming off the penalty kill, and Cammalleri did a good job creating the chance.''

On Willsie: ``His was just opportunity because he had a great preseason and really we just chose to go with some of the younger players in the start. He's been a very good citizen. It's the same situation with Thornton and Dallman. Sometimes you have to wait your turn. We can't play more than 20. Right now Willsie is getting an opportunity and taking advantage of it. It's a long season. Everyone will get their opportunity.''

``The main thing is we're getting contributions from 18 skaters and a goalie right now. It hasn't been one line that's carried us the last few nights. It's been a total team effort. Sure, we've gotten some great individual performances. Tonight, it was Frolov's turn. Other nights it's been Cammalleri and Kopitar. We want a team that has quality overall performances and that's what we're trying to build here.''

Killed back-to-back penalties in the final six minutes. Notes and quotes from the locker room to come ...

He beats Turco off a pass from Armstrong 1:40 into the period. Third game in a row with a goal by Frolov, and seven consecutive games with a point. He's really come along since that apology letter to Lombardi (haha). 2-1 Kings.

The Kings outshot Dallas 19-6 in the second period after being outshot 11-6 in the opening period.

Well, the Kings had their chances on the power play but nothing doing. Heat-check time for the Kings. Can they end their nine-game losing streak to Dallas?

It only took nearly 38 minutes, but the Kings have their first power play of the game to end the second period ...

Brian Willsie scores his first of the season exactly midway through the game. Willsie dove around the goalie to poke in a rebound off a shot from Cammalleri. Yes, Cammalleri was playing with Willsie and Calder.

Kings outshot 11-6 so far. Only one penalty in the game, a high-sticking on Visnovsky.

Jere Lehtinen knocked in a one-timer off a feed from Brenden Morrow with 3:55 left in the period. Not much LaBarbera could do about that one. He came up with a big save on Jussi Jokinen a few minutes later. By the way, even though Kopitar started with Frolov and Nagy, he's gone back to playing with Cammalleri and Brown.

Kopitar started out on the ice centering a line with Frolov and Nagy. LaBarbera is at goal. Thornton and Dallman are scratches.

Crawford, on Jack Johnson's status and recovery:

``Jack looks like he's ready to go, and we're happy about that. Obviously giving him the third period off and most of yesterday off... You know, people don't realize how much work goes into it. There's a lot of rehabilitation that's done by our training staff, and a lot of time has to be given up by the players. They're doing treatments as many as two or three times a day and doing things that, in a lot of cases, really aren't that fun, with the cold ice baths and the compression. They do all sorts of treatments to make sure the injuries are minimized to the greatest degree. In this case, Jack is going to be able to play.

``If we didn't do those sorts of things, it could have been an injury that lingered on for a few days and made it quite painful for him. But he told me that he got up this morning and he didn't feel like there was any difference between the way it felt before the hit and the way it feels now. That's great to see and, again, I think our trainers do a great job and it really comes down to the players being dilligent and making sure that they're putting in the time to make sure they get themselves ready to play.''

On finding a way to beat Dallas:

``I thought we actually played pretty good in the 5-1 loss. We out-chanced them in the game and we limited their number of chances. Our problem in that game was that we made too many big-play mistakes that resulted in Grade A scoring chances. We kind of hung our goalie out to dry in that particular game. Turco was great in that game. With Marty, if he is kept back in his net then you've got a little more net to look at, so we're looking to get a little more traffic in front of him and be a tougher team. That kind of coincides with how we've played lately. Lately our team has played extremely well. We've gotten pucks to the net. We've looked to get pucks above the line and funnel pucks to the net, and that will be a big part of what we're trying to do tonight. We have to eliminate turnovers and unnecessary penalties, a lot of the things that we've been doing so successfully lately. But we played a pretty good game in there, in the last game. If you take away the mistakes, the difference was their goalie was really outstanding in the game, with several great saves to allow their team to build on the lead they got.''

On playing a team like Dallas that rarely beats itself:

``We're trying to do anything we can to get ourselves successful against Dallas. We're aware of how many games it's been since we've beaten them. We played a good, strong game against them last time, and that's often a sign of your team just showing a great deal of respect for the opponent and knowing they have to be near their best. Those are the types of attitudes that we have to go in with in tonight's game. We have to do as many good, quality things as we can, try to play a game that resembles a game with few turnovers and good, quality puck possession. We have to make the opposition earn everything they get. We were guilty of that last time. They didn't have to earn the stuff that they got, and again, their goalie played great against us. We want to have the same game plan. We want to improve on it by having less turnovers and make the Dallas team work for everything they get.''

On the advantages of going in with momentum and a goalie performing well:

``It's better than not having your team play well and not having your goaltenders play well, for sure. But each game is a singular challenge. You have to prepare for it a a unique challenge as well. We've got a lot of motivation here tonight, there's no doubt about that. Our players are well aware of the record that we had last year against them. You can't do anything about that. A lot of the guys on this team weren't even here last year. So it's a new year and a new challenge. Tonight is the only game that we've got and the only one we've got to focus all our attention on. We've got to show them respect, but also recognize how we have to play.''

I asked Jason LaBarbera about Marc Crawford's quote yesterday, in which Crawford indicated that LaBarbera fares better with regular work. LaBarbera said he agreed...

``Yeah, absolutely,'' LaBarbera said. ``My whole life, I've always been like that. I've always been kind of a creature of habit. Once I get comfortable and in a routine, that's when I'm at my best. I've been a No. 1 goalie my whole entire life, so I'm used to playing and I like playing. The more you sit out, the more you have to sit on the bench and think about it. The more you play, the less you think, and that makes it a lot easier.''

LaBarbera was asked about playing Dallas, a team that has had the Kings' number for more than a year now...

``They're obviously well coached,'' LaBarbera said. ``A lot of them have played together for the last few years and know each other pretty well. We just need to worry about ourselves. That's the biggest thing. We just have to feel good about what we've done in the last week and go from there. You can't really look at the past. Dallas has had our number a bit, but the past is the past. We're playing a lot better than we did earlier in the year, so that's all we can focus on.''

Then...the subject of LaBarbera sweating. Yes, sweating. It came up as part of a discussion about his gloves. LaBarbera said he needs to change his gloves after every period, because he sweats a lot and squirts a lot of water on himself, and the new jerseys cause the water to run down into his gloves. It's a fault with the new jerseys that several players league-wide have pointed out.

``I can feel it dripping into my gloves and it makes my hands all wrinkly,'' LaBarbera said. ``I think (the new jerseys) are lighter, but for me, because I soak up so much water and I spray so much water on my face, I sweat a lot. I have to really prepare for that, as far as cramping and stuff. The water drips into my gloves so much that it gets slippery and I have to change my gloves after every period. The hardest part is playing pucks, I think, because your hands slip around on your stick. I probably don't shoot the puck toward the end of the period as I would at the beginning.''

Here's what Jack Johnson had to say about his ability to play tonight:

``I'm playing today. I feel good today, good to go. It feels good enough that I feel I can play.''

Johnson practiced with some significant padding that seemed to

``It was a little too much,'' Johnson said. ``I'm going to take some of it off for the game. It feels a little too extreme. But I don't feel like there should be any problem.''

Jack Johnson practiced this morning, and both he and Marc Crawford said Johnson will play tonight. Johnson practiced with some significant extra padding, which might have made it seem as though he was laboring a bit, but Johnson said he woke up this morning feeling fine, two days after he suffered a charley horse.

As expected, Jason LaBarbera will start in goal tonight, barring any last-minute hiccups.

I'll have more quotes and notes later...

Jonathan Bernier made his first appearance of the season for Lewiston of the QMJHL tonight. He suffered a 3-1 loss and stopped 16 of 19 shots.

Down in Manchester, Dan Cloutier was pulled from his last start, on Friday, when he allowed three first-period goals on 14 shots. For the season, Cloutier has started three games, has a 1-2 record and has allowed nine goals on 63 shots, for a 3.78 goals-against average and a .875 save percentage. Erik Ersberg has a 2.91 GAA and a .869 save percentage in four appearances.

Also, Gabe Gauthier leads the Monarchs with 11 points (three goals, eight assists) in six games. Ted Purcell has two goals and eight assists in six games, Matt Moulson has a team-high five goals and three assists in six games and Peter Harrold has five assists in five games. Brian Boyle, in six games, has one goal, two assists and a minus-2 rating. Boyle has taken a team-best 23 shots on goal this season.

Kyle Calder has only three points in 10 games, but he has impressed with his ability and willingness to make the dirty plays in front of the net, plays that lead to deflections, goalie screens, tip-in goals, etc. That's why Calder is affectionately known by his teammates as ``Grease.'' Calder was asked if he has always played that way.

``I never thought about it much until a couple years ago, but that's just how I play the game,'' Calder said. ``Now, if I get off my game, I think about how I need to go back to my roots, so it helps. It's a lot of determination. I think it's more of a mental thing. It's a will and it's a want, to stay there. You take a lot of abuse but you get used to it. It's just part of the game.''

Calder was asked if the post-lockout rules changes have made it easier to play in front of the net.

``It's still pretty rough,'' Calder said. ``Any time the ref isn't looking, (opposing players) are looking to take an extra shot. They have that right, I guess. When the puck is laying there, they have the right to take a shot at you, so it happens.''

The Kings, in partnership with The Salvation Army, will collect financial donations from fans as part of an effort to aid the victims of this week's Southern California wildfires. Donations will be collected at the Oct. 27, Oct. 31, Nov. 3 and Nov. 10 games. That's NOT tomorrow night's game; it's the following four home games.

Also, during the Nov. 10 game, the Kings will wear jerseys with a special patch honoring Southern California firefighters. Those jerseys will then be autographed and auctioned off. The Kings will also have a silent auction and donate a portion of ticket proceeds from the game. Kings players will also donate to the effort.

Luc Robitaille, the Kings' president of business operations, said, ``Our organization and our players have been deeply touched by this recent devastation to our Southern California community. We have great fans and we are confident that they will help support this effort.''

Finding the right line combinations has been a month-long quest, but it seemed to me that last night, the Kings got the closest to finding exactly what they were looking for. I asked Marc Crawford if he agreed.

``I don't know about that,'' Crawford said. ``I think we're getting more chances from Handzus' group. When Handzus was brought in here, we thought he would be a forward who would allow us to be a better penalty-killing team, but we also thought we were getting a line that would be able to contribute offensively. Last night they had six or seven really good chances that didn't score, but they created a lot of momentum for us.

``I think all three of those guys -- Calder, Willsie and Handzus -- are feeling better about their offensive games. The game is still one where, I don't care who you are, everybody gets a kick out of scoring and everybody finds value in scoring. So it's nice when that sort of thing spreads out. Right now, we've been jumping around a little bit in that group with Frolov. We've got O'Sullivan and Nagy with him right now. Before it was Armstrong. Armstrong has been playing with John Zeiler and Ivanans and they seem to have a little bit of chemistry right now and it was probably the best game that we've seen from Nagy.

``When you get contributions from throughout your lineup, it takes pressure off of people. It distributes the amount of coverage that you get from top defensive pairs. They've got to respect more than just Anze and Mike and Dustin. Let's face it, they deserve a lot of attention right now because of how they've scored, albeit a lot of it's been on the power play.''

From all indications, the No. 1 goalie job belongs to Jason LaBarbera, until either the schedule or his play dictate otherwise. I asked Marc Crawford if, since LaBarbera had turned in three consecutive solid performances, he was inclined to let LaBarbera play it out for a while.

``It's not `play it out,''' Crawford said. ``All reports on Jason -- when he got on his streak two years ago and last year playing as much as he played in Manchester -- everybody seems to believe that he thrives on work. So we can give him a fair amount of work here right now. We don't have a taxing schedule. We play every second day for the next few days. It's not like we've got a lot of back-to-backs like we had in the previous two weeks. So we can continue to give him lots of work.''

The only schedule crunch is when the Kings play three games in four nights, starting Oct. 31, but then they also have six consecutive days off following the Nov. 3 game against San Jose.

Jack Johnson does indeed have a charley horse, the result of a collision/pileup in the second period last night. He didn't practice today but afterward said he expected to be able to play tomorrow. Marc Crawford didn't sound quite as certain. He said Johnson would attempt to skate tomorrow morning and then they would go from there.

More updates from today's practice later.

Tonight's announced attendance at Staples Center was 14,076. That's the lowest announced attendance for a Kings home game since a Kings-Ducks game on Oct. 18, 2001, drew 13,916 fans.

The best 60-minute effort of the season for the Kings, albeit against a team that is struggling terribly.

-- Jason LaBarbera recorded his second NHL shutout, his first coming in the final game of the 2005-06 season. LaBarbera faced only 17 shots and got good defensive support, but he also didn't make any mistakes.

-- Michael Cammalleri has 10 goals in 10 games. Not much more needs to be said about that. He continues to put himself in position to score goals and seems to have a tremendous on-ice rapport with every teammate, whether it's Kopitar, Blake or Modry. Nobody can maintain this pace, but Cammalleri is quickly establishing himself as an elite scorer.

-- This win was big for the Kings, not just in terms of the number of goals scored but who scored them. For the Kings to get both Nagy and Visnovsky on the board tonight, that's huge. The first goal of the season is always the hardest one for a NHL player to score. Nagy entered the night with zero goals and four assists. He totaled one goal and two assists in tonight's game.

-- Rob Blake, who entered with two points in nine games, had two assists.

-- The Kings might have found something with the line of Nagy, O'Sullivan and Frolov. Those are three guys who have sort of been nomads so far this season, so perhaps it's fitting that they ended up together. Frolov finished with one goal and one assist.

-- The best player who didn't record a point tonight? Kyle Calder, who continues to impress with his gritty, selfless game. Calder played more than 16 minutes in tonight's game.

-- Dustin Brown recorded a game-high six shots on goal.

-- The Kings recorded a season-high 36 shots on goal, to Nashville's 17. The Kings had 21 giveaways and won only 38 percent of faceoffs, but who will remember that, right?

-- Still awaiting official word on Jack Johnson's injury. Preliminary reports, as a couple astute commenters have already said, is just a charley horse (quadriceps bruise).

Jason LaBarbera records his second NHL shutout. It's the Kings' first shutout since Feb. 3 of last season in a 7-0 victory over Florida. That game was also the last game in which the Kings had at least a six-goal margin of victory.

Michael Cammalleri gets his NHL-best 10th goal of the season -- and his second of the game -- on the power play off a nice cross-ice pass from Modry. Visnovsky also gets an assist, with 1:20 remaining.

Jack Johnson has suffered some type of undisclosed injury. He hasn't taken a shift since late in the second period.

Ladislav Nagy gets his first goal of the season with a determined effort in front of the net. Nagy actually put home his own rebound from close range. Frolov and O'Sullivan get assists on the play. There are roughly 10 minutes remaining in the game.

Alexander Frolov got on the board, as he picked up the rebound of a deflected shot by Ladislav Nagy and beat Mason with 9:59 left in the second period. Stuart also got an assist. Mason has been pulled in favor of Dan Ellis.

The Kings hadn't recorded a shot on goal in the first seven minutes of the second period until Raitis Ivanans knocked home a great pass from Derek Armstrong. Armstrong came hard down the right side, actually drew a penalty and kept control of the puck, then fed a no-look centering pass toward Ivanans, who put it in for his first goal of the season.

Lubomir Visnovsky scored his first goal of the season with 4:20 left in the first period. He picked up a loose puck a few feet inside the blue line and just fired it toward the net, under the theory of...you never know what might happen. The puck found its way through traffic and into the back of the net for a two-goal Kings lead.

Rob Blake's shot from just inside the blue line got deflected right onto the stick of Michael Cammalleri, who used a quick deke in front of the net and slipped the puck past Mason 6:09 into the first period. It's the league-best ninth goal of the season for Cammalleri.

One question during the summer, during the aftermath of Michael Cammalleri's arbitration hearing, was whether he would harbor any bitterness and whether he would still be a ``team player.'' Well, given the way the first month of the season have gone, that's no longer a question. I asked Cammalleri if he took any motivation from the arbitration process, which didn't have an official winner or loser even though it tilted heavily in favor of the Kings.

``No, it has nothing to do with that,'' Cammailleri said.

So, I asked, what does it have to do with? Just the natural progression of his career?

``Two years ago, I scored 26, and I had 34 last year,'' Cammalleri said. ``I don't think it's out of the blue. I guess I'm just trying to get better. I just go play the way I know how, and that's it. Nothing that happened during the summer has anything to do with how I play hockey.''

I asked him whether, at age 25, the game is still getting easier for him. Young players talk about the game ``slowing down'' as they get more experience, and I wondered if that still happens for him.

``Yeah, I don't think that will ever change, until you reach your pinnacle,'' Cammalleri said. ``I'm 25 years old and I want to keep getting better and improving in a lot of ways. `Easier' is a funny word when you talk about that. The game is never easy, but maybe you just get more effective as you keep going.''

I asked him whether he feels more attention coming his way. During the trip to Calgary last week, Cammalleri was the subject of a local newspaper story, something that doesn't happen very often to players from L.A.

``On this team, it's not really a case of that,'' Cammalleri said. ``We've got a lot o threats. We've got a lot of dangerous people and it's not going to be a case of just one guy getting all the attention.''

Finally, I asked him about last season, since he had a solid year but didn't seem to get much attention from it. I asked whether he thought it was because he plays in L.A. or because the team won so little last season.

``I think both things are factors in that,'' Cammalleri said. ``If you're playing in Canada and have a year like that, it's going to get more attention, and obviously if the team does well, that's the important thing that's going to bring attention to your success. I think they both have something to do with it.''

I asked Marc Crawford whether he had any concerns about Cammalleri entering the season, whether he feared that the contract strife would negatively impact Cammalleri's play.

``As coaches, we try not to concern ourselves with matters of management,'' Crawford said. ``You're always aware of what's going on contractually with players. You're aware of who's in their final year of their contract. Those things often come into play. With Mike, I can tell you exactly my thoughts. When he went to arbitration, I wasn't too concerned. I was more concerned just with Mike coming back and being in our fold.

``When our side maybe won the arbitration case, I knew Mike was going to... He just wants to score so much and he wants to be a great player. I never felt that there was any concern that he wasn't going to give us anything but his best. He has shown the ability to do that. He's a very determined player. He's determined be a top goal scorer. He's determined to do the things that top goal scorers do. He's determined to show that he's amongst the premier goal scorers in this league. When you've got that type of determination, you just see what happens.

``He doesn't have the biggest frame, he doesn't have the dynamic, maybe, skill set that some of the top producers in the league in the past have had, but he certainly has the determination that great scorers have. He deserves full accolades for how well he's playing this year.''

Here's what Marc Crawford had to say about tonight's game at today's morning skate:

``We were in this situation so many times last year, where we start playing well, a pivotal game comes and we didn't perform very well in that pivotal game, one that maybe could have gotten us to the next level. This is one of those games, as I see it, and hopefully the players are looking at it the same way. That's the important part.

``We're going to play an opponent that's extremely motivated tonight. Not that you play very many games where you don't get motivated opponents, but they are tuned in. They've played well in their last couple games and haven't gotten any results to show for it. It shouldn't concern us how they're going to be. It really has to concern us how we're going to be. We really need to make sure that we make a concerted, determined effort tonight, to do things right. For me, that really shows the growth of our club, or will show the growth of our club.

``It's not whether we ultimately come in and try to blow them out. It's not whether we eek out a one-goal victory. It's more important, I think, how we play, how we show the ability to follow what we need to do to be successful. Yeah, we are going to need some good efforts from people, but more important than that, we need everybody to be on board, we need to be good tonight and just recognize how important this part of the season is for us. It's our second homestand and we need to get off on a great foot, and the way to do that is to have everybody contributing and, more importantly, have everybody on the same page, so to speak, knowing exactly what we have to do to be successful.''

And here's the statistical game preview from the Daily News website:

Nashville at Kings

``The practices leading up to (the Calgary game), I started feeling good. Training camp was tough. I put a lot of pressure on myself and I kind of jinxed myself or something. But I kept working through it. I can't be too excited because it's only one game. People say you're only as good as your last game, but to me you're only as good as your next game.''

On why he put so much pressure on himself entering training camp: ``I knew it was a good opportunity for me. I knew they needed someone to take the bull by the horns here, and I know I can be that guy.''

On being a healthy scratch against Minnesota and Calgary: ``Nobody wants to sit. I just want to play and help the team win. I'm going to work hard to make sure he's not going to bench me again.''

On returning last game against Vancouver: ``Last game I felt pretty good. Right now I'm trying to focus on every shift. I tried to make some plays and work hard. That's how I have to play every game.''

On centering the line with Nagy and Frolov: ``Obviously, those guys are really skilled. I can be a little bit of a defensive player for them so they're able to take a few more chances.''

On Crawford saying he was the fourth-best player on the team so far this year behind Cammalleri, Kopitar and Brown: ``Those guys have been really good for us. Obviously, I haven't been scoring like them, but I've been doing other things and trying to contribute. It shows the confidence they have in me, and in turn gives me more confidence. Killing penalties and being relied upon defensively is something that's important. I never really thought I'd be doing stuff like this in the NHL, but things change. I've improved in the areas they've wanted me to improve and I'm trying to get better still.''

These three played together against Vancouver and have practiced together the past two days.

``They are three good offensive players and players who have pretty good, dynamic offensive packages,'' Crawford said. ``The more that they get used to each other, you'd have to believe that they can form a pretty good unit.''

Crawford would like those three to step up and form a strong second scoring line so he can keep Cammalleri on the first line with Kopitar and Brown.

``Them playing how they are capable of playing would go hand in hand with our team playing well,'' Crawford said.

Crawford denied rumors printed in the Ottawa Sun that the Kings are trying to shop young forwards Dustin Brown and Alexander Frolov for a goalie.

``There's no basis to that,'' Crawford said. ``Everybody, reporters and probably coaches alike, try to fantasize about trades. They are exactly that -- fantasies. That trade would never happen. Ever. It's a fabrication by somebody saying, `Hey, that might work. They need a goalie, and who can we get that's young and inexpensive?' They'll look at the salary chart and say that makes sense, but it really doesn't.''

``We're not going to do anything with our good, young players. And we're going to continue to try to get the goalies we got to improve their games. Jason has played two pretty good games, although one just for a period. But we got something to build on there.''

I'll have more quotes from Crawford as well as some from Nagy, O'Sullivan and a few more from LaBarbera to come.

``It was fun to get one. Calder was on a 1-on-1, so I thought I'd jump up and make it a 2-on-1. He made an incredible pass to me and I had the easy part just sliding it into the empty net.''

``I think everyone remembers their first NHL goal. I'll never forget it was in Vancouver and on one of the best goalies in the league.''

``Defense is my No. 1 responsibility and chipping in on offense is just an added bonus. I'll continue to try to do that if the opportunities come.''

On Vancouver game: ``It was fun for me because I grew up in the Vancouver area. As a kid, I was a huge Canucks fan. It was a pretty cool moment for me, and I had a lot of friends in the stands who were pretty pumped too. I had the adrenaline flowing. I didn't really sleep that night (after the game). I was up until 5 in the morning.''

On subbing for J-S in Calgary: ``Being able to get thrown in for the third period was probably a good thing. Sometimes, when you're struggling, it's easier to get thrown out there when you're not expecting it.''

On having the momentum now at goalie after Jonathan Bernier and Jean-Sebastien Aubin were given chances: ``I just looked at it like it's still early. I got off to a bit of a slow start. I took it as time to get my game back. At practice every day, I kept working, working and working. Obviously, I want to play as much as possible, but I had to get my game back and hopefully the past couple games has sparked it.''

On upcoming stretch of 10 games in California, eight at home: ``You want to be that tough team to play at home. So far, we haven't been like that. Hopefully on this stretch we can pick up where we left off on the road and make it tough for teams to play here.''

``We probably played our best game (of the trip) in Calgary and had nothing to show for it. I'm much more pleased with how we're playing now and think we're getting much more in tune with what we need to do to put points on the board and be a productive club.''

``I think O'Sullivan has had a great year for us so far. He's giving us big-time quality minutes on the penalty kill and I tried him a little more offensively, especially in the games (Nagy) didn't play. For me, Patrick does a great job protecting the puck. He has great instincts both offensively and defensively. He's been a very pleasing player for us this year. If not for the heroics of Kopitar, Brown and Cammy, I think more people would be realizing how good a year he's had. After those three, he's probably been our next most effective player.''

On Nagy: ``He was a little better. We're going to continue to try to keep getting him better and better. You know what happens when you get a little confidence, then you start feeling a lot better with the puck. That's the next step for him. He worked hard the last game and adhered to what he needs to do to be effective. Now he just needs to keep building on that. ... When he's forceful with the puck and controls the puck and uses his good playmaking abilities, he's quite an effective player. For me, it's making sure that he stays competitive in those situations and doesn't get knocked off the puck.''

On LaBarbera
``Jason's going to get an opportunity to play here again. He's played really well and we'll continue to put him between the pipes because he's seeing the puck right now and he's working really well. That's not to say I'm not going to give J-S an opportunity as well. I think J-S is capable. He has played in the league a while and we have to keep him working at a high level.''

``We need a good goaltending performance. We got a great one in Vancouver and that really helped us win. He was a very good player in the game -- probably our best player. It's nice when you get those performances. It really gives your team confidence.''

On Frolov: ``He's been hampered by some injuries this year. I don't think we've seen him at his best yet. He has played better (recently). Certainly, his goal the other day. He sees himself as a scorer, and that always makes them have more confidence when they do score. We need him to keep getting better with his speed. A lot of it is injuries. He's had a sore groin. He was such a big part of our successes last year. You look at the games we won and he was responsible for a lot of the good production we got, and we need that. We're counting on him to do those sort of things.''

Tuesday against Nashville. That's the news to come out of Sunday's practice. I'll have some player quotes from LaBarbera and Jack Johnson to come. Crawford talks about Nagy, O'Sullivan, Frolov and LaBarbera.

The Kings have some momentum now with two victories in three games, and some of the players who took heat for the early struggles are beginning to play better. Now the team won't leave California again for nearly a month. There's a four-game homestand against Nashville, Dallas, Edmonton and Columbus, then a game at San Jose, then home games against San Jose and Dallas, one at Anaheim, and one home against the Ducks and then Phoenix. That's 10 consecutive games inside the state. The team has today off, resuming practice Sunday at 10:30 a.m.

from the Associated Press ...

Jason LaBarbera on attempting to grab hold of the starting job: ``I know it's there. I know it's an opportunity for me. I struggled a bit early but hopefully I can just build off this and take it from there because I know I'm capable of doing it.''

Michael Cammalleri on LaBarbera: ``All his saves were huge. It's been well documented we've had our troubles starting from the back end the last few years. But, like a lot of guys that have played with Barbs before, I'm not shocked. This guy can play.''

The Kings can't blow a 3-1 lead entering the third period, right? Erm, let's see if they've learned anything since St. Louis. Post thoughts on the conclusion of the game here ...

Great pass from Visnovsky in front of the net when it looked like Visnovsky would shoot. 3-1 Kings. Looks like a different team out there this period.

league-leading eighth goal of the season. He was stopped once in front of the net off a feed from Kopitar, stopped twice, then chipped in his third attempt. 2-1 Kings.

with first NHL goal, a one-timer off a perfect feed from Calder on the rush.1-1 early in the second period. LaBarbera stopped a 2-on-0 a few minutes earlier.

Ivanans and Taylor Pyatt got into it pretty good. Both landed some some solid shots. Pyatt's helmet popped off. Ivanans left with a bloody face. Pyatt was responding to Ivanans' check that sent Henrik Sedin flying head-first into the boards.

Even though he started on the fourth line, it seems like Crawford is moving him around a lot. Now he's on the ice with Frolov and O'Sullivan.

LaBarbera beat by Matt Cooke on a rebound. What are the chances the Kings can hold an opponent under three goals for the first time since the season-opener in London?

defensively with three blocks in the first eight minutes. Looks like the last two on the penalty kill hurt a bit. I think Handzus will get his offense going at some point and be seen as a solid pickup by Lombardi.

I'm watching from home. Nagy is active, though he's playing on the fourth line. O'Sullivan is still with Frolov and Armstrong, and Cammalleri still with Kopitar and Brown. LaBarbera is at goalie.

Well, the Kings keep finding creative ways to lose games. Against St. Louis, it was the hockey version of a blown tire in the third period. Tonight they got a 2-0 lead after 11 minutes against one of the world's elite goalies and still lost.

-- The Kings were credited with four hits in this game. Four hits? Four hits? Now, stat keepers on the road tend to fudge stats for the visitors a bit, but...four hits? That's almost impossible. At least Dustin Brown stood up with a third-period fight, something I had been wondering about a couple days ago.

-- Scoring wise, this is still a very top-heavy team, and there's not going to be much winning until that changes. Who did the goals come from? Kopitar, Cammalleri and Brown, of course. Meanwhile, Frolov still has the doughnut next to his name, as does tonight's suit-wearing Ladislav Nagy.

-- The Kings stayed out of the box again tonight -- only five minor penalties -- but allowed two power-play goals. Yikes. I guess staying out of the box completely is the only answer. Not hitting anyone will help to that end...

-- Since this is now a theme, Blake was plus-1 tonight. That might be the most meaningless stat in hockey, but it's used because it's difficult to quantify, through statistics, how defensemen play.

-- This is absolutely fascinating to me. The one thing the Kings ABSOLUTELY had to solve before the season started was the goaltending question. Well, they're eight games in, three weeks in, and they still haven't the slightest idea what to do. They sent Bernier away, they pulled Aubin tonight...so, good luck, Jason. Maybe it's time for Sean Burke to start limbering up. Ouch.

-- Kopitar is a man-child -- OK, he's 20 years old, but you get my drift -- and Cammalleri is quickly establishing himself as an elite NHL scorer. Those are two guys any NHL team would kill to have. Jack Johnson is probably in that category too, because of his play and potential. The rest of the team? Right now? Yeah, not so much...

Playing NHL '08 last night since the paper doesn't let me travel. In the game, I get a letter from Alexander Frolov that I found fitting and amusing.

Dear (Me, the virtual GM),

This hasn’t been a good time for me recently and I know that my play has been slipping. Slipping bad. But I’ve been working hard with the coaches and putting in some extra hours, and I think you’re going to see a difference real soon. Just wanted you to know that I’m taking this seriously and won’t be happy until I’m back to my old self.

Cheers,

Alexander Frolov

One area in which the Kings have shown definite improvement is in staying out of the penalty box. Penalties, especially bad penalties in the offensive zone, plagued the Kings in the first few games, but the last two have been marked by improvement. In their first five games, the Kings allowed eight, four, seven, six and seven power plays. They allowed Detroit only two on Sunday and Minnesota only three on Tuesday, and the Kings killed all five.

``It is a point of emphasis,'' Marc Crawford said of staying out of the penalty box. ``We don't want to tax our penalty killers. We're only using four or five guys to kill penalties up front, so you want to limit how much you're taxing them, especially Kopitar and Brown, who play a lot of power-play minutes as well. I think it goes the same for Rob Blake and Brad Stuart, who do both. (Visnovsky) has been killing a little bit more regularly for us this year.

``So the more that you can keep your key people fresh, I think the power-play minutes are a lot more enjoyable for a team than the penalty-kill minutes. That just stands to reason. That's common sense. You're the one shooting, you're the one with the puck, you're the one that's creative, and those are much more positive energies than defending and blocking shots and doing some ugly things that are necessary to win as well.''

at goal tomorrow in Calgary ...

``I'm going to probably come back with J-S,'' Crawford said. ``I'll make my decision tomorrow on that, maybe tonight. But I think he played well last night. Let's see if we can get him on a little bit of a roll. He's been kind of a streaky player throughout his career. I know, in Toronto, the coaching staff said when he gets on a little bit of a roll, he's the kind of guy who plays with a little edge to his game in the net.''

Aubin quotes ...
On getting another start: ``Whatever he decides, I'm ready for it -- either Calgary or Vancouver, it doesn't matter. The most important thing for me is to focus and do what I do best, which is to be calm in there and show my teammates I'm reliable.''

On last night's game: I thought, for not playing in a month, I handled it pretty well, except on the third goal. I should have had that.''

On the bad exchange behind the net that led to a second-period goal: ``It was supposed to be icing and then they waived it. I wanted to put it in the corner but it spun on my stick and went to the backside of Tommy (Preissing) instead of the foreside. So unless he would have wheeled it, I don't think there was much he could do. We just got a bad bounce there.''

On his diving, glove save in the second period: ``It was a power play and they were making a lot of cross passes. I lost my head so I stayed up. I was beat pretty much but I followed it and he shot it in the right place. If he shoots it low, he might have scored.''

On the shootout: ``I think our players the moves I've seen so far this year in shootouts, are pretty much the best I've ever seen (on teams he's been on). Our guys have incredible moves and it gives us the edge in shootouts.''

``We'll see,'' Crawford said. ``We thought everybody that played up front, I didn't see any passengers last night. So it would be difficult for me to take a forward out of that lineup, but it's a consideration. I know Ladislav wants to play a game where he's contributing. We've given him specific instructions on how he's got to play. His job for us is to be a strong offensive player, to not get knocked off the puck and to use his great ability to create with the puck. We want to see more of that from him. So we've given him those specific instructions and that's how he has to contribute to us. Hopefully he'll get back in the lineup. I know he will eventually and we need that game from him.''

Despite Rob Blake's league-worst minus-9 rating, coach Marc Crawford said he had no plans to send him a message the way he did Ladislav Nagy, and that he in fact thought Blake was playing well.

``His game has been circumstantial where he’s had top players to perform against and we’ve been giving him tough challenges on almost every given occasion. That’s more of a reflection of our team’s struggle. If you really want to look at Rob’s play, Rob’s played quite well. He’s played extremely well if you look at him this season in comparison to last season. Last season, Rob started slow and probably was a big part of our lack of production early. This year, that hasn’t been the case. He’s been more a victim of circumstance. He has played well. There's a big difference between his level of performance and Nagy’s level of performance. When you look at statistics, sometimes they can be misleading and, in this case, that is a misleading stat. He’s been playing a game in which we need a little more support for Rob. I think if we play more games like last night you’ll see those statistics start to alter.''

Here are Blake's thoughts ...

``Anytime you're minus, you're not playing well. That kind of goes hand in hand. I don't read into it much. At this stage of my career, stats aren't really important to me. If we're winning and I'm minus-10, it's not a big deal. The important part is trying to get this team to focus on what we have to do to win and be a playoff-contending team.''

``When you win 2 out of 7 games, that means you're going to be down quite a few goals so there are circumstances where (a high minus rating) will happen. To me, statistics like goals, assists and plus-minus, it's not going to do much for my career anymore. I'm not playing for another contract or anything. It's trying to get this team to do what we have to do, and I'd be more concerned about getting an winning atmosphere.''

``I think our players knew we had to buckle down, knew we had to stay in the structure that is going to make us successful and they did it. I was really pleased with that performance tonight.''

``We didn't make many mistakes tonight. We had a mistake behind the net on a setup, but there's going to be a few mistakes every game. There's no such thing as a perfect game, but I thought we didn't make many tonight and we played a strong team game.''

On Aubin: ``I thought he was adequate. I didn't like the third goal. I thought that's one he needs to have. I thought our team made sure he didn't have the type of night we've been exposing our other goaltenders to so far this year. It was a good team win and J-S was adequate in the net, and hopefully he can build on that. That's a good first start for him for sure.''

On scratching Nagy: ``We just didn't feel he's played at the level he needs to play at, and we wanted to give him a real strong message that you've got to be a lot better. You've got to be strong with the puck and you've got to play a strong team game. Let's face it, he's paid to play strong with the puck in the offensive zone and to make things happen and not get knocked off the puck, and that's what we expect from him. He'll get an opportunity again and we expect more from him. He's paid to be a top scorer in this league and he needs to perform like that.''

From first star of the game, Anze Kopitar ...

``It feels really good to come into the locker room with the win. We played like a really desperate team on the ice.’’

Kopi said he actually planned his move in the shootout, when the left-hander went to his left and got Backstrom diving to the ice before reaching out and gently pushing the puck in with his off hand.

``I knew I had to score and I felt comfortable with that move. I actually tried it in the morning skate and it worked, so I was confident it was going in.''

On beating the previously 5-0 Wild: ``We said they had to lose a game at some point, and why not to us? We didn't back off for a second.''

On Aubin: ``He came out really strong. I think we helped him a lot better too. We didn't give up a lot of chances. We kind of shut down their first line.''

Brown, Cammy and Kopi all score in shootout. More from locker room to come ...

Kings wasted nearly four minutes of power-play time in OT.

And the Wild quickly tie it up. Brian Rolston just flat-out beat Aubin on this one with a slap shot from the right side.

Kopitar takes a loose puck mid-ice and races in for a short-handed goal. Season-low 14,239 in attendance. I don't think there were many believers that an upset was possible here ...

by Kings, though it ended ugly with Minnesota getting more chances on the Kings' final power play than the Kings did.The Kings were strong to kill a penalty a few minutes earlier, with Aubin diving back across the goal for a glove save. Let's see if the Kings can somehow beat the only undefeated team left in the league ...

Aubin leaves the puck for Preissing going behind the net and Branko Radivojevic swoops in to steal it and feed an oncoming Mikko Koivu for the goal. One of the ugliest goals of the year. Aubin really didn't even have time to get set.

As I was typing, the Kings quickly tied it up on a power play. Brad Stuart took a long-range slap shot that deflected off Kyle Calder for the goal. And now the Kings get another power play ...

Scott Thornton goes top shelf to the right corner off a feed from Brian Willsie to tie the game with 27 seconds left in the first period. Thornton and Willsie had combined for seven scratches in the first six games.

Aubin must feel Bernier's pain after Pavol Demitra was allowed to camp in front of him for that easy putback. 1-0 Wild after 7:25.

Gaborik took a long-range shot and as Handzus, in front of the net, attempted to block/deflect the shot, he not only did that but he sort of tripped Aubin. The puck got deflected to the side but right to Demitra, who knocked it home 7:25 into the first period. It's a typical Minnesota game so far, only three shots on goal at the time of Demitra's goal.

Cammalleri-Kopitar-Brown
O'Sullivan-Armstrong-Frolov
Calder-Handzus-Willsie
Ivanans-Thornton-Zeiler

Visnovsky-Blake
Stuart-Preissing
Modry-Johnson

Nagy and Dallman are scratched. Aubin goal vs. Backstrom.

O'Sullivan is going with Frolov and Armstrong. Cammalleri is back on the top line with Brown and Kopitar. Rich isn't here tonight. I'll give occasional updates during the game, though not as regularly as Rich would since I have to write. Of course, I'll have notes and quotes from the locker room following the game.

It should be noted that we didn't know Nagy was still on the ice -- and therefore almost certainly a healthy scratch -- at the time we talked to Crawford. So that's why there are no questions about it...

On Aubin: ``We're hoping he comes out and plays a great game. He has probably been ready for two or three days. We probably could have played him over the weekend but we thought that giving Jonathan another opportunity was the way to go. ...Giving him the extra days has been a benefit to him.''

On Aubin's play during training camp: ``He was probably the most stable of the goalies. He plays a strong center-net position. His economy of the net was very impressive to me. He doesn't overreact and he plays a strong center-net position and he forces the shooter to beat him.''

On playing Minnesota: ``We've got to view them as a first-place club, collectively. They're not just the Minnesota Wild that snuck up on teams the last couple years. The skill level is there. ... They've got more people know and offensively they're a little more dynamic. They play a lot more up-tempo. You have to watch turnovers. They have a great probability of beating you if you turn the puck over.''

On Bernier and Murray, and the idea that the ``environment'' wasn't right for them to stay: ``When your team isn't going well and you've got bright prospects... The atmosphere is what is important for those guys to flourish. It's a momentary setback for (Bernier) and now we're concentrating on developing him rather than forcing him into the lineup. ... It's not going to hurt (Murray) to play in the American league right now.''

J.S. Aubin has recovered from his strained groin -- actually, he's been healthy for a couple days, at least -- and will start tonight against Minnesota.

``I had a pretty good training camp. I played well and I was seeing the puck well. It was very frustrating to have that injury at that time. I can't wait to get in and see some action. ... I'm just going to focus hard on the first shot and swallow up everything or give up a good rebound in the right place.''

It was pointed out to Aubin that he has bad a history of hot streaks during his career, the implication perhaps being that maybe he can get on one now and lift the Kings out of their early-season doldrums.

``I'd like to...have a full season with lots of streaks. Since my first year in Pittsburgh, I haven't played a lot of games over a period of time, so it's hard to get on some streaks.''

I asked Aubin if -- knowing that a goalie's goal for every game is to record a shutout -- he approaches things any different against a team like Minnesota, that doesn't allow many goals.

``We've got to keep it tight. We know it's not going to be a high-scoring game, or at least on paper it shouldn't be. You have to be patient because you know you're not going to get much. Hopefully you can get some power plays and get some chances there.''

Aubin was asked about the Kings turning things around after their 1-5 start.

``We're good. We know we are. We just need to play well. The ingredients are there. We just need to play well and we need to get that taste. I don't think anyone thought we would be 1-5, meaning that we do have a team that's pretty decent. We just have to work on that and believe in it.''

Aubin developed a solid friendship with Jonathan Bernier since the start of training camp. On Tuesday morning, Aubin took over Bernier's old locker. Aubin joked about how every time he becomes friends with a player, that player gets traded or somehow sent away. He said it happened in Toronto last year. I thought maybe that's why he changed lockers, because Modry was starting to get nervous...

That's how it looks for tonight's game. J.S. Aubin will start and, barring a last-minute change of heart by Crawford, Ladislav Nagy will be scratched in favor of Brian Willsie. Maybe this will be a way to get the attention of some players who ``aren't on the same page.''

Quotes soon...

Here's the transcript of the conference call that Dean Lombardi held with local reporters tonight. In it, he covers the Bernier situation, the Murray situation and the Kings' early-season struggles...

It looks like he'll be alternating with LaBarbera at goalie. He could get the start as soon as tomorrow.

On Bernier: ``He was my best friend here so it's tough to see him go. It's not his play that was the problem or anything. It was a tough decision for them and it was tough for him to get that decision, but he's a strong guy. He'll be fine.''

``We hung out all the time. We're the only two French guys here so we got to keep together. We had a lot of fun. It's probably unusual because we're both goalies and we're competing for the same job, but we felt that what's on the ice is on the ice and what's outside is outside.''

On his health: ``I'm pretty much there. I've been practicing hard for the past week, getting better and better. I think as soon as I jump in I'll feel even more confident.''

``They told me before that I was going to play soon, but they didn't say when or which game.''

More on Bernier: ``I think he knows he played well and has a bright future. All he has to do is keep working hard. I'm not even worried about his career. He'll have a great career and be here for a long time.''

On if he's ready to step in front of the net for a team that has struggled defensively: ``I think the team's going to settle down and we'll play a lot better. I thought we played pretty decent last night. We do play hard. I think it's going to turn around pretty fast. I've been in the league for a while. I've seen it all and I'm ready for a challenge.''

On theory that playing on the Kings, with their defensive problems, would chip away at Bernier's confidence: ``I think that's the concern they've got. He's a quality person. He's shown the ability to play and play well. He showed the ability to bounce back from goals and anything else that can be construed as a mistake. You got to like the physical makeup he's got; you love the mental makeup he has. And it's going to carry him a long way. What we're saying is it's just not right now. Now is not the time for him to be here. For his long-term development, that's the decision that's been made.''

On Bernier's reaction to the news: ``He's disappointed. That shows you the quality of person he is. He wanted to make a difference here and he wanted to continue to get the opportunity to make a difference. We're not going to give him that opportunity. We're going to concentrate on his development.''

``Obviously, we're concerned about the mindset he's got. As we told him this morning, `You're a great goaltender. Act like a great goaltender and believe this is a short-term setback for you.' He's going to progress at the right level and maybe the right speed.''

On possibility of Bernier coming back up this season: ``I think the rule's is that, in an emergency situation, you can bring up anyone under contract. But, for all intents and purposes, he's going to complete his junior year. Hopefully he'll have a great junior year, maybe play for the Canadian national team at the world juniors tournament, and at the end of the year they could bring him up here or at our farm club level.''

The departure of Jonathan Bernier makes the spotlight brighter for Jason LaBarbera and Jean-Sebastien Aubin. Aubin looked solid in preseason, but it's probably a safe assumption that LaBarbera will be given the first chance to prove he can be the No. 1 goaltender. I asked him how today's developments will impact him...

``I don't know if it really changes much for me,'' LaBarbera said. ``I'll get to face more shots in practice and that's good. I've always found it difficult to practice with three goalies because it's hard to get in a rhythm. I always take practice pretty seriously and I usually play the way I practice. I have to practice well.

``The season is so long. We're only six games in, but it's been a struggle for everyone. If I want to get more of an opportunity, I'm going to have to take the ball and run with it. (Bernier) deserved the opportunity to play. He was probably the best guy we had in camp and he handled the situation well. Now it's more of our (LaBarbera and Aubin) opportunity to take the ball and run with it.''

The Kings, collectively, aren't on the same page. And that's not me saying it, it's assistant captain Michael Cammalleri saying it. I asked him, straight up, if the players were on the same page, and this is what he said.

``I think the intentions are good,'' Cammalleri said, ``but I don't think we are. If that was the case, we would be successful. If you have 22 or 23 guys on the same page, you're going to be successful. We have to create that. I think we have a lot of good people in this locker room and we have a lot of good intentions. I don't think it's ill intent, but I don't think we're on the same page. We have to definitely create that.''

Now here's the question. Whose responsibility is it to fix this, the players or the coaches? The knee-jerk reaction might be to say the coaches, but it goes deeper than that. There's only so much a coach can do. If a coach gives the same consistent message, time and time again, and a certain segment of players aren't responding to it, how much can the coach do? There's only so much yelling and pleading a coach can do. And I think this is why, so often, coaches end up getting fired. Is it that the message is bad, or poorly delivered, or is it that the players just aren't listening? It's a complicated question, and in this case I'm really not sure what the answer is. But until all of the players are buying in, things aren't going to get better.

Brady Murray has been assigned to Manchester, with no corresponding move. The reason is the same as Crawford gave for Jonathan Bernier...essentially, he doesn't want to expose these young players to this much losing.

Also, Dean Lombardi is expected to be on the phone tonight for an interview and, to answer a question, Jonathan Bernier could return under an emergency-player scenario, but that's highly unlikely. He's going to spend the year in Lewiston and then most likely to go Manchester if there's still time left in the season.

Jonathan Bernier was sent back to juniors this morning. Jean-Sebastien Aubin was activated from the injured list. Final tally for Bernier was a 1-3 record with 16 goals allowed.

``It's not an indictment on his play, it's more of a reflection of where the team is at right now,'' coach Marc Crawford said. ``We always are concerned about the long-term development of all our players and, right now, the decision has been that (returning to juniors) probably is the environment that is conducive to his long-term development. He's going to be a great goalie. He is a great goalie.He's played his heart out here and he has not been at fault for how we've played. As a matter of fact, I think he's played pretty good.''

More notes and quotes to come ...

There are two goalies on the ice right now and neither of them is named Jonathan Bernier. More to come after practice concludes ...

This is quite a messy situation. Last season, it was fairly easy, on most nights, to identify what the problem was with the Kings. Goaltending and penalty killing were usual, and obvious, suspects. What makes this six-game stretch so disturbing, from the Kings' standpoint, is that so many different things are going wrong. Not only that, but the team's strength one night becomes its weakness the next. For instance, Crawford talked after the Dallas game about how well the penalty-kill unit fared. Then, two nights later, it got destroyed. That's the sign of a bad team. This is a team that hasn't been able to do anything well, consistently, over the course of the first six games.

This is the worst six-game start for the Kings in 20 years. Here are some thoughts, in no particular order...

-- As I said last night, these aren't even close losses. The Kings rarely are fighting back once they face a deficit, and when they do, as they did for a stretch against Boston, they quickly give the lead back up again. That's either a coaching issue or a player-leadership issue, or both. I saw it again last night against Detroit. When the Kings fell behind 2-0 in the second period, they essentially stopped playing for a long stretch. Who is motivating this team?

-- I don't believe that Rob Blake and Michal Handzus are in game shape. Blake has come under a lot of criticism for his play, and rightfully so, but he said at the start of training camp that he wouldn't be 100 percent until two months into the season. I think it's fair to ask the question, ``In that case, should he be playing?'' The coaching staff has decided he should. Some people have praised Handzus' defense and penalty killing. I can buy that argument, but he was also brought in to be the second-line center and provide scoring depth. I haven't seen it, and I don't think it's because he has forgotten how to play hockey. I wonder if there are still issues with the knee. It's been pointed out to me, by a team observer, that big guys often take longer to recover from ACL surgery than little guys.

-- To follow on Handzus... As I said, he was supposed to provide second-line minutes. Ladislav Nagy was supposed to be right there beside him. Through six games, Nagy has zero goals and three assists, two of them on the power play. Crawford gave him a chance on the first line, and honestly I still haven't seen much. Maybe I'm just not familiar with his game and I'm missing something... So you've got those two, and you've got Stuart and Preissing, who haven't been terrible but haven't been setting the world on fire either. It's not a stretch to say that Kyle Calder has been the Kings' best free-agent acquisition. What does that say about Dean Lombardi? Especially a year after he brought in players such as Cloutier, Willsie, McCauley and Thornton...?

-- There is one player who isn't being given much of a chance... Where is Patrick O'Sullivan? Obviously it's easier to play well when the expectations are lowered, but isn't it worth giving him a shot as a top-six guy, just to see what he can do? Even for just one game? Marc Crawford is liberal with line changes, but where is this one?

-- Don't underestimate the London factor. As I wrote at the end of training camp, teams that start their seasons overseas are typically doomed to a slow start. I don't know why exactly it is... it just is. Look at the way the Ducks have started also. This is a risk that AEG knew about, but it still took.

-- The defense was supposed to carry this team, but it hasn't. I hesitate to criticize Visnovsky, because he's usually so ridiculously solid and consistent, but so far this season he's been bad more than he's been good. Blake, Stuart and Preissing... we've covered it. Is it a stretch to say that Johnson-Modry has been the Kings' best defensive pairing this season? And wouldn't you have cringed if I had predicted that in mid-September? But again, have these guys forgotten how to play hockey? Probably not. They're all established NHL players, which leads me to think that coaching is playing a part in this. Is the system good enough? Is the basic instruction lacking?

-- There are fundamental problems with the way the Kings play. They're not clearing puck out of the zone at a good enough ratio, and they're not getting pucks deep into the offensive zone. At times last night, the Red Wings looked like they were running a practice drill in the Kings' zone, with the way they were able to cycle the puck. The Bruins scored at least two of their goals directly because the Kings were unable to clear the puck. On offense, there's an inability to get the puck deep in the zone and keep it there. There is little sustained pressure on the opposing goaltender, and that's a coaching thing.

-- I have yet to see any bounce-back from this team, any real fire. Often when a team gets embarrassed, it will come out strong in the next game. After the St. Louis meltdown, I thought the Kings would come out and punish Dallas. They didn't. Then after that debacle I thought, Boston will be a bounce-back game. It wasn't. This is either a coaching thing or a player-leadership thing. The captain, Blake, and two of the assistants, Thornton and Visnovsky, are very low-key guys. Cammalleri is very fiery and competitive, but he's still a younger guy and he's feeling his way around, as far as the whole leadership thing. This is why I thought Armstrong should at least have gotten an ``A.'' He's not afraid to speak his mind, and right now there needs to be a message sent in that locker room. This, more than anything technical, might be the Kings' biggest problem right now.

-- Along those lines, where is the big momentum-turning fight during a game? I'm not even certain that I believe in this sort of thing, but isn't it at least worth a shot? When the Kings are putting their fans to sleep in the second period, shouldn't Ivanans -- or, to make a better point, someone like Thornton or Zeiler -- drop the gloves and try to get people fired up? Isn't it at least worth a shot? In general, this often looks too much like a finesse team. They're trying to spread the scoring around, because that's legitimately important, but where's the hitting?

-- It's hard to put too much blame on the goaltending, especially with a 19-year-old kid back there. There is a thought in my mind that the Kings are trying too hard to protect this kid, and you know what happens when you think too much in sports... Perhaps they need to loosen up a bit and just play, and not think so much.

-- The dressing-room chemistry seems to be good. It's a real good group of guys, on a personal level, and they seem to like each other. So I don't think that's a problem. Is the coaching staff getting through to them? Maybe that's an issue. The fact that Dave Lewis was brought in, as sort of a ``father figure'' to the players, tells me that there might have been an issue with Crawford's ability to relate to the players. I don't know that for a fact, but if there is, that's a bigger issue than any X's or O's problem or an inability to kill penalties. If the players aren't on the same page with each other, or with the coaching staff, a team just isn't going to win. Not the Kings, not any team.

The reason all of these topics are being explored is that the talent level on this year's Kings team seems, at least on paper, to be better. And so it's only natural, in that case, to look at coaching. Maybe the answers are simple. Perhaps all of the things mentioned above will work themselves out, once the Kings emerge from their post-London fog and learn to incorporate all the new guys into the system. Perhaps...maybe...but would you bet on it at this point?

Blake
``Just when we got back in the game, we lost our structure in our zone probably three or four times against their top line.''

``We can't take any improvement out of this game because we still came away with a loss. They played well as a team and we played the opposite way. When you have a structure and don't play up to that system, you're going to get picked apart by a good team. That's what happened tonight.''

On the last goal: ``It went off my pants. When things aren't going right, those are the types of plays that end up in your net.''

Kopitar
``We've got to keep on going and try to stop this thing from going downhill. We've got to stop it first, then push it uphill again. But stopping it is probably the hardest part.''

``I think everyone is trying their best right now but it's going the opposite way most of the time. It's really frustrating.''

Crawford
On Bernier: ``I thought he was pretty good tonight. You couldn't fault him on the third and fourth goals, and that goal on the rush I don't think any goalie in the league would have stopped that shot. Jonathan bounced back tonight. We were happy to see that he bounced back. He played a strong game for us and that's what you look for.''

``I think our team right now, we don't have the luxury to be demoralized. Certainly, it hurts. It hurts our fans, we know that. We know how much they're struggling with our group right now. They've been so great and so patient with this group. I understand that lack of patience with this group. But we have to stay the course and we have to believe that doing the right things will ultimately pay good dividends.''

Crawford keeps talking about ``staying the course.'' I'm not sure which course he is talking about, because the one they're on seems headed to last place.

At some point, it just becomes counter-productive to discuss all of these dreadful losses. The worst part about it, from the Kings' perspective, is that these aren't even close losses. The Kings have now trailed at the end of 10 consecutive periods. If they could even put together ONE solid period and generate some momentum, it might get something going, but they have been unable to achieve that since London, really.

Michael Cammalleri is a one-man team at this point. That might be a bit of an overstatement, but not much. When you're looking for a second-best forward, and your eye is drawn to John Zeiler's name, that's not a good thing. And that's no disrespect toward Zeiler, but he shouldn't be the team's second-best forward.

Anze Kopitar...zero points, minus-2, three shots, seven giveaways.
Dustin Brown...zero points, minus-3, one shot, five giveaways.
Ladislav Nagy...zero points, minus-1, one shot, one giveaway.

Meanwhile, the Wings' top line dominated.

The Kings won 39 percent of their faceoffs, a disparity that particularly hurt them on the power play.

This was the first game in which the Kings didn't allow a power-play goal, but that's sort of a technicality, since Datsyuk's goal coincided with the end of a Kings penalty. It was essentially a power-play goal. And the Kings took only two minor penalties, so it's not as though they were dominant on the penalty kill. The Kings were 1 for 6 on the power play.

Jack Johnson played a very solid 23 minutes. There's one positive. Here's another...Jonathan Bernier looked much better tonight. He had no chance on two of the goals and would have needed a brilliant save to stop one. Bernier stopped 26 of 30 shots.

If anyone is interested, I'll attempt to do some sort of an analysis tomorrow, particularly in terms of where the blame should rest. Of course, everyone is encouraged to add their own input...

I started off by asking Michael Cammalleri a simple question: ``How can this get better?''

His answer: ``I don't think we have a choice. The question is, is it pretending that you're doing it or actually doing it? There has to be a structure and you have to stick to it, every player, every shift, every game. It's not enough to think that you're doing it. It's up to the guys in this room. It's not good enough. The other teams are playing 60 minutes and we're playing 40 or 45 minutes. It leaves a lot of time for the other team to expose us. I think we're fooling ourselves if we think we're doing it.''

I asked Jonathan Bernier how he felt about his game, given that one goal was scored on a deflection and the other was scored on a shorthanded breakaway.

``I felt OK,'' Bernier said. ``I've got to give a better chance to my teammates, especially since we're in trouble a little bit. I have to give more confidence to our guys.''

Marc Crawford said, ``We're seeing this familiar refrain. I thought we were better tonight but it was the same story. We made critical mistakes at criticial parts of the game. We made mistakes when (Zetterberg, Datsyuk and Holmstrom) were on the ice. It's almost incomprehensible that you give up a 3-on-2 chance to their best line when you're trying to get back in the game. I have no explanation for it. I'm certainly disappointed about it.''

Matt should have more quotes later from Blake and Crawford.

Mercifully for everyone, it ends.

More from the locker room soon...

The Kings called a timeout after this most recent snafu. The shot went wide but was deflected off a skate in front of the net. Zetterberg gets the goal, his second of the game, 7:21 into the third period.

And just like that, the momentum is gone, at the end of a sequence in which the Kings were playing some solid hockey. A neutral-zone turnover led to a Detroit 3-on-2 break, and Holmstrom one-timed a pass from Zetterberg past Bernier, who couldn't slide across in time to make the stop. The goal came 5:39 into the third period.

Shots are even at 24

The Kings scored a 5-on-3 goal with Lilja in the box for high sticking. The Kings had good puck movement, with Frolov moving it to Visnovsky, who dropped a quick pass to Cammalleri for a one-timed slap shot. The goal came 1:44 into the period. Cammalleri is on an amazing hot streak to start the season.

Wings 2, Kings 0

All in all, a fairly uninspired period for the Kings. They look like a team that's playing not to lose, instead of a team that's playing to win. And they're still losing... For the most part, they look tentative and reactive, rather than aggressive.

The Kings had one power play in the period and gave up a shorthanded goal. That about says it all. The Kings will start the third period on the power play, but that might be a chance to generate some momentum. Or maybe not.

Detroit holds a 23-19 edge in shots. Kopitar leads the Kings with three shots but also has four giveaways. The Kings have 17 giveaways to the Wings' eight. The Kings have blocked 15 shots, and Blake has five. The Kings have won only 15 of 44 faceoffs.

On Detroit's first goal. Datsyuk did indeed jab the puck over the line, even though it was between Bernier's pads at the time.

Shots are even at 16-16.

Say this much for the Kings...when they do something, they go all out. In this case, when they try to give the game away, they do it swiftly and efficiently. Kris Draper just scored a shorthanded goal 3:06 into the period after Brad Stuart first failed to keep the puck in the offensive zone, then couldn't control it at all. Draper did, and he skated in all alone, held onto the puck as he cut in front of the net and tucked the puck past Bernier.

Shots still 15-12 in favor of the Kings as they kill another penalty.

The Wings came out flying on their first couple shifts and got rewarded, just as Dustin Brown's penalty expired. Zetterberg's shot was stopped by Bernier, but it somehow trickled through his pads and over the line. It appeared as though it might have been poked, but replays didn't show that it was. The goal came 40 seconds into the period.

0-0

Bernier doesn't seem to have suffered any ill effects from Friday night's game. He looked very solid, particularly with a couple strong saves during the Detroit power play in the final minute of the period. The Kings are doing a better job of front of him as well, particularly with blocked/deflected shots.

The Kings had two power plays...one fairly strong, the other fairly dreadful.

John Zeiler provided a spark early in the period, and Visnovsky looks as though he might be on his way to an improved game. Osgood has looked strong in this, his second start of the season.

The Kings are outshooting the Wings 14-10

It changes just that quick. The Kings have recorded eight consecutive shots on goal and just had a solid, but ultimately fruitless, power play. Visnovsky's pass to Kopitar looked to be a sure goal, but Osgood slid across for the point-blank save. Kings have an 11-6 edge in shots.

Through the first nine minutes, the Kings are doing a respectable job on defense -- and Bernier looks very solid early -- but Detroit is winning the neutral zone and limited the Kings' time in the Detroit zone. Only in the last minute or so have the Kings put much pressure on the Wings and actually forced a faceoff in the offensive zone.

Shots are 6-4 Detroit.

Nagy-Kopitar-Frolov
Cammalleri-Armstrong-Brown
O'Sullivan-Handzus-Calder
Ivanans-Thornton-Zeiler

Visnovsky-Blake
Stuart-Pressing
Modry-Johnson

The Kings' scratches tonight are Brady Murray, Brian Willsie and Kevin Dallman, with Tom Preissing and John Zeiler rejoining the linup. Derek Meech, Mikael Samuelsson and Johan Franzen are scratched for the Wings.

In goal, it's Jonathan Bernier against Chris Osgood. Osgood has played one game this season, Wednesday against Calgary, and stopped 19 of 21 shots in a victory.

Cammalleri
``I love playing with those guys (Frolov and Armstrong). I've played probably more games with those two guys than any other guys in the NHL.''

``I don't think the worry on this team is if we're going to score. I think we need to keep the other teams to two goals or less.''

Kopitar
On line change: ``It's hard to tell after one game, but I think Army was going pretty good with Cammy. They're obviously used to playing together. Nagy might need a few games to get used to me and Brownie, but I think we balanced out pretty good.''

``You can't have one line that's producing every night and maybe each night it's not enough, and that showed against St. Louis. We balanced out our lineup and now all the lines are producing some goals.''

Blake
On Johnson: ``He's very mobile. He's easy to play with. He has little subtle fakes that throw the defense off. I'm going to push him to jump as much as he can because I think he's our best skater on D and he can be going all the time.''

On if he'd like to play with Johnson again: ``I hope so. We haven't played together at all. He played the right side in college, so it's a little adjustment for him to be on the left side. The lines and defensive players are going to change throughout the season. We understand that. Hopefully we'll have a few more games together.''

Preissing
On his illness: ``It just kind of came on suddenly. I woke up from my pre-game nap in Dallas and just felt a little off-center and disoriented. We kind of ruled out things that it wasn't. We don't think it was anything serious.''

``I feel better now. I still don't feel 100 percent but I feel a lot better. I felt good enough to skate today. I think I'll be ready tomorrow.''

``Cammy was good again last night. He scored the 5-on-5 goal and did good on the power play. He's playing with so much desire to have the puck right now, and I think that's something I saw Armstrong and Frolov do a little bit more than they had in previous games. So that's a good sign.''

On playing Johnson with Blake: ``We made that change so we could partner up Stuart with someone who could play a lot of minutes. I'm not 100 percent sure Preissing will play but he looked pretty good today, and if he can play we'll continue with that pair. They know each other, they've played together before and they've obviously played some pretty good hockey for us early in the season.''

On Bernier: ``He's bounced back really well today. To me, that's a great sign of maturity, just seeing how he is today. When I talked to him, he said, `Hey, listen, I had a bad game in juniors and I know I'm going to have a bad game as a pro.' That's the right attitude.''

``No one wants to accept how we've played. As the head coach, I can't accept how we've played. I can't accept how my preparation is. But we all have to look inwardly and say, `What can I do to help us get a little better here in the next game.' ''

More on Bernier: ``I thought we didn't give him a lot of support yesterday. Any time you get seven goals scored on you, it's too many, and we know that. He was close on a lot of them. There were a lot of those he had no chance on, and he made several really good saves.''

On moving Handzus around: ``Because we had so many penalty kills, we often would not have a fresh Michal Handzus so we had to mix the lines up a little bit.''

On O'Sullivan and whether he'll get any time on a scoring line: ``He's played really well here of late. He's found a niche for us as a penalty killer, and I think he's become one of our top ones. He's a young player. He's going to continue to develop. There's nothing wrong for him to take a defensive view of the game because his offensive game is always where his natural instincts are. I'm not saying it's something that may never happen. As we continue to see Patrick develop, he's going to get better and get more opportunities. He's playing more for us this year than last year, although he's playing in a different role.''

Cammalleri practiced with Frolov and Armstrong again. It looks like Crawford is going to stick with that line for another game.

Preissing practiced and said he expects to go tomorrow. Crawford said that, if Preissing returns, he would go back to playing with Stuart, Johnson with Modry and Visnovsky with Blake.

Crawford was mum on the goalie for tomorrow. There will be no morning skate before the game.

Quotes to come ...

Crawford
On worst start in 20 years: ``It doesn't make us feel any better. It's disappointing. We weren't good enough tonight and that's something we've got to take full responsibility for. Myself as coach, when the team is giving up the type of chances we're giving up ... We obviously have to do a better job of playing with the puck, playing in the defensive zone and limit the number of penalties we're getting.''

On line changes: ``I thought we got a little bit more from some people offensively. Frolov was better. Armstrong was better. Cammalleri still played a really strong game. I'm not sure if (the problem) is familiarity, with line changes, or something like that. We're not making mistakes because of line combinations. Tonight it was a ton of clears and miss-clears and not really clearing pucks that were in vulnerable areas. It doesn't really matter who you play with in that domain. If you're not right on and having good habits and having the stick in there and doing a good job of being forceful and assertive defensively, then you're going to end up with what happened tonight.''

Blake
On Bernier: We hung him out to dry a few times. Savard was wide open on the penalty kill. A couple of tick-tack passes across the crease. It doesn't matter if you're Martin Brodeur, those goals are going to go in. The first power play, I thought Glen Murray had three point-blank shots from the Slot and Burns made some big saves there to keep us going.''

On the game hurting Bernier's confidence: ``He's a very strong guy. He's a smart kid. He'll see the goals and realize there's not much he could have done on some of those.''

Rob Blake probably said it all, when asked if the Kings could take any positives from this game. His answer, a quick, firm, ``No.''

Blake also said this about the Kings' 1-4 start: ``We don't want to be 1-4, by any means. Unfortunately, we put ourselves in that position. I don't think the other teams did that much to beat us. We're beating ourselves. ... It was very chaotic. You saw the third period. When we tied it up, we should have had the momentum. It's mistakes that are costing us right now.''

Jonathan Bernier: ``You just have to turn the page and get ready for the next game. You are going to have games like this in the season. What makes the difference between a good and bad goalie is coming back, and that's what I'm going to try to do now.''

Crawford, on Bernier's game: ``Any time you have that many goals scored on you, it's a sign that it wasn't a good performance, but we left him alone on a lot of those chances.''

Crawford, on his team's weaknesses: ``Tonight it was a lot of clearing and mis-clearing and not clearing pucks that were in vulnerable areas. ... It's not rocket science here. We play the way that two-thirds of the teams, maybe even five-sixths of the teams, play very similarly in the defensive zone. It's attention to detail. It's making strong clears, and then you have to make the play.''

Matt might have some more quotes when he's done writing...

It's hard to fit this bizarre game into a nice little wrap-up. Both teams were terribly sloppy and it seemed as though every mistake ended up in the back of the net.

Here's the bottom line...this is the worst five-game start for the Kings since 1987-88, when they started with an idential 1-4 record. After the game, Crawford spoke at length about the issues that need to be fixed. My question was, essentially, when do you have time to fix them? This is a team that's just coming out of training camp, and now it's playing a schedule that's fairly compacted. When, exactly, is the time for teaching and correcting?

If you have to point to one area, it would be defensive-zone coverage. Too many pucks that could have been cleared but weren't, and too many defensive assignments that were just missed. In a game that becomes out of control, it's important for players to maintain their composure, but that didn't happen on either side.

Somebody mentioned earlier about Visnovsky getting a pass despite sub-par play. He had a minus-3 rating tonight, worst on the team. Modry ended up plus-2. Visnovsky and Kopitar led the Kings with four shots each. Cammalleri, Frolov and Kopitar ended up with two points each.

Crawford said the Kings took too many penalties. Well, they only took seven minor penalties, but they gave up three power-play goals. They also scored three (in five chances), which is the one bright spot in this game.

I know there's a lot of Bernier love here, but as Marc Crawford said after the game, that was not his best effort. That's somewhat understandable, because it must be difficult for a 19-year-old goalie to play in a game that's just out of control, but there were a couple goals he would like back, I'm sure. That said, Bernier is not the reason the Kings lost this game...not even close. The Kings just absolutely hung him out to dry on a couple of those goals.

The Cammalleri-Frolov-Armstrong line worked, I believe. I'll have to watch the tape to get a look at the others, but it's worth noting that Michal Handzus played fourth-line minutes for most of the game.

Did I miss anything else? Quotes to follow...

The Kings scored with six seconds remaining.

More from the locker room in a bit...

Chuck Kobasew with the empty-netter with 1:27 remaining.

The Bruins take a two-goal lead when Lucic and Krejci combined on a 2-on-1. Krejci connected when Lucic, who out-raced O'Sullivan to the puck. The goal came with 4:41 remaining in the game.

Marc Savard gives the Bruins the lead again with a power-play goal 9:42 into the third period. Savard went to the net and took a perfect pass from Glen Murray after the Kings were just unable to work the puck off the boards and out of the zone.

With the Kings on the power play, Anze Kopitar ripped a slap shot off the crossbar. The puck deflected off Fernandez's back, and as he reached back to try to grab it before it trickled across the line, he actually pushed it over the, with some ``help'' from a couple Kings in front of the net. The goal came 8:19 into the third period.

The wireless internet at Staples Center, much like the team playing in the arena, is having a weird night.

Boston took a two-goal lead when Phil Kessel recorded a hat trick. He picked up a rebound at close range and scored.

The Kings made it 5-4 when Cammalleri scored his fifth goal of the season, on a shot from the slot that Fernandez seemed to get a good look at. Assists to Brown and Frolov.

Boston 4, Kings 3

A fairly wacky period, and it's increasingly hard to get a handle on this game. The Kings looked DONE after Boston's fourth goal, but all it takes is one bad pass to turn things around. Brady Murray jumped on that bad pass, scored a goal and suddenly the Kings were awake again. Kopitar's goal then turned it into a real contest.

So we'll see where it goes from here. Both of these teams are pretty deeply flawed tonight. The difference could be if Bernier gets back on his game and plays the third period the way he did the first period.

Guess who's back in the game, quite improbably... Dustin Brown took a shot from the left circle. Fernandez made the save but Cammalleri pushed the puck over to Anze Kopitar, who was unmarked to the side of the net. Kopitar tapped it into the net for his first goal of the season. It came on the power play with 48.5 seconds left and gave free McFlurries to everyone in the building (reporters excluded).

Brady Murray recorded his first NHL goal and point with one of the few nice plays in the period for the Kings. He picked off a terribly ill-advised pass, went 1-on-1 with Manny Fernandez, stayed patient and waited for Fernandez to go down, then flipped the puck into the net. The goal put a little life in the building, especially since fans had just finished booing the Kings on a dreadful power play.

With Brady Murray in the box for a double-minor for high sticking, Phil Kessel knocked a rebound past Bernier. Marc Savard took the close-range shot that got deflected. Boston has four goals on 18 shots and the Bruins are still on the power play. This game is just now halfway over. Yikes...

The Bruins extended their lead, just 1:51 after their second goal, when Aaron Ward appeared to get a clean slap shot past Jonathan Bernier. Not a real good goal, unless it got tipped in front.

After the Dallas debacle, the Kings pointed to their penalty kill as a strong point. Well, they just allowed a power-play goal, to Glen Murray, and Boston's first goal came with Handzus just a step or two out of the box. This time, a slap shot was knocked down, but Murray pounced on it and just kind of whacked it by Bernier through a little traffic. The goal came 4:05 into the second period.

Video review shows that Stuart's shot got deflected by Patrice Bergeron, shortly after Stuart struck the puck.

Kings 1, Bruins 1

Maybe the best news of that period for the Kings is that they broke their 1-for-17 power-play drought in the closing seconds with Brad Stuart's slap-shot goal. Frolov and Nagy had assists on the goal.

In all, a good period for the Kings. Jonathan Bernier allowed a somewhat-shaky goal but he also saved two or three goals with some great saves.

Boston outshot the Kings 12-11 in that period. The Kings probably got the better of the chances in the period and showed a better effort than against Dallas.

Brad Stuart scored on a power-play slap shot with 12. 1 seconds left in the first period. It might have been deflected by a Boston player and it might have been deflected by Kyle Calder's stick in front, but it looked like it got through clean to me.

Jonathan Bernier was outstanding in making three or four saves on quality scoring chances during a Boston power play. Then, just as the penalty expired, Bernier let in a head-scratcher, on a Phil Kessel wrister from the left circle. David Krejci gets the assist with 3:06 left in the first period, and now the Kings are getting outshot 12-8. They started strong but it seems like all that's going to get them is a 1-0 deficit at the first intermission.

Ivanans and Milan Lucic just got the game's first fight out of the way. A few quick jabs but no real blows landed.

Michal Handzus spent the last shift playing with Scott Thornton and Ivanans. If he falls down the depth chart any more, he will be trading places with Jim Fox or Daryl Evans.

Kings are outshooting the Bruins 8-4 with six minutes left in the period. The play has tilted a bit toward the Kings' favor for much of the period. Each team has failed on one power play.

Nagy-Kopitar-Frolov
Cammalleri-Armstrong-Brown
O'Sullivan-Handzus-Calder
Thornton-Murray-Ivanans

Blake-Johnson
Stuart-Visnovsky
Modry-Dallman

The new Cammalleri line had some jump at the start of the game and had a couple scoring chances but got a little too creative. The Kings are outshooting the Bruins 5-1 through five minutes.

Brian Willsie, Tom Preissing and John Zeiler will be sitting out for the Kings tonight.

It's Jonathan Bernier vs. Manny Fernandez in goal.

And a happy 68th birthday to Bob Miller!

Here's the transcript of this morning's interview with Kings goaltending coach Bill Ranford, who talks about the development of Jonathan Bernier and what the Kings think about keeping Bernier or returning him to his junior team...

There's going to be a Cirque Du Soliel performance on the ice at Staples Center during the first intermission tonight. Something for people to look forward to even if the game turns into a copy of the last three ...

OK, if Jonathan Bernier ISN'T starting tonight, then Marc Crawford is the best devious genius I've ever met. Bernier was the first goalie off the ice, and LaBarbera and Aubin stayed out for a half hour to work with Bill Ranford. If that isn't a clear-cut signal that Bernier is starting, then my days as a prognosticator are over...

Not too much going on this morning. By all indications, Brady Murray will be back in the lineup. Given Crawford's criticism of John Zeiler yesterday, I would expect that switch to be made, but that's just a guess.

Crawford made a point of saying that this is a big game for assistant coach Dave Lewis, who was fired as Boston's head coach. Crawford, essentially, said he hopes the Kings win one for Lewis.

I asked Crawford about his decision-making process, in terms of how he chooses a goalie, and here's what he said: ``With Jonathan, it's just about giving him an opportunity, and so far everything we've thrown at him, he has handled it well. We've been conscious of not overwhelming Jonathan. The games are a challenge, the practices are a challenge and just the details of preparation are a challenge. We want to be conscious of making sure he handles everything well. Every time we've given him an opportunity, he's gone with it and played well and given us an opportunity to win. That's really all you can ask for.''

I also had a long conversation with Bill Ranford about the goaltender situation, so I'll transcribe that and post it this afternoon.

Marc Crawford stressed positives to the Kings in practice today. Really, what other choice did he have? It's not as though he was going to wave the white flag after four games... Crawford did a lot of talking -- not yelling, but talking -- during practice, and afterward the players were eager to put the negatives of Wednesday's game behind them.

``Obviously we got beat 5-1, but there was some positive stuff,'' Derek Armstrong said. ``We had some neutral-zone problems and they definitely scored on their chances, but we're playing a lot better in our own end. We have some new guys here, and it just takes a while for everyone to get together and buy into the system. The quicker you get on board with the system, in any kind of work environment, the more success you're going to have. Here, if everyone buys into (Crawford's) system, it's going to work. Crow has been a successful coach for a reason. His system works, and once everyone starts buying in, we'll be in good shape.''

Armstrong seemed enthused by a reunion with Michael Cammalleri and Alexander Frolov and expressed optimism that the Kings would find some chemistry on offense soon.

``It takes some time when you've got new guys,'' Armstrong said. ``We need some secondary scoring, for sure. Guys like me and Fro have to start stepping up.''

On line change: ``We're hoping that Mike really gives them a boost. Mike's playing with lots of confidence right now. He's playing as good as I've seen him play. He's getting five or six chances a game, five or six quality shots, he's hanging onto the puck, he's making assertive plays. Sometimes you can interject a guy like that and he's the exact tonic that the other skill players need.''

On Handzus: ``He’s missed an awful lot of hockey so I don’t think it’s fair for anybody to look and say he’s going to emerge at the level he was playing at the top of his game coming back from injury. Also he lost 15 pounds this summer through an illness so he’s dealing with that too. Mike’s always been a conscientious guy. He’s making a huge contribution to this team right now on our penalty kill and our defensive zone faceoffs and attention to detail in the defensive zone. He’s a very, very committed player away from the puck and that is a nice interjection to our team. We didn’t have a lot of that last year. We all believe Mike can be better, and I think where you’ll see it is last night he had a number of opportunites to make plays and it’s not quite there yet. I sense that is coming and it will continue to come as he gets more strength, his weight gets back to normal and he gets more comfortable with his new surroundings.''

On Frolov: ``Another guy who was hurt for being off two weeks. He’s pushing himself. It's unfortunate because I don’t think Alexander ever worked as much as he worked this summer. Usually when you work that hard you see an immediate payoff. Unfortunately he had that groin strain that set him back. He's a strong guy who's got an amazing commitment and threshold for pain. It took me a lot of time to realize how committed a player he is, because sometimes he can drive you crazy. But now that I understand him more, I understand how his contributions are. Today, for instance, I watched him at practice and he was really strong with the puck and you couldn’t get it away from him. That’s the Alexander we’re used to seeing. We didn’t have anyone really for him to play with last year and he ended up having such a great year. When we see him control plays and be difficult to get the puck off of, it’s coming. Again I do think the two weeks off for him put him behind but he’s catching up.''

On the different scratches this year: ``We’re going to need Willsie. As we keep going here, he’s going to be a part of this. Scott Thornton had a couple of tough pills to swallow sitting out opener. It's a tough thing for veterans. It's almost a right they should have and unfortunately we weren’t able to give it to them.
Occasionally Brady will not play, occassionally Zeiler will not play and occassionally those (veteran) guys will not play. We're going to need everybody to be committed. To play hard when called upon and stay as positive as they can when not called upon.''

On Zeiler against Dallas: ``One thing I really liked about Z is he won a couple of key faceoffs for us. He's takng a little more pride in that direction. I think John can play a little better though. I think John is capable of more and expects better of himself. Sometimes, in your second year, there is a realization that I belong here, I can do this, I can handle the puck, I can make a play. I think he’s teetering on that right now and we’ve got to get him over to the side of I belong.''

On Preissing: ``He’s got a little dizziness and so they’re checking him out here today and they kept him off. I don’t think he’ll play tomorrow, so we’ll prob play Dallman again – who I thought played very well last night.''

On being a scratch Wednesday in Dallas: ``I knew I wasn't playing the way I should so I think they threw in some other guys to create some energy. My role is to create energy and make it hard on the forecheck. I felt the last two games I wasn't really doing that, so I understand the situation and I know I have to pick it up.''

``I thought the first game went well but the last two I just felt like I was chasing the puck and wasn't involved, that I didn't really have an impact. After those two games, I felt like I could do more and it just wasn't happening.''

on the line change: ``I've played with both those guys a lot over the past few years. Whether I'm with them or Kopi and Brownie, either-or works for me.''

Jack Johnson recorded his first NHL point last night, with an assist on Kyle Calder's third-period goal, and he also nearly got his first goal. Johnson jumped into a play and was open in the slot but the pass couldn't quite get to him. It was worth noting that Johnson easily beat Mike Modano down the ice.

``I was just thinking, `Why did i have to be Modano?''' Johnson said. ``Out of 600 players in the NHL, it had to be him.''

The consensus seemed to be that Johnson played his best game as a King last night, one of the team's few highlights in that dreadful game. Is it just a coincidence that he was paired with Stuart instead of Modry? Today, Johnson practiced with Rob Blake, and Crawford indicated that it might stay that way for Friday's game.

``I can play with any of these guys,'' Johnson said. ``They're all so good.''

At least for one game -- or perhaps, at least for the start of one game -- Derek Armstrong, Michael Cammalleri and Alexander Frolov will be reunited on a line. The theory is simple: Last year, Cammalleri and Frolov had breakthrough seasons playing together, and with Armstrong. This year, Cammalleri has been outstanding but the other two have been inconsistent at best. By breaking up the top line, Crawford is hoping to generate a little balance and also jump-start players such as Frolov, Armstrong and Nagy, who will skate with Kopitar and Brown.

There's also a timing issue, in terms of the opponent. Crawford said after practice that he wants Boston to make a choice. He doesn't want the Bruins to be able to send Zdeno Chara out after the Cammalleri-Kopitar-Brown line every time. As Crawford said, he wants the Bruins to make a choice, and his theory is that their choice will be harder if he spreads out the Kings' talent.

So I put the question to Dustin Brown. If you have one line playing exceedingly well but you don't have balance, is it better to break up that line, or keep it together and keep tinkering elsewhere until you find something that works?

``It's a hard decision, really,'' Brown said. ``That one line has the potential to win a game for you by themselves if they're on the game, but you also want balance. The ideal situation would be to have two strong scoring lines, and we can do that. We have the players. It's just a matter of the players playing the way that they can.

``It's just about finding chemistry. Me and Cammy and Kopi had some chemistry, but it's just about finding the right mix of players.''

(By the way, the slogans are hilarious. Maybe I should forward them to the Kings' marketing department...)

The big news from practice today is that Michael Cammalleri worked with Derek Armstrong and Alexander Frolov on the second line. Ladislav Nagy joined Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown on the first line. Crawford said he will try the switch out in tomorrow's game against Boston in an effort to spark the second line. Cammalleri will still play with Kopitar and Brown on power plays. Tom Preissing missed practice and Crawford said he was doubtful to play Friday. More notes and quotes to come ...

In recent years they've had ``Play Hard,'' ``Kings Rule,'' and now I think it's ``We Play For L.A.'' But something tells me you guys can be more creative than that, especially today... What's your slogan/theme for this year's Kings?

Practice isn't until noon today, so the regularly scheduled updates will be delayed.

Crawford, to the Associated Press, on the Kings' nine-game losing streak to Dallas...

``We've got to change that,'' Crawford said of the recent disparity between the teams. ``There's no magic formula. We have to execute better. We had three giveaways and they all ended up in the back of our net, which isn't characteristic of our club. ... Tonight the big story was Turco. We had way more great chances. He was the difference-maker for them.''

In the season opener, the Kings scored three power-play goals in their first seven chances. Since then, they have scored one power-play goal in their last 17 chances. They went 0 for 5 tonight.

-- The Kings have now lost nine consecutive games to the Dallas Stars and haven't won in Dallas since Dec. 31, 2005.

-- This is the worst four-game start by the Kings in at least 10 years, depending on how you look at it. At 1-3, they have two points in four games. That's the fewest since 1997-98, when they started 0-1-3. The Kings actually rebounded to make the playoffs that year. It's the first time the Kings have lost three of their first four games since 1996-97, when they started 1-3.

-- In two games, Jason LaBarbera has faced 52 shots and allowed nine goals. He looked solid in the first period but seemed to get unglued a bit in the second period and allowed a bad back-breaking goal that put the Kings down 3-0. Get used to it, folks. If these type of efforts continue, Jonathan Bernier won't be sticking around.

-- The Kings ended up outshooting the Stars 33-27, but that couldn't be any more deceiving. The Kings outshot the Stars 19-7 in the third period, when the Stars were basically playing the hockey version of a prevent defense.

-- Who played well? Jack Johnson, and maybe Cammalleri, Calder and Ivanans. If you're talking about Calder or Ivanans possibly being the third-best player, that's not a good thing, especially since Calder coughed up the puck on the first goal, a shorthanded goal.

-- Rob Blake finished with a minus-3 rating.

-- The Kings have allowed 14 goals in their last three games. That's the worst three-game span since Jan. 13-15-16 of last season, when the Kings allowed a total of 15 goals in three losses.

-- Kopitar led the Kings in ice time with 22 minutes, 27 seconds. Visnovsky played four seconds fewer.

What else is there to say?

All the Kings really did was waste jet fuel flying to Dallas. They'll be back tonight and on the ice for practice tomorrow morning, and that won't be a pretty scene for anyone. Final recap coming up in a few minutes...

Jack Johnson tossed the puck toward the net from the right boards. Turco made the stop and Ivanans whacked at the rebound in vain, but Calder made contact and knocked the puck past a prone Turco. The Kings finally get on the board, 9:03 into the third period, and Johnson records his first NHL point with the assist.

Well, that didn't take long. Rob Blake's outlet pass got picked off by Jeff Halpern at center ice. Halpern moved the puck to Joel Lundqvist who, despite some hooking from Blake, scored on the breakaway with a simple wrister past LaBarbera. The goal came 16 seconds into the third period.

Jim Fox noted on the telecast that tonight is the 34th anniversary of Bob Miller's first broadcast with the Kings, a 3-0 loss to Chicago at the Forum. Jim said, ``You've come a long way since then.'' Bob's response? ``Maybe not. The Kings haven't scored tonight either.''

Dallas 4, Kings 0

Well, that was pretty much a complete disaster. Other than the fact that the Kings killed two more 5-on-3 advantages, there was nothing positive for them to take out of that period. Two of the three goals were soft and the Kings generated only one shot on goal until the closing moments. They finished with three shots.

Blake and Calder are both -2 on the night and no King has more than two shots on goal. None of the Kings' lines generated anything to speak of in that period.

After a scramble in front, the Kings couldn't clear the puck, Handzus ended up flat on his back in front of the net and Mike Ribeiro flipped the puck into the net for a power-play goal with 3:55 remaining in the second period. The Stars have three goals in this period. The Kings have one shot on goal.

An uninspired period by the Kings just hit a low point. Jack Johnson couldn't handle Brad Stuart's pass in the defensive zone, but Antti Miettinen could. He jumped on the puck as Johnson stood by, for some reason, then skated past Johnson and beat LaBarbera with a wrister that probably should have been stopped. The goal came with 6:57 left in the second period. The Kings have one shot on goal in this period.

The Stars dumped the puck along the boards and it hopped over Handzus' stick. Brenden Morrow picked it up and, before Rob Blake could come in with the check, flipped a blind backhand pass into the slot. Niklas Hagman one-timed it past a hopeless LaBarbera 4:18 into the second period for his second goal of the game.

Stars 1, Kings 0

The teams each ended up with 11 shots in the period, but the Stars got the better of the scoring chances and took advantage of one huge error by the Kings to net the only goal of the period.

Jason LaBarbera looked confident and technically sound. Is it just me, or is he coming off the line a bit more to challenge shooters this season? LaBabera made 10 saves in the period.

The Kings didn't record a shot on goal during their second power play. Their first power play included a 22-second 5-on-3 advantage but ended in shame after Hagman's shorthanded goal. Kopitar, Cammalleri and Brown seemed to be moving the puck better and setting up power-play opportunities, but they couldn't get the puck on net.

The new lines were a mixed review. Nagy probably had his best period as a King, which makes me wonder if Handzus was holding him back. There's reason to believe that, since I can't recall a memorable shift by Handzus-O'Sullivan-Calder during that entire period.

The Kings' power-play woes continue. Kyle Calder, near the boards at the blue line, tried to chip a pass to Rob Blake but it went right to the stick of Dallas' Niklas Hagman, who skated in alone and beat LaBarbera five-hole. The goal came 7:24 into the first period.

Cammalleri-Kopitar-Brown
Nagy-Armstrong-Frolov
O'Sullivan-Handzus-Calder
Thornton-Zeiler-Ivanans

Visnovsky-Blake
Stuart-Johnson
Modry-Dallman

Tonight's scratches are Murray, Willsie and PREISSING, not Dallman. There's a statement on Crawford's part...

I guess he's better at keeping secrets than I thought!

On the radio, Nick and Daryl are hinting that the second and third lines could look like this:

Nagy-Armstrong-Frolov
O'Sullivan-Handzus-Calder

That would certainly be different, anyway.

Our web people have added an interesting new feature to the Daily News' site. I'll attach the link below, but it's essentially a stats-based preview of the upcoming game. In this case, it's tonight's game against Dallas. From the looks of it, it's quite a tool for gamblers, but it also has information about injuries and recent games, etc. Anyway, check it out, see what you think.

I'll do some game updates tonight, for those who need them...

Kings vs. Stars preview

It struck me during Saturday night's game that the line of Kopitar, Cammalleri and Brown was getting a lot accomplished in 5-on-5 situations but seemed to stall on the power play. I asked Michael Cammalleri if he agreed with that assessment of his line's play...

``We're going to work on it and we're going to get better at it,'' Cammalleri said. ``But I would agree. I think we generated, as a line, we generated tons of chances 5-on-5 in the last game, but on the power play we weren't nearly as effective. Usually we're a pretty good power-play line. We find a way to get it in there and get a lot of good chances. We know that, we're aware of it and we'll address it.''

The Kings went 1 for 7 on the power play against St. Louis.

It has become Michael Cammalleri's signature shot...the one-timer from one knee that seems to generate good speed and accuracy on the shot. He's been doing it, to some extent, throughout his career with the Kings, but it seems as though it's becoming an increasingly bigger part of his game. I asked him about it, and he said it was something that initially developed during his final season at Michigan.

``I think I really developed it during the lockout year in the American league,'' Cammalleri said. ``I scored 46 goals that year and I'd say 30 of them were one-timers. It kind of became something that I just started going to. Brett Hull was kind of the first guy to really go down on one knee like that. He was the best one-timer of the puck, ever, and he was the first to really go down on one knee like that. So I guess I was just trying to mimic that. I'm not saying I shoot like Brett Hull, trust me. I'm just trying to do what I can. From there, it was just a matter of working on it.

``The one-knee thing, I don't even mean to do it. It just kind of helps me get leverage on the puck and make sure that I get full contact and really bear down on my shot. I kind of just do it. I don't really think about doing it. Most of the time I do it now. Sometimes I still don't but it starts to become a habit. Sometimes I'll even take a wrist shot and I feel my knee hit the ice and I think, `What am I doing?'''

On his injury from taking a puck in the face Saturday ...

``I might be able to keep the teeth, so that's a good thing. They came out when I got hit. During the game, they put them back in. Yesterday they checked to see if the teeth are going to live or if they will need to be pulled. There's a crack in one of the roots, so that one might die. That's five teeth in a year, so hopefully it stops.''

``I have to wear that mask, which I'm not thrilled about. The bone is broken up here (pointing above lip and below nose on right side of his face) so that's the main concern. I'm going to be going (back to the dentist) probably once or twice a week for three-to-four months. It's part of the process, I guess. The main thing is hopefully the teeth they put back in won't die.''

On if he will start at goalie (He seems a little unconvincing, and we later found out from Crawford that the goalies were told who would start): ``We don't know yet. He didn't tell us. I guess he didn't tell us nothing.''

On his next start after his first NHL loss Saturday: ``You got to bounce back. Every time you have a loss or a bad game, it's important to bounce back quickly.''

On goalie for Wednesday: ``I'm not telling you. If there's any small advantage for them to have to prepare for two goalies, that's an advantage we're going to take. I've let the goaltenders know who is playing and they're very comfortable.''

On line changes: ``We're going to make some changes tomorrow but we'll wait until tomorrow to say them. I think we're going to make one up front, maybe two. Sorry, we're going to make two.''

On Jean-Sebastien Aubin (Sounds like he won't be activated anytime soon): ``Once he's healthy, we'll look at the situation as a three-goalie tenor. Right now, it's still a two-goalie situation. J-S is getting better. He still says he feels it when pushing. For goaltenders, ankles and groins are so important, especially the way goaltenders play now with the butterfly and such strain on those extremities. They've got to feel right in pushing off, the ability to push and move laterally from the knees and standing position to the butterfly. We've got to allow him to get healthy here and we're going to give him that opportunity. He was pretty good in camp for us. Jonathan was probably the most brilliant goaltender, but the guy who was most functional was probably J-S. So it's unfortunate he's had this the last couple weeks, but we have to be patient.''

Another long practice with quite a bit of verbal ``encouragement'' from Marc Crawford. As I type this, the Kings are just about wheels-up for Dallas and tomorrow night's game against the Stars.

-- Who's in goal? Andrew Raycroft. Oh wait, sorry... Crawford wouldn't say, but I'd bet a large sum of money that it's Bernier, just based on circumstantial evidence in practice today. I could be wrong, but I'd be very surprised. Plus. Crawford said he already let the starter know. Both of them said they didn't know, but I think Bernier is a much better goaltender than he is a poker player...

-- O'Sullivan practiced with his big Darth Vader shield today. He was spared surgery yesterday, but still faces more trips to the dentist to see if the teeth that got re-inserted in his mouth will be able to live. Fun stuff!

-- Crawford said he's planning on one or two changes to the forwards tomorrow, but wouldn't elaborate. That means the return of Thornton and/or Zeiler.

I talked to Cammalleri about his own play and about the power play, so I'll get that stuff up later. And some good news...the next software update on the blog will allow the un-blocking of all the IP addresses. I don't have a timetable on this yet. Our local guys in L.A. are hard at work at getting this done. If they got more support from people in other places, it would be great! One can always dream...

Just to let everyone know, the Daily News blogs are scheduled to go dark at 9 p.m. for a software upgrade. It's supposed to last four hours, but we'll see...

I'm waiting to see if the upgrade will be the answer for people who still can't view the site. I hope so, but I fear that has more to do with incompetence than upgrading.

The play of the three-game season belongs to Anze Kopitar. On Saturday, he carried the puck down the right side, swooped to the net and drew Manny Legace off his line. But then, instead of trying to force a shot at a tough angle, Kopitar held onto it for a moment longer, passed the puck behind Legace and through the crease and onto the stick of Dustin Brown for an easy goal.

``It was basically just instinct,'' Kopitar said of the play. ``Some goalies challenge me a lot, so when I saw him come out I just held onto it. I knew Brownie would be there.''

Given his talent on plays such as that, it seemed natural to ask Kopitar if he studied goaltenders on tape, in order to learn their tendencies. Kopitar said he doesn't do any formal studying but learns from things that happen on the ice.

``They might study me too, and adjust to things that I do,'' Kopitar said. ``So I just see what a goalie does and try to do the opposite. Sometimes you just have to go and make a decision and pull the trigger. You can't think about it too much.''

Dan Cloutier started his first game for Manchester on Saturday and the Monarchs lost 2-1 to Providence. Cloutier stopped 28 of 30 shots.

``It's been a long time,'' Cloutier told the Union-Leader newspaper. ``I did feel a little rusty at certain areas. Obviously it's more noticeable at this level because it's so scrambly.''

Both goals, according to the newspaper report, came on shots that were initially stopped by Cloutier but managed to trickle past him and over the line.

``The two goals weren't very good goals,'' Cloutier said. ``(The goal scorer) had his head down and just fired, which most guys don't do. It hit my stick and then my skate. ... Those are the things I have to work on. That's why I'm down here.''

Kyle Calder played for the Blackhawks in this decade, but he looks like he could have been an Original 6'er back in the 60s or 70s in Chicago. Some guys just look like hockey players, and Calder's style on the ice has earned him the nickname ``Grease,'' for the way he battles in front of the net.

Calder was perhaps the least heralded of the Kings' free-agent signings, but he's been solid thus far in a limited role. He doesn't yet have a point, but of the 10 forwards who have played all three games for the Kings, only four -- Calder, Cammalleri, O'Sullivan and Armstrong -- have an even or better plus-minus rating. Calder is even. Calder plays a style that doesn't get noticed much, except by grateful teammates.

``It's kind of the ugly part of the game,'' Calder said. ``You go in and get your nose dirty and you get rewarded. It gets me going. The more I get hit, the more effective I feel I'm being. If I'm causing havoc and making the other players think about me, then I'm doing my job.''

Calder nearly got rewarded with a goal Saturday night, but it was waved off because his stick was just above parallel when he made contact with the puck in front of the net.

Brady Murray said he didn't get to see his father after Saturday's game but he talked to Andy briefly over the phone.

``He was on the plane so it was a short converation, but you could tell he was pretty happy with the outcome. ''

Brady said he'd probably talk to his father again to hear what he thought of his play after Andy views film of the game.