January 2009 Archives

The Kings allowed two third-period goals, including the game-winner with 22 seconds left on Andrei Markov's power play goal. Denis Gauthier was assessed a game misconduct for charging, and he's suspended indefinitely until the play is reviewed by the commissioner. The Kings snapped a three-game win streak. It was their first of five consecutive road games.

The Kings begin the first of a five-game roadtrip today at Montreal. In case you missed it, here's today's story on how the Kings feel about the road-heavy schedule the rest of the way.

Oscar Moller made the trip with the Kings, so it's likely he'll be back on this five-game roadtrip. Terry Murray's customary policy is not to travel with injured players.

Good news...The boy who was hit by a puck during last night's game at Staples Center has a hairline fracture of the skull and received several stitches. He's doing well.
The Kings gave the boy an autographed Dustin Brown Stick and invited him to a future game. He'll get to hang out with the team in the locker room after the game, too.

The Kings will play 12 of their next 16 games on the road, beginning with Saturday's game at Montreal. This is a huge trip as the Kings try to build on their recent success. Like the Lakers and Clippers, the Kings don't play much at Staples Center because of award shows, the World Figure Skating Championships, the Pac-10 Basketball Tournament and other things. Of these 12 road games, how many do you think the Kings need to win for it to be a successful trip?

KINGS FORWARD JARRET STOLL:
(Re game recap): "We know we can beat good teams. We were on and off here tonight and not as consistent as we wanted to be and they were kind of all over us in the third but Quick held us in it and Frolov gave us a timely goal. We needed that one bad and then that empty netter. We got the two points which we wanted but we can do better. We know we have to be better on the road trip especially in Montreal for the start of it. We know we got away with one here but sometimes it's on the other end of the stick and its nice when it goes your way."

(Re coming off break/road trip): "Getting five out of six points was huge and we have to play that kind of hockey. We have to be gritty and be a great checking team. And with this team here we know we can score goals when the time comes. That's what we did on that road trip. We just have to play simple and smart road games and get some points out of it. It all comes from being smart and playing our system to a tee."

KINGS FORWARD DUSTIN BROWN:
(Re game recap): "Our goal scorers are going to have score goals for us to win. I think the big picture here is that we got goal scoring from elsewhere and it's going to be key at this juncture of the season. They're going to be focusing on the key guys and that's when you get a goal from a guy that doesn't score a lot and that's going to be the difference maker in a lot of these games to come. "

(Re key to the game): " I think our start to the game was pretty good. We got a power-play goal and an even strength goal and we're up 2-0. I think playing with a lead really helped us tonight."

(Re playing against Chicago): "It's always a challenge. They have a lot of young players on their team right now and their creating a lot of buzz and in a playoff spot which is where we need to be."

KINGS HEAD COACH TERRY MURRAY:
(Re game recap): "We wanted to get a good start, get two points against a good hockey club. It wasn't pretty all of the time but the bottom lines is that we got two points against a really good team and after eight days off, that was a tough assignment tonight...The focal point of the game here tonight was a quick shot attitude the whole night. Anywhere in the offensive zone we wanted to get the puck there as quickly as possible, let's not look for an extra play."

(Re Calder, Stoll, Brown line): "They play well together; they play hard and score goals. They have some good chemistry right now and I can't answer it any other way. It's just something that's come together that they are feeding of each other. We'll leave it together for another game."

(Re Quick's Performance): "Quick saved our bacon a couple of times out there tonight, he played very well. He's been that way through most every game that he's played. We knew that we had to have good goaltending tonight. That eight-day break is nice to have, you get rested. But professional hockey players getting away for eight days from intense competition means your timing is off, that's all there is to it and your goaltender has to save you. Quick came up with some big stops. There were a lot of blocked shots, our guys are really committed. And we needed that tonight."

(Re Jack Johnson) "He's added good stuff to the game. He's a big guy, strong, quick on his feet, closes fast defensively. He's only going to get better as we move forward. It's great to have him back and he's excited to be back. He's got a lot of energy and lots of game in him for the last part of the year."

Some notes from the Kings...

· The Kings have won three straight and have earned points in four straight (3-0-1). They have out-scored their opponent 16-9 during the win streak.

· Dustin Brown, the reigning NHL No. 1 Star of the Week, has a career-high four-game goal streak. He has eight points in that span (5-3=8).

· Kyle Calder has a four-game point streak (2-3=5).

· Anze Kopitar has a four-game point streak (1-4=5).

· Jarret Stoll has a three-game point streak (2-2=4). He played in his 99th consecutive game tonight.

· Patrick O'Sullivan's short-handed goal was the fourth of his career (third Kings short-handed goal this season).

· Kyle Quincey has four assists in the last two games.

· Alexander Frolov has four points in the last two games (3-1=4).

· Jonathan Quick earned his first career assist on O'Sullivan's goal.

· The Kings have sold out seven of their last eight home games.

That's now seven points out of a possible eight for the Kings in their last four games and, perhaps even more importantly, a combined total of 16 goals in their last three games.

Some notes and quotes to come...

Dustin Brown scores an empty-netter, and the Kings will beat the Blackhawks...

Chicago pulled back within two goals when Patrick Sharp scored an even-strength goal with 8:28 remaining...

Kings didn't waste any time in getting that three-goal lead back. Alexander Frolov scores, with assists from Simmonds and Quincey, just 37 seconds after Chicago's goal.

Dave Bolland pulls Chicago within two goals with an even-strength goal 7:31 into the third period. Shots are 29-22 in favor of Chicago and 19-8 Chicago since the end of the first period.

Make that four goals in 25 games for Patrick O'Sullivan... His shorthanded goal, 5:26 into the second period, could prove to be a backbreaker.

And just like that...

Just 1:45 after the first goal, the Kings took a 2-0 lead when Jarret Stoll scored an even-strength goal, with assists from Kyle Calder and Dustin Brown, thus making Terry Murray even happier with this line's performance...

For those seeking updates during the game...

The Kings score first, on the power play with 5:13 remaining in the first period. Dustin Brown gets the goal, with assists from Kyle Quincey and Anze Kopitar.

John Torchetti will be back behind the bench at Staples Center tonight, as an assistant coach for the Blackhawks. You might remember Torchetti as the Kings' interim coach for the final 12 games of the 2005-06 season -- he went 5-7 -- after Andy Murray got fired. Torchetti is in his second season as a Chicago assistant.

From the random-facts file...Torchetti and Terry Murray are both former coaches of the Florida Panthers. Murray led the Panthers from 1998 to 2001 and Torchetti coached the Panthers, in an interim role, for the final 27 games of the 2003-04 season.

I asked Terry Murray a question that came up in the Open Forum the other day, whether the Kings would go back to seven defensemen once everyone is healthy. The answer, it seems, is no, although I didn't anticipate the reasoning that Murray gave. It's a very honest and insightful look into the way that NHL teams are run in this salary-cap era, when waiver and cap issues play such a big part. It won't impact things much, because the Kings have an open roster spot available when Oscar Moller returns.

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Question: You have eight healthy defensemen right now. Long term, do you got down to seven, or do you stay with eight because of Harrold's versatility or other factors?

MURRAY: ``To be honest, and to answer that as candidly as I can, those decisions are almost out of the coaches' hands these days, with the (salary) cap that's in place today and the contracts that are in place. That ends up being more of a decision made by management. If there was something to happen with a player, then you have seven (defensemen). If not, we have eight. That's kind of my approach to it. It's not my position, with the way things are in the league, to go to anybody and say, `I only want to have seven.' It is what it is, with the numbers. I'm comfortable with eight. It's great for running your practices, that's for sure. It doesn't demand too much of anyone. It's always nice, because if something happens, you have an NHL player that is ready and accessible to you. Then, as we talked about with (Harrold) before, he has that versatility. To me, that's where it's at in the NHL today, to have that guy who can perform both sides, front and back. So I'm comfortable with what we've got.''

Kyle Calder, the all-time leader in Open Forum questions, has two goals and two assists in his last three games, and is one of the main reasons that Terry Murray is pleased with the Brown-Calder-Stoll line. Calder has only six goals and 10 assists in 41 games this season, but it seems as though Murray now envisions Calder in a different role than he did earlier this season...

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Question: In talking about the Brown-Calder-Stoll line, Calder seems to be the one who is benefitting from it the most. What are you seeing in his game and the way he fits on that line?

MURRAY: ``Coming off of Handzus' line, which I look at as my checking line, I just have a sense -- and it's not a conversation that I had -- but I just have a sense that (Calder) looks at himself more as a contributor in terms of being in the front of the net and battling in the offensive zone, that kind of play. He is telling me that through his performance with Stoll. They really enjoy playing for each other, with the battle and the board work. That's his M.O., that's what he has always shown in his years in the NHL. He does have to play without the puck and he has to check, as everybody does, but I think the assignment against top lines might not have suited him the best.''

Brad Richardson, who has been out of the lineup since he suffered a freak cut on his lower leg during practice on Dec. 3, will be back on the lineup. Richardson will play left wing alongside center Michal Handzus and right wing Wayne Simmonds. Erik Ersberg, who missed the previous two games with a mild knee strain, is available as the backup goalie to Jonathan Quick tonight. Here's what Terry Murray said today regarding the status of all three players...

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Question: Ersberg is ready to go, if you should need him?

MURRAY: ``Ersberg is ready to go. I would say, to put a percentage on it, he's probably 99 percent. He has gotten better every day. His knee has been taped, rather than the brace, and he feels much more comfort with that. If he had to go in, he would feel comfortable doing that.''

Question: How far away is Oscar Moller?

MURRAY: ``He's going to get it looked at again tonight. He went to the doctor two days ago. The doctor x-rayed him and took a real close look. It's healing but it's not 100 percent. There is more time needed. It's four to six weeks for a broken bone, and it's just approaching that now, that fourth week. He will be looked at again tonight, and hopefully the doctor can give us a little better indication of whether he's ready to get going or not. I'm just waiting for that feedback.''

Questions: Richardson goes back in tonight?

MURRAY: ``Yeah. I only have 12 forwards, so they will all play and Harrold will play defense. It's good for him. He's been out a long time, my goodness. That cut on his ankle took incredibly long. It's longer than what Oscar is going to be with a broken bone almost, unfortunately. It was just in a bad place. He made a big committment. He agreed to go down and play three games for Manchester, and it was great for him to do that, and because of that he needs to go in and play. He's on the left side tonight, with Handzus at center and Simmonds on the right side. I think it's kind of a nice fit for him, with his checking responsibilities and his quickness, and I hope he really starts to get it going here.''

Patrick O'Sullivan had one goal and two assists in the two games before the all-star break, but as you'll read below, Terry Murray can recall from memory that O'Sullivan has only three goals in his last 24 games. He will get quality minutes tonight, playing alongside Anze Kopitar and Alexander Frolov, and here's what Murray said about the need for more offense from O'Sullivan...

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Question: Safe to say that you'd like to see more scoring from O'Sullivan?

MURRAY: ``Oh yeah. Sully is a skilled player, a scorer. He has three goals in his last 24 games, I think. He got a goal in Minnesota, which was his first one in about a dozen (games). Clearly he knows that, and it's really important that our top players make plays. It's just that time of the year. They have to step up, in the offensive part as well as playing without the puck. That's critical, if we're going to move forward as a solid team in the future. Not even in the next game, but as we move through this as a group, that's the type of play we need. Everyone has to perform, with the puck and away from the puck. I'm hoping that I see, as we get started again here tonight, what Sully was showing in the last couple games. He was on the puck, he was handling it and looking to make plays and he showed more of a committment to the `battle' part of the game, to get pucks back. That's what we're going to have to have, everyone buying in and doing the right stuff.''

Terry Murray talked today about trying to sustain the momentum built before the all-star break...

Question: Dustin Brown talked about how those three games before the break were so important to the season. Since you got five points in those six games, where does that leave you heading into the second half?

MURRAY: ``We're kind of in the same scenario. The must-wins are there. Every game we play has to be approached as though it's a playoff-type game. When you have that type of a desparation, you figure it out and you just go and play the right way, and play with structure and play incredibly hard. Or sometimes you're afraid to meet the challenge. I think that what I saw in those three games was, we stood up and did a great job with team play. That's the kind of carry-over that we need after this break here, to follow up with the same effort every night. I think the players understand that. They're talking about it. We have talked about it individually and we have talked about it as a group. Right now, the attitude toward the last 36 games is really good, so we'll see how it goes.''

Terry Murray was asked this morning about how the Kings could maintain their offensive success from the two games before the all-star break, when they scored 11 goals in six periods. Murray used the opportunity to praise the Kings' line of Dustin Brown, Kyle Calder and Jarret Stoll, which he found to be particularly effective of late...

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Question: You had 11 goals in those two games before the break. Have you been able to determine what changed in those games?

MURRAY: ``I've been trying to look at that myself. I watched the games over, during the all-star break, and there just seemed to be some chemistry with the Stoll line. It was like that... If you go back a month or so ago, I had that line together and it worked pretty well. We got away from it, but there's something happening there. They're reading off each other and they're feeling good about playing with each other. Those are three guys that play the net, play the boards and cycle well, and there are just good things happening. That doesn't really answer your question, but chemistry is an intangible that's nice to have.''

Question: You have to be pleased with 11 goals in those two games against two pretty strong teams...

MURRAY: ``Yeah. When I looked at it, even before we got to training camp and when we broke training camp, I looked at our lines and felt good about our possibilities for scoring. When we haven't been producing offensively, we've had a big push on the other side of the puck. It takes time to make that kind of adjustment as a team and as a player, but I hope now that it's starting to come together for us.''

-- Jonathan Quick will start in goal. Erik Ersberg is "99 percent," according to Terry Murray, and I can finally confirm that his issue was with his knee.

-- Brad Richardson will be back in the lineup tonight, with Gauthier and Preissing as the healthy scratches.

Here's how the forwards will skate:

Frolov-Kopitar-O'Sullivan
Calder-Stoll-Brown
Richardson-Handzus-Simmonds
Ivanans-Armstrong-Zeiler

I'll be posting some quotes on this stuff in a bit...

This should be all of them...thanks to everyone for the great question. Hopefully I did an adequate job of answering them...

I'm heading out to the morning skate today, so there should be some reports shortly...

I think we might be heading toward a record with the number of questions/answers. Here's the next set...

A new morning, and back to the open forum questions/answers...

Here are the fourth set of answers from today. Looks like I still have quite a bit of work to do!

The third set of answers from today's open forum questions...

Another set of answers, as I ponder what to do with my company-enforced ``furlough'' (unpaid week of vacation). Anyone need their car washed? Here are more answers...

Thanks for all the great questions, and feel free to keep asking them. It's been a busy day, so sorry for the delay in getting to the answers, but here's the first set...

The open forum sessions are always fun and generate some good questions, so now that we're on the cusp of the ``second half'' of the season, it seems natural to throw it open to questions. Ask away!

Now that we know Oscar Moller (fractured clavicle) has been ruled out to play Thursday and has yet to be medically cleared, the question is whether he'll travel on the roadtrip that starts Saturday. Terry Murray's policy is that he doesn't like to travel with injured players so they can rehabilitate at the Kings' training facility, but he will work with the front office to make a decision. The team leaves Friday.

Dustin Brown missed yesterday's practice because he still was traveling back from Montreal for the All-Star Game. Brown said he wasn't able to get on the early flight, so he didn't get back to Los Angeles until 10 p.m.
``It was a great experience, especially being in Montreal,'' Brown said. ``It was a good chance to get to know those guys.''
He was thrilled to get to know Shane Doan and Mike Modano, guys he's played against but never had a chance to get to know.
Brown hadn't had much time to chat with his teammates since returning, but he said he's not going to prompt a conversation about it.
``If they ask about it I will, but it's something I'm sure a lot of these guys will experience,'' Brown said. ``I wasn't sure what to expect, but the NHL wants you to go up there and have a good time.''

Erik Ersberg said he's ready to play on Thursday if needed, so the Kings won't need to call up Jonathan Bernier. Jonathan Quick will get the start against Thursday.
``I'm not thinking as much about my knee,'' Ersberg said.
Oops! Now we know the injury is to Ersberg's knee. Not that it was much of a mystery, but we weren't officially sure whether Ersberg had a knee or ankle injury. The sport has a long history of not divulging much about injuries. Ersberg felt fine in Tuesday's practice and proclaimed himself ready if need be.
``That was the good thing. Last night, I felt OK,'' Ersberg said. ``Obviously, it's going to be a little sore, but I don't think there are too many players that don't feel anything ... I'm good enough to be on the bench, and I'm good enough to play, too.''

Jill was out at practice today, and she reports a couple quick things...

-- The Kings will not need to call up Jonathan Bernier. Erik Ersberg will be ready to go Thursday, although I'd have to assume that Jonathan Quick will get the start.

-- Oscar Moller has been ruled out for Thursday's game, as expected.

Jill has more stuff that she will post a bit later...

Teddy Purcell had five assists in Monday's AHL All-Star Game, but his Canadian All-Stars lost to the PlanetUSA All-Stars, 14-11. Purcell tied an AHL record with eight career All-Star points. Last season, he was the MVP of the All-Star Game when he scored three goals in regulation and the game-winner in the shootout.

We all know that statistics don't always tell the whole story, and that they can be bent and shaped to fit different arguments, but here are some interesting raw numbers about where the Kings are, coming out of the All-Star break...

Through 46 games this season, the Kings have scored 117 goals and allowed 131 goals. Through 46 games last season, they had scored 132 and allowed 155. So, from last season to this season, that's minus-15 in goals scored and plus-24 in goals against, for a net improvement of nine goals.

To go back another year, through 46 games in 2006-07, the Kings had scored 132 goals and allowed 167 goals. Following the same formula, that's a net improvement (in 2008-09) of 21 goals.

The Kings have seen a dip in power-play efficiency (20.6 percent through 46 games last season, 18.2 percent this season) and an improvement in penalty-kill efficiency (77.0 percent through 46 games last season, 82.1 percent this season).

The Kings have put together a complete statistical breakdown:
Kings at the break

``The Golden Boy.'' That's how the Seattle Times describes Kings prospect Thomas Hickey in a feature story that was published this morning. The story talks about Hickey's return to the Seattle Thunderbirds after his successful stint as Team Canada captain at the World Junior Championships.

Thunderbirds' Thomas Hickey is a national hero in hockey-mad Canada

Kings broadcasters Nick Nickson, Bob Miller and Jim Fox were all honored at the Southern California Sports Broadcasters Assn. awards luncheon Monday. Nickson was inducted into the association's Hall of Fame, while Miller won the annual award for best television play-by-play announcer and Fox won for his work with the ``Kings Live'' pre/post game show.

Here are Anze Kopitar's thoughts on the ``second half'' of the Kings' season. The Kings entered today 13th in the West, but only six points out of the three-way tie for sixth place. Given the road-heavy schedule on the horizon, things aren't going to be easy for the Kings, but Kopitar seems optimistic given the way the Kings played before the break...

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Question: How do you guys look at this second half of the season? Obviously you're not in a position of strength in the standings, but you're not out of it either.

KOPITAR: ``To be honest with you, the big games might already be behind us. That road trip that we went on, that was huge for us. To get five points out of (a possible) six, that was huge for us. Obviously there is still a lot of work to do, but if he lost those last three games, that would have been hard on us. But there is still a lot of work to do, and I think everybody in here is looking forward to it.''

Question: Was it the way you won those games as well, by breaking out of that offensive slump?

KOPITAR: ``Yeah. If we can build on that, we'll be good. We need to tighten it up a little defensively. We maybe got a little loose in Colorado, but two points are two points, so we're going to take that.''

Question: Obviously everyone wants great offense and great defense at the same time, but is there a little give and take there? Do you still have to find the right balance?

KOPITAR: ``I think so, definitely. If you look at clubs that are more offensive-minded and score a lot of goals, they usually win 5-3 or 6-4 or something like that. When you look at low-scoring teams, it's 3-1, 2-1, maybe 1-0. There's always a fine line between having a great offense and a great defense. That's just how it is in hockey. I don't know if you can do anything about it. Obviously you want to do something about it, but maybe that's just the way it is.''

Oscar Moller, who suffered a fractured clavicle at the World Junior Championships, was back in practice Monday for the first time, but still hasn't been medically cleared. Terry Murray kept Moller out of a late-practice 3-on-3 drill that featured a lot of physical play. Moller said he would be examined again either this afternoon or tomorrow, but it doesn't seem likely that Moller will be cleared to play by Thursday. The timetable for any fracture is typically 4-to-6 weeks, and Moller is just about at the four-week mark right now...

Question: How does it feel out there? Almost back to normal?

MOLLER: ``It feels good to me. I haven't had any contact yet, so we'll see about that, but motion wise and stuff like that, and shooting, I don't have any problems.''

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Question: Update on Moller's status?

MURRAY: ``Oscar is close. His injury goes back to about the first of the month. It's a broken bone, so he's going to be a little while yet, but he's able to participate in the drills. There's just no contact allowed. It's getting close.''

Question: If he does get cleared in the next day or two, is there any chance he could play Thursday?

MURRAY: ``I don't think he's going to get cleared. It's a bone issue, and there's a pretty definite time frame on that. I can't say it's definite, but he will come with us on the road trip, I'm pretty sure of that. Because it will be better as we get into that trip.''

Here are some comments from Erik Ersberg and Terry Murray about Ersberg's health. Nobody is officially saying what is ailing Ersberg, but playing junior detective here...Ersberg said his groin is fine and that he hurt himself when his skate blade got stuck in the ice during a shootout attempt. That leaves knee or ankle as possibilities, and given that Ersberg has been rehabbing using a slideboard, it's most likely a knee issue. Regardless, it's not serious, and it sounds as though Ersberg is roughly 50-50 for Thursday's game. A decision will be made after Tuesday's practice whether to call up Jonathan Bernier.

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Question: All things considered, it seems like the all-star break did you some good...

ERSBERG: ``Yeah. It looks like I'm just missing two games. It would have been fun to go to Montreal (for the YoungStars game), but the team comes first.''

Question: It looked like the sophomore team could have used your help out there...

ERSBERG: (laughs) ``I don't know. Maybe it was good that I missed it.''

Question: Do you feel stronger now? Back to normal, pretty much?

ERSBERG: ``It's hard to say. I'm a little...not scared, but you know it's there, so we'll see how I feel tomorrow. I'm going to ice it down now and see how I feel tonight and see how I feel tomorrow on the ice. But it was a pretty good first day.''

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MURRAY: ``(Ersberg) went through the practice and, for most of it, he was comfortable. There were a couple situations where he had to get overextended sometimes, just on a reaction play, and he could feel it, but it goes away. It's not a lingering pain, so he's very, very close.''

Question: Are you confident enough that you can go with the two guys here and not have to call up Bernier?

MURRAY: ``I talked to Ersberg just a minute ago. It's something I want to relay along to management, and pass the conversation along, for them to be on guard and be aware that we might need somebody after tomorrow's practice. I think I'd like to go that far. We'll get Ersberg through tomorrow and see if there's improvement after that. I know that we need to go into the game against Chicago with two goaltenders who are ready to play, so we'll make that decision after the practice tomorrow.''

A couple notes after a long, long practice with lots of conditioning skating:

-- Oscar Moller practiced but has yet to be cleared for contact, so it's highly doubtful that he will play Thursday. The Kings plan on bringing him on the road trip, with the anticipation that he might be ready in the next week or so.

-- Erik Ersberg feels better but isn't quite 100 percent. The Kings will decide after tomorrow's practice whether to call up Jonathan Bernier. It's still not official, but it seems that Ersberg twisted his knee on that final shootout attempt.

-- Lots of talk about sustaining the momentum of the pre-break games. I'll have some quotes on all this stuff a bit later.

Not that it matters much, since Brown isn't here, but in case you're curious, here's how the Kings forwards are skating today:

Frolov-Kopitar-O'Sullivan
Calder-Stoll-Moller
Richardson-Handzus-Simmonds
Ivanans-Armstrong-Zeiler

Oscar Moller and Erik Ersberg are both back on the ice at practice right now. It appears to be a travel/rest day for Dustin Brown and Drew Doughty.

Since it's been a few days, and there were a couple transaction during the all-star break, here's where the Kings' roster stands at the moment. You can expect Brad Richardson to be activated soon, and hopefully there will be an update on Oscar Moller's status soon.

The Kings return to practice today at 2 p.m., so hopefully we'll get an update on Erik Ersberg's status as well. The Kings next play Thursday in a home game against Chicago.

FORWARDS (11)
Derek Armstrong
Dustin Brown
Kyle Calder
Alexander Frolov
Michal Handzus
Raitis Ivanans
Anze Kopitar
Patrick O'Sullivan
Wayne Simmonds
Jarret Stoll
John Zeiler

DEFENSEMEN (8)
Drew Doughty
Denis Gauthier
Matt Greene
Peter Harrold
Jack Johnson
Sean O'Donnell
Tom Preissing
Kyle Quincey

GOALTENDERS (2)
Erik Ersberg
Jonathan Quick

INJURED RESERVE
F -- Marc-Andre Cliche (separated shoulder)
F -- Oscar Moller (fractured clavicle)
F -- Brad Richardson (lower-leg laceration)

Dustin Brown was named the NHL's ``first star'' last week...

FIRST STAR -- DUSTIN BROWN, LW, LOS ANGELES KINGS

Brown scored the game-winning goal in consecutive road games, helping the Kings (19-20-7, 45 points) move within six points of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. He tallied the game-winner, posted a +3 rating and was named the game's first star in a 5-2 victory at Minnesota Jan. 20 and notched the winner, an assist and a +1 rating in a 6-5 win at Colorado Jan. 21. The Kings captain completed the week by making his first career NHL All-Star Game appearance Sunday at Montreal, posting an assist for the Western Conference in a 12-11 shootout loss to the Eastern Conference.

SECOND STAR -- CAM WARD, G, CAROLINA HURRICANES

Ward stopped 67 of 68 shots in posting road victories on consecutive nights, lifting the Hurricanes (23-20-5, 51 points) to the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference entering the All-Star break. He stopped 35 shots in recording his second shutout of the season and eighth of his NHL career in a 2-0 victory at Toronto Jan. 19 and made 32 saves in a 2-1 victory at Pittsburgh Jan. 20. Ward improved his season record to 18-14-3 with a 2.57 goals-against average and .911 save percentage in 36 appearances.

THIRD STAR -- ALES HEMSKY, RW, EDMONTON OILERS

Hemsky thoroughly dominated his lone game last week, recording two goals and two assists -- including the game-winning goal with 34.9 seconds remaining in regulation time -- in the Oilers' 4-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets Jan. 20. He posted a +2 rating and was named the game's first star. The victory was the Oilers' fifth in six games and improved their record to 24-19-3, sixth in the Western Conference. "That was unreal, I haven't seen anything like that in a while," Oilers head coach Craig MacTavish said of Hemsky's performance. "Two goals and two assists. We've seen that before. But not where all four are world-class plays."

Want to read about Dustin Brown's All-Star Game experience? You can do it in two places. The Kings' website has a story on Brown's day, and USA Today has its final installment of Brown's diary from Montreal.

Brown sums up his experience

L.A.'s Brown earns assist; hoping for 2010 Olympic bid

``I ended up deciding against hitting someone. I saw Zach (Parise) today at lunch and we talked about it briefly then. I told him, `Keep your head up. We'll see how it goes.' I had a few shifts against Zach and there was one opportunity where I could have hit him, but I laid off.''

Dustin Brown played 14 minutes, 11 seconds, in today's All-Star Game and assisted on Shane Doan's third-period goal. In a back-and-forth game, the East scored with 3:39 remaining to tie the game 11-11, then won in a shootout with goals from Kovalev and Ovechkin. Brown had two shots on goal but was not credited with any hits in the game, but Keith Tkachuk got one...

These are the full games, so if you have a lot of time...enjoy!

1981 ALL-STAR GAME, THE FORUM

2002 ALL-STAR GAME, STAPLES CENTER

Both videos, along with many other fun, old Kings clips, can be found here.

Here's the second installment of the Dustin Brown diary being published by USA Today. Brown talks about his experience at the skills competition yesterday and looks forward to, perhaps, a scrum with Zach Parise?

King for a weekend: L.A.'s Dustin Brown on All-Star Saturday

In the ``shameless plug'' department, here's the feature I wrote for today's paper on Brown:

It's Brown's Kings now

For those who didn't see it yesterday, Drew Doughty and the rookies -- sounds like it could be a band name -- beat the sophomores 9-5 in the YoungStars game.

Also, on their official website, the Kings have put together a nice package of the team's All-Star Game history, with stats, pictures, recaps, etc. You can find it here.

Last night in an AHL game in Philadelphia, a Phantoms player suffered an on-ice seizure after a fight with Manchester Monarchs forward (and recent Kings call-up) Kevin Westgarth. Philadelphia's Garrett Klotz and Westgarth fought moments after the opening faceoff, and Westgarth landed a few solid punches before Klotz fell to the ice and began convulsing. Klotz was taken from the ice via stretcher but, according to an Associated Press report, Klotz was ``alert and responsive on the way to the hospital and watched the rest of the game on TV.''

TSN has video of the incident and its aftermath here.

USA Today is publishing a series of columns this weekend from Dustin Brown about his experiences at the All-Star Game in Montreal. In the first one, Brown talks about his selection and how he feels about the game. Here's an excerpt:

``Since being named to the NHL's Western Conference All-Star team the first week of January, I have been asked a lot of questions. A lot of them have to do with whether I will be able to control myself during the game, as I like to hit a lot of guys out there on the ice.

I guess you could say that I am still trying to figure that one out. I know that this game won't allow me to hit like I normally do during a regular season game -- my normal game probably doesn't suit the NHL All-Star Game style in any way -- but maybe I will come up with something.''

The full column can be found here.

This weekend's NHL All-Star Game takes me back to 2002 and one of my favorite memories as a sportswriter. The All-Star Game, you'll remember, was held at Staples Center that year, but the game itself isn't what I remember. My colleague, the late (and still greatly missed) Matt McHale, handled that, and I got assigned to cover all of the secondary events of the weekend.

That's how I got to spend some time with some of the greatest sporting heroes in Olympic history.

The 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team reunited that weekend, and played a game at the Convention Center against a group of NHL alumni that included Daryl Evans, Jim Fox and Mark Hardy. In advance of the game, I wrote a feature story about the ``Miracle on Ice'' team, which allowed me to interview guys such as Mike Eruzione, Jim Craig and Dave Silk. A complete thrill, even though I was still a toddler when these guys made history. The footage of that game against Russia isn't just sports history, it's American history, and I felt thrilled and overwhelmed to be able to talk to them about their experiences. Great guys, all of them, and so generous with their time, even though I was probably asking the same questions they'd heard for 20 years.

It still disappoints me, a bit, that these guys didn't get to play their game at Staples Center, in front of a roaring crowd (although they did get a huge ovation during an on-ice introduction before the All-Star Game). Only a few dozen spectators got to witness the game at the Convention Center, but for selfish reasons, the game couldn't possibly have been better for me. A press credential pretty much allowed me free reign, so I stood directly behind the U.S. bench.

What an afternoon. The big question, in the days leading up to the event, was whether Mark Pavelich would show up. After the Olympics, Pavelich embraced a very private life in Minnesota and declined every invitation to join his teammates at reunion events. If Pavelich showed up in L.A., the entire team -- players and coaches -- would be together for the first time since the White House ceremony in 1980. Pavelich showed. He didn't play, but he pulled on his jersey and gingerly stepped onto the ice to join his teammates during pregame introductions. The whole team, back together for the first time in 22 years. As it turns out, it would be their last time together, because coach Herb Brooks died 18 months later.

The guys had so much fun together on the bench, and it was a blast to be able to stand just a few feet behind them and take it all in. Helene Elliott of the Times was there as well, and I know it had to be an even greater thrill for her, since she was a first-hand witness to the ``Miracle'' game as a young -- and I'll make that VERY young, in case Helene happens to read this -- sportswriter from New York. We got to watch and listen as the players laughed and ribbed each other and generally acted like the 20-something kids they were back in Lake Placid.

My two favorite memories from the game are both from Eruzione. The first one was him yelling ``Start stretching!'' to backup goalie Steve Janaszak, after Craig allowed a handful of first-period goals, and Janaszak quickly responding with, ``That ain't going to help anything.'' The second one was Eruzione yelling out to his tired teammates something to the effect of, ``Only three more minutes guys, we can make it!'' After it was pointed out to Eruzione that there was still another period to be played, his only response was to look up at the scoreboard and utter a soft, ``Oh.''

A great day, and we'll probably never see it happen again, at least not in Los Angeles. Was anyone else there that day?

The NHL players' association announced today that it will NOT reopen the collective-bargaining agreement at the end of the season, which means there will be at least two more years of labor peace in the NHL. Good move. The lockout was horrible, but at least it led to a system that seems to work.

NHL players choose not to reopen CBA

David Staples of the Edmonton Journal wrote a long, in-depth, insightful blog item yesterday, taking a look at the Visnovsky/Greene-Stoll trade from last summer, and how it has impacted the Oilers.

Kevin Lowe's gamble: Skill over grit

I won't spoil Staples' conclusion, but obviously he's looking at things from the Oilers' perspective, not the Kings' perspective, and with a particular focus on the Greene-Visnovsky comparison. Looking at the pure stats doesn't accomplish much, because Greene and Visnovsky play very different styles on teams that play very different styles.

You saw Visnovsky for seven years, and now you're seen Greene for almost four months. What do you think? Has it been a good deal for the Kings?

Terry Murray said today that Erik Ersberg is ``much improved,'' but stopped short of saying Ersberg would be ready to go when the Kings resume practice on Monday. Murray said Ersberg has been working out using a slideboard, which would further suggest that Ersberg is dealing with some type of knee ailment.

This probably should have been done about a year ago, but...for those on Facebook, please come on over and become a ``fan'' of the blog. It's a good way for me to promote the blog, so please pass it along to your friends, and it's a chance for you loyal readers to connect on a more personal level. Thanks, as always, for the great support.

Inside the Kings page on Facebook

The Kings have assigned Jonathan Bernier and Kevin Westgarth to Manchester. Brad Richardson is back from his conditioning assignment but has not yet been officially activated. I'll try to find out what the means for Erik Ersberg. Since the Kings don't play for another week, it doesn't necessarily mean that Ersberg is ready. Either way, there's no need for those two guys to sit around when they could be playing in Manchester this weekend.

That's a rhetorical question...I'm sure you do. You probably don't know what Cloutier is doing these days, though. He's serving as an unofficial assistant coach for the Corpus Christi IceRays of the Central Hockey League, under his brother Sylvain, the head coach. Cloutier, it seems, is still thinking NHL comeback and is still trying to recover from his hip problems. Here's a story on Cloutier, published today in the Corpus Christi paper.

Younger Cloutier still in the game

Here are some postgame quotes from last night, courtesy of the Kings' website, with a link at the bottom to more postgame notes...

TERRY MURRAY:
(re: the last 12 minutes of the third period:)
``The one thing we talked about in our timeout was just calm down, relax. We've got to finish this off, shut the door and do the right stuff with making plays. ... It's hard, with a young team like this, when things get heated up and the momentum has swung away from you ... but it's a good learning situation for us.''

(re: Jonathan Quick:)
``It's a great game for a rookie goaltender. For him to be able to deal with what's going on - the emotion in the game, with the fans, the opposing team really jamming the net and whacking away at him - he'll grow from this one.''

(re: on finishing off the road trip:)
``We wanted to build off the two games we just played, try to continue with the momentum ... The intentions were right. We were thinking the right way trying to do the right stuff."

(re: thoughts at the All-Star Break:)
``I like what we've done in the first half of the year. We've played extremely well in some games. Our record, I feel, should be better than what it is, but it's a process. The break's coming at a good time with a young hockey club. I think it's nice for the players to be able to back away from the daily routine, get refreshed, re-energized and just come back and give it a big push.''

JACK JOHNSON:
(re: his first goal of the season:)
``I was just letting it rip. It was a great look by O'Sullivan, who had to get it by the [Colorado defense] and I was just trying to get it on net. ... It was nice to get it, but it was more nice to help this team win, and that's part of the reason why I came back a little earlier than expected. It's nice to help get another win on the road.''

(re: the third-period pressure:)
``They were really coming hard and we had a tough time stopping their momentum and we tried to slow the game down. ... They had us on our heels, but it's kind of a bend, but don't break, mentality.''

JONATHAN QUICK:
``Obviously, you don't want to have to win that way, when you're up 6-2, but to be able to give up three goals when we still have 12 minutes to play, for the team to stay strong like that, says a lot about how resilient they are and how much they wanted to win.''

Royal Road Report: Kings Hang On

--The Kings' trip to Colorado couldn't possibly have been more different than the last one. On Dec. 9 at Pepsi Center, the Kings suffered their most lopsided defeat of the season, a 6-1 loss. In that game, the Kings trailed 6-1 less than 12 minutes into the second period in a game that then-goalie Jason LaBarbera described as ``a pretty (expletive) effort by everyone.'' This time, it was the Kings who cracked the six-goal plateau in the second period, as Dustin Brown's goal with 5:28 remaining in the period put the Kings up 6-2.

--There is life in the Kings' power play after all. The Kings' first two goals Wednesday came with the man advantage and the Kings went 2 for 3 overall on the power play against the Avalanche. The Kings had endured an 0-for-18 stretch on the power play before they scored one in Tuesday's victory over Minnesota.

--Wednesday's 6-5 victory over Colorado, coupled with Tuesday's 5-2 victory over Minnesota, gave the Kings a combined total of 11 goals in two games. Prior to that, the Kings had scored a combined total of 10 regulation goals in their previous eight games. The 11 goals in consecutive games was the highest total for the Kings this season. Previously, they scored six goals in a victory over Anaheim on Oct. 14 and four goals in a 4-3 victory over Carolina on Oct. 17.

--LW Kyle Calder scored a power-play goal in the first period, his sixth goal of the season and his first power-play goal of the season. Calder scored goals in back-to-back games for the first time this season and tied a season best with three points in his last two games.

--LW Alexander Frolov scored two goals for his second multi-goal game of the season. Frolov's second goal of the game Wednesday was his team-high 20th of the season.

--C Anze Kopitar had two assists for his 10th multi-point game of the season. Kopitar has at least one point in six of his last eight games. Kopitar now has 37 points in 46 games.

--D Jack Johnson scored a second-period goal, his first goal of the season. Johnson was playing in only his fifth game of the season because of shoulder surgery that cost him more than three months of action.

--LW Patrick O'Sullivan had two assists for his sixth multi-point game of the season. O'Sullivan had not recorded an assist in his previous 10 games.

--RW Dustin Brown had one goal and one assist. Brown has now scored goals in three consecutive games and also has two assists in that stretch. Brown's next game will be Sunday in Montreal, where he will be the Kings' lone representative in the All-Star Game.

--C Jarret Stoll had one goal -- his 10th of the season -- and one assist. Stoll had scored only one goal in his previous 20 games.

--D Kyle Quincey had two assists for his fifth multi-point game of the season. Quincey had not recorded a point in his previous five games.

--G Jonathan Quick has allowed at least three goals in three of his last four starts, but Quick made 36 saves Wednesday and kept his composure in a wild third period after the Avalanche pulled within one goal.

Thanks for joining the impromptu postgame chat...check above for postgame notes, and check tomorrow for updates...

Can the Kings pull off another victory before the all-star break? Feel free to comment on the game here, and I'll post some notes and info after the final horn...

Here's a good story from NHL.com today about Kings president Luc Robitaille and his attachment to this year's All-Star Game. The game will be played in Montreal, Robitaille's hometown, as part of the 100-year celebration of the Canadiens. Robitaille was an eight-time all-star, including the 1993 game played in Montreal, and he will attend this Sunday's game...

Luc looks back at the All-Star Game

According to the Kings' website, Peter Harrold is expected to be a healthy scratch tonight and be replaced in the lineup by Denis Gauthier.

Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News wrote an extensive blog item today about Drew Doughty, and also gave a plug to the column I wrote about the Kings for the current issue. That column isn't available on the website, but it's in the current magazine.

Here's the link to Ryan's item, in which he talks about Doughty's development...

THN.com Blog: Doughty proving he's ready to shoulder the load

A report on the Kings' website explains why the Kings have been wearing their dark jerseys on the road. Dallas requested to wear its white jerseys at home in Saturday's game, so the Kings requested that they be allowed to wear their dark jerseys in all three road games. It certainly makes sense for the Kings, and allowed them to pack only one set of jerseys/gear, not two.

-- The Kings scored five goals. They had scored a combined total of four goals in their previous four games. This was the Kings' first five-goal game since a 6-2 victory over St. Louis on Dec. 11.

-- Jonathan Quick, who had allowed a combined nine goals in his last two starts, stopped 25 shots. He stopped all 13 shots he faced in the third period. It's hard to imagine that he won't be back in goal tomorrow.

-- Drew Doughty had two assists and played a team high 22 minutes, 32 seconds. It was Doughty's third multi-point game of the season and his first since Nov. 8.

-- Matt Greene had two assists and tied for the team high with five hits (John Zeiler also had five). It was Greene's first multi-point game of the season and broke a 14-game stretch without a point.

-- Anze Kopitar scored a power-play goal in the second period to put the Kings up 2-1. Kopitar hadn't scored a power-play goal in his previous 15 games. The Kings had been 0-for-16 on the power play in their previous four games, and were 0-for-2 on the man advantage in the first period Tuesday.

-- Patrick O'Sullivan scored an empty-net goal in the final minute and had a team-high six shots on goal.

-- Dustin Brown scored a goal and had a plus-3 rating for the game.

-- The Kings improved to 4-1 all-time in Inauguration Day games. Moral of the story? Elect more presidents, right?

The Kings became only the second team this season to score more than four goals against the Wild in a game. The other was Colorado, in a 6-5 victory on Dec. 1.

Kings goals came from Calder, Kopitar (on the power play...yes, really), Brown, Armstrong and O'Sullivan (into an empty net). Drew Doughty had two assists and Jonathan Quick had 25 saves.

Some game notes to come shortly...

They're off and skating in Minnesota, so feel free to comment on the game here...

Denis Gauthier and Tom Preissing are expected to be the healthy scratches tonight, so the Kings will indeed go back to six defensemen. It's difficult to predict how the pairs will look, because they changed frequently during Saturday's game.

Random note: The Kings are 3-1 on Inauguration Day.

The Kings play in Minnesota tonight, which means something to both Jack Johnson and Patrick O'Sullivan. Neither player is a Minnesota native, but Johnson played high-school hockey in the famous Shattuck-St. Mary's program in Faribault, Minn., and O'Sullivan got drafted by the Minnesota Wild in 2003 but never played a game for the franchise.

Here's what O'Sullivan said, to the Kings' website, about facing Minnesota.

``You always feel connected to the team that drafted you. For me, it was a great team to be picked by. They gave me a chance to become a better player and try to play in the NHL. Even though I never got the chance to play here, I think they did a lot for my development.''

More notes from the Kings: Kings notebook: Jan. 19

Based on the last couple days of practice, here's how the Kings' forwards most likely will skate tonight:

Frolov-Kopitar-Simmonds
Calder-Stoll-Brown
O'Sullivan-Handzus-Zeiler
Ivanans-Armstrong-Westgarth

Some AHL news from back East...

-- The Manchester Monarchs split two games this weekend. On Friday, they lost 5-3 to Rochester at home, with goals from David Meckler, Matt Moulson and Brad Richardson. Jonathan Bernier stopped 14 of 18 shots in goal. On Saturday, they beat Portland 3-2 on the road, with goals from Meckler, Dusty Collins and Ryan Murphy. Danny Taylor stopped 26 of 28 shots.

-- Richardson, on a rehab assignment, has one goal and two assists in three games with the Monarchs. A report in the Union Leader this weekend indicated that Richardson would play only three games with the Monarchs, so perhaps a Kings roster move is on the horizon. The Monarchs next play Wednesday.

-- Richard Clune, recovered from a knee injury, returned to the lineup Saturday. Injuries have limited Clune to three games this season.

--Trevor Lewis leads the Monarchs with 28 points (10 goals, 18 assists) in 37 games. Meckler is tied for the team lead with 10 goals.

Here's what Terry Murray said today about his lineup change. The Kings will go back to six defensemen, and forward Kevin Westgarth will make his debut on a line with Derek Armstrong and Raitis Ivanans. There's no official word on which defenseman will be scratched, but it's quite safe to say that it will be either Denis Gauthier or Peter Harrold. As a bonus, here's a video of one of Westgarth's most recent fights, a Dec. 28 bout against Springfield's Guillaume Lefebvre.

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Question: You talked a couple days ago about getting Westgarth into the lineup. Will you go back to six defensemen and play Westgarth?

MURRAY: ``We will be going back to six defensemen tomrorow. We only have 12 forwards, so we will play those 12 forwards. We dressed those seven defensemen in the last game, and they played good. Everybody came out of that in good shape, so we will go back to six defensemen.''

Question: Safe to say you're looking for some bulk and grit with that Ivanans-Armstrong-Westgarth line...

MURRAY: ``This whole thing was precipitated by the situation with the Doughty hit. I didn't like it and I still don't like it. It's important that we give Westgarth an opportunity, and we'll see where he's at in his game. He's a big guy who will bring a physical presence.''

Here's what Terry Murray said this afternoon about the Kings' goaltending situation. As previously posted, Erik Ersberg traveled back to L.A. for more tests today, and Jonathan Quick will start in goal tomorrow at Minnesota.

Question: Any update on Ersberg's status?

MURRAY: ``He has gone back (to L.A.) so he will definitely be out for these next two games and then we'll have an opinion when we get back home. The good thing is, he has extra time with the all-star break coming up, but unfortunately for him, he's missing the chance to go play during the all-star break.''

Question: I know you went into the trip thinking that Quick and Ersberg would split these next two games. Has that thought changed?

MURRAY: ``I was thinking of splitting them when Quick and Ersberg were here. That was the thought I had coming on the road trip, but Quick will play tomorrow. Bernier was able to get a good practice in today, but I'm leaning toward Quick for the game in Colorado as well.''

A few things, after the Kings finished practice today...

-- Jonathan Quick will start in goal tomorrow, and Terry Murray is inclined to also have Quick start Wednesday's game at Colorado. The plan had been to have Quick and Erik Ersberg split the games, but obviously Ersberg is hurt and out until after the all-star break, at least.

-- Ersberg's (still undefined) lower-body injury is not related to his previous groin strain. Ersberg is headed back to Los Angeles today for tests, which (pure speculation here) might suggest a knee issue. No timetable on Ersberg's return. He suffered the injury during the final round of the shootout Saturday.

-- The Kings will go back to six defensemen tomorrow, meaning Kevin Westgarth will make his debut, on a line with Derek Armstrong and Raitis Ivanans.

I'll have a few quotes on this stuff a bit later...

The Kings called up Kevin Westgarth from Manchester last week, presumably because they wanted a more physical presence in the lineup. But Westgarth has been a healthy scratch in the two games since his call-up. Terry Murray told the Kings' website before Saturday's game that Westgarth was ``penciled in'' the lineup but that he was unsure about whether to play seven defensemen, with Jack Johnson playing his first game. Presumably, that means Westgarth has a good chance of playing Tuesday, since Johnson didn't seem to have any issues Saturday against Dallas.

According to a report in today's Sports Business Journal, ratings for Kings telecasts on Fox Sports West are up by 26.7 percent this season (compared to the midpoint of last season). Of the 22 teams based in the United States -- (EDIT: that's the 22 teams that had ratings available) the Kings are one of 15 teams that have seen ratings for local telecasts increase this season, and national ratings have also increased. On the other hand, Kings telecasts are reported with a 0.38 rating, which is tied for 18th among the 22 U.S. teams.

The Kings' plan was to have Erik Ersberg and Jonathan Quick split the next two games, since they're back-to-back road games against Minnesota and Colorado. That may or may not still be the plan, with Jonathan Bernier taking Ersberg's spot. I'll attempt to get Terry Murray on the phone later, after the Kings practice in Minnesota.

For some perspective on Bernier, he has a 2.79 goals-against average and a .897 save percentage in 25 games with Manchester. Before his recall, Bernier lost his last four starts and allowed 14 goals in those four games.

As a side note, some might be interested to know that former Kings goalie Barry Brust has a 2.42 GAA and a .915 save percentage for the AHL Houston Aeros this season.

Two things...

The Kings have called up Jonathan Bernier from Manchester under emergency circumstances, because Erik Ersberg sustained a lower-body injury in Saturday's game against Dallas.

Also, Teddy Purcell has been assigned to Manchester.

-- The Kings dropped to 0-3-1 in their last four and 2-0-1 against the Stars this season.

-- Jack Johnson returned after missing 41 games. He played 20 minutes, 14 seconds, had a minus-1 rating and one minor penalty. He was credited with five hits and two shots on goal, not including the one he took during the shootout.

-- Drew Doughty also made a surprise return and played a massive 27:06. He had a plus-2 rating.

-- Alexander Frolov recorded his 300th career point when he tied the game with 16.9 seconds reamaining in regulation.

-- Erik Ersberg made 32 saves as the Kings were outshot 34-22.

-- The Kings went 0-for-4 on the power play and are now 0-for-16 with the man advantage in their last four games.

-- The three most-regular lines today seemed to be Frolov-Kopitar-Simmonds, Calder-Stoll-Brown and O'Sullivan-Handzus-Purcell. The Kings dressed seven defensemen, and those pairings were all over the place.

Mike Ribeiro scored the only goal of the shootout, in the first round. Turco stopped Alexander Frolov, Dustin Brown and Jack Johnson to give the Stars the extra point.

Some game notes to come shortly...

With their net empty, the Kings tied the game with 16.9 seconds remaining. Kopitar's wraparound pass found the stick of Alexander Frolov, whose shot hit Marty Turco flush but then trickled across the line to tie the game.

Sydor sent the puck in from the blue line, and Mike Ribeiro cut to the front of the net and deflected the puck with his stick, past Ersberg. The goal game with 1:12 remaining in regulation.

Jere Lehtinen picked up his stride at the blue line, split Harrold and Quincey and beat Ersberg with a short-side wrist shot to tie the game 11:29 into the third period.

The Kings actually put together an end-to-end rush. Ersberg started it, Doughty made a nice pass and Calder made an even better pass to Dustin Brown, who beat Marty Turco 6:45 into the third period.

The Kings have seven defensemen in there today, so there are a lot of movable parts. The only consistent lives I've seen so far are Frolov-Kopitar-Simmonds and Calder-Stoll-Brown.

Jack Johnson has been paired with both Gauthier, Harrold and Doughty, so we'll have to take another look later in the game.

Things are a little slow this morning, but the Kings activated Jack Johnson from injured reserve and sent Brian Boyle to Manchester. Armstrong, Preissing and Westgarth are the healthy scratches today. Drew Doughty IS playing today. Scoreless early in the first period so far.

Here's the news out of El Segundo today...

-- Jack Johnson is expected to play tomorrow at Dallas.

-- Drew Doughty did not skate today and is unlikely to play tomorrow.

-- Erik Ersberg will start in goal tomorrow.

There's a lot of frustration out there among Kings fans, and it's directed in about 16 different directions. So the question is, if you're given control of the Kings today, what do you do? Keep in mind that you might want success this season, but you also don't want to do something loony and jeopardize the future.

Let's hear some specifics...

This will be the third month of measuring fans' approval ratings of Dean Lombardi and Terry Murray. The first two months were remarkably consistent:

Mid-November (team record: 5-6-2): Lombardi, 96 percent; Murray, 89 percent
Mid-December (team record: 12-12-4): Lombardi, 96 percent; Murray, 89 percent.
Mid-January (team record: 17-20-6): ?

KINGS HEAD COACH TERRY MURRAY:

(Re: game recap): "Well, when we have lost as many as we have, it's hard to be happy. Losing is hard and we have to get ourselves out of this. We're bringing a lot of the problems on ourselves with puck management. We're turning the pucks over and not getting enough pucks to the net. We have got to be hungrier, much hungrier than what we are."

(Re: lack of confidence): "That's been pretty clear, I think, over the last several games here, that we're not handling the puck well, passing it with authority, carrying the puck to generate something off the rush, and we're just refusing to put pucks to the net. That's a sign that we're really gripping the stick too tight.''

Here are some quotes from the unhappy locker room after the Kings' dreadful 4-0 loss to Detroit:

KINGS FORWARD PATRICK O'SULLIVAN:

(Re: game recap): "Obviously we've been struggling out there for two weeks or so. It's very disappointing. The season can go one way or another right now, and that's what's happened with this organization in the past. Right around this time everything falls apart. Games start to get away from you and then the season is over.''

(Re: going on the road):" Hopefully we can play better on the road. We've been home a lot this first half. We need to win these next three games, is the bottom line. Otherwise we slip further and further away and it gets to the point that it gets impossible to recover. I think it's really important to win these three games and come back with some momentum.''

KINGS FORWARD KYLE CALDER:

(Re: game recap): "This all comes from within and we have to find ways to piece it together. We need 20 guys pulling together. We have to find ways to be better as a team. We can't get into a groove that we have players trying to do it themselves. We have to play as a good group.''

KINGS FORWARD ANZE KOPITAR:

(Re: game recap): We've scored one goal in the last two games here and that just won't cut it. We have to find a way to score and find a way to win. It's that point in the season when you have to keep pushing for the playoffs or you fall back. The past three years we broke apart in this time of the season and were playing for nothing. This road trip coming up is huge for us and we have to find a way to win.''

(Re: team coming together): "We need to look at ourselves and figure it out and how we're going to step up in the key moment. We're going to need 20 guys to win games. Not just 15 guys or so, but 20. I think everybody has to bring something to the table, whether you're playing five minutes or 10. We have to find a way to win. This is a time when teams show what they're made of. That's going to be our ultimate test for us."

I'll be out of communication during tonight's game, but feel free to use this as a thread to comment on the game. I'll be back with postgame notes and quotes...

At the moment, the Kings have 10 players who have appeared in every game this season. After the opening faceoff tonight, that number will drop to eight, since Drew Doughty and Raitis Ivanans won't be in the lineup.

The eight players who have appeared in every game?
Brown
Frolov
Greene
Handzus
Kopitar
O'Donnell
Simmonds
Stoll

The ``Ironman'' award goes to Michal Handzus, (EDIT:) Anze Kopitar and Sean O'Donnell, who also played all 82 games last season.

The whole Quincey-vs.-Detroit angle is a bit played out, since this is the third meeting between the Kings and Wings this season, but I'll pass this along anyway. Terry Murray was asked about Quincey's play and gave him strong praise. Quincey leads all Kings defensemen with 23 points and is second on the team is assists (20) and average ice time (22 minutes, 19 seconds, per game).

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Question: What have you seen from Kyle Quincey this season?

MURRAY: ``Quincey has come in and had a real good impact on this team. His composure, his overall play as a young defenseman, has been good. That's the nice thing about it, is the age. He's 23 years old and he's going to be a player here for a long time. I know he came in here with some back issues, and I think he has worked his way through some days when he probably wasn't as comfortable as he would like to be. That, maybe, has had some kind of an effect on his performance in any given game, but he's been pretty consistent. I like that, and I like the fact that we can depend on him in all situations. He brings an edge to his game and he's a good person. He fits in. He's a good, quality guy. He's got good character and fits into the group that we're putting together here. He's one of the cornerstones of our young, core group that we're looking forward to working with.''

Question: Is he just the classic example of a kid who needed a chance somewhere else?

MURRAY: ``Well, Detroit knew what they had. Everybody needs that break, and everybody needs that long look, to show that they can do it over time, but Detroit knew what they had. It was just a numbers thing with them, and they had to get him through waivers, hopefully get him through waivers. We were not smarter than anybody else. There were a bunch of other teams that put claims in on him. There was no secret there.''

Here's how the Kings are expected to play tonight...

O'Sullivan-Kopitar-Brown
Frolov-Handzus-Simmonds
Calder-Stoll-Purcell
Armstrong-Boyle-Zeiler

O'Donnell-Greene
Quincey-Harrold
Gauthier-Preissing

Quick
Ersberg

Some notes from the Kings' website:

Doughty out tonight; Quick to start

It's no surprise to see the Detroit Red Wings, the defending Stanley Cup champions, back near the top of the Western Conference standings. The Kings have faced the Red Wings twice this season, losing 4-3 in a shootout at home on Oct. 27 and losing 6-4 at Detroit on Dec. 20. Terry Murray was asked about the Red Wings, specifically which part of their game he would like to see the Kings duplicate...

MURRAY: ``Well, they do everything so well. The area of their game that is really tremendous, I think, is their transition game. They come at you with speed. As a group, they have the composure to be able to handle the pressure that comes at them on the neutral zone, forecheck side of things. They get the forwards back into position so they can generate that speed with the puck. They do it against every team. Every time I watch that team play, they are incredibly fast through the middle of the ice, to offensive-zone possession and generating a quality scoring chance at the net. That's a pretty general answer, but they are better than any other team in the league at it, in my mind. They get the puck into the hands of their best players at the right time, so that they have to speed to come at you, and that's a real skill, to be able to do that. That's a compliment to their defensemen. They're waiting for the forward to get back and get position, to get himself turned up ice. Then that little five-foot, four-foot handoff pass is there and they're gone, and you get Datsyuk and Zetterberg in the middle of the ice, and those are world-class players who can generate a lot off the attack. They're fun to watch in that area.''

Brad Richardson has been assigned to Manchester for a conditioning assignment. Richardson remains on injured reserve during the assignment. He has been out since he suffered a cut on his lower leg during a Dec. 3 practice.

``Doughty-gate,'' and the ensuing questions about the Kings' need to be tougher and stand up for each other, would seem to be the first major test of Dustin Brown's captaincy. After Monday's game, almost all of the players had cleared out of the locker room, but Brown remained sitting at his stall, skates still laced, staring straight ahead at nothing in particular. Brown isn't the most vocal of players, so I thought I'd ask Derek Armstrong, one of the most-veteran players, what he thought of Brown's performance so far...

ARMSTRONG: ``It's a good learning experience for him. He's surrounded by good people, I think, and he's been asking good questions of some of the other veterans. He's definitely the right person for the job. He works his butt off every night and he leads by example. It's definitely a good test for everybody. Not just Brownie, but everybody in the leadership group. You're going to have lots of times like this in your career, a lot of ups and downs, so it's a just a matter of how you react. You have to support your teammates. This isn't even that bad of a situation. People just have to learn how to rely on their teammates and realize that they're your best friends in the room. When you have troubles, you talk to each other, just like a family. If you don't talk about it, things can get really rough. But when you talk about it, you get things out in the open and everything seems to take care of itself.''

Question: The one question, about him being a captain, seemed to be whether he would be vocal enough. What you have seen there?

ARMSTRONG: ``He's not super-vocal, but obviously he leads by example on the ice. I don't think every leader has to be vocal. There are a lot of leaders that are quiet, and they just go about their job. Brownie is a great leader. You watch him every day and he comes to work on the ice every day. You don't have to be a huge vocal leader to be a leader on the team. There are other guys who can talk, and Brownie knows that. He looks to us, to other people, to help with that, but he has done a fantastic job.''

Question: What's your reaction to the idea that you guys didn't do enough to support Doughty after his injury?

ARMSTRONG: ``As players, we know that things need to be done in a certain manner. That's why we talk about it, and teach people, throughout their career, that you have to stick together as a team. I think that's the bottom line. We've got to love each other, as a team, and stick together in the dressing room no matter what, through good and through bad. That's what makes a good hockey team.''

For those who are nostalgic for those ridiculous, panicked ``Are the Kings moving to Kansas City?'' stories from the summer, take a look at what's happening out on Long Island today. It seems as though the Kings will play another preseason game in Kansas City in 2009, against the New York Islanders, and the New York media is taking that opportunity to fan the flames of a possible Islanders-to-Missouri story.

Report: Isles game in KC hints at possible move

Perhaps I could redirect some of the other ridiculous Kings-related rumors to New York!

The Kings have recalled Kevin Westgarth from Manchester and placed Oscar Moller on injured reserve. Obviously, Terry Murray indicated there's an injury issue involving Raitis Ivanans, but the timing is rather curious, given that so much of the talk after Monday's game involved the need for a more physical presence... Moller's move to injured reserve is retroactive to Jan. 7, and there's no change in his status. He will be evaluated again after the all-star break.

The Kings are 0-for-8 on the power play in their last two games, and success on the power-play has been a season-long issue. The Kings are still hanging tight at No. 15 in the NHL in power-play efficiency, but they're struggling of late. As Terry Murray points out below, it can also translate to 5-on-5 play. For the season, Anze Kopitar and Patrick O'Sullivan each have only two power-play goals. Murray talked about the status of the power-play unit and the need to play more effectively as a unit...

MURRAY: ``The penalty killing is so aggressive today, by all teams in the league, that you really have to have good structure and attack with five guys in the zone and have great support to regain possession. We do a pretty good job of that in most of the games. Sometimes inevitably, when you get it in the early part of a game like that, it just doesn't quite click the way you'd like it to. I think that's a league-wide issue. But it's an opportunity that you've got to take advantage of. We've got to work harder to get open and get available and have that shooting, scoring mentality with traffic. We don't stray for from that. Our defensemen, our people on the blue line, are pretty good at getting things through and trying to have that kind of an attitude, getting it to the net with traffic and screens. We can do a better job in front of the goaltender. I think they see more pucks than we would like them to see. Playing goal yourself is kind of the attitude you need to have when you're playing in front of the net.

``When you have some offensive-zone time (on the power play), it clearly has an effect on your 5-on-5. You come out and you build off the energy and momentum and you can elevate your game, as a group, after a couple successful power plays.''

I spoke with Jack Johnson today, but he continued to insist that he wasn't planning on coming back until after the all-star break. I've got to give Jack credit. He's been very consistent with the ``I'm not coming back early'' quotes, even in the face of overwhelming evidence that he would be coming back early. And, of course, barring any setbacks, he's coming back early. Johnson did say that he doesn't need any minor-league rehab games and that he feels strong. As previously posted, he has been cleared for contact in practice. Here's what Terry Murray said today about Johnson's status...

-----

MURRAY: ``He's moving along really well. You could see him today. He was doing a lot of the battling drills along the boards, and that's where we want to make sure that everything is solid. He's doing extra work at the end of the practice, pushing and battling, and then as you get finished up, it's `How are you feeling? How are you doing?' at the end of practice. He's real close. I'm penciling him in. He's that close, for me. It's not going to be tomorrow, it's not going to be...well, I don't know after that. It will not be tomorrow. I do have him penciled in, I am writing him into the lineup now and I'm looking forward to getting the games underway.''

Question: So you're definitely looking at (a return) before the all-star break now?

MURRAY: ``Well, I'll have to have some conversations with several people before I answer that, but it's very close to happening.''

Question: Obviously there are a few dynamics, Doughty's injury being one of them, but have you thought about where Jack might fit in?

MURRAY: ``Oh yeah. I've thought about it a lot, and put down a lot of defensive pairings. That's not going to be an issue. When he's ready to go, he's in. There's no hesitation on that side of it.''

Question: Is it safe to say he will be on the left side, or would you look at the right side?

MURRAY: ``You know, I don't know if he has ever played the right side. I've never talked to him about that. That would be interesting, with the way he can shoot the puck, 5-on-5 and on the power play, that would be a big advantage, but I don't know if he has ever played there or not.''

Drew Doughty wasn't available/around for comment today, but here's what Terry Murray said about Doughty's status...

MURRAY: ``The status is the same as it was yesterday. It's a day-to-day thigh contusion. He's getting treatment for it, and it's almost like a light charley horse. Day to day is where it's at.''

Question: You're planning on not having him tomorrow?

MURRAY: ``I'm planning that. I'm thinking that way. I think it would be difficult, after a couple days of not being out there, to be jumping into a game tomorrow, although a young guy could do it. I'm planning that way, not to have him.''

A few quick things...

-- The Kings aren't counting on having Drew Doughty back tomorrow. The injury isn't any more serious/worse than it was yesterday, but he did not skate today. Tom Preissing would go in Doughty's lineup spot.

-- Jack Johnson is getting close, real close. Terry Murray said Johnson won't play tomorrow, but it sounds as though Saturday's game at Dallas might be a real possibility.

-- Jonathan Quick will start in goal tomorrow.

-- Raitis Ivanans didn't skate today because he had a ``therapy'' day, which is Murray's way of saying that Ivanans has a nagging injury that's not quite serious enough to keep him out of the lineup. Murray said he intends to have Ivanans in the lineup tomorrow.

Here's how the Kings are skating this morning...

O'Sullivan-Kopitar-Brown
Frolov-Stoll-Simmonds
Calder-Handzus-Armstrong
Boyle-Zeiler
Richardson-Purcell

Ivanans is not skating but was seen riding a bike in the locker room. Drew Doughty is not on the ice but Jack Johnson is wearing black, not yellow, which means he might have been cleared for contact.

The Manchester Monarchs have assigned goalie Jeff Zatkoff back to Ontario of the ECHL and recalled goalie Daniel Taylor from Reading of the ECHL. Looking at the numbers, it's a bit difficult to see why. Zatkoff had a 2.31 goals-against average and a .918 save percentage in three games with the Monarchs and Taylor had a 3.96 GAA and a .881 save percentage in 23 games with Reading.

We'll probably find out tomorrow who Terry Murray intends to put in goal Thursday against Detroit. Erik Ersberg got pulled early in the second period last night, after he allowed three goals on seven shots. The final goal, by Vincent Lecavalier, caused Murray to turn to Jonathan Quick, who then stopped all 15 shots he faced. Here's what Murray said about the decision to pull Ersberg...

MURRAY: ``The 4-on-4 goal, I just didn't like that one. It's a short-side goal. (Lecavalier) is a great player and great players make those plays, but is has to be anticipated and we needed a save on that goal. That was really a tough one. In this particular case, it's probably more a reflection on Erik's play, more than the overall team play. That was a big goal. At that point, the shots were something like 9-7, so it wasn't like either team was dominating the game.''

As noted here, the Kings started last night's game with a eyebrow-raising line of Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown and Raitis Ivanans. Was Terry Murray trying to make some type of statement? Not really. Turns out, Murray and his staff had watched tape of Tampa Bay's game against the Ducks on Friday, when the Lightning skated a first line of two skill players, Vincent Lecavalier and Vaclav Prospal, with a ``tough guy'' in Evgeny Artyukhin. So Murray countered with a similar line of Kopitar-Brown-Ivanans. When Tampa put Martin St. Louis back on the first line with Lecavalier and Prospal, the Kings put Alexander Frolov back on their first line. So that's the reason, for the curious...

I just got off the phone with Terry Murray after practice, as I wanted to get his feelings the day after last night's loss. Not surprisingly, the hit on Drew Doughty, and the way the Kings responded to it (or, perhaps, didn't respond to it) remained a major topic of conversation. Here's what Murray said...

-----

Question: What kind of conversation did you have with the players today, after last night's loss?

MURRAY: ``There were some issues we needed to discuss as a team, and they will need to be followed up on. It was the Doughty thing, more than anything else. We need to identify when something like that happens and respond to it in the proper fashion. OD was trying to do the right thing in protecting his teammate and his partner, and I give him credit for that, but I just felt there needed to be a response. OD did the right thing, but as the shifts went on, we didn't have any type of response.''

Question: What should have been the proper response?

MURRAY: ``Somebody needs to challenge him. You can drop the gloves. That's one thing you can do. I'm not sending players out there specifically to do that, but that needs to be an instinctive part of the business if you're a player. You need to get out there and have a response, or at least start something, have a conversation in the faceoff circle. Maybe there's just a scrum with guys pushing each other around, or a facewash. You have to do something to acknowledge it, to say, `We're not going to tolerate this and we're going to support our teammate.' It's important that we support our teammates. Not just (Doughty), but every player.''

Question: Do you get a sense of why nobody stepped up there? Is that a leadership issue?

MURRAY: ``There just needs to be some initiative on it, by any one of the players. It's not a leadership issue. Somebody just needs to respond at a critical time when something like that happens. It doesn't fall on any one player's shoulers in particular. I know Raitis went out a couple times looking for something and he got turned down, but it's important to just follow through. It's important to send a message, not just to (Artyukhin) but to the teams we're going to play in the future, to say, `We're not going to tolerate this.'''

Question: Did you think that was a bad hit by Artyukhin?

MURRAY: ``It was a knee, and he followed through very hard and heavy. The read by all of us was that there was intent there.''

Drew Doughty did not skate in practice today. He's officially listed as day-to-day with a thigh bruise/contusion.

Here's some more stuff from Terry Murray after last night's game, quotes that are more about the general play of the team...

(on the most disappointing part of the game...)
MURRAY: ``The loss. Losing the game is always the most disappointing thing. You can lose a game in a lot of different ways. You can lose when you play extremely well or you can lose when you play without the structure and without the system, and that seemed to be where we were at tonight. The puck management, and the decisions with the puck, really cost us. With and without the puck, they cost us. The first goal is a perfect example of it. They go down on a 3-on-1, on a situation where it should be an automatic read, and that seemed to be the template for our game the rest of the day.''

(on the inability to get much going in the offensive zone...)
MURRAY: ``That was because of not getting the puck in on a consistent basis to have some kind of forecheck going. We turned it over far too often at the offensive blue line and the gray zone, that five feet on either side, and when you do that you end up just chasing the game. Then later, as you try to do it, players are hesitant. There's no instinctive play or reads that are going on, and as a result, you don't get any offensive-zone play. A few shifts, but nothing on the sustained side of it.''

Here's a quick postgame interview with Kings defenseman Matt Greene...

Question: You're a guy who, especially, doesn't tolerate games when the team doesn't work hard. Are you frustrated with this one?

GREENE: ``It is frustrating. I don't doubt anybody's commitment in here and I don't doubt anybody's willingness to work. It's just that some nights, it's not there. You have to wonder if it's a mental problem or if it's a lack of preparation. Tonight we just didn't have it.''

Question: What can you do to get this turned around pretty quickly?

GREENE: ``You've got to hope that everybody, as an individual at this level, comes out strong and is buying into the system. That's what creates great teams, everybody playing together and everybody working together.''

Question: Did you guys need to sit in here and talk it out a little bit?

GREENE: ``I think so. You bring up points and you let the individuals go home and work on it themselves. You're a professional, so it's time you take care of yourself and not worry about what other guys are doing.''

Here's Terry Murray's reaction to the Kings' response (or lack thereof) to the hit on Drew Doughty...

MURRAY: ``I think that's why the dressing-room door is closed. That's a response that players need to take in their own hands right away, through hard play, through going at it and doing right stuff, getting the puck in, physically playing harder, competing harder. That's something that this team should know, but we don't, so we have to go through that process and learn something out of that hit on Doughty tonight.''

Here's what Sean O'Donnell said after the game regarding the Kings' reaction to Artyukhin's hit on Drew Doughty. O'Donnell immediately tried to start something with Artyukhin, but Artyukhin merely skated to the Tampa bench and O'Donnell got a cross-checking penalty...

O'DONNELL: ``I think that we didn't know until we came out that Drew was going to be out for the third period. It's only a two-goal game and you have to be careful. A two-goal deficit isn't insurmountable. You want to be careful in doing something crazy and not get a five-minute major and let them get a three-goal lead and then you're out of it.''

As you might imagine, it wasn't a very happy Kings locker room after the game. Terry Murray talked to the team for a while, and then the players had a closed-door meeting that lasted about 10 to 15 minutes. Afterward, here's what captain Dustin Brown said.

(on the loss...)
``We didn't get the performance we needed from anybody in this room.''

(on the response -- or lack thereof -- to the hit on Doughty...)
``OD went after the guy and he didn't want to fight OD, and it kind of was forgotten after that. (Doughty) has been probably our best defenseman all year. When one of your key players gets hit like that, you have to answer the bell.''

(on whether it was a dirty hit...)
``I can't comment on it actually. I didn't see it.''

(on what the team needs to do in order to turn things around...)
``I think it's just about our compete level. You look at tonight. It's not about our Xs and Os, it's about our willingness to do whatever it takes, and tonight we didn't have that. We're not a good enough team to rely on our skill or anything else. We need to come to work and prepare to work, and tonight we didn't do that. It doesn't matter if we're playing Detroit or Tampa. It's the same mentality.''

The Kings have a 3-5 record in their last eight games, and have scored a total of four goals in those five losses. Notes and quotes to come from the locker room...

Drew Doughty has been diagnosed with a right thigh contusion and will not return to tonight's game.

Peter Harrold's slap shot beat Mike Smith, with Dustin Brown running interference in front, with 1:58 remaining in the second period to pull the Kings within two goals.

We're awaiting word on the status of Drew Doughty, who had to go to the locker room after a collision with Evgeny Artyukhin. Sean O'Donnell didn't take kindly to the play and got a cross-checking penalty when he tried to engage Artyukhin in a fight.

Tampa scores an even-strength goal 5:48 into the second period, and the Kings pull Erik Ersberg in favor of Jonathan Quick. Martin St. Louis worked the puck out of the corner to Vincent Lecavalier, whose slap shot from the left faceoff dot beat Ersberg.

Just 41 seconds after the first goal, Mark Recchi picked up the puck in front of the net and beat Ersberg with a no-look, backhand shot. The period ends with the Kings getting booed by fans, at least those who are still engaged enough to pay attention.

An ugly period closes poorly for the Kings, as Evgeny Artyukin skates up the right side, pulls up at the faceoff dot and beats Erik Ersberg will a pedestrian-looking wrist shot. Steven Stamkos got an assist on the goal at 18:16. Each team has four shots in the period.

This would appear to be how the Kings' forwards are skating in the first period

Ivanans-Kopitar-Brown
Frolov-Handzus-Purcell
O'Sullivan-Boyle-Simmonds
Calder-Stoll-Armstrong

EDIT: Never mind, I give up. The Kings might try to run the ``Wildcat'' formation on offense next, or maybe a screen-and-roll offense.

Erik Ersberg vs. Mike Smith in goal. Tom Preissing and John Zeiler are once again the healthy scratches for the Kings.

The ice girls just came into the press room to give a rousing version of ``Happy Birthday'' to Kings broadcaster Daryl Evans, who turned...well, let's not embarrass him. Anyone who calls Kings Talk tonight can ask him how he liked his special attention.

We've been having department-wide blog issues today but I think we're back. I'm hearing Ersberg in goal tonight, but that's secondhand info at the moment.

Who would you rather have, Drew Doughty or Steven Stamkos? Of course, it's a moot point, since the Kings weren't in a position to draft Stamkos anyway, but they were THIS close, as you'll recall. It's still an interesting question. The Kings now appear to have tremendous depth, in terms of young defensemen, but are lacking in offensive depth. On the other hand, Doughty is arguably having more success (so far) than Stamkos.

KINGS HEAD COACH TERRY MURRAY:
(Re: the biggest issue tonight): "Too many penalties, taking too many undisciplined penalties, the hooking and the holding. t was same as last game vs. Anaheim and it came back to be the same thing tonight."

(Re: game recap): "I thought that we pulled ourselves out of a little bit of a rut that we fell into, with the two goals [against], but we came back came back and played pretty well. We got 16 shots on net in the second period. It was a pretty good second period and we had some opportunities, maybe not great scoring chances, but we tried to bounce back."

KINGS CENTER BRIAN BOYLE:
(Re game recap): "The penalties are an issue. I gave up those power plays and we took way too many penalties. They are the kind of penalties you don't want to take. We just have to be more disciplined. You want to kill those penalties and get things going again, but today they took advantage of our penalties."

(Re: coach Murray's timeout): "He just wanted us to have a bit more composure and talked about starting to play the right way and help each other out, especially on the back end. He told us to be more supportive, especially our forwards and he told us to basically take a deep breath and start playing with a little bit more patience."

(Re: against New Jersey): "They are a tough team to beat. They've done it for a number of years now where they just wait for you to make a mistake and they're very defensive minded, but then again you look at their forwards and they play hard. So once you make a mistake they have some weapons to put it in the back of the net."

Well, at least that one is over, right?

The Kings outshoot the Devils 35-28 but give up three power-plays goals in a performance that won't be fondly remembered.

Notes and quotes from postgame in a bit, for those who want them...

And the blowout is on...as Jamie Langenbrunner scores with 9:02 remaining to make it a four-goal game.

And just like that, the Devils take the momentum back, as Brian Rolston nets yet another power-play goal for the Devils 6:29 into the third period.

Derek Armstrong makes the most of his rare opportunity to play, as he scores an even-strength goal 1:17 into the third period to get the Kings back in it a bit...

Another penalty, another goal against. The Devils again won a faceoff and Patrik Elias let loose a rocket slap shot to the top corner for a 2-0 lead 1:07 into the second period.

Then, just 71 seconds later, Matt Greene got the puck stripped in the defensive zone, and Zach Parise went to the net, made a move to his backhand and beat Quick for a 3-0 lead.

In ability to stay out of the box hurts the Kings again, as the Devils open the scoring with a power-play goal 14:02 into the game. Travis Zajac won a faceoff, then got to the front of the net alone and deflected a Jamie Langenbrunner slap shot past Jonathan Quick.

Derek Armstrong will be in the Kings' lineup tonight, in place of John Zeiler.

I toyed with the idea of a ``Moller traded'' headline on this one, but I didn't want to be responsible for any heart-related issues among readers...

Oscar Moller's junior rights, in the Western Hockey League, have been traded from Chilliwack to Seattle. That's only relevant if the Kings decide to return Moller to his junior team, which seems quite unlikely. If the Kings wanted to send him back, they had the perfect opportunity after the World Juniors ended. But it's not a bad bet for Seattle either, which only gave up one player and a fourth-round pick in the 2010 bantam draft. Should Moller end up playing for Seattle though, he would be teammates with Thomas Hickey.

Thanks to Quisp for finding this...

I'd actually forgotten about the whole ``Rinkside View'' thing -- or perhaps I was just trying to block out the memories -- but Fox Sports announced today that they're finished, no more.

Here's the story, courtesy of the Orange County Register. No comment from Fox Sports exec Tom ``Don't Watch'' Feuer...

`Rinkside View' gets the boot

I asked Terry Murray about the new O'Sullivan-Boyle-Purcell line, which came together in the third period of Thursday's victory over the Ducks and, by all accounts, looked pretty good. Murray said this morning that he intends to stick with that line tonight. There are also some quotes below about Boyle and how Murray feels Boyle is developing...

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Question: The O'Sullivan-Boyle-Purcell line seemed to work well in the third period. What led you to putting the three of them together?

MURRAY: ``Well, when Boyle got moved to that position, it was more of a result of what happened with that puck going over the glass. It was about composure, not making the play and putting us down on the 5-on-3. That's how that happened, and Boyle seemed to fit in pretty good. They had some very good shifts. They had composure with the puck, they cycled, they were strong on the puck and they were doing the things that they had to do in a 3-3, 4-3 game. It was good for me to see that from three young players.''

Question: Boyle's play has been a frequent topic of conversation. Is he getting closer to where you want him to be, in terms of his game?

MURRAY: ``There are good things that he does in a game. We always want young players to be consistent, to take the ball and run with it a little bit further and push it higher and all that, so I'm watching closely. We'll let him show us, and we'll decide based on what his performance ends up being. You always want a player like that to be successful. He's got size, strength and good hands. He's got a pretty good head on his shoulders when it comes to the game. It's a decision that all young players ultimately have to make, if they're going to take that next step. We can push him and we can talk, and we do talk about areas of the game that need to continually get focus. We reassure him with the positives, and then it's up to the player himself.''

Question: He had been playing primarily a fourth-line role. This is obviously different. Is this an attempt to bring out something different in his game?

MURRAY: ``It's a little bit of a different look, but a lot of his game has to be the same. Throughout the lineup, when you play in the NHL there are requirements. You put him on the fourth line, where Teddy Purcell started out, and we're looking for him to do the little things, the hard things, playing from the dots to the boards on a consistent basis. I think he has started to show us that, and as a result of that, you get put into a more responsible position. So we'll see where that goes and we'll see how he handles things against these teams. We've got a good team in here tonight, just as we did the other night against Anaheim, so we'll see how he deals with the responsibilities.''

The Kings will go back to Jonathan Quick in goal tonight, but it's still premature to declare him the Kings' No. 1 goalie. Erik Ersberg remains a big piece of the puzzle, and Terry Murray said today that the goalies will split the Jan. 20-21 games at Minnesota and Colorado. Of course, there are still three more games (after tonight) before that trip, and Ersberg could very well get a start before then. Here's what Murray said about the goaltending situation...

-----

Question: Going back to Quick tonight?

MURRAY: ``Yeah, he felt good. I talked to him yesterday and he actually feels back to normal, after that sore throat and missing that start in Anaheim. He's back to full strength and ready to go.''

Question: Will you try to come up with a plan for playing the two goalies, or is it a game-by-game situation?

MURRAY: ``It's hard to come up with a plan and say, `This is the way it will be for the rest of year,' with them alternating or having one guy play two-to-one, but I will look ahead, through the all-star break. We're getting into these games on the road...Minnesota and Colorado, they will split those. I've already decided that and talked to the coaches about it. Both goalies will keep playing. They are two young players who are important players on our team, and as they develop their games they will continue to play as a tandem.'

Basically, here's the deal with Oscar Moller's shoulder...

He got hit in the World Juniors game against Russia and left the game with a sore shoulder. They looked at it, but both Moller and team officials thought Moller had simply aggravated an existing injury involving the shoulder joint. They did NOT take x-rays on the shoulder, and Moller played in the final two games with minimal pain (according to Moller). He came back to the Kings, skated in one practice and had enough discomfort that he went for x-rays, which showed that he had fractured his clavicle. Moller will be out until at least the all-star break. I got to catch up with Moller today to ask about the tournament and the injury...

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Question: Some mixed emotions from the World Juniors? You had a great tournament but then you get hurt and come up a little short in the gold-medal game...

MOLLER: ``It was fun, and it's great to be back. Obviously I thought it was a great experience for me to be there, and a great time. I got to play tons and be one of the leaders, and I think that was good for me. Obviously it sucked that we didn't get the gold. We really wanted that bad, and then on top of that I hurt my shoulder. I didn't know it was a fracture until I got back and they took x-rays.''

Question: At the time of the injury, how seriously did you think you had hurt it?

MOLLER: ``I thought it was an old injury that I had before and just hurt again. I thought I was fine, because I thought I knew what it was. So I thought, `I can play with this,' and they just taped me up.''

Question: So they didn't take any x-rays or anything after that game?

MOLLER: ``No. We didn't think about it as a fracture. They just thought it was an old injury.''

Question: Were you playing in a lot of pain?

MOLLER: ``No. It was not bad, actually.''

Question: Being the captain of that Sweden team is obviously a high honor. What do you take away from that experience?

MOLLER: ``Just to always show the right attitude, no matter what game it is or what the score is, help out with everything around, talk in the dressing room and make sure everyone is on the same page and help the younger guys, push them in the right direction.''

Question: Reading the quotes, you seemed pretty upset after the gold-medal game...

MOLLER: ``Yeah, the second year in a row too, and it was the last chance for me. I just felt terrible after the game.''

Question: Are you able to put it in some perspective now, and be pleased with the tournament in general?

MOLLER: ``Yeah, I'm starting to look back at it right now and see that it was a great time. It was a good tournament for me and our team as well.''

Those who have been wanting to see Brian Boyle in more than a fourth-line role will get their wish tonight, as the Kings are expected to skate much like they did in the third period Thursday:

Frolov-Kopitar-Brown
O'Sullivan-Boyle-Purcell
Calder-Handzus-Simmonds
Ivanans-Stoll-Zeiler

In discussing the Boyle/Stoll flip, Terry Murray once again referenced Stoll's delay of game penalty. He really, really didn't like that one.

Jonathan Quick will be in goal.

It was an optional skate this morning, so Kopitar, Frolov and Handzus (and Murray) stayed off the ice.

I'll have quotes on this stuff a bit later, plus an explanation from Oscar Moller about his situation.

Here's the final set of answers for the open forum questions. Thanks again for all the fun, insightful questions. I'll be out at the morning skate shortly, so there will be updates, notes and quotes throughout the late morning and afternoon. Here are the final answers...

Getting back to the forum answers from yesterday, here's the fourth set...

It's been a couple days since Dustin Brown got named as a all-star, but I got a chance to catch up with him and ask him about it, and ask him about his thoughts on being a team captain. Here's what Brown said about this week's selection...

BROWN: ``Well, there's Kopi and Fro and even Quincey and Doughty... There are a lot of guys who could have represented the team, and they're all qualified to do so. To be picked out of all of them and to be named an all-star, it's really an honor. For this team, I think it's important that we learn how to do things the right way. I try to show that with how I play, and if that's what got me voted in, hopefully that will translate to more wins for this organization. From an all-star standpoint, it's really an honor. My type of game is definitely not, per se, an all-star style, but it's just an honor to be selected.''

Question: Obviously there aren't really defined roles for a team captain. It's sort of what you make of it. What have you tried to make of it so far?

BROWN: ``On the ice, things haven't really changed. I tried to lead by example with the way I play each and every night. Obviously you're not going to play your best gave every night, but you can put the effort forth. I feel that I do that. If Oscar, Dewey (Drew Doughty) or Simmer (Wayne Simmonds) notice that and it helps them become a better player, then I feel like I'm doing my job. You see how people play, and that's what I pride myself on, how I play each and every night. Obviously off the ice there's a lot more responsibility. I'm learning as I go, but it's a pretty good locker room. There are a lot of veterans, with Zeus (Michal Handzus) and OD (Sean O'Donnell) and Army (Derek Armstrong) and even Kopi and Fro. All those guys help it along. Greener (Matt Greene) especially. So it's not like all the responsibility is on my shoulders, but I just try to lead by the way I play.''

Also, here's what Terry Murray said about the performance of his captain...

MURRAY: ``When you start to look at your leadership, your captains and, in particular, Dustin, you're looking at how does the team respond to team play? I think the leadership, and the captains, is a big part of that, and we're seeing pretty good stuff since the start of the year. I think we've taken some strides in the right direction. That's team play, but that's also a reflection of him as the captain of the hockey club. He sets the example on the ice. His leadership is very visible to all of us in the way he plays, hard and gritty. He tries to set the tone for our team and he carries himself with great dignity in his game. He's got great respect around the league and I think, in the first 40 games of the year, he's done a tremendous job in that capacity.''

Here's the third set of answers from today's open forum...

Here's the second set of the open forum questions and answers...

Thanks to everyone for the great questions -- feel free to continue posting them -- and thanks, as always, for the support. I don't always get a chance to respond to your kind messages and e-mails, but please know that they're much appreciated. Here's the first set of open forum questions and answers...

Here's what Terry Murray said after last night's game regarding the line changes he made during the game. The pairing of Frolov and Kopitar seemed to go well, and Murray discusses why he shifted things to put Brown with them. He also expressed some displeasure with the delay-of-game penalty that Jarret Stoll took late in the second period, which led to the Ducks' first goal...

MURRAY: ``I liked what Brownie did on his first goal. That was a real strong play, just an individual effort. As soon as that happened, I put him up with Kopitar and made a few changes on the lines. There were a lot of things that happened in the game that were reasons why I went back to different lines than I started with. I didn't like Stoll's over-the-glass penalty that put us down 5-on-3. I thought there was plenty of time to get that puck and have some composure as a veteran player and just clear the zone. We finished off with three lines, and those three lines played hard. We'll take away a lot of areas that we can talk about, as a team, in the meetings (Friday).''

Drew Doughty and Erik Ersberg have been selected to play in the YoungStars game as part of the All-Star weekend in Montreal. This year, the YoungStars game will feature freshmen vs. sophomores in a 3-on-3 format.

I highly doubt that this will discourage any Internet gossip-mongering, but Dean Lombardi said yesterday that the Kings aren't close to any type of significant trade. And when the Kings do start seriously looking, it will be up front, not in goal. This answer was prompted by a question to Lombardi about the trade deadline, and how he might approach it, since the Kings seem to be stuck in that not-great-but-not-awful situation...

LOMBARDI: ``You're always looking. The one is showing up, I guess, particulary if the goaltending continues in this route. Having cut down on the goals against, it isolates your holes. I think it's fairly obvious, because we're third from the bottom in goals for, so it's safe to say that you're looking to address that need. I think I have, in my mind, how we'd like to address it. We still have some people out there who are developing, so we're getting a feel for how high we think they can go, as they go through the learning curve. But right now, every discussion we're having is just very general. I'm not avoiding your question, but there's really no question to have to answer at this time, just to be totally honest. There hasn't been a bonafide guy, or a talk about moving anyone yet. It's just a function of so many people being in the playoff hunt. When that breaks, people either decide, `OK, we have to regroup and get draft picks,' or their economic circumstances dictate that they have to move some salary. Everybody said, `Once Sundin signs, that's going to be the kicker,' and I never bought that. I think I was right. Nothing has changed in my dialogue since he signed. As a practical matter, nothing is even close to being proposed that addresses some of things you probably feel we should address.''

This is a bit of a delicate subject because a) I wasn't in Ottawa for the World Juniors and b) I don't have any contacts in Sweden, but something didn't quite sit right with Oscar Moller's shoulder injury. He got hurt in a game against Russia, then came back and played two games. He returned to the Kings, had one practice, felt some discomfort and had the shoulder tested. Tests revealed the clavicle fracture, which will keep Moller out at least three weeks.

The question is, did the Swedish officials even X-ray Moller's shoulder? He wasn't around yesterday, so I couldn't ask him, but Dean Lombardi didn't seem to think so. It's an interesting question...how much do these teams/countries owe it to the NHL teams to protect players? You might remember Thomas Hickey's ankle injury last season. Hickey, up in Seattle, played through a ``high ankle sprain,'' and then the Kings found out he actually had torn ligaments. They were none too happy about that discovery.

Anyway, here's what Lombardi said yesterday about Moller's injury...

LOMBARDI: ``The injury, that sort of thing is going to happen. It could happen anywhere. The problem is, (Swedish officials) didn't x-ray it. He played through it, obviously, and if this was the end of the year, he could probably keep playing, but there's a problem with the procedure there. That's what is troubling to me about it.''

Since it's almost the midway point of the season, and a Friday, it seems like a good time for an ``open forum'' session. Go ahead and post any Kings-related questions you think I might be able to answer, and I'll be glad to take them on.

I also have some stuff to post from the past couple days, so we'll try to make it a productive day on the blog today all around.

Also, a couple quick things...

By the end of the game, the Kings were rolling three lines, with guys moving around, but it was Frolov-Kopitar-Brown for a large part of the game, with a O'Sullivan-Boyle-Purcell line also getting quite a bit of time. Neither John Zeiler nor Kyle Calder played in the third period and Terry Murray indicated after the game that he wasn't happy with the penalties, particularly Jarret Stoll's delay of game.

I'll have more on this stuff tomorrow, but here are a few locker-room quotes...

KINGS GOALTENDER JONATHAN QUICK:
(Re: Ryan's goals): "The first one [goal] I probably wasn't too strong positionally, but he made a good shot. We gave him a little bit of an opening and he took advantage of it and the second one I didn't handle as well as I wanted to. The third was one was just a great move."

(Re: game recap) "We took some penalties that worked against us and gave them momentum that ended up turning into their first goal. They carried that into the third period, but we were lucky enough to stay with it and battle back. We got the big third period power-play goal."

KINGS FORWARD ALEXANDER FROLOV:
(Re: game recap): "We knew we were capable of winning this game. We played a really good, solid team game. We just gave up a couple goals at the beginning of the third period, but we didn't stop and kept working and scored a goal."

(Re: playing with Kopitar and Brown) "They are great players, they know where you are all the time and can feed you. You just have to get open and they get open all the time for you."

(Re: game recap) "It was an even game and we knew we were playing great and that we deserved to win. We just had to do what we should, like put pucks in the net and score big power-play goals."

(Re: sellout) "It was a full house and fans were cheering for us. We appreciate their support. When we go into the games we always feel their support and play as hard as we can and battle for them."

· Jonathan Quick has a 1.16 goals-against average and .956 save percentage in his last six appearances (4-2-0).

· Kings All-Star Dustin Brown (1-1=2) had his 10th multi-point game of the season. The Kings are 8-1-1 in those games.

· Anze Kopitar (1-1=2) had his ninth multi-point game of the season. The Kings are 8-1-0 in those games.

· Kopitar now has 20 points (6-14=20) in 19 career games vs. the Ducks. He also has 20 points vs. St. Louis for the most against any opponent.

· Alexander Frolov (1-1=2) had his seventh multi-point game of the season. The Kings are 5-1-1 in those games.

It's a final...quotes and notes from the locker room to follow...

The Kings reclaim the lead with a power-play goal 7:43 into the third period. Teddy Purcell took the shot from the left circle and Alexander Frolov, well positioned to the left side of the net, jumped on the rebound and beat Hiller to give the Kings the lead. Kyle Quincey also got an assist.

Bobby Ryan completed the hat trick with one of the better goals you'll see. Ryan put a spin move on Peter Harrold, got to the front of the net alone and beat Jonathan Quick to tie the game 1:35 into the third period.

The Ducks pull within one goal, 16 seconds into the period. Ryan Carter took a shot, and Jonathan Quick looked right for the puck. It was actually sitting outside his left pad, and Bobby Ryan pushed it into the net to make it 3-2.

The Kings' inability to stay out of the penalty box finally hurt them. After killing off three penalties in a 10-minute span, the Kings finally cracked when Bobby Ryan scored an outstanding power-play goal with 45.9 seconds left in the second period. Ryan went high, at a tough angle, to beat Jonathan Quick.

The Ducks were unable to clean up the front of their net, and Anze Kopitar picked up his own rebound and beat Jonas Hiller at the 8:58 mark of the second period.

Wayne Simmonds scores 37 seconds into the second period, on a shot that appeared to be deflected right after it was taken, and Ducks coach Randy Carlyle had seen enough. It's Jean-Sebastien Giguere out, Jonas Hiller in, as the second period just gets underway.

Six seconds before the end of the first period, Dustin Brown picked up the puck at his own blue line, skated through the neutral zone and got just enough space on Ducks defenseman Brendan Mikkelson to get a shot off. Brown shot to the far post and beat J.S. Giguere to give the Kings the lead going into the first intermission.

As expected, Oscar Moller, Derek Armstrong and Tom Preissing are scratched for the Kings. In goal, it's Jonathan Quick vs. Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

Well, now we know what happened to Oscar Moller in the World Juniors. He fractured his clavicle in the game against Russia. Typical of a hockey player, he returned for the rest of the tournament and practiced Wednesday with the Kings before tests revealed the injury. Moller will be out until at least the all-star break and then will be evaluated again.

Without Moller, the Kings will play tonight with the same lines they practiced with yesterday, and Jonathan Quick will be in goal.

Oscar Moller isn't at this morning's skate, so there will be an update on his status soon.

Thanks to Paul from Oxnard for pointing this out...the NHL Network show ``Voices'' will profile Nick Nickson today at 5:30 p.m. (Pacific time). The show profiles radio play-by-play guys from around the league, so Nick gets his shot today.

I'm heading to the skate momentarily, so we'll see what the Kings have in mind for Oscar Moller, plus any other late developments before tonight's game.

This week's Sports Illustrated includes a great story on the Sean Avery train wreck, starting with his days in junior hockey through the Dallas fiasco. It's definitely worth a read, even if you're completely sick of Avery and the whole story, and I also mention it because the best quote of the story belongs to Dean Lombardi, who gets in a great jab at Brett Hull.

``Brett Hull criticized us when we traded Sean, saying our team was bad for Sean and bad for the game," Lombardi recalls. "Freedom of expression. How does [Hull, the Stars' co-G.M. with Jackson,] like it today? They spent $15.5 million to protect the right of free speech. Adams and Jefferson would be proud."

As previously posted, goalie Jonathan Quick made it through practice today and showed great improvement after yesterday's flu symptoms. Quick is scheduled to start tomorrow night against the Ducks. Quick's major ailment yesterday seemed to be a bad sore throat, but he said he felt much better today. I joked with him and told him he couldn't handle our rough Southern California winters... Here's what Murray said about Quick today...

MURRAY: ``He's going to play. I didn't know, before practice, how he was going to be. I wanted to see how he went through it. He looks strong and he feels much better. He ate this morning and at the end of the day he feels real good, so he will play.''

Below, you'll find Terry Murray's response to my question about Alexander Frolov, and the best way to utilize Frolov's game. Frolov's most consistent line this season has been with Michal Handzus and Wayne Simmonds, and Frolov had scored a team-high 16 goals. Now, Frolov swaps centers and skates with Anze Kopitar, which should give Frolov and the Kings a different look. Here are Murray's thoughts about Frolov and his game...

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Question: Having watched Frolov up close for a few months now, have you developed a sense for what type of linemates work best with him, or what his best role would be?

MURRAY: ``I was asked a question at the beginning of the season about Fro and his offensive production, his goal scoring. `Are you concerned about it?' I don't remember exactly how the question was asked, but my answer was, `I want him to become a checker.' When he ends up playing with Handzus and Simmonds, I like the line. I think that they complement each other, they work hard for each other, they have big bodies that match up against the top lines on the opponent's team and, as a result, we're also seeing good scoring chances. Frolov has put some numbers up on the goal-production side. He leads our team in that. So I like that part of his game. We need it to be there every night. It's a very important line to play on, and match up against the top lines. To bring that effort and that compete level every night, that's what I'm trying to push, and certainly Fro is one of the veteran guys that needs to lead the way in that area. He, I hope, understands the importance of his example as a veteran player, to show that attitude game in and game out, and every day in practice.''

If, as expected, Oscar Moller plays tomorrow, Terry Murray will need to find the right spot. The Kings seem prepared to go forward with a Frolov-Kopitar-Simmonds line, while O'Sullivan-Stoll-Purcell also seems to make sense. Calder and Brown have been playing together quite a bit, but it wouldn't be a surprise to see Moller-Handzus-Brown, given that Moller had been in a ``skill'' role before he left for the World Juniors. We'll see. Here's what Murray said about where Moller might fit in...

MURRAY: ``I'm going to sit down with the other guys and talk about it. He came away from (the tournament) healthy and feeling good, feeling real positive about how everything went in the tournament. So we'll take a look at it and talk about it, and go through the line combinations and see where he fits.''

Here's what Terry Murray said today about the new lines he unveiled in practice today, and the need for improved offense...

MURRAY: ``We had some different lines out there today. We'll take a look and see how it goes. The second half of the third period against the Flyers, I had Simmonds up with Kopitar and the result was good. Change is necessary right now. We need to try to find ways to score goals. We talk about it quite a bit. Some things are looking pretty good, when it comes to the offensive part of the game, but there's a need to put a real focus on it, so we'll see how things go tomorrow. Not only tomorrow. We need to do things right in practice. The offensive part of the attack, we had several drills here today that pushed that part of the game. We'll continue to build on that, not getting away from the defensive part, but adding the offensive part more consistently.''

Who knows if it will work, but putting Anze Kopitar and Alexander Frolov is one thing the Kings haven't tried this season, so why not give it a go? As you'll read below, it's something that has barely been tried at all since Kopitar joined the Kings. After practice today, Kopitar talked about his new linemate -- Wayne Simmonds is expected to be the other winger -- and gave his thoughts about the Kings' recent offensive slumber...

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Question: When's the last time you regularly skated with Frolov, other than some random power-play time here and there?

KOPITAR: ``They put us on a line together when I got here, in my first training camp. We went through all the exhibition games together and then a couple games into the season, they split us. Since then, I don't think we've played together on a consistent basis.''

Question: Kind of weird, isn't it? Especially given how often lines change in hockey?

KOPITAR: ``Yeah. In the last two years, I think I've played with every winger on this team except Fro. It's a little funny, but change is always welcome, and we'll see how we do tomorrow.''

Question: Any thoughts on how your styles might mesh? He's a guy who can do a lot of different things out there.

KOPITAR: ``He's a guy who can hold onto the puck for a long time. He's always making plays. If he doesn't have to dump the puck, he won't dump it. He's going to make plays. It seems like he never panics with the puck. He's a really good player with the puck and really good around the net, so I'm really looking forward to playing with him.''

Question: Obviously it's too generic to ask, `How do you score more goals?' but what are the little things you can start doing to generate some momentum on offense?

KOPITAR: ``Last game, we didn't have enough shots. We didn't make that goalie face too much. We've got to make plays. It seems that maybe we're a little scared to make plays. We have to shoot the puck and be hungry on the rebounds and everything. Then obviously, you have to pay the price to score goals. You have to go to the front of the net. That's what we've got to do, and keep bringing it every night.''

If it wasn't already apparent, we're having some blog server issues today, so my apologies for that. I'll try to post as much stuff as possible today and dodge the outages the best I can.

Some quick stuff from today...

-- Today's line shakeup could be tweaked again tomorrow, since Oscar Moller is expected to play. Looking at the way the Kings skated today, I'm not really sure where he might fit in, although that spot currently occupied by Kyle Calder, with Michal Handzus and Dustin Brown, might seem to make the most sense.

-- Jonathan Quick will start in goal tomorrow. He's feeling better and made it through the entire practice today.

-- Brad Richardson participated in a regular, full practice today. It would seem that he's still a couple days away from being activated, but when he's ready to go, the Kings will have to make a roster move.

I've got some stuff from Terry Murray about the changes, etc., and some stuff from Kopitar about the offensive woes and about skating with Frolov for the first time since...well, ever. Kopitar said he and Frolov skated together early in Kopitar's first training camp, but never during the regular season. That seems about right, according to my memory as well. Hopefully, the blog will remain stable enough for me to post more stuff...

Here's how the Kings are skating today. I'm not really putting these in any particular order, because I really can't decide...

Frolov-Kopitar-Simmonds
Calder-Handzus-Brown
O'Sullivan-Stoll-Purcell
Ivanans-Boyle-Zeiler
Armstrong-Richardson-Moller

O'Donnell-Doughty
Quincey-Greene
Gauthier-Harrold

Quick is also on the ice.

Dustin Brown has been named to the Western Conference All-Star team. It's the first time Brown has been selected, and he will play in the game Jan. 25 in Montreal.

Late practice start today (noon) but I'll be out there to get some news and notes...

The Kings held the Ducks to 25 shots, a respectable total, but the Kings recorded only 18 shots themselves, including only three in the third period. That's not going to lead to many victories.

Special teams carried the night, as the Ducks went 2 for 5 on the power play and the Kings went 1 for 4, with Kyle Quincey scoring their only goal on a nice shot through traffic to tie the game in the second period.

Erik Ersberg stopped 23 shots in his first game since Dec. 15 and Jonas Hiller stopped 17.

Peter Harrold and Patrick O'Sullivan each had four shots for the Kings, while Quincey also had a team-high four hits.

Rob Niedermayer tosses the puck into an empty Kings net in the final seconds, and the Ducks will get the home victory...

The Kings had nearly killed off a penalty when Drew Doughty took another one, one you don't see very often. In an attempt to clear the puck from just inside his own blue line, Doughty rocketed the puck over the glass at the far end. That's a delay-of-game penalty, and the Ducks scored only 18 seconds into the ensuing power play, with 10:15 remaining in the third period. Samuel Pahlsson deflected a shot from Scott Niedermayer into the net.

The Kings take advantage of a 5-on-3, as Kyle Quincey threads a slap shot through traffic to beat Jonas Hiller and tie the game 1:14 into the second period.

The Kings have been outstanding on the penalty kill of late, but the Ducks needed only seven seconds to score on their first power play of the game. Bobby Ryan set up shop about eight feet from the net, took a centering pass from Ryan Getzlaf and blasted a shot from one knee to beat Erik Ersberg with 2:28 left in the first period.

As expected, the Kings recalled Oscar Moller after his stint with Sweden's junior national team. Because there was an open roster spot, the Kings won't need to make a corresponding move. Moller is expected to practice tomorrow and probably will play Thursday against the Ducks.

Jonathan Quick came down with flu symptoms today and will not start. Erik Ersberg will start, and I believe Quick will be available for backup duty but I'm trying to confirm that.

EDIT: It's now confirmed...Quick will be able to serve as the backup goalie.

Here's a good story about Oscar Moller's reaction to winning a silver medal with Sweden at the World Junior Championships. Not surprisingly, Moller wasn't happy in the immediate aftermath of the loss to Canada.

``I am angry, I am sad, I am disappointed, I'm mad,'' Moller said. ``I am all of these things right now. I really can't even put it into words how I feel right now. I think that anyone in this position would feel this way.''

If you're a Kings fan, that's a good quote, because you want players who are angry about losing. That's something I've wondered about previous Kings teams. Were they mad enough about losing?

Moller unsatisfied with silver

Oscar Moller is scheduled to fly back to Los Angeles from Ottawa today, so it's likely that he will return to the lineup for Thursday's home game against the Ducks.

Kings defensive prospects Thomas Hickey and Colten Teubert took home gold medals tonight as Canada beat Sweden 5-1 in the finals of the World Junior Championships in Ottawa. Oscar Moller won silver for Sweden and Viatcheslav Voynov won bronze when Russia beat Slovakia 5-2 in the third-place game.

Those players join a list of current Kings who won medals in the World Juniors. Drew Doughty and Wayne Simmonds were on last year's gold-medal-winning team for Canada. Patrick O'Sullivan won gold (for USA in 2004), as did Alexander Frolov (Russia, 2002) Denis Gauthier (Canada, 1996). Silver medals went to Kyle Calder (Canada, 1999) and Jarret Stoll (Canada, 2002). Bronze medals went to Jack Johnson (USA, 2007). Stoll also won bronze in 2001.

Also, Jonathan Bernier won gold with Canada last year and Trevor Lewis won bronze for USA in 2007.

After practice today, coach Terry Murray said Jonathan Quick will start in goal tomorrow against the Ducks. Here's what defenseman Sean O'Donnell told the Kings' website about Quick's recent play.

``He has been great,'' O'Donnell said. ``He has come in and played five or six games now and after that first game -- which was in Detroit, and that is a tough place to play and I think we let him down in the third period -- but since then I think he has only give up a couple of goals and less than two in each start. All you want from your goalie is to make the stops you are supposed to make and give your team a chance to win. Making the unbelievable saves that he has been making is just a bonus.''

More notes from the Kings...

KINGS NOTEBOOK (JAN. 5)

It's report card time. The Kings will play their 39th game of the season tomorrow and the Ducks will play their 41st, so in tomorrow's paper we will do our ``midseason report.'' It's close enough. As part of that, we will analyze/grade each part of the Kings. So here's your chance to give some input.

Beyond the grades, who is your team MVP for the Kings at the (almost) midway point? Give me a name and a reason. I'm very curious to see what the consensus is...

Terry Murray faces a question that a Kings coach rarely faces: which quality goalie to start? Jonathan Quick has been outstanding in his seven games, with a 1.59 goals-against average and a .943 save percentage, but Erik Ersberg was also strong (2.38, .903) before his groin injury, and Murray previously said that he wanted to see Ersberg in a game fairly soon. So who will it be tomorrow against the Ducks?

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Question: I can't imagine that Quick gave you any reason to take him out, but will you go back to him or give Ersberg a chance tomorrow?

MURRAY: ``You know, I'm going to think about it today, and we have practice tomorrow. You're correct in saying that I have no reason to take him out, based on performance. His play, in all the games he has been in, has been very good. But I'm also cognizant of the fact that Ersberg is back from an injury and that we're going to need and want to have two goalies playing. They're both young goalies that need to complement each other. I'm not going to lose sight of that.''

The Kings' offensive numbers are down this season. They're averaging 2.50 goals per game (26th in the NHL) compared to 2.76 last season (13th), even though this season's average shot total (29.6) is higher than last season (28.6). On the other hand, the defense has made tremendous strides. The Kings are averaging 2.60 goals against per game (8th) compared to 3.21 last season (28th) and an average of 26.3 shots against (1st) compared to 32.0 (28th). And, most importantly of course, the Kings have 38 points through 38 games, compared to 26 points through 38 games last season. The question to Terry Murray today was, essentially, how willing is he to sacrifice some offense to have strong defense? And, as a follow-up, how does Anze Kopitar's presumed offensive slowdown fit into this mix?

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Question: Are you still at the point where it's more important to have that strong defense? I'm guessing you'd still like to see more offense, but is it still more important, for development, to have the focus on defense?

MURRAY: ``That, to me, is the way things work when you're going through the process of developing players and learning how to play the game, to me, in the right way. That's learning how to play without the puck. Once you give that a big focus, like we have from the very beginning of the training camp, there are other areas of the game that probably will lack -- for lack of a better word -- or just won't be like it was before. To me, that's where several of the players are on this hockey club who we look to, on a day-to-day basis, for high offensive production. But I understand the commitment that everybody is making to the system, to the team play without the puck, and the defensive structure. And again, when it sorts itself out and you, as a player, start to get that part of the game down, then the other part of it starts to fall in place again.''

Question: Again, not to just put it on one guy, but does Kopitar fall into that category?

MURRAY: ``Oh yeah, absolutely. Right now, I'm seeing Kopitar a lot with the puck on the attack, with speed. He's starting to get that part of the game back again that we were seeing in training camp, with the puck-possession time especially. When you have a player with that kind of skill, having the puck and generating the kind of speed that he does through the middle of the offensive zone, it's just a matter of time, to me, before good results will happen.''

Anze Kopitar's production has been a big topic of discussion this season, not only on an individual basis but because the Kings have struggled to find a high-scoring first line. Kopitar has 10 goals and 19 assists through 38 games, which would put him on a full-season pace for 22 goals and 41 assists. In his first season, Kopitar had 20 goals and 41 assists, and last season he had 32 goals and 45 assists. Here are Terry Murray's thoughts, from this morning, about Kopitar's play...

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Question: Expectations are pretty high for Kopitar, given his last couple years and the contract he signed. Where is his game right now?

MURRAY: ``Well, a contract, to me, has nothing to do with it. That's nobody's fault. That's just the market. That's the way it is. So I never enter into any discussion with a player and discuss that at all. I think his development has been tremendous. He's 21 years old, in his (third) year in the league, and he's seeing prime minutes and situations and he's playing the game full-ice. I look at the start of the year and training camp and I was not seeing that, so to me there's a tremendous improvement in his overall game. His work ethic is tremendous every day, and we'll just keep pushing on through this area of the game. It comes together rather quickly, actually, for a young player like that who continues to show that kind of intensity. I only need to look at the team we played last night, with Carter and Richards. I remember very well those two guys coming out of junior and their game and where it is today.''

Terry Murray put the Kings through a vigorous, intense hour-long practice that included a lot of skating and ``battle'' drills. The practice came on the heels of a somewhat odd game last night, in which the Kings probably didn't put forth their best effort, but had enough late to beat a tired, beat-up Flyers team. Here are Murray's thoughts about what he took away from the game...

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Question: What's the message to the team after last night? Obviously you're thrilled to get the two points but there are probably some things you felt could have gone better...

MURRAY: ``Especially in the first two periods, the first period and a half. The Flyers are a very competitive hockey club, and they were coming out with more battles, more pucks, and I felt we needed more than our share of them. We needed more competitiveness along the boards and better support. We ended up, often, with one man versus their two in the offensive zone, for example, battling for pucks. We were kind of waiting for that one player to win the battle, come up with the puck and make a pass, so that we could get a play to the net. It really doesn't work that way. Standing and waiting is the wrong approach to the game. You've got to get in there with two players and keep that third guy in good position. You've got to have the two of them in there that are going to support each other.''

Jack Johnson continues to participate in full practices but has not yet received clearance for contact drills. That could happen when Johnson next visits the doctor, at the end of this week, but Johnson indicated today that he would still need some time after that. He said he wants to feel comfortable with the contact and also wants to resume his normal weightlifting routine, which has been scaled back since the surgery. The all-star break probably still remains the over/under point on Johnson's return.

Nothing terribly new or exciting to report. Practice was fairly lengthy (about an hour) and had a long conditioning skate at the end. Guys who played more minutes last night were allowed to skate less.

I'll have some of Terry Murray's thoughts about Anze Kopitar's play, plus some thoughts about offense vs. defense during the development process. Murray wasn't ready to name a starting goalie for Monday and it seems likely that Quick and Ersberg will split the Anaheim games. Murray was pleased with Quick's game last night.

The Kings are skating this morning with the same lines as last night. Everyone is present and accounted for. Notes and quotes to follow later...

KINGS GOALTENDER JONATHAN QUICK
(Re: game recap): "We've got to just stay even-keel and take the momentum off of this win into Anaheim on Tuesday. The whole team worked hard and they deserve to win."

(Re: saves): "They had some good chances, but our defense played well in front of me and they let me see all of the shots and cleared out all of the rebounds so it made it a bit easier."

KINGS FORWARD DUSTIN BROWN:
(Re: game recap): "The main thing is the two points for us were huge. The race in the west is so tight that these are really playoff type games for us."

(Re: Quick's performance) "He's been solid since he's been called up and tonight was no different. He made some big saves in regulation. You look at the shootout and you've got the leading goal-scorer in the league and a pretty good shooter in Mike Richards, so he answered the bell for us and I think it was a combination of that and that we scored some goals on the other end of the ice which in past shootouts we haven't been doing."

Jonathan Quick stopped 31 of 32 shots (165 of 175 in seven appearances this season = .943 save percentage).

In his last five starts Quick has allowed only four goals (0.79 goals-against average).

The Kings are 1-for-2 in penalty shots against this season and 34 of 46 all-time. For a list of all-time Kings penalty shots click here.

The Kings are 2-4 in shootouts this season.

The Kings have allowed 103 goals through 38 games this season. They allowed 128 goals through 38 games last season.

Tonight was the Kings fifth sellout of the season and third straight.

The last time the Kings beat the Flyers was Oct. 21, 2003 at home (won 4-0).

Patrick O'Sullivan and Dustin Brown scored in the shootout to give the Kings a 2-1 shootout win over Philadelphia. Jonathan Quick, playing in his first overtime and shootout game, stopped 31 of 32 shots in a terrific game.

In case you want to rub elbows with any of the Kings players, broadcasters and coaches, here's the schedule for tomorrow's rink tour around Southern California:

Patrick O'Sullivan, Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown will be back on the first line for the Kings tonight. That's a line that had strong success last season, but has played together -- at least 5-on-5 -- in only brief spurts this season. It's well known that Brown, Kopitar and O'Sullivan are good friends who enjoy playing together, so I asked Terry Murray today about his thoughts in reuniting the line.

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Question: With O'Sullivan, Kopitar and Brown, that's something you've tried a couple different times this season. What is it about that line that works, and what doesn't work?

MURRAY: ``What works with it, for me, is... I keep waiting for that good stuff that was talked to me about, from last year, the way the line was developing good chemistry and the offensive part of things was falling into place for them. I suppose I haven't seen it, and I keep going away from it and then coming back to it, because I'm hoping we can get one line that really gets hot and starts to carry this team. I know we need secondary scoring, and I understand that we need four lines on a fairly regular basis in order to play the game, but it's always nice to have one line that you can throw out there that's going to be very hard to play against and can get the job done. I keep hoping that that's going to happen. There are a lot of good things in the line, as far as the work and skill and puck-possession time. It's just a matter of finishing it off with some good chemistry that's going to allow them to finish offensively.''

Jack Johnson continues to skate vigorously in practice, albeit in a yellow non-contact jersey. The Kings are still officially saying that Johnson won't return until after the all-star break at the end of this month, but last I heard, Johnson was scheduled for a strength test on his surgically-repaired shoulder on Jan. 10. Depending on the results of that test, it certainly wouldn't be a surprise to see Johnson return sooner. Nobody is saying that yet, however, and here's what Terry Murray said about Johnson, and about the benefits of having Johnson on the ice for practices as he recovers.

MURRAY: ``My thinking is that he's going to be available after the all-star break. I haven't been told anything yet that's different from that. ... He's been traveling with us the whole time, since he recovered from the operation. I think it's really important for a young guy like that to be a part of the hockey club, and to be on the ice. We've changed some things from the start of the year, with our play, and for him to be able to be a part of it now, in all the situations that we're going through in practice, I think that's really important. Then, on the physical side, it's about keeping the conditioning up, or getting it to as high a level as you can without playing games. It's a good thing for us, as a team. When he does get cleared to play, hopefully he can step in and know exactly what it is we're doing.''

This week's trade of Jason LaBarbera to Vancouver left the Kings with two goalies, Jonathan Quick and Erik Ersberg, who enter tonight with a combined total of 36 career NHL starts. That's not very many, but each goalie's total figures to rise significantly from here on out. I asked Terry Murray whether he noticed any difference in his goalies over the last few days since the trade. Do they seem different, more confident, knowing that they're now the goalies?

MURRAY: ``I kind of grabbed both of those guys on the ice the other day after the deal was made, just as a reminder that it's important that they really stay focused, push it up now and really take hold of the responsibility and the opportunity that is there, with the veteran goaltender being moved. I think sometimes you see it slip, and it goes the other way, and I just wanted to remind them to stay focused and work hard. It's a great situation for those young guys right now, and both goalies will play. We have nine games before the all-star break, and as we move through the rest of the year, with the travel and the schedule the way it is, both guys are going to play. They will complement each other and support each other and become a good tandem.''

Question: Have you ever had two rookies in net?

MURRAY: ``No, I never have. It's unique for me, but it's not unprecedented, I don't think. I haven't researched it. It's just a decision that we've made, within the organization, that we're going to play our young players. That decision was made clearly back at the end of the season last year, that a lot of the young players in the organization were going to be put in situations where they can have an opportunity to grow and take over the ownership of the hockey club. It's the same now with these two goaltenders. It's going to be very demanding, and that's why it's going to take both of them to support each other emotionally and push each other to accelerate and develop their games to a higher level.''

If there's a franchise that Terry Murray associates with, other than the Kings, it's tonight's opponent, the Philadelphia Flyers. As a defenseman, Murray played in the Philadelphia system for parts of six seasons (1975-81) and played 115 games with Flyers in parts of four seasons. Then, Murray was head coach of the Flyers for three seasons (1994-97) and led them to the playoffs each season, and to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1997. After a three-year stint as Florida's head coach, Murray returned to Philadelphia in 2003 as an assistant coach and remained there until the Kings hired him last summer. Here are Murray's thoughts about facing the Flyers tonight...

MURRAY: ``It's always good to play against your old team. You want to play well and have success against them. All the game are meaningful from our side of it. We're trying to get ourselves into a better position in the standings, and we want to win every game that we play. So from that side of it, it's the same, but yeah, there's a little extra push of adrenaline there. Just a little bit.''

There seems to be quite a bit of debate regarding how young players should be used. One camp would say, ``A player has to earn minutes in key situations.'' The other camp would say, ``Give the player a chance to show what he's got.'' There's probably no right or wrong answer, and it probably depends on the player and how the rest of the team shapes up, but I was curious to see if Terry Murray had a particular philosophy about bringing up young players. Here's what he said this morning...

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Question: Do you have any particular theory on guys earning their way onto top lines? It seems as though most of your young guys start on that fourth line and have to earn their way up, but is it a case-by-case basis? Do you have any specific thoughts on that?

MURRAY: ``I do have a philosophy on that. It goes back to when I first got into this business, on the coaching side of it. You earn the right to play in the NHL. That probably has changed a bit, because of the times that we're in today. I still lean that way though. When Teddy Purcell comes up, he's on the fourth line at center. He is given an opportunity to go out there and show what he can do, and if things are falling in place and he's playing well, then we reward him with some power-play time and we move him up in the third period to the top line, if somebody else is not carrying their end of the bargain. So we saw good things out of Purcell, and that's why he's up with Stoll tonight. Now it's Boyle's turn to come back and show us where he's at with his game and if that works out, he's going to force us to make a decision to push him up a little bit.''

Here's what Terry Murray said this morning about Brian Boyle's return to the Kings and what Boyle needs to do better this time around. Boyle will center the Kings' fourth line, between Raitis Ivanans and John Zeiler...

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Question: It seemed like things went well for Boyle in Manchester. What does he need to do in order to stay here?

MURRAY: ``The reports we got from Manchester are that he went down with a great attitude and worked at the areas of the game that he needs to dig in on. That's using size and strength as a trump card for himself. The reports are indicating that that's what he's been doing, along with the scoring. He's deserving of another opportunity and that's why he's here, so I hope that everything works out for him. I'd like to see a big man like this be successful. If it's going to be on the third line or the fourth line, he needs to be able to have a presence with his skill. We can use him in other situations, on special teams, on the power play. He can be a force each time he's out on the ice. He can be a great addition to our team.''

Question: Do you think he has enough skill to be a top-six forward.

MURRAY: ``He has enough skill, yes, absolutely. The other part of the game is something that's been talked about this year, several times. That's what he needs to be able to figure out.''

No NHL player enjoys being sent down to the AHL, but for Brian Boyle, at least the timing was good. Boyle spent most of December with Manchester, and most of his family is in the Boston area so he got to spend the holiday season with family. Plus, he did well on the ice, with four goals, seven assists, a plus-4 rating and 35 penalty minutes in 13 games. This morning, Boyle talked about his experience in Manchester (including his inflated penalty-minute total) and gives his thoughts on returning.

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Question: Did you take some positives out of that stint with Manchester?

BOYLE: ``Sure. It was good to be able to play some more minutes and get some power-play and penalty-kil time. I got to play in all situations, so it was good to contribute a little bit more and kind of get the confidence back. With that, everything else comes. You're more involved and when you feel like you're doing well and helping out the team, it's a better feeling. It worked out really well. It was good to be home. I got to go home for a few days during the break and see my family, which was great. It was a great time of the year to be home. My mom was really happy, that's for sure. It worked out really well. It was beneficial.''

Question: Do you feel like you now have a good understanding of what they want from you here?

BOYLE: ``Oh, I did before. I just kind of didn't want to screw up. I wasn't even really carrying the puck and trying to make plays. That was something that Terry talked to me about. Coach brought me in his office before I left and talked to me. (He said,) `You haven't had the puck on your stick very much in the last few games. You're not really trying to make anything happen.' That's kind of what I went down there with the intention of working on. Everything else came pretty much with that. I just tried to make plays and have the puck on my stick and bang a little bit. It was good. I think I understood before, but it was just kind of a confidence thing. Now, hopefully I can build off of what I had going on down in Manch.''

BOYLE: ``Well, I got an instigator (penalty) when I got jumped, which was interesting to me. We were getting killed pretty good by Albany and I tried to get something going with one player on their team, but I guess he was hurt, so a guy came off their bench and grabbed me. I was the one who got 17 (penalty minutes) when I got jumped. So it made my stats look bigger, but it's a little bit misleading.''

No real surprises this morning. The lines will be as reported yesterday, with Armstrong as the healthy scratch and Quick in goal. Jack Johnson continues to get a ton of work in practice but his official status hasn't changed, and Brad Richardson is now skating extensively after practice.

I have a lot of good quotes from Brian Boyle and Terry Murray, on a variety of subjects, so I'll start getting that stuff up ASAP.

We'll see for certain at tomorrow's morning skate, but it looks like the lines could go as follows...

O'Sullivan-Kopitar-Brown
Calder-Stoll-Purcell
Simmonds-Handzus-Frolov
Ivanans-Boyle-Zeiler

There are conflicting reports out of Ottawa about Oscar Moller's status. He's dealing with some type of shoulder injury, but depending on which report you believe, he will either play in Saturday's semifinal game OR he requires further evaluation. It's hard to tell, since I'm not in Ottawa and he's not with the Kings, but regardless, it doesn't seem like it's going to be a long-term issue. Since Sweden will either play in the gold-medal or bronze-medal game Monday, it's unlikely that Moller would return to the Kings before Thursday's home game against the Ducks.

We should find out later today exactly how the Kings intend to skate tomorrow, given that Trevor Lewis is gone, Brian Boyle is back and Teddy Purcell is penciled in to the first line. How would you have the Kings' forwards skate?