Ersberg scores first NHL victory

40 saves... 1st home start, 1st win, 1st shutout. awesome job and the team was pretty good tonight too (though they did give up a lot in the 3rd)

unreal

consider the statement made.

Lombardi might have found our diamond in the ruff. And for that I give DL the credit he deserves. For once.

What I saw today is what goaltending is all about.

I've also noticed that Ottawa is a dirty team. They must have gone for the knees of king players at least a half a dozen times. Most of all O'Sullivan. I almost thought Volchenkov ended Sully's season with that nasty cheap shot. I also noticed him being hacked at before scoring the empty netter. Way to go Sully. Answer their dirty style with a goal.
No wonder Ottawa, as a team, is going through this terrible slide. Half of their players should be suspended.

I hope Ersberg plays the rest of the season. Make the last 13 games exciting to watch. End the season with a positive note.

Ersberg is great, and he was one of the best swedish goalies last year, so I am not surprised.. I have waited all season for him to get his chance..

Congrats on the shutout! It now appears we have a goalie in Erik "Season-Ending Injury" Ersberg.

This was truly one of the most enjoyable games I had the pleasure of attending. This, the Dallas comeback, the Toronto & Vancouver asskickings from earlier this season, as well as the near comeback victory versus chicago on the last homestand.

Ersberg was fantastic... I really hope he can show the management that he belongs here and that he will be back next season. I'd like to see him and Babs duke it out for #1,,, I think the team plays with confidence infront of him, which is miles from the way they play infront of anybody else we've had between the pipes this season.

I loved the way O'Sullivan played in this game. He shouldve been one of the announced Stars of the Game... nearly gets his knee chopped in half by Volchenkov (dirty hit by the way, the punk stuck out his left leg and intentionally tried to catch Sully's knees, which he did,,,,SO happy Sully wasnt injured) then he is just working his ass off the entire game, stickhandling through the slot and putting good wood on all of his shots... making plays out of nothing, which all true top forwards in the NHL do well. Then getting hit after scoring the empty net goal and taking it like a man....
this guy's got an incredible future...especially if he plays with Brown and Kopi....

here is an interesting stat from yahoo sports. they say the kings have killed all 17 opponent's power plays over the last five games.
i have not verified this, but if it's true,let's hear it for king's D.

Mr. Lombardi,
please give our young talented players the chance to excel at the NHL level next season. Please do not sign any UFA forwards... nor please do not sign any lame weak UFA defensemen... (no more preissings or dallmans) Please give Boyle, Purcell, Moulson, Tukonen, and a few of the other promising young forwards we have the same 20+ games to truly adjust (and struggle for that matter) that you gave O'Sullivan last season... Its the only way they can get the chance to step up their game, and give them a taste of playing in situations which they can be successful (i.e. not with gulianno and ivanans on the 4th line logging 3min of ice time)

Here are my thoughts for next seasons line combos.

Forwards
1. O'sullivan, Kopitar, Brown
2. Frolov, Stamkos, Cammalleri(if he's not traded by draft day,,, then throw Purcell or even Tukonen on there)
3. Purcell, Boyle, Handzus
4. Ellis, Guliano, Moulson
(mix and match the 3rd and 4th lines with Calder, Zeiler, Tukonen, and Ivanans)

Defense.
1. Johnson, Blake (if he resigns ... id give 1yr/$2.5mil tops)
2. Lubo, Lilja/Commodore/Gleason or any big bodied stay at home d-man that we should sign or trade for in the offseason... I liked what i saw from Commodore at the ottawa game,,, plus hes 6'5" 230lbs+ and can move/hit
3. Preissing (unfortunatly), Harrold/Stuart (bring him back)
Alternate: Dallman (he's shown he can be an effective spot defensemen, who can sit for 20 games and then jump in and play somewhat effectively...

Goaltender:
Ersberg/ LaBarbera duel it out Ersberg getting the majority of time, with Bernier and Taylor/Quick ready to hop up from Manchester to play when needed. Buy out Cloutier

At this point any goalie we put in that doesnt begin with "Clou.." is fine by me. But on the other hand, with Clouts in net would insure us getting ever so close to that number 1 pick this year.

Ersberg played well and i hope he can keep it going. It would be great to find we have a true number 1, but ill reserve judgment till i see a few more performances from this kid.

Great win by the Kings. LA is now TIED with Tampa with 59 points! Getting closer to Drew Doughty day! :)

I agree with Anthony about how dirty Ottawa played. Strange thing is, I've watched them a lot this year on NHLCI, and they haven't played that way. Maybe it was just frustration over this slide down the eastern conference standings?

It's hard not to like what you see from Ersberg so far. But as I Kings fan, I'm conditioned to wait for the other shoe to drop.
DL will have a lot of thinking to do in the off season. Do you trade Barbs before the draft and give Ersberg/Bernier the jobs next year? Tough call.
I think buying out Cloutier is an easy call at this point...thanks to the play of Ersberg.
Great game by Sully. How dirty was the hit by Volchenkov? great job by Dustin to get in there and defend his teammate...same for Kopitar. You gotta love the youth on this team. They seem to get along well and stick up for each other. Too bad we don't play these guys more often so we can go after Heatley and Spezza. Murray is a horrible coach who has always been known to have dirty teams. Its good to see he fires Paddock and he sucks even more.
Props last night to Ellis. I like his game a lot. He brings energy every night, same as Giuliano. I've also noticed since he's been here the PK has been terrific. I know its not all him, but he's been impressive. I can see next years 4th line being Giuliano/Ellis/Ivanans. None can score, but they play hard and 2 can PK.
Also props to Harrold. He's showing he can be a steady top 6 defenseman in this league. He's getting better every night.

Ersberg has played three solid games and I hope he is the answer for now, but I don't think anybody really has an idea as to how he will look night in and night out. Hopefuly he can play 10 0f the remaining games to give us an idea. I do love the way he controls the puck though.

Is anyone hear impressed by Ellis? Even though he's not scoring per se, it seems like he is everywhere when he's on the ice making plays.

I think I realized who Ersberg reminds me of back there - Potvin. he is calm, cool, and collected, almost always in position and seems to play just a little bit deeper than most goaltenders. and he can handle a high number of shots no problem.

not a bad guy to be similar to, as a King... I think it's pretty obvious we all hope he stays. I thought that before his callup, but now it's entirely more obvious.

I like the lines above but we can do without Guiliano, seriously. he can kill penalties (sort of) and that's about it.

It's hard to squelch the cynical voice in my head regarding the Kings FO and their tendency to squander their opportunities when it comes to their young goaltending talent. I'm also skeptical regarding the over-the-top reaction on this blog and other boards regarding Ersberg's recent successes considering his bipolar play in the AHL.

Ersberg had a great game against the Sens, there's no doubt. However, it's one great game amongst several marginal ones as well as some real stinkers, and those have been in the "A". He's worth watching over the remainder of the season, and worth more looks at the start of the next. That's about it. I wouldn't go handing him the keys to the store just yet.

god, here we go "OMG ERSBERG IS THE GOALIE OF THE FUTURE"

he's played pretty well, last night spectacular at times, but Im not ready to do anything other than chalk it up to the excitement of making it to the NHL until he manages to string together performances like this the rest of the way. Let us not forget his AHL numbers.

Enough to offer him a contract extension RIGHT NOW. 2-yrs, $1.7-$2million (total)...he's so calm and cool in there. Gets his mask knocked off...no biggie...just keep stopping the puck.

We've got Labs for one more year, then either Bernier or Zatkoff would be ready to join the big team. And, yes, buy out Cloutier...TAKE THE CAP HIT!!

Hi gang, in last nights outstanding game, besides the team playing like they were on their way to the playoffs and finding maybe one part of next seasons goaltending duo one of the most glaring things that really jumped out at me was this (and if any of us don't think the players don't read this blog you couldn't pee in the ocean if you were standing in it) there have been a great number of comments on Cammalleri not passing the puck to his linemates and shooting all the time ....... last night he was thinking pass more and shoot less unless it was a good chance. Glad to see he did well in "Reading" classes in grade school.

He was brilliant and I hope he can continue to play like that on Saturday against the Habs. One thing that I found interesting, in an article about the Sens game on TSN, there was a quote from Hextall about Ersberg.

He said "Obviously, this gives us a chance to look at him and gives him a chance to prove something. But I can't imagine him locking up a spot for next season in these last 14 games."

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=231426&hubname=nhl

Not that I expect him to say he's a lock next season if he plays well, but I found it odd to even mention it. Anyone else find the comment odd after the kid just had his first win/shutout against the Sens?

Nick forgot our "skill" player Armstong..a fact I like.

I hope Boyle, Murray, and Moulson get a better look in camp next year. I think they'll all be players in a role. Moulson would be great on the 3rd or 4th line to start with but he has a scorers touch too.

Great first win for the rookie. BUT, he has to prove he can do it after each team has seen him a couple times and have had a chance to scout him. Thats how you prove you are an NHL goalie.

Solid effort by Ersberg. Let's see how he does when the rest of the league has a chance to play against him more than once before we start annointing him the next number one goalie for the Kings. I do like what I saw last night but the Kings D is small(ish) and so is Ersberg. That kid's gonna get run over alot.

I am kind of suprised that no one is asking where this guy was all year long?
I don't want to overeact to
a few good performances but
don't we already know that this guy is a better alternative than Cloutier or Aubin.His numbers in the AHL may have been a reflection of being 25 and
stuck in the minors behind
mediocre/bad goalies. Just
a thought. Yeah Ottawa is real dirty and now they are real frustrated as well.

He looked more like Manny Legace than Potvin, to me. Let's see if he can string together a few games without letting any softies in.

I love the annointment of Ersberg... what a joke! He loses 4 games and wins one... and all of you love him now? He's the future? What? This is why many of us kings fans are gluttons for punishment.

Fourtunato said:

"Is anyone hear impressed by Ellis? Even though he's not scoring per se, it seems like he is everywhere when he's on the ice making plays."

I'll second that. He plays smart and doesn't hesitate to get into the shooting and passing lanes, which is something the Kings have woefully lacked all season. It's not a coincidence that the Kings'
PK has improved since he joined the club.

I think we should all stay calm on Ersberg. Many rookie goalies have come into the NHL and played spectacular and then teams figure out the goalie's tendencies, etc. and then all of a sudden the goalie is an average NHL goaltender. Lets not forget about Patrick Lalime, Jim Carey, etc. Lets wait until after he plays another 10 games or so, before we determine his true worth.

Don`t be so hard on Giuliano, at least he brings energy and passion each game. Thats more than i can say about Handzus and Blake. Really over paid big names.

I agree that we should hold off on the anointing oil on Ersberg, to borrow a Bill Parcell's phrase on Tony Romo. I bet the scouting reports are making their way around the league as we speak. Let's give him 10 more games and see what he's got. Hell, I thought Clouts was on his way back after the first 2-3 games.

Big Rob in Dallas

"DL will have a lot of thinking to do in the off season. Do you trade Barbs before the draft and give Ersberg/Bernier the jobs next year? Tough call. "

I don't mean to speak for anyone, but: no. that could seriously backfire in a heartbeat. the first time the Kings have any goaltending depth in a long time and you trade it away, that's a mistake. goaltenders are cheap right now anyway (Huet = 2nd round pick, Bryz waived), we won't get anything valuable enough in return.

He's the next Lundqvist. Swedish goalie with a lot to prove.

Old Man you're right, he's filled a void up until now. he's got good energy and can PK but he looks like a freakin' midget out there. nobody smaller than Cammalleri should be allowed on the ice for this team. he's just miniscule and even on a breakaway by the guy I cringe. I will say he's a minimal improvement over Zeiler (wow lol). I just can't see him with the team next year which was my point.

"I hope Boyle, Murray, and Moulson get a better look in camp next year"

let's hope so. Boyle should absolutely be given every opportunity to make this team. the guy is poised to have a breakthrough rookie season. Moulson can hang with the rest of our 3rd liners, just a little rough around the edges up until now. and Murray's a slight improvement on our other dwarfs in munchkinland

You're all funny on this blog. You all hate LaBarbara and want him gone no matter what. We get a goalie who's playing well and we just assume he isn't the answer. Ok then who next year is our goalie? Obviously it will have to be somebody outside the organization because Barbs isn't the answer right?
I'll say this about Ersberg...he's played better than any goalie we've had in the last 2 years..no matter how many games he's played. Also the guy was the top goalie in the swedish league. same as Lundqvist of the Rangers. They drafted Lundqvist in the 7th round of 2000 draft.they didn't know what they had with him either. Remember drafting Montoya in the 1st round of 04 draft? That's how much they thought of Lundqvist.

My prediction for next year: Ersberg, no matter how well he does in the last 15 games of this season, will start next year in the minors. Why? Because Lombardi needs to have more depth in goal than beginning with a rookie in Los Angeles.

I agree with anthony and a few others on Ottawa's dirty play. I think it was last year when Jim Fox called Murry on it during the broadcast, and Murry went after him verbally in the tunnel after the game, pointing his finger at Fox and acting like a jerk. It is still on YouTube.

It was great seeing an ass like Brian Murry get ejected during the Quacks game a few days earlier.

Good riddance to bad rubbish!

@nykingfan: It's only 3 games, but I agree with you. As of right now, Ersberg should be the #1 guy next year, unless the Kings find an established #1 guy in the offseason.

He certainly appears to be better the LaBarbara, and I'd be thrilled if the Kings can get anything for Labs. I've said all season long he's nothing better then a #1 AHL goalie.

First of all, I despise Brian Murry. He's a twitching shithead and I'm glad the Kings kicked their ass. Secondly, mad props to Dustin Brown for defending his teammate without hesitation after the cheap knee shot. Lastly, what the hell were Lubo and Cammy doing on the 5 on 3? How many passes did they need to make before they got a shot off? Brownie is in front eating a sandwich while they're farting around. SHOOT THE PUCK for God sake!