December 2007 Archives

Crawford wouldn't yet say who was going first, but he did say LaBarbera and Aubin will each get a game in the next two.

Here's the release ...

The Los Angeles Kings have agreed to terms on a three-year entry-level contract with forward Wayne Simmonds, the club’s second-round selection (61st overall) in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft and one of three Kings prospects currently representing Canada at the 2008 IIHF World Junior Championships, Kings President/General Manager Dean Lombardi announced today. Per club policy, terms of the agreement were not announced.

Simmonds, 19, has zero points and two penalty minutes in four games with Team Canada at this year’s World Junior Championships. The 6-1, 174-pound native of Scarborough, Ontario, also has two goals and five penalty minutes in three regular season games with Sault Ste. Marie of the Ontario Hockey League this season. Simmonds was recently traded to Sault Ste. Marie after beginning this season with Owen Sound (OHL), where he had 39 points (17-22=39) and 43 penalty minutes in 29 regular season games.

Simmonds recorded 49 points (23-26=49) and 112 penalty minutes in 66 regular season games with Owen Sound during the 2006-07 season.

Here's what Raitis Ivanans had to say about fighting Cody McLeod of Colorado on Saturday, his first fight since breaking his Cheekbone in early November: ``It wasn’t really a good fight but it feels great to be able to do that again. I’m back to myself now.''

Ivanans didn't take a hit in the fight so he has yet to see how his cheek will respond to a punch. He had surgery on a nerve in his left cheek.

``It feels more sensitive now because the nerve was numb and now it's coming back,'' Ivanans said.

The Kings played Chicago on Sunday and have the Blackhawks again at Staples Center tomorrow. Ivanans had some thoughts on Chicago forward Tuomo Ruutu.

``It makes me mad that Ruutu guy won't drop gloves,'' Ivanans said. ``He won't even take a hit. He can hit you, but he can't take a hit or drop his gloves.''

With two goals Sunday in Chicago, including the game-winner in overtime, Dustin Brown set a career high with 18 goals. And we're not even at the midway point of the season.

``You look at my goals this year and a lot of them are within five feet of the crease,'' Brown said. ``It’s just a matter of sticking around there and you’ll get rewarded type of thing. I’ve been getting a lot of goals off the rebound or bouncing off me.''

Brown, in his fourth year, scored 17 goals in 81 games last year. It's looking like the Kings were well-timed in wrapping up the 23-year-old to a six-year contract extension in late October.

``I think he’s making the natural progression players make from year to year, especially in the first four to five years,'' Crawford said. ``Now the big improvement I see in his game is he’s trying new things offensively. Some of the moves he makes one on one, we didn’t see that before. He comes down with pressure on him last night, makes a great in-tight move and puts it upstairs. That’s as nice a goal as you're going to see.''

Michael Cammalleri didn't practice Monday and won't play tomorrow, according to Crawford. It will be the fourth game he's missed with bruised ribs. Cammalleri tried to skate before the Colorado game and it, again, did not go well. He's frustrated that he's not seeing improvement.

``It's not going as good as I hoped, obviously, or I would have played this weekend,'' Cammalleri said. ``It's definitely not ready.''

``It’s just frustrating for him because he wants to be able to go out and skate and shoot and do the things he normally does, but he can’t right now,'' Crawford said. ``I’m sure it is improving, just not to the degree of quickness that he’d like to have. He’s out tomorrow. You’ll see him practice before you see him play.''

With a late, noon start. I should have notes on your favorite back-to-back winners before you leave work, if you are at work today.

Dustin Brown scores in overtime to give the Kings the win. With two goals, he took back over the team lead with 18. Kings come back from 2-0 deficit in final eight minutes. Nice effort!

Kings were down 2-0 in the third before Dustin Brown and Kyle Calder scored to tie it.

with Chicago. Can they win two in a row for the first time since Oct. 27?

Who would have thought Jean-Sebastien Aubin and Scott Thornton would be the guys to get the Kings back in the win column? Aubin made 29 saves and Thornton scored the game-winner as the Kings scored three goals in the third period to beat Colorado 3-1. Derek Armstrong tied the game midway through the third period and Thornton gave the Kings the lead about a minute later. Kopitar added an empty netter, tying him with Dustin Brown for the team lead with 16 goals. And Raitis Ivanans got into his first fight since suffering the broken cheekbone Nov. 2. He battled Cody McLeod in the second period. The Kings ended their eight-game losing streak. Maybe that first time this month with consecutive days of practice was just what they needed.

He can play both defenseman to replace the injured Kevin Dallman and forward to make up for Zeiler being sent down. The 37-year-old had no points and two penalty minutes in five games for the Kings about a month ago.

Crawford spoke a little on the Kings prospects in the tournament ...

``Bernier got a shutout in his first game against the host country and obviously was the star of the game, so I’m sure everyone is pleased about that, not the least of which is our fans. The one thing that we do have is a good group of prospects that are coming. A lot are at Manchester and many of them are at the elite junior level throughout the world. We also have Oscar Moller playing for the Swedes and he’s had a great season at major juniors and is getting an opportunity, the second time he’s gone to represent his country, and is doing extremely well. We all like Oscar. We think Oscar is going to be a sure-fire NHL player. The other two players, Hickey the first rounder, playing defense for Canada, and the surprise for everyone throughout hockey has been wayne simmonds. He was picked in second round last year and is playing in a role (with Canada) where I can see him playing for us one day. He’s a robust, strong guy on the forecheck. He’s got a bit of a power game. He’s probably got that prototypical third line, kill penalties, be conscious and that great skater that seems to be so necessary in today’s game. Today’s game has taken a turn to speed and he definitely has that.''

Dean Lombardi has been in the Czech Republic watching the games.

``I’m sure that’s what he’s over there evaluating, and also evaluating the prospects on every team,'' Crawford said. ``Because, when the trades do happen, it seems people will trade prospects. So you want to have a great book on the prospects that other people have. And this world juniors tournament is the best because you see every team’s best prospects play against every other team’s best prospects with national pride also in the balance. So it’s a great evaluation tool. Plus there’s some undrafted players that I'm sure the crack scouts on the L.A. Kings are scouring.''

These past two days have marked the first time this month the Kings have been able to practice two days in a row. The Kings played 14 games in the first 26 days of December, which -- along with travel time and days off for the holidays -- created a lack of practice availability. It's made it difficult for the Kings, who have lost eight games in a row, to break out of their struggles.

``Two practices in a row,'' Crawford said. ``It’s like, wow, you get to work on facets of your game. Let’s face it, we haven’t been sharp. I think part of the reason we haven’t been sharp is because we've been trying to make corrections off video and chalk talks and stuff like that. There’s no substitute for good, hard work and practice.''

``When you’re not able to practice, there's not a lot of time to fix things or adjust or even look back at the game you played since you have to look forward to the next one,'' Patrick O'Sullivan said.

Brad Stuart said he hurt his right foot when he was hit by a shot in the Dec. 8 game against Phoenix. X-rays were negative, but the foot has been sore ever since. He took practice off Thursday but was back on the ice Friday and is expected to play this weekend.

``It's just one of those things that the more I have the skate on the more irritated (the foot) gets, so if I have the chance to give it a rest that's a good thing,'' Stuart said.

Crawford still calls him doubtful. He's going to make the trip, so there's a chance he plays. But Cammy seems unsure of what to make of his injury at this point.

``I’ll do whatever I can to try to get in the lineup,'' Cammalleri said. ``We’ll see what happens. We'll see what tomorrow brings. There's been a little bit of improvement. I've never had this before. There's certain things you've had before where you know what to expect, know the feeling and can reflect on experience to guide you. This I've never had so I'm not really sure what I’m feeling. If I feel I can help the team at all, I’ll be in the lineup.''

John Zeiler was not at practice Friday and Crawford said he has been sent down to Manchester. No word yet on who the Kings will call up. That Jon Klemm can play defense or forward probably helps his cause. Zeiler, 25, had been up with the Kings all season. The second-year player averaged eight minutes and 35 seconds of ice time over 34 games with one assist and 23 penalty minutes.

Here's what Crawford had to say about Zeiler: ``John Zeiler has I think got caught up in the tenseness and the complications that come from an extended period of play that a team has gone trhough. We can do something for John Zeiler, which is allow him to go down and recapture his game. He’s given us energy. We’ve been really pleased with the energy he’s given us and the hits that he’s given us, but it pretty much stops there. And there’s more of a player there in John Zeiler that we believe he’s got to continue to develop. They’re playing a lot of games right now in Manchester. It’s going to give him a good opportunity to go down and play. We can't just throw John in and say, ` John, go out there and be confident with the puck.' He needs the opportunity to feel confident with the puck. We can't give him the opportunity right now here, but we can give it to him there. If we're not going to use him here in a game then he should be playing. I believe that is the thought going into this move. Make no mistake about it, though, John is a quality guy. He’s got great character. We love his enthusiasm, his energy and the physicality he plays with. What were looking at is trying to get him to be a little more of a player with the puck and let him keep progressing.''

Quick notes with more to come ...

--John Zeiler was sent down to Manchester
--Michael Cammalleri did not practice and remains doubtful for the weekend games, but he will make the trip
--Brad Stuart was back on the ice and is expected to play
--Jean-Sebastien Aubin said he will get the start tomorrow against Colorado with Jason LaBarbera going Sunday in Chicago.

With Kevin Dallman injured and Brad Stuart banged up, the Kings will definitely bring up a defenseman from Manchester before Saturday's game at Colorado. I wrote yesterday that the Kings needed to wait until after the holiday roster freeze ended tonight, as Crawford had told us, but some of you pointed out this is false -- the Kings can make an injury call-up from Manchester at any time. It will probably come in some time today. I would think Klemm is coming back up. That would follow with Dean's philosophy on not bringing up the younger prospects this early in the season. But we'll see.

Jason LaBarbera was the last player off the ice Thursday, staying half an hour past when practice officially ended.

``I didn’t really play an awful lot last night so I decided to work extra hard today, I guess,'' LaBarbera said.

Crawford pulled LaBarbera less than 13 minutes into the game after he allowed his second goal. LaBarbera has struggled in five games since returning from a rib injury.

``I'm working on seeing the puck better, focusing more on seeing it off guys' sticks and playing my rebound a little better,'' LaBarbera said. ``Sometimes, when you miss a bit of time, little things like that get away from you.''

Crawford said LaBarbera and Jean-Sebastien Aubin would each get one game over the weekend, though he wouldn't say who would go first.

Brad Stuart sat out with a sore foot.

``His foot’s been bothering him for quite a while,'' Crawford said. ``He’s playing with some soreness. It’s allowing him to play but it’s not allowing him to practice. We hope he will go (Saturday) but we’ll see as we move along here.''

Here's what Dustin Brown had to say about his first game back after missing two games with a left shoulder injury: ``It felt pretty good. It kind of took me a little while to get into the game. You go in with an injury, you’re going to be pretty tentative -- especially an injury like this where it’s contact that’s going to hurt more than anything. I felt once I got past the first maybe 10 minutes I started being more comfortable with it and I think I had a few good hits out there, so that’s a positive that I was able to play part of my game considering how sore it is.''

Brown said the shoulder wasn't any more sore after playing, but he wakes up with it stiff and it loosens up as the day goes on. He had an ice pack on it after practice. He had a similar separation to his right shoulder in juniors and was back playing in a week, but the shoulder continued to be sore for over a month.

``It's going to be one of those things that's sore for a while,'' Brown said. ``I'll just have to deal with it.''

Michael Cammalleri didn't practice Thursday because of bruised ribs and it's sounding less likely that he will play Saturday in Colorado or Sunday in Chicago.

``He's still sore,'' Crawford said. ``He worked out off the ice today. He's not ready to resume on ice. I would say he’s listed as doubtful for these next couple of games but we haven’t put him on the injujred list. Were hopeful he’s able to play, that’s why we haven’t put him on the injured list. It will be a day-to-day call and he’ll have the most to say on it. Mike's a pretty aware guy about his body. It’s not a big body but he’s aware of it, and he’ll tell us when he’s ready.''

Guess what was back tonight? That's right, Marc Crawford's favorite catch phrase -- stay the course!

``We had a number of opportunities and didn't get the job done and, you're right, it's a familiar refrain,'' Crawford said. ``But, at this time of year, all we can do is continue to keep persevering and continue to try to stay the course. One solace in all this hopefully is that guys learn to hate losing. There's some dejected people in our room right now. I don't think anybody's quitting. I think there's a lot of effort. What can you ask for except better excecution, and we're trying to work on that.''

But that wasn't all. We have a double stay the course!

``I hope our guys continue to be really sour about losses,'' Crawford said. ``I hope the one thing we need most -- which is a win -- comes our way and, when it does, you have to think that sort of confidence will spur us on and make these one-goal losses turn into victories. We're very close now. We're doing more things right than we are wrong, and we have to stay the course.''

Maybe he means stay the course to the first pick?

Here's what Kopitar had to say ...

``We’ve got to find a way to win hockey games because it’s definitely not fun coming to the locker room after the game. It’s getting old, the losing. The guys are frustrated and miserable.

``We’ve got to improve this. There’s 20 guys in here. If we can get one percent more out of each guy, that’s 20 percent better.’’

Neither Crawford nor Nagy seemed to think futher disciplinary action was needed against Craig Rivet for putting his stick up against Nagy's throat.

Here are Crawford's thoughts on yanking LaBarbera: ``I felt we needed a change right there. We have to get more saves than we're getting right now. We've been out-goaltended in a lot of games here lately.''

The eight-game losing streak is the worst by the Kings since they lost 11 to end the 2003-04 season.

You probably figured that out by now. I'm back from the locker room and will have some notes and quotes up as soon as I finish my gamer.

Well, the Kings failed to score on the major and then Michalek tipped in his second goal of the game. That should do it. Still 16 minutes left but ...

I think we should know in the first 2:20 of the third if the Kings will win this one. That's the time remaining on a five-minute major to Craig Rivet. After a cross check from Nagy, Rivet hit Nagy under the chin with a two-handed shove of his stick. Rivet was called for intent to injury and got a game misconduct. The Kings got some early chances in the power play but did not finish the period strong.

Frolov went around the goal and hit one off Evgeni Nabokov's pads. Rob Blake took the long rebound and scorched one with some old-school power. The power-play goal came just after the Kings had failed to convert in 42 seconds with a two-man advantage. Blake now has 479 points as a King, tying him with Jim Fox for seventh in franchise history.

It's kind of like the Dallas game, except there's no horn and the Kings aren't actually scoring. Seems like some technical difficulties. Or maybe the guy who controls it is trying to spark the team.

And LaBarbera was yanked for Aubin after Joe Pavelski scored the second goal with 7:43 left. It's looking like anyone thinking the Kings could end their seven-game losing streak forgot this game isn't in San Jose. The Kings didn't get their first power play until the final 1:44. Good news is they still have 16 seconds left when the second period starts!

Jason LaBarbera, Jean-Sebastien Aubin and Jeff Giuliano went to Brian Willsie's house for Christmas dinner. Willsie's wife, Kelly, did most of the cooking. LaBarbera made two dishes as well, one with sweet potatoes and the other with cranberries. He said he enjoys cooking.

Kevin Dallman broke his right foot when he was struck by a shot in the second period of Saturday's game at Nashville. He's hoping to be back in two weeks. He was walking around in crutches and sandles Wednesday. He needs one more scan before the doctor decides to put him in a cast or a walking boot. The Kings can't make any roster moves until after the holiday freeze ends tomorrow night at midnight eastern, but someone should be coming up from Manchester after that.

Ivanans said he will take off the mask tonight and is free to fight for the first time since he broke his cheekbone Nov. 2 in San Jose. Coincidentally, the Kings host the Sharks tonight. He said he won't hesitate to drop his gloves because of the injury.

``It's been six weeks and it's healed up nicely, so I should be OK,'' Ivanans said.

Dustin Brown is expected to return to the lineup tonight after a two-game absence. He hurt his left shoulder during the Detroit game last Wednesday. Brown said he should be able to play normally with a few limitations.

``I can't reach out for pucks or to slow someone down,'' Brown said.

He isn't worried about making the injury worse.

``The doctor said the only way I could make it worse would be to fall back on it the same way,'' Brown said.

He got out on the ice and tried to give it ago this morning but immediately knew it wasn't going to happen.

``I tried to shoot the puck and could just tell that I wasn't going to be able to go as soon as I got out there,'' Cammalleri said. ``I'm not in much pain. It's just sore and I couldn't really do anything I would need to do on the ice.''

The injury is bruised ribs from the altercation in the first period against Nashville. Crawford said the injury was different from LaBarbera's and didn't involve any ligament strain. They are hoping to have Cammalleri back for the weekend games.

``I think it's pretty day to day,'' Cammalleri said. ``I don't think it's going to be a long thing by any means.''

Cammy is out, Brown is in, Dallman is out and Ivanans will play without the face mask. I'll expand on these to come ...

First of all, a Merry Christmas to everyone out there. Hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season, in spite of the dreadful hockey you've been subjected to this month. Along those lines, since the Kings have been off for a few days, I've had a chance to reflect on how/why this season has started to swirl the drain. Some thoughts, in no particular order...

-- Yes, this is a building season for the Kings, part of the ``plan.'' But even by those standards, it's a tremendous disappointment. Making the playoffs is the goal every year, but realistically, Kings brass expected this to be at least a .500 team. They're now 11 games under .500. To break even at this point, the Kings would have to finish 28-17, or some equivalent thereof. Would you bet on that today?

-- Should Marc Crawford be fired? That's a rhetorical question. I think I know what the majority opinion is here. It probably won't happen -- at least for now -- but it's certainly a legitimate topic of discussion. Since this team is underachieving, even by its modest preseason expectations, then the coach should be examined. It's fair to question whether Crawford is the correct coach for this team. It's a young team -- Dean Lombardi disagrees with that, but it is -- and there are some fragile personalities on the team. Is Crawford's coaching style and demeanor the best fit when it comes to building a young-ish team? That's an important question.

-- There are two glaring numbers: 125 and 77.5. They are, respectively, the number of goals allowed by the Kings and the Kings' penalty-kill percentage this season. They have allowed the most goals in the NHL and have the second-worst penalty-kill percentage in the league. Injuries in goal have played a part in this, but top to bottom, this team just isn't tough enough. Not at forward and not on the blue line. Having a relatively small, skillful set of players is nice, but it must lead to a highly prolific offense. The Kings don't have one. They (usually) have an average offense, and that's not good enough to make up for defensive shortcomings. Who, on this Kings team -- with the exception of Dustin Brown -- really scares an opposing forward? Lubomir Visnovsky is a hard worker who cares deeply about winning, but he has been mostly dreadful. This should have been his season to break out, but it's gone completely the other way.

-- The Kings have totaled 13 goals in this seven-game losing streak. Secondary scoring is an issue that has never been resolved, and I still point to Michal Handzus and Ladislav Nagy. During training camp, they were two-thirds of the Kings' second line. There was a reason for that. Revisionist history aside, they were counted on to be top-six forwards when they were signed. Now, combined, they have 10 goals and 15 assists. Guys like O'Sullivan, Calder and Armstrong shouldn't have to be top-six forwards on this team, but they often are because Handzus and Nagy haven't gotten it done. And that falls on Lombardi's shoulders, along with the mostly underwhelming signings of Brad Stuart and Tom Preissing.

-- Is the future bright? It certainly seems so, although the operative word there is ``seems.’’ Nobody will know for certain until these guys start playing in the NHL. Jonathan Bernier is the golden child right now, but young goalies are famously unstable. Will Ted Purcell’s scoring touch translate to the NHL? It’s accurate to say that the depth of young talent in the organization is better than it has ever been. Lombardi turned that around very quickly and deserves great praise for it. He works the draft perhaps better than any GM in the NHL. But now, we’re going to see what his batting average is. How many of these prospects will become bona-fide NHL players? That will be the true litmus test of Lombardi’s reign.

-- I look around the locker room at times and think, who are the leaders? Rob Blake is highly respected, but he’s not an emotional, in-your-face captain. Scott Thornton isn’t even a full-time player. Visnovsky isn’t performing well. Michael Cammalleri has taken major strides in this area, but he’s still developing as a leader. Who else is there? When I think of stand-up, we’re-not-going-to-take-this-crap-anymore guys, Jack Johnson is near the top of the list, and he hasn’t even played a full season in the NHL. He's 20 years old. Lombardi talks about not creating a culture of losing, but in order for this team to make some strides, more guys need to be flat-out angry about losing. Luc Robitaille was like this. Even Sean Avery, for all his faults, hated to lose. He often lashed out in inappropriate ways, but at least he sparked some emotion.

So, there you go. There's no easy way to turn any of this around. It's more about attitude than skill, so we'll see if the Kings come out of this holiday break with any type of new attitude. Once again, Merry Christmas and happy holidays to everyone, and thanks for the continued interest and support this year.

The Kings are taking Sunday, Monday and Tuesday off for the holidays. They won't get back on the ice until the morning skate before Wednesday's game against San Jose.

Seventh consecutive loss. Sully scored his second of the game to get the Kings back within one midway through the period. The Kings had some decent chances after that but couldn't tie it up. Jason Arnott had a hat trick for Nashville, which broke its own five-game losing streak. Sully now has nine goals, three of which he got on this road trip.

In small first-period scrap and hasn't returned since. I'm taking away his enforcer status.

Sully scored short-handed for the Kings' other goal. Can the Kings salvage anything on this road trip?

first goal in 27 games. Cookie?

Already losers of six in a row, it only took two and a half minutes for the Kings to fall behind on a pretty 2-on-1. The Kings have seven defensemen active. It's too bad they can't have them all on the ice at once. Cammy got into a scrap behind the net protecting Kopitar. I think I'm going to call Cammy the team enforcer from now on.

Columbus scored less than a minute into the third period. The Kings were outshot 15-10 in the first period after outplaying the Blue Jackets in the first two periods. Frolov led the team with 26:11 on the ice. I guess that's a good sign for his health. Sixth consecutive loss for the Kings.

The Kings had a goal disallowed in the first period because of interference in the crease, then at the end of the second period LaBarbera had the puck covered up and Jiri Novotny came in and poked it in. That goal was allowed. I guess those are the sort of things that go against you when you're struggling. Michael Cammalleri broke his seven-game scoring drought for the Kings goal.

on FSN West. As you know, Dustin Brown is out with a shoulder injury and Nagy is back. The Kings just can't seem to get fully healthy. Brown leads the team with 16 goals. Jason LaBarbera is in net, his third start in a row since coming back from the ribs injury. I'd venture to guess that Aubin starts in Nashville tomorrow. Columbus is 14-13-6 with 34 points, tied with Chicago for third in the Central Division. The Kings are 12-21-2 with 26 points, the worst total in the NHL, and are on a five-game losing streak. Columbus also is struggling of late, losing four of its past five. Rick Nash leads the Blue Jackets with 18 goals and 13 assists. In the previous matchup between the teams this season, the Kings lost 4-1 at Staples Center on Halloween night. Jason Chimera scored twice for Columbus in that one. Kyle Calder scored the lone Kings goal, though that was also the game he broke his thumb.

One game closer to the top pick!

Many of you probably have seen the Kings' all-star commercial that has run on the overhead screen at games recently. If you don't know what I'm talking about, here it is. And that brings us to my question ...

The Kings played decent in the second period and pretty well in the third but the game was already over after they allowed three goals in a first period in which they only managed four shots.

LaBarbera took the blame for the first period. You probably won't read this quote in any story, but he even said the team probably would have won the game if he didn't play like (excrement) in the first period.

Here's his printable quote: ``The first period, I just felt like I was on my heels. It's a big difference between practice and getting in games. I was on my heels and it cost us. They scored three goals I probably could have had. To let your team get behind like that is tough. I wanted to come in with a good start. I thought I played well the rest of the game but the first period was the game.''

But, if you saw the game, you know it wasn't all LaBarbera's fault. Visnovsky hung him out to dry on the second goal and Blake kicked in the third one. LaBarbera actually was named the second star of the game for his 37 saves.

After all that talk of finishing checks against Smyth and paying him some extra attention, the Kings basically did nothing to make him pay the price for injuring LaBarbera on Dec. 1. Cammalleri pinned him in a semi-headlock against the boards for a few extra seconds after the first period and had some words with him. He had his stick knocked away a few times and took a couple light elbows, but he wasn't even knocked down hard. There was no real retaliation.

When I asked Crawford about Smyth, he completely dodged the question. Here's what LaBarbera had to say: ``He’s pretty savvy. He’s been around a long time and he’s good at avoiding those kinds of confrontations. We got a couple shots in there but nothing too huge. The biggest thing is you can't run out of positon to make a hit on him or get a penalty and put your team down. It happened. It might have been a dirty hit, but I’d rather not try to kill a penalty than have guys try to run around and get back on him.
I happen to be the (victim) and don’t want guys running around trying do somrthing bad or get the team in trouble.''

The Kings had been putting together fuller games lately, getting away from their habit of only playing 40 minutes, but this was a regression.

``In spurts, we’ve been good but for whatever reason we can’t seem to get 60 min together and it's costing us games and taking us further and further down the standings,'' LaBarbera said. ``I don't know what it is. We need to figure something out.''

The Kings are now three points behind the next-worst team in the NHL and four points behind in the Western Conference.

``I think at this point, desperate is the word everyone in this room should be thinking about,'' Patrick O'Sullivan said. ``We talked about it before tonight and went out and gave up a three-goal cushion. I don't know what the answer is. It's getting to the point where it needs to turn around or we're going to be in some serious trouble.''

Oh, and here's what Crawford had to say about the game. I jusk asked for his thoughts on the game this time and let him say what he was already going to anyway.

``We had a terrible start. Adversity is a big enemy of ours right now. We look inexperienced at handling our adversity.

``We wanted to give LaBarbera a night not too difficult but tonight we gave up far too many chances. I thought we were better in second and made a game of it in the third but we still can't start like that and get away with it in this league.

``At times like these, you can point fingers and be really divisive and divide the group, but one thing I will say is these guys are sticking together and trying to work a way through it. We are struggling right now, there is no doubt about that.

``I thought either Jason or Rob Blake were our best players tonight and there weren't a lot of other players who played to the level they needed to. It's great to have him (Jason) back. I think, if nothing else, it should solidify our group knowing he's going to get saves.

``We didn't like the effort tonight, make no mistake about that. The effort wasn't good enough. It's hard to put a finger on it but it's very apparent tonight that when we got an early penalty and then they score on the power play, you could almost see our guys on their heels, and the game is difficult to play when you're taking a defensive stance all time.''

Smyth doesn't take so much as a hard hit. Notes and quotes from the locker room to come.

Doesn't look like the Kings are going to win this one. But perhaps there is something they can do to salvage the game?

I'd be watching this one even if it wasn't my job. Should be interesting.

LaBarbera is starting, and he's already had another unfavorable run in with Ryan Smyth. Smyth scored a power-play goal less than three minutes into the game.

And there's another Colorado goal. Jaroslav Hinka poked the puck away from Visnovsky in the Kings' zone, got a clear path to the goal and beat LaBarbera.

and Quick sent down. Quick was 1-2 with a 3.86 goals-against average and .855 save percentage.

Only because Joe asked. Nagy skated with the team today for the first time since leaving the Buffalo game with his hip flexor injury.

``It's feeling better but it's tough to say when I will come back because, when I push a little hard, it still bothers me. I have to be patient and not push it hard. It was my first practice so tomorrow, hopefully, it will be better. I’m going to skate and push it more and more every day.''

It's perfect timing for Jason LaBarbera to return to action, facing the team and player that knocked him out.

Crawford has never been more livid this season than after the Dec. 1 game against Colorado, when Ryan Smyth broke his stick and knocked LaBarbera out for seven games with a rib injury trying to jab the puck loose from the goalie. Crawford wanted the play to get the league's attention, but nothing was ever done to Smyth, who didn't even get a penalty on the play.

That nothing includes no retaliation by the Kings against Smyth for the final 14:40 of the game after the play. He didn't receive as much as a hard hit against the boards.

The Kings have been more protective of the goalie since the play, with captain Rob Blake ejected from the Dec. 8 loss to Phoenix for something he said to a referee in part out of anger for penalties not being called when the Coyotes crashed into backup Jean-Sebastien Aubin.

So, will Smyth ``pay the price'' on Monday?

``I’ll have a few words with Smyth,'' Kings enforcer Raitis Ivanans said. ``We’ll be looking to make some hard hits. It’s part of the game, but obviously we've got to let him know not to do that ever again.''

LaBarbera said he didn't think Smyth was a dirty player or that there was intent to harm, though he ``found it interesting'' that Smyth broke his stick on him in the play.

``For me, as long as they don’t get penalties (sending a message to Smyth) that’s the biggest thing. You obviously have to stand up for your teammates and that’s all part of the game. But I don’t want guys to take penalties. It puts us behind the 8-ball to do something like that. Who knows. I don’t expect anything to happen. The biggest thing for us is to go out and get a win tomorrow.''

Crawford faced some controversy earlier this month when a Canadian news report revisited the on-ice attack from then-Vancouver player Todd Bertuzzi on Colorado's Steve Moore from 2004, alleging that Crawford pointed to Moore's name and number on a board in the Canucks' locker room during the second period intermission and said Moore ``must pay the price.'' Moore sustained a broken neck and never played in the NHL again.

Here's what Crawford had to say about facing Smyth again:

``As I said after the game, everybody appreciates the way Ryan Smyth plays. You do appreciate it, but again look last night and we got a penalty (Michael Cammalleri for goalie interference in the third period) for doing far less than he did, and he got no penalty on the play. The onus is on your team to make sure the life-long adage of hockey and people protecting their goaltenders has always been present in our game and should continue to be. That area in front of the goalie should be a no-parking zone and you have to defend it rigorously. If people are trying to take liberties with your goaltender, that’s always going to raise the ire of your team and rightfully so. Every good team worth its salt will always be very protective of their people. We don’t want to play to the extent where we're taking unnecessary penalties. A lot of times there is a subtle difference of being there and showing support without going overboard, and that’s a delicate balance.''

Jason LaBarbera practiced fully with the team for the first time since his injury and it appears he will start Monday against Colorado. LaBarbera spoke as if there was no doubt he would play. Crawford said he would wait until tomorrow to decide but seemed to be leaning that way.

``It will be nice have Jason back in lineup,'' Crawford said. ``We’ll make the decision tomorrow whether to play him or not but he’s in a position now where he's at least healthy enough to play. It was great for him today to have a solid practice and a good practice and be able to play against everybody.

``We would not be playing him if he was not able to play. There's no doubt people play in the National Hockey League with some pain. If you're injured, there's no way you can play but if you're hurt or hurting, a lot of guys have bumps and bruises and Jason in that category. We’d love nothing better than to have him available to us and it looks like he’s pointing in that direction.''

LaBarbera said he doesn't feel much pain on the ice. It's five minutes after he gets off the ice where the stiffness kicks in. He said he will put a heat pad on his ribs between periods. He still can't sleep on his right side, which bothers him because that's the way he likes to sleep.

``On the ice, it’s not too bad,'' LaBarbera said. ``When my whole body is warm, I don’t really feel it as much. Off the ice, it’s miserable. It hurts. It’s still pretty painful. But when I get warmed up and I’m on the ice, it seems to be all right.''

Expect to still see a lot of backup Jean-Sebastien Aubin this month. Crawford said LaBarbera will probably need more time off than before.

``We have to be honest and say we don't think he will be able to log quite as much of the burden as he had before, that's just my suspicion based on the fact that he's going to be sore,'' Crawford said. ``He's going to continue to be sore here probably for another month.''

I'm not going to say Crawford was shouting in the post-game press conference but he was definitely a few decibels louder than usual. Check out the video on the Kings site if you can. It should be amusing.

Crawford was frustrated that a few mistakes, like the breakaway in the first period and the too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty that led the the 5-on-3 and the second goal, cost the Kings this game.

``If there’s one thing I am disappointed about it’s that we haven’t gotten through our thick skulls yet that it’s a very fine line between winning and losing in the national hockey league,’’ Crawford said. ``There’s no doubt we were better than this team tonight. Where we failed is we didn’t do absolutely everything that we could to win the game. That’s what we're going to have to be committed to do. This team will be a very good club when it learns it has to put out absolutely every ounce of preparation, every ounce of energy, every ounce of difference-making that they can muster up. And when we get that, we're going to change these frustrating losses -- and they're frustrating for everybody, especially our fan base -- into very energetic and satisfying wins. Right now we are not at the top of our game in that one crucial category, which is most crucial of all -- difference making and wanting make difference. That game was there for us tonight no matter how good their goalie was -- and he was great. We made a few mistakes, things where if you take that attitude where every shift can be the difference in the game, you're not going to make those mistakes. Maybe it takes frustrating losses like these to get it through everyone's head.''

Crawford answered one more harmless question and then cut the interview short and walked away after two questions. Really, though, you only need one question with Crow, and it can be about anything. Ask him what he thought of the national anthem and he'll go off on a long tangent with everything he wants to say about the game.

With the loss, the Kings fall into sole possession of the worst record in the league. Washington and Phoenix both won, pulling two points ahead of the Kings. Dustin Brown said the players notice the team's place in the standings.

``I think it bothers everyone in here,’’ Brown said. ``We have a better team than what we’re playing as. It’s a matter of the people in this room to start playing to their potential and eliminating those little mistakes. This is not the first time where we’ve made one or two mistakes and it’s cost us the game.’’

The Kings outshot Minnesota 36-24 but were a season-worst 0-for-8 on the power play.

Alexander Frolov played 15:57 and had two shots. He said the lack of practice time made it difficult for him but that the groin felt OK.

``It’s always hard to get back when you’re out for almost a month,’’ Frolov said. ``It’s going to affect your game a little bit. I had a couple good chances tonight. The groin is a little sore but I think it’s going to be fine.’’

Rob Blake scored with 1:12 left to avoid the shutout and make things a little interesting at the end. Notes and quotes from the locker room to come ...

Kudos if you watched that whole period and aren't being paid for it. There were 12 penalties and five power plays for each team. Of course, the Kings couldn't convert any of those chances. The Wild scored one to up their lead to 2-0 at the end of two periods.

1-0 Wild on goal by Marian Gaborik, who got in front and had a clear shot at Aubin.

Frolov begins on a line with Sully and Cammy. Kings need a win here to keep pace with Washington and Phoenix in a tie for fewest points in the league.

When it was first announced he would sit with a pulled right groin, Frolov was only expected to miss two or three games. After all, he played in three games after the injury first occurred Nov. 15 against the Ducks. It ended up being 11 games. Frolov was tied for the team lead in points when he went out. He said he didn't want to return until he was 100 percent, though he admits he's not quite there.

``I'm pretty close,'' Frolov said. ``I still feel it a little bit but it’s OK. I had a really hard practice yesterday and it responded really well. It’s a little sore but it should be fine and I’m good to go.''

Frolov began the season with a left groin injury and has really only felt healthy for a game or two in the middle of November.

``I really want to be in the lineup,'' he said. ``Usually when you miss like three weeks or so you need some time to get back on track but I just really want to go out there and do my best. Do whatever I can to help us win.''

Frolov still hasn't had a full practice with teammates. This has been a problem with LaBarbera as well. The schedule has been so condensed, with nine games in 15 days so far this month plus the traveling on the quick road trip to Chicago and Dallas, that practice time has been limited. Frolov has only skated with the regulars. On Friday, his hard practice was mostly with assistant coaches.

``The injured guys need quality practice with the rest of the group and we've had to simulate game-like situations with coaches, with extra players, that sort of thing,'' Crawford said. ``It hasn’t been optimum. It’s stifled their progression, I think, a little bit.''

But Crawford is hopeful Frolov can give the team an offensive spark. He's had to experiment with the lines more than usual to try to generate offense in Frolov's absence.

``Obviously, we're excited to have a player of that caliber back in our lineup,'' Crawford said. ``The last time he played he was outstanding against Anaheim (I believe he means in the Nov. 13 game when he had three assists). He was just a dominant player, the best player on the ice for both teams in that particular game, and it's unfortunate he hasn’t been able to play since.''

Quick notes with expansion to follow ...

-- Frolov is expected to go tonight
-- LaBarbera could return Monday
-- Nagy did not skate and remains out

Just got word that practice has been canceled.

Crawford did give Quick the start, then pulled him after allowing three goals in the second period. Aubin finished it off saving all 10 shots on goal. Preissing scored the lone goal for the Kings. No fights this game.

The Kings are tied with Phoenix and Washington for fewest points in the NHL, and the Kings have played one more game than both of those teams.

Three Kings prospects -- Jonathan Bernier, Thomas Hickey and Wayne Simmonds -- have been selected to represent Canada in the World Junior Championships, which start Dec. 26. It's quite an accomplishment for one team to have three of the 22 players on the team, and a real solid boost for Bernier, who was left off last year's Canada team and who has struggled a bit in juniors after his departure from the Kings. Also, Oscar Moller will represent Sweden. The rosters are made up of non-NHL players under age 20. By the way, if anyone knows if/how these games can be viewed online, please let me know!

So does Quick get the start tomorrow in Dallas?

Kopitar scored his sixth goal in eight games but Chicago came back to score less than a minute later. Aubin got chased from the game after allowing three goals on nine shots in the first period. This was the second goal that Quick has allowed.

Come on now, you didn't really think the Kings would play well two games in a row, did you? The fiery part from last game seems to have continued, though. Brad Stuart got a five-minute major instigator, another five for fighting against Tuomo Ruutu, a 10-minute misconduct and a game misconduct. Derek Armstrong also got a 10-minute misconduct and another five minutes for fighting Adam Burish.

Handzus scored against his former team and is coming on offensively. He has three goals in the past four games after having one in the previous 27. Sully scored his first goal in seven games.

There was some fire and testiness to the Kings today that I think a lot of fans have been looking for when the team has struggled.

Michael Cammalleri, who came to the defense of Kopitar in the third period when he was elbowed into the boards by Alexandre Burrows, pointed Rob Blake as setting the tone.

(Kopitar's) a great hockey player and we’ve got to defend each other,'' Cammalleri said. ``We try not to let anybody get some licks on us without knowing (retaliation) is going to come, that’s for sure.
I think we're doing a good job responding when we need to. Blakey’s our leader and he’s the one that’s showing us the way. It's unacceptable to hit our goalie. It's unacceptable to hit guys when they’re in vulnerable positions, and we’re going to react to it.''

Through a Kings representative, Blake declined to speak with the media following the game. He got a 10-minute misconduct penalty in the final minute, again appearing to come to the defense of goalie Jean-Sebastien Aubin with the Kings already missing Jason LaBarbera because of a player banging into the goalie.

``Any time there’s emotion in the game there’s nothing wrong with that,'' Crawford said. ``The game is one of emotion. You shouldn't go into those high-intense areas in front of the net without thinking you're going to have to answer the bell. With what happened to Jason, we're very conscious of protecting the goaltender now. I think it adds to the spice and the emotion that our team has, and we always seem to play better when we have that edge.''

Crawford said he thought it was Calder's best game since his return from injury and that the Armstrong-O'Sullivan-Willsie line was the one that won the game.

The Kings are now 10-1-0 when allowing two goals or less.

Brown scores on the 5-on-3 off an assist from Armstrong. Brown extended his career-long point streak to nine games with his assist earlier. He has 14 points during the stretch. Kopitar has 13 over the same period. Too bad the Kings are 4-5 over the nine games. But I'm calling this one and saying notes and quotes from the locker room to come.

When Derek Armstrong starts scoring, he does it in bunches! He got an easy cleanup here with the puck floating in front of the net after a long-range shot from Jack Johnson was tipped by Blake. The arena announcer didn't call Blake for the assist but that will be changed.

Goals from Stuart and Kopitar. Kopi ties Cammalleri for team-high with 14 goals. The Kings outshot Vancouver 12-7. Curtis Sanford, the Canucks' backup, is in net.

Nagy is out. Aubin is at goalie. Former King Jeff Cowan is out for Vancouver with a shoulder injury.

There have been a few questions/e-mails about Scott Parse's injury in Manchester. The short answer is, I don't know for sure. The long answer is this: Parse told me during training camp that he injured his back while lifting weights shortly before the start of camp. He was barely on the ice during camp, if at all. (Maybe someone remembers this better than I do). He got sent down, and I didn't see any reports as to how he was recovering. That was three months ago, so that may or may not be the problem. Maybe he recovered from that and hurt something else. I can't be certain. And given the Kremlin-like way hockey coaches hand out injury news, it could be quite a while before we know for certain. If I hear something definitive, from talking to people, I'll definitely pass it along.

On what he's going to try to bring to the team: ``Hard work, speed and energy. That's what they want me here for. Get on those loose pucks, get pucks deep and be a good defensive forward.''

On getting back to the NHL after spending 48 games with the Kings in 2005-06: ``The first time I came up, I was just happy to be here. Now, yeah, I'm happy to be here, but I want to help this team win some games and stay here as long as I can.''

I asked him if any of the young prospects in Manchester really stand out to him. His response: ``Teddy Purcell is leading the league in points. He's great with the puck and so poised. Our power play is No. 1 and he's a huge reason for that.''

Jason got in his pads and on the ice today for the first time since his injury. He made some saves in a controlled situation and here's what he had to say ...

``It was good to get back on the ice and see what it feels like to have equipment on again.
There was some pain there. I took something to kind of ease it. It will be there for a while I think. It's just a matter of how much I can take. Most of the stuff I did was controlled. Tying my skates was probably the most painful thing for me. For all I did out there, I feel pretty good. From what the doctor told me, I can't get worse unless somebody hits me.''

Jason said he'd like to say that he's shooting for a weekend return but that it's tough for him to say.

``It's gradually gotten better as the week's gone on so hopefully it will keep getting better. I feel like I have better range of motion now, so that's good. There's still pain there but it's really about what can tolerate. I don’t want to be in a game and have something come up that I have be cautious about. You really can't have that as a goalie.''

Jason also spoke about players being allowed to get in on goalies and the part it played in Blake's game misconduct.

``I don’t blame him. It’s frustrating. It's kind of a league-wide thing now and it's been like that a couple years where goalies are getting run over all the time. I understand you're supposed to go to the net and create havoc as an offensive team but, at same time, it's tough and we're so vulnerable out there. (Blake) got frustrated by that and the fact he got cross-checked earlier. To me, to kick a guy out like that, he deserves to say whatever he wants to say whether it's right or wrong. I mean, he’s Rob Blake, you know. (When I) complain to the ref and say they're all over me, running into me, their excuse is always that the defenseman pushed them into you.''

He wouldn't fill us in on what he said or why. He said it was a combination of things. Guys around the locker room said he was mad at the refs allowing players to crash into Aubin with LaBarbera already out and a crosscheck he received that wasn't called. Blake said it was the first time in his 18-year career that he's received a game misconduct for something he said.

``I probably shouldn’t have said anything,'' Blake said. ``It was not a very good decision by me. You just don’t put yourself in that position to let that happen. That was my mistake. You put your team in jeopardy, put them down to five defenseman and put yourself short-handed too. There’s nothing good that can come out of it. Just keeping my mouth shut would have been the best decision.''

Fro skated today and declared himself 96.6 percent. He's looking at Wednesday's game in Chicago as a possible return date.

``I've missed a little more than two weeks right now and I can still feel it a little,'' Frolov said. ``That's why I need a few more days. I'm concerned about not making it worse by jumping in to play. I want to make sure it's 100 percent and then go back into the lineup.''

Crawford on Fro: ``Fro is a step closer but he still hasn't had a full practice where he's banging and crashing around. Talking to Alexander today, he knows it’s important and his concern is what happens when he has to go 100 percent because we haven’t tested him to 100 percent yet. We'll practice him again tomorrow morning, get him some banging and crashing and then see where he’s at. A lot will depend how his body reacts to the limited physicality we’re giving him. In a game, those confrontations are harder than anything we can simulate.''

Some quick hits from this morning...

-- Jeff Giuliano has been recalled from Manchester and Gabe Gauthier has been sent down.

-- Alexander Frolov went through a full-team practice but will not play tonight. He will give it another go tomorrow morning but he's questionable, at best, for this week's games.

-- Jason LaBarbera had an on-ice workout that was very basic and said the pain in his ribs had only subsided a little. It's probably safe to say that LaBarbera is at least a week away from playing again. If you subscribe to the ``first goalie off the ice'' theory, J.S. Aubin will start tonight.

-- Rob Blake addressed his game misconduct penalty from the other night. He declined to say what got him tossed or even why he said it, although other players have confirmed that Blake was upset about contact with Aubin. Blake took responsibility for his words and said he regretted speaking out and leaving the team shorthanded.

-- I'll try to set up an interview with Ron Hextall this week, although the idea of talking to Mark Morris (Manchester coach) is also an excellent one, and I will try to do that as well. I think I have a pretty good idea about which prospects people are interested in, but if there are other questions for either of these guys, feel free to post them or e-mail me.

Matt will have more detailed stuff this afternoon...

Here are Crawford's thoughts ...

``We think Gabe really progressed well but this is not the role for him -- the fourth line grinding center playing on a line with Raitis and John Zeiler. That guy has got to be a strong, abrasive, hard person to play against. Giuliano has played that position before. Giuliano gives us more of penalty killer than Gabe.

``Gabe’s made a nice step. We brought him up because he showed he's been the best center down there and deserved to come up. We havent given him the opportunity to show what he really does well, which is to play down low, be creative in offensive zone, maybe get an opportunity on a power play. There just wasn’t an opportunity to afford him those things. We sent him back with the understanding he's got to keep trying to find that step and speed. We sent him down with the info that when he gets an opportunity like this next time – and he will, he’s a quality player – you’ve got to recognize what the situation is and bring what situation calls for. If in an offensive sit, bring your offensive game. If in a position like we thrust him into, you've got to show some abrasiveness, some competitiveness, some ability to play solid defensive hockey.

``We like Jeff because we’ve got confidence he can kill penalties at this level. We're always concerned about trying to limit the amount of ice on penalty kill given to people like O'Sullivan, Kopitar, Brown and even Handzus.''

Jack Johnson said the reason Blake was mad was that Phoenix was taking a couple shots at Aubin, with LaBarbera already out with the injury.

Crawford said he thought Blake should have been given more leeway because of his veteran status.

``Rob’s going to be a hall of famer,’’ Crawford said. ``Rob’s a classy guy and a character guy. I think the only person who heard what he had to say was the referee, and he didn’t get the benefit of the doubt tonight. Usually those guys do.’’

Crawford wasn't exactly ready to give Bryzgalov credit.

``He made some good saves, some lucky saves a lot of the time too,'' Crawford said. ``One went off his mask. A couple of times he was scrambling and got to them and a couple times defenders got to them.''

Crawford thought Phoenix was lucky overall as well.

``They got a couple breaks tonight,'' Crawford said. ``They got a break on the power-play goal that goes off the ref's foot right to their player on the clearing pass. They got a break on the last goal I thought. We made a mistake on the play but it could have went for icing and we ended up giving up the goal. Usually for a hockey team, the breaks will even out over time if you keep working hard.''

The Kings were left wondering how they are 3-1 against San Jose and 0-4 against Phoenix.

``I wish I could give you a good reason but I just can’t,’’ Johnson said. ``They just seem to play really well and match up well against us.’’

``We’ve scored four goals against them in four games and that’s the problem,’’ goalie Jean-Sebastien Aubin said. ``For some reason, they keep us shooting on the outside and we get nothing good. We don’t get the shots in the middle where there’s prime scoring chances.’’

No practice tomorrow.

Are you guys starting to dislike Wayne Gretzky? Notes and quotes from the locker room to come.

And yes, Blake can be blamed for Phoenix's second goal, which came while the Kings were a man down to begin the period because of his unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

On Blake being sat. He said something to an official right at the end of the first period and got a game misconduct. Wonder what he said. Hopefully he will fess up later. 1-1 at the end of the first. Can't really blame Aubin for Phoenix's goal. Looked like it was deflected off the knee of Tjarnqvist in front of the net.

Some of the best passing I've seen by the Kings this season to get that goal. Kopitar with his 13th goal and 30th point of the season.

Let's see if the Kings can keep it close against this powerhouse team. Aubin is in goal against Bryzgalov. Correction: Nagy is a scratch with what is being called a hip flexor. He didn't skate this morning. Thornton is active, putting Visnovsky back on defense. Pretty good start for the Kings in the first five minutes but nothing on the scoreboard.

He missed seven games with a bruised sternum. Of course, he's missed more games than that as a healthy scratch.

This would seem to indicate that someone is ready to come off the injured list -- either Frolov or Thornton.

Who would you like to see interviewed next for the blog, in the style of the Lombardi Q&A, with reader-submitted questions? Would you prefer Ron Hextall, or somebody in the front office who can talk about prospects?...Tim Leiweke, to talk about the state of the franchise?...Bob Miller and/or Jim Fox, to share their thoughts from the front line this season?...Luc Robitaille, to talk about his new role as team president and to share his thoughts about the season...or a player, for an in-depth interview? I'll leave it up to you...

Also, to follow up on Matt's post, tomorrow's morning skate will be held at Staples Center, so those who usually attend in El Segundo can either sleep in or go outside and enjoy this wonderful SoCal weather...

I suppose they earned the day off. On the other hand, maybe they should get in all the preparation they can for big, bad, unbeatable Phoenix.

Here's my game story that ran in Friday's paper. Credit to ezln's comment on giving me the idea for the lead.

A few notes ...

--Those hoping to see more of Quick on Saturday will probably be disappointed. Crawford said he might get another chance next week.

--It sounds like Frolov is getting close. Crawford said he skated on Tuesday and would skate again tomorrow.

--Crawford went over to shake Quick's hand and offer his congratulations in the locker room after the game. Quick said his family wasn't able to come out from Connecticut on such short notice but that his father bought the NHL on-ice package just to watch the game.

--Crawford said LaBarbera was still sore but felt better tonight than he did this morning. Still, he said LaBarbera was a few days away from even testing the ribs.

--Kopitar set career highs with four points and four assists, Brown tied a career high with three points and Tom Preissing tied career highs with three points and two goals.

Some player quotes ...
Kopitar: ``Lately we had a couple of really good first periods where we’d go up a goal or two goals and then kind of let down and back off. That was the challenge for us. We kept pushing and pushing, and it paid off.’’

Armstrong: ``It was definitely nice for some of us guys who haven’t scored in a while. Maybe we can get going. It took a load off my back for sure.’’

Quick: ``When I first came out there were a little nerves but the team played excellent in front of me and made it easier for me to adjust. It helps to play with a 4-0 lead after the first. There was a lot of good work from those guys and they made it fun for me.''

Crawford quotes ...
``A game like that does wonders for everybody. You could see that a weight was lifted off a number of people on our team. We had lots of energy tonight. Why we had more energy tonight than the other night, I don’t know. But we did have it.''

``A game like that doesn’t happen an awful lot but they can really serve your confidence well. I was really pleased with how many puck battles we won tonight and the way we were skating. It was very noticeable along with the physicality we had. It was a game everybody contributed to and they’re all happy in there right now.''

Buffalo didn't pull its goalie in the final minutes. Largest margin of victory for the Kings since beating Florida 7-0 Feb. 3 of last year. Notes and quotes from a happy locker room to come.

on Bertuzzi attack. It's really responding with no response. Kings up 7-2 midway through the third.

``Media reports have recently re-surfaced regarding my alleged involvement in the 2004 on-ice incident in Vancouver. When this occurred more than three years ago, I responded to every possible question and inquiry about this unfortunate incident. With that in mind, I am not going to re-engage this process and comment further on these reports.’’

Derek Armstrong scores his first goal on the season on a 5-on-3 power play. That shows all of you who have blasted Crawford for having him on the power play. Ha!

Handzus scores his second goal of the season with the Kings a man down. And Modry's goal was his first in 83 games. Someone check the sky for pigs.

Only playing 20 minutes this game might work since the first 20 were so good. Cammy, Brown, Preissing and Modry with goals. Modry's first goal of the season leaves Derek Armstrong and John Zeiler as the only Kings regulars without goals. Jonathan Quick has looked impressive. He jumped right into the deep end facing a power play 20 seconds into the game but made two saves there, then a sliding glove save in the left corner against Derek Roy later in the period.

Jonathan Quick is making his NHL debut tonight. Be interesting to see how this goes.

Here's what Marc Crawford told The Associated Press tonight, regarding the Bertuzzi/Moore report:

"I don't think this is the forum to be talking about that. We've got enough of our own issues here with the Los Angeles Kings. Those are the things that I'm concerned about. I'm not concerned about anything that's said otherwise."

Shane Doan scored into an empty net with 42.9 seconds remaining. Anyone expecting, or hoping, to see some great fire and spirit from the Kings in the third period probably feels very disappointed right now. Phoenix outshot the Kings 14-8 in that period and 39-29 for the game. It was the second-highest shot-on-goal total of the season for the Coyotes, who entered the game with the fewest goals scored in the NHL.

So, it's another step backward for the Kings, after Monday's half step forward. The Kings have 22 points in 27 games. Last season? They had 22 points in 27 games.

What else is there to say? Read the Crawford story. It's more interesting than anything this game had to offer.

...is this item from TSN:

The Canadian Press

12/5/2007 11:20:57 PM

NHL forward Todd Bertuzzi's infamous on-ice attack on former player Steve Moore may have been ordered by former Vancouver Canucks coach Marc Crawford, CBC's The National reported Wednesday.

Report: Crawford ordered Moore attack

Coyotes 3, Kings 1

Good discipline by both teams, as there were no penalties called in the second period. Frankly, the Kings didn't deserve a goal in that period because they had little sustained pressure in the Phoenix zone. Unless they work to get the puck deep in the zone in the third period, a two-goal rally is going to be impossible. Phoenix outshot the Kings 12-8 in the second period. Phoenix has outscored the Kings by a combined margin of 8-2 in eight periods this season.

After a period without many quality scoring chances, the Coyotes caught a break. Reinprecht tossed the puck toward the net from the right boards. Aubin had come off his line and squared himself to the shot, but the puck got deflected in front of the net, right onto the stick of Mueller, who slapped it into an essentially open net. The goal came with 8:57 remaining in second period.

Coyotes 2, Kings 1

A fairly even period. Both teams scored on their only real power-play chances of the period and Phoenix's first goal came as a result of Jack Johnson's defensive-zone hiccup. Plenty of chances for both teams and some good end-to-end action. Both teams had 13 shots on goal. No Kings player had more than two shots on goal. Zeiler was credited with three hits.

Bryzgalov came out to make a save on Kopitar's shot from the right side, but the rebound deflected out to Cammalleri, who had an open net from the left side. He easily slapped it home for his 13th goal of the season and his first goal since Nov. 13. He had gone eight games without a goal. The goal came with 2:51 remaining in the period, on the power play.

A power-play goal, after Dustin Brown had the puck but was unable to clear the zone. Jovanovski took a point shot that got stopped but Vrbata beat two Kings to the front of the net and knocked in the rebound. The goal came with 4:28 remaining in the first period. Phoenix has two goals on 12 shots. The Kings have seven shots and are going on the power play.

Two bad plays...one by Jack Johnson, who turned over the puck trying to get it out of the Kings' zone. That led to a 2-on-1 with Reinprecht and Doan. Blake effectively took Doan out of the play in front of the net, which left Reinprecht vs. Aubin in front, and Reinprecht beat Aubin with a low wrister that went five-hole, I believe. It's tough to stop anyone one-on-one, but...

The goal came with 8:49 remaining in the first period.

Seems as though the Kings are going to double-shift a center on the fourth line, since O'Sullivan has already seen double-duty early and Klemm has yet to get in the game.

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

Blake-Johnson
Modry-Visnovsky
Stuart-Dallman

Klemm

Phoenix just had a power play, for about four seconds until the Coyotes took a penalty of their own. Good skating by the Kings early, with a couple quality chances.

No surprises there. The game is on the Center Ice package, for those who are so inclined.

Gabe Gauthier, Jason LaBarbera (naturally) and Tom Preissing, again.

Here's what Marc Crawford had to say today about the Kings' goalies, or what's left of them anyway:

Who would have guessed, three months ago, that the Kings' goalies would be J.S. Aubin and Jonathan Quick? That's what it has come to.

Jason LaBarbera has rib-cartilage issues, and it doesn't seem as though they're going away any time soon. LaBarbera said he tried to drive to the rink yesterday but had trouble simply steering and looking around while changing lanes. He needed his girlfriend to drive him to the rink today.

``I've become best friends with ice,'' LaBarbera said. ``I did some little (workout) stuff today but it's still painful. It's just time and ice. There's not much else you can do.''

Meanwhile, Aubin disclosed for the first time that he's playing with TWO sore groin muscles. Seems as though his preseason injury never completely healed, but he said the injuries aren't hampering his ability to play. Still, it has to be a little scary for the Kings, given how fickle groin muscles can be.

Aubin shared a story about how he once played almost an entire period with a broken rib. Aubin said he somehow got kicked in the side and had trouble breathing for the rest of the game but stayed in because the starting goalie had been pulled earlier in the game. Aubin said he gasped for air every time he had to go down to make a save.

``At least I earned some points from the GM, after they found out I was hurt,'' Aubin joked.

I spent some time talking to Dean Lombardi during practice. Most of it was way, way off the record, but he said something interesting that I don't think he will mind me sharing. He said that after every game, he and Ron Hextall and assign letter grades to each player. Lombardi said he was pleased with last night's game because almost all of the players got a grade of B. A couple A's, a couple C's, but mostly B's. Point being, it was a consistent effort throughout the lineup, and that's the kind of thing the Kings need to maintain.

From today...

-- A very spirited practice that was based on competition drills. It ended with a purple vs. white shootout drill and the losers had to roll the length of the ice. I'd seen that in football before but never hockey. The players seemed to enjoy practice, which is something you don't see every day.

-- Jason LaBarbera won't be in Phoenix, and he's still experiencing pain. He talked about how he can't even drive, because even turning the wheel and looking over his shoulder causes discomfort. It's hard to imagine him being back anytime in the next week, but I guess we'll see.

-- J.S. Aubin admitted that he's playing on not one, but two sore groin muscles. It seems that he keeps compensating, putting weight on one, then the other, and he can't totally get healthy. It's nothing that's preventing him from playing at a high level. It's just an illustration of what hockey players go through.

-- Jaroslav Modry expressed tremendous gratitude to the Kings organization for allowing him to go home to the Czech Republic to visit his ailing father. Modry said the trip meant a lot, both to him and his father, and was very grateful that the Kings allowed him the time off during the season.

-- Still no timetable on the return of Alexander Frolov, who came out to watch a bit of practice in his workout gear. On the other hand, Michael Cammalleri said his groin injury is fine because ``they jumped on it early.''

More notes and quotes later...

Sorry about having no updates at the end. With the late goal, I had to completely rewrite my story in the matter of minutes to make sure I could still get down to the locker room in time. You guys don't really need me to tell you the score, anyway.

This is one of the first games in a while in which the Kings had a strong effort for a full 60 minutes, or 65 in this case. It would have been encouraging even in regulation defeat, though the point certainly helps. I think the players showed today that they haven't given up on Crawford.

Here's some quotes from Crawford ...

``I thought we were unfortunate tonight but sometimes that’s the way it goes. But I loved the way we persevered. It took right to 58 minutes to get the tying goal and I liked the way we stayed with it. I like the fact that almost to a man tonight our guys were trying to do whatever it took to get something for the team. That is definitely a step in the right direction. There were more good things that happened in the game today than bad.''

``It was pleasing to come back the way we did and how we played the whole game. We outchanced them by a large amount. We outchanced them in the right ways -- through hard work, through determination, through real good pressure and winning puck battles. Do that sort of thing and good things are going to happen for your club.''

``Just on bench I felt we had a lot of enthusiasm tonight and that wasn’t present last game. It's a nice step for us to take. The trick now is to keep building on it. We can’t be a good game, bad game team. We have to be good game, good game, good game.''

``Where we’ve been having a lull or downtrodden feeling of players, they weren’t there tonight. There was a lot more presense of mind, a lot more positive energy and determination on the bench.'

Here's Aubin on the shootout goal: ``It goes so fast. He made a few moves. I thought he was going to shoot lower right side and he kept it and went to the other side. I played a little too aggressive on that. I should have been more patient.''

Quotes from Jack Johnson
On breakaway: ``I saw the guy leaning one way and tried get by him. I was lucky enough to get the puck up and over his stick. It was just a foot race for it, but I didn’t really get a shot off. I thought Handzus might have a chance at the rebound but unfortunately none of us got lucky enough.''

On attitude of bench: ``The players kept thinking positive and plugging away. Even the coaches were real positive for us and that rubs off on the players.''

Dustin Brown on Garon: ``Garon played a great game in net. He made more than a handful of saves that were grade-A. We could have easily had six or seven goals tonight but he kept the puck out of the net for them.''

I saw LaBarbera in the locker room after the game. He said he saw the chest specialist and he just confirmed that the problem is in the cartilage. Rest and ice is the prescription. He says right now it hurts even for him to breathe. He drove to the practice facility this morning and was miserable trying to steer the car. He had someone drive him to the game. He's hoping to be back by the end of the week but needs to see how his body responds.

Garon made some nice saves in that period, especially on the breakaway by Jack Johnson and a shot from Willsie. The Kings could use him right about now.

Nice gift from Crawford, making him a healthy scratch.

Kopitar tied Cammalleri for the team lead with his 12th goal. Let's see if the Kings can hold on to this one. Probably need to make it 3-0 to be safe.

Aubin is at goal for the Kings, Garon for Edmonton.

Some line changes tonight. Cammalleri is back with Kopitar and Brown. Calder-Handzus-O'Sullivan, Nagy-Armstrong-Willsie, Zeiler-Gauthier-Ivanans.

Preissing is a scratch.

Crawford said the move of sending Matt Moulson down and bringing up Gauthier was a matter of getting a fourth center. Moulson was brought up because of injuries at left wing. Now all the left wingers are back and he had been moved to right wing. Gauthier will play with Zeiler and Ivanans.

``It felt better to have a center here to give the guys a little more consistency in line groupings,'' Crawford said. ``That's why we made the change. It was not a reflection on Matt Moulson's play. (Gauthier) has played with Zeiler before and played well with him. He's had a great season in Manchester and been one of the leaders down there. We're looking for him to be energetic and play a step better than he did last year when he got his call.''

Gauthier said he is coming up with more confidence than last year because of the way he has been playing in Manchester, where he was tied for the team lead in goals and second in points. His parents, who live in Torrance, haven't seen him play in person all year. They had a trip planned for Manchester later this month but will instead get to see him tonight at Staples Center.

Here's what Gauthier had to say about what the coaches expect from him: ``A lot of energy. A lot of communication on the bench playing with Ivanans and Zeiler, two energy guys. They'll get in and put some pressure on the D. I just got to be the high forward, act as a third defenseman and let them do their work and hopefully get some chances. I'm not afraid to do the dirty work. People say to try to get a hit in your first shift or get hit. I like that mentality.''

When the players arrived Sunday, they were told there would be no practice. So it wasn't just a matter of the meeting going long.

Here's what Crawford had to say about the meeting: ``It was a lot of instructional and a lot of comments on what we're seeing as a coaching staff, and some interchange on what they're seeing as players. Also a lot of comments about how we've been, a team that has got to find more high-level play than the dips that we've shown.''

LaBarbera's injury is in the rib cartilage. There is no fracture. He was scheduled to be looked at by a chest specialist today. Crawford wouldn't give a timetable on his return. It sounds like it will be at least a few games.

Here's what Crawford had to say: ``He is not on injured reserve yet. I think we'll know more here seeing how he reacts. I've had that injury and it's painful. It's tough to breathe and tough to move. Right now, he's not able to do anything until the pain subsides. I expect he'll be out a little bit of time, just how long I'm not prepared to say right now. We're hoping Jason is not going to be long and that he will heal quickly.''

Aubin will start tonight and the plan is for him to be the regular starter until LaBarbera returns. Jonathan Quick probably will only see action if LaBarbera is out longer than expected or perhaps if Aubin really struggles (or, of course, gets hurt).

``J-S is going to be the guy that's going to play,'' Crawford said. ``We have every confidence that he'll play well. He's shown before he's able to get on a roll and carry a team like he did in Toronto. That's what we're looking for. Jonathan has to be prepared to play, but J-S is the one who is going to get the opportunity.''

Forward Gabe Gauthier and goaltender Jonathan Quick were recalled from Manchester. Matt Moulson was assigned to Manchester and Alexander Frolov was placed on injured reserve retroactive to Nov. 21. This sounds like good news on LaBarbera and his condition. Seems like they just want Quick for Monday's game, then they can activate Frolov and send Quick back down later in the week.

So the Kings met at 9 a.m. this morning and ended up never getting on the ice. Interesting turn of events the day before a game. Not sure what went on at the meeting. I'll see if they'll divulge anything tomorrow. I'm told the Kings are planning to announce a transaction later in the day. This could be bad news for LaBarbera. Cloutier, anyone?

I've never seen Crawford so upset as after this game. He was frustrated with the team's play and also livid with Ryan Smyth. He wants Smyth's play jabbing his stick into LaBarbera reviewed by the NHL. LaBarbera injured his ribs on the play.

There's a team meeting scheduled before practice tomorrow. It probably won't be pretty.

``There’s no excuse for the outcome of that game to be the way it was,’’ forward Kyle Calder said. ``We came out hard and played our solid game. We didn’t play that way in the second and third.’’

The Kings blew a 2-0 lead for the second time in three games, though this one occurred a little earlier than usual. The Kings were outshot 17-4 in the second period, which was right up there with their worst periods of the year.

``We’re frustrated for sure,’’ Patrick O’Sullivan said. ``We’ve been in this situation before and to keep making the same mistakes is the hardest part.’’

O'Sullivan was one of the bright spots, staking the Kings to the 2-0 lead by setting up Raitis Ivanans and Anze Kopitar with pretty passes. It was his first two-assist game of the season.

But it was all downhill from there.

``It wasn’t our best performance,’’ Crawford said. ``We had a great first period and it looked like we were going to have a great game, and then the wheels completely fell off. I wish I had an explanation as to why.’’

No blowing a late lead tonight. It happened much earlier. Notes and quotes from the locker room to come.

Kings were outshot 17-4 in a dismal second.

Sully set up another one with a pretty pass to Kopitar. Then Paul Stastny scored his 10th goal of the season off the leg of a Kings player with a minute left.

Crawford already is mixing up the lines but it worked 5:20 into the first period when O'Sullivan, playing with Ivanans and Zeiler after starting the game with Kopitar and Brown, stole the puck and fed Ivanans in front of the net for the goal.

Cammalleri is playing with his sore groin. Modry also is playing just a day after returning from the Czech Republic. Joe Sakic is a scratch for Colorado.