Some quotes from last night’s game, from Erik Ersberg, Patrick O’Sullivan and Marc Crawford…
Continue reading “Postgame quotes” »

For those inclined to attend, the Kings will not skate tomorrow morning in El Segundo. They’ll instead meet a little earlier at Staples Center to discuss preparations for Phoenix.

Here’s the AP game story from tonight…Quotes to come as they’re available…

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Mathieu Schneider and Teemu Selanne scored for the Ducks during a shootout and the defending Stanley Cup champions beat the Kings 2-1 Wednesday night to clinching a playoff berth.

Ducks rookie goaltender Jonas Hiller, filling in for the ailing Jean-Sebastien Giguere, ended the shootout at the end of six rounds when he blocked Brian Willsie’s shot. Dustin Brown had the only shootout goal for the Kings.

The Ducks already has assured themselves a spot in the postseason when they were tied at the end of regulation, since they needed only one point to clinch.

Patrick O’Sullivan scored for the Kings in the first period, and Anaheim’s Bobby Ryan tied it in the second.

The Ducks made the playoffs for the third year in a row, and the sixth time since they came into the league as an expansion franchise in 1993.

The Kings, already eliminated from the postseason, haven’t made the playoffs since 2003.

Hiller, starting for the third game in a row, made 31 saves for the Ducks — including a dramatic one with time running out in regulation.

The Kings’ Alexander Frolov stole the puck from Schneider in the Kings’ zone and skated off on a breakaway. He bore down on Hiller, feinted to his left then tried to slide the puck behind the sprawling goalie on the other side. Hiller blocked the shot with his left skate, with 17 seconds on the clock.

Kings goalie Erik Ersberg, like Hiller a 26-year-old from Sweden, had a fine outing, stopping 39 shots.

Ian Winwood, a reporter from The Guardian, recently hopped the pond to take in a game at Staples Center and didn’t exactly find it impressive. But you might find his account of the evening pretty amusing…

The NHL experience that ended up putting me to sleep

Reader Drew passed that along, along with this USA Today story about the struggles of lower-payroll teams:

Many low-payroll teams sit below the playoff line

Here’s the notes and quotes from this morning’s (very brief) skate, courtesy of Don:
Continue reading “Morning-skate report” »

Here’s another gem from the Sports Illustrated “Vault.” It’s the “They Said It” entry from Nov. 21, 1988:

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Jim Fox, Los Angeles Kings right wing, complaining about the skating surface at a Culver City, Calif., practice rink: “I’ve seen better ice on my windshield.”

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I’ve never been in that arena, but I’ve driven past it many times and I can’t believe an NHL team practiced there…

For those who haven’t seen it, the “Vault” section on Sports Illustrated’s website is fantastic. With enough interest and time, you can read any article that has ever run in the magazine. So here’s a couple, for old times sake. The first one is from April 8, 1968, a story about how those expansion Kings might win the Stanley Cup! The second story is about a little trade with Edmonton. The third is from Nov. 30, 1992, about how a rookie coach named Barry Melrose seems to have the Kings on track.

The coast’s crazy dreamers

Woe, Canada

Kings again