On the kill
The Kings remain one of only three teams -- Buffalo and Minnesota are the others -- to not allow a power-play goal this season. The Kings are 23-for-23, while the Sabres are 24-for-24 and the Wild is 15-for-15. That's a dramatic turnaround for a team that has finished last in the NHL in penalty-kill percentage for three years running and hasn't been out of the bottom five since 2003.
The Kings went 4-for-4 last night against a Colorado team that had thrived on the power play of late. Michal Handzus had four minutes, 15 seconds of penalty-kill time while Matt Greene and Sean O'Donnell played 3:56 and 3:40, respectively. Anze Kopitar and Alexander Frolov also see substantial penalty-kill time.
Here's a couple quotes from last night on the improved penalty killing...
PATRICK O'SULLIVAN: ``I think maybe that is starting to be something that everyone is talking about and it's definitely improved from last year. Our mentality is that we're going to try to outwork the five guys they put out there against us and if we continue to do that we're going to have success.''
TERRY MURRAY: ``Well, it's a new system and a new philosophy. We put a lot of attention on the penalty kill. We knew last year was an off year and that to have success in this game, you've got to have pretty good special teams going. So we put a lot of focus on it and talked about it right from the beginning of the training camp. Maybe some new players are getting an opportunity and putting in big efforts, but against a good power-play team that really has some great players, a guy like Sakic, there was a big commitment by all our players on the penalty kill.''
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J.P. Hoornstra writes about NHL and IHL hockey for the Los Angeles Newspaper Group. He welcomes any and all dialogue on the finer points of hockey.
E-mail J.P. at jp.hoornstra@inlandnewspapers.com.
Jill Painter joined the Daily News in 2000 and during the last eight years she's covered the Dodgers, Cal State Northridge, UCLA, Kings, golf and everything in between. Even though she's from Colorado, she still freezes in the Staples Center press box but always manages to thaw her fingers in time to make deadline. E-mail Jill at jill.painter@dailynews
.com.
Vincent Bonsignore is a sports columnist for the Los Angeles Daily News. E-mail Vinny at vincent.bonsignore
@dailynews.com.
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POS is turning into a monster on the ice.
Teams aren't able to keep him in check.
He also draws penalties.
Too bad he's not playing on the top line, instead of the Magnificent Moulson.
Can you guys imagine the numbers he'd be putting up if he were playing with Kopi and Brown.
Not to mention the number Kopi and Brown would put up.
But Murray wants balance scoring in the line-up.
Did anybody see any scoring at all from the top line?
so at what point do we start talkin records? What IS the pk record anyway
Also, heidi android's gotta go
The only difference between the Kings and the Sabres and Wild is that the Sabres and Wild are undefeated so far this season...
Nice to see that someone removed the "Dean Lombardi Criticism" program from the anthony-bot and replaced it with the "Moulson Criticism" program. Now we get to hear about how much he hates Moulson on every single post, whether it's relevant or not. Maybe soon they'll update to a new model than can keep more than one thought in its head at a time.
Matt George said: "so at what point do we start talkin records?"
I'd be more interested in the total TIME killed, not so much the number of kills (some of them being like 10 seconds).
"heidi android's gotta go."
I second that. She's hot, no doubt, but she can't do an interview to save her life. One word: awkward.
Have some questions lined up for heaven's sake! Also, is it just me, or are there others out there who do NOT want to see the opposing team interviewed between periods? I don't know exactly how it works, but I'd much rather see only Kings players interviewed!
I disagree with the comments about putting POS on the same line as Kopi and Brown. Yes, I do like the line from last year, but at the same time the line with the best chemistry on the team is that of POS Stoll and Moller. But I will say that on the PP I do like having him out with Kopi and Brown. I just worry about having a lack of depth on all 4 lines. Any thoughts?
Re: Androl - buh-bye
Re: opposing player interviews - its bad enough that we have to see Ryan Smyths ridiculous face WITH a helmet.
Speaking of player's faces, anyone catch Ivanans evil scowl of doom when he got sent to the penalty box? F-ing amazing. Its like blood is the only thing on his mind. I wouldn't mind seeing him scratched in favor of calder or having boyle and richardson in the same game, but I can't help but love the Rat man.
Re: perfect PK - keep it up! Only downside is when every PK starts I have to cringe when Miller says 'Kings have been perfect so far!'. Just like when he decides to say 'such and such player hasn't (insert cold streak about to be broken against the Kings) in 10 games. Bob Miller's the best, so good in fact sometimes I wonder if he's too good!
JDM said:
Re: opposing player interviews - its bad enough that we have to see Ryan Smyths ridiculous face WITH a helmet.
I would agree with that one, no doubt. I Tivo'd the wrong feed yet again and got the Avs telecast. They interviewed Dustin Brown between the 2nd and 3rd. I guess that is one plus as to having to endure two announcers that belong on the radio over TV. Of course I feel that way about a lot of people who arent Bob & Jim.
Don't mind opposing player interviews, but I wish somebody would say something original for once instead of the usual canned athlete-speak stuff. PP and PK records should be kept in their place. The most important record is the won-lost record.