March 2009 Archives

TERRY MURRAY:
(Re game recap): ``Well, the start of the game tonight was probably as poor a start as we have had all year. We don't start to get into the game until five minutes into the third period. We haven't been home for 15 days and during this stretch, these games are very important. I have talked about that in the past, talked about it today, that you need to dig in and play the games the right way and come away and learn something from these games.''

(Re the play of Justin Williams): ``Well, Justin is coming, but he's gone through a couple of injuries that are going to take some time for his body to re-adjust again to play the game. He's missed a lot of time. You've seen improvements along the way, but I don't know if we will see the real Justin Williams this year. It might take a full offseason, getting ready to play again and coming back, and now hopefully at the beginning of training camp he'll be hitting the ground running. We know what he is. He's a 30-goal scorer, and he knows how to get it done.''

DUSTIN BROWN:
(Re game recap): ``If we maybe came better prepared, we wouldn't have had to play from behind or try and come back, and that's something that we have to learn.''

(Re Stars' power play): ``Modano made a pass, and it was a world-class pass and a good finish at the back door. The other power play was a miscue with our forwards. We got two forwards caught on one side and the Stars were able to walk into one and that's just a mental error on our part on the penalty kill.''

JUSTIN WILLIAMS:
(Re game recap): ``The Stars had the upper hand in shots, they had the upper hand in speed, quickness. They beat us to pucks. It was an unacceptable performance from us.''

(Re Joining the Kings on the ice): ``It's a lot different coming in when you are a healthy player in the swing of things. It's been tougher to start for me. I haven't shown what I'm capable of yet and I know that it's going to take a little bit of time, but I'm working as hard as I can to make sure that that happens quicker rather than later. It's tough to believe that when you come off a road trip, the first game at home always seems to have a tough time getting into it. But at this level of the game it is unacceptable for us to be, albeit, not quite in the playoffs, but knowing that we have to win out to even have a chance, and our performance was ugly and it won't happen again.''

-- The Kings went 0-for-2 on the power play and 3-for-5 on the penalty kill. The Kings are 0-for-14 on the power play in their last four games. They allowed more than one power-play goal in a game for the first time since Feb. 18 at Anaheim, a span of 20 games.

-- Jonathan Quick stopped 32 of 35 shots and had a couple streaks ended. Quick had won three consecutive home games and had not allowed a goal to the Stars this season. In two previous appearances against the Stars (one start, one relief), Quick had stopped all 33 shots he faced in 85 minutes.

-- Jack Johnson scored the Kings' first goal, giving him goals in consecutive games for the first time this season.

-- Anze Kopitar scored the Kings' second goal. Kopitar had only one point, an assist, in his previous four games.

-- Derek Armstrong had an assist. Armstrong had one point, an assist, in his previous 12 games.

-- Brad Richardson had an assist to break a nine-game scoreless streak.

-- Sean O'Donnell had an assist.

-- The Kings were outshot 35-28. Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown each had four shots for the Kings. Brown and Matt Greene tied for the team high with six hits.

-- Drew Doughty played a team-high 26:28. Davis Drewiske was second at 22:43. Michal Handzus led all Kings forwards at 21:44.

Denis Gauthier, who missed the last five games with an upper-body injury, is expected to return to the lineup tonight and take Kyle Quincey's spot as Drew Doughty's partner.

Following up on the earlier post...Kyle Quincey is expected to have back surgery tomorrow, to repair his herniated disc, and (obviously) will miss the rest of the season.

Here's what Terry Murray had to say about the recent play of goalie Jonathan Quick, who must be happy to be in L.A. Quick is 2-4-1 in his last seven road games but has won three consecutive home games. For the season, Quick has an 18-12-2 record, a 2.58 goals-against average and a .909 save percentage. If that GAA holds up, it will be the lowest by a regular Kings goalie since 2003-04, when Cristobal Huet finished at 2.43 and Roman Cechmanek finished at 2.51.

MURRAY: ``He's really showing us a lot as an organization. From the time he joined the team in December, he has continued to show improvement. His work habits are good, and are excellent really, more than very good. The instinctive part of his game, when it really gets heated up and the game gets to a high pace, his instinctive play comes out, and he's been showing a nice talent level in that area. It's not only the physical side but also the mental side. I'm very pleased with how his game has come along and how he has played. He seems to be hungry to succeed. He wants to play as many games as I give him, and we like what we're seeing.''

The Kings have signed Corey Elkins, who recently completed his college career at Ohio State, to a one-year entry-level contract. Here's the release from the Kings...

LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles Kings have signed free agent forward Corey Elkins to a one-year entry-level contract, Kings President/General Manager Dean Lombardi announced Tuesday.

Elkins, 24, finished with a team-leading 18 goals and 41 points (18-23=41) in 42 games during his recently completed senior season at Ohio State University. The 6-2, 215-pound native of West Bloomfield, Michigan also finished with 18 penalty minutes and he shared the team lead with a plus-24 rating. He led the Buckeyes to a record of 23-15-4 and a berth in the NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament (OSU was eliminated from tournament play last weekend).

In four seasons with the Buckeyes, Elkins - a three-time Ohio State Scholar-Athlete, two-time Academic All-Big Ten choice and 2007 Coaches Award winner for hard work and determination - recorded 60 points (27-33=60) and 40 penalty minutes in 102 career games with the Buckeyes.

Elkins skated with the Sioux City Musketeers (USHL) during the 2004-05 season and his 19 goals and 42 points (19-23=42) helped lead the Musketeers to the USHL's Western Conference championship that season. Before that, he played with the St. Louis Heartland Eagles (USHL) in 2003-04 (57 GP, 12-17=29, 36 PIM) and the Compuware Ambassadors (NAHL) in 2002-03 (49 GP, 8-11=19, 37 PIM).

There can be debate about some players, but it seems to be generally accepted that Kyle Quincey has been one of the Kings' strongest defensemen this season. Quincey has four goals and 34 assists in 72 games entering tonight, which is all the more impressive considering that he's been playing with back pain. Quincey, most likely, is going to require offseason surgery to correct what I believe is a herniated disc. Here's what Terry Murray said about Quincey's effort this season...

MURRAY: ``OUr training staff does a great job of keeping an eye on, and watching, the players. When he came here, it was something we knew was going to have to be taken care of eventually. The doctors, each time they talk about it, everything is status quo. There is an issue and it will be addressed, but there is no further risk to his back by him playing. He had a follow-up meeting and conversation with the doctors and they reassured him in that area. But we do know that the operation will take place at some point. He's been doing a wonderful job playing through it. Sometimes he feels nothing, and sometimes he feels a lack of strength in the back and the legs. He has done a great job of playing through it.''

Here's what Terry Murray had to say yesterday about Justin Williams' first few games with the Kings. In his five games with the Kings, Williams has yet to record a point but did score a game-winning shootout goal. He has recently been elevated to the top line, alongside Anze Kopitar and Michal Handzus...

MURRAY: ``We're seeing a player who is improving with every game. He seems to be getting his legs under him. He's handling the puck with more confidence and he's getting to know the players he's playing with. I know that his best hockey is in front of him and I know we will not see that hockey until next season. He will have these games, and then he will get back to work in the summer and get that work ethic in place. In training camp, we'll see who Justin Williams is and what he can bring to the Kings. I've seen it over the years and I'm looking forward to having that kind of player.''

The Kings tonight held a 90-minute ``teleconference'' in which season-ticket holders were allowed to call in and ask questions of Dean Lombardi, Terry Murray, Luc Robitaille, Ron Hextall, Chris McGowan and Jeff Solomon. According to Nick Nickson, who moderated the event, more than 1,300 people called in, and the Kings allowed me to be one of them. There were some technical issues that made it a bit difficult to hear at times, and I wasn't attempting to get a full transcript anyway, but I'll give a rundown of each of the questions and answers.

Here it goes...

I meant to mention this earlier, but if anyone is having problems signing in to post comments here, please drop me an e-mail. I will forward it along to our tech guru, who is good at figuring out that sort of thing. Hopefully the problems will be kept to a minimum. Thanks for your patience...

To follow up on Dean Lombardi's comments from last week about Alexander Frolov, here's what Terry Murray said today about Frolov's recent play...

-----

Question: Right around the time of the trade deadline, Dean talked about being pleased with Frolov's development. After that it seemed, based on his playing time and situation, that things took a dip. How do you feel about the way his game had been before the injury?

MURRAY: ``I agree with what Dean said, in that we did see a much improved dig-in around that time. He was on the same page and buying in to what the team is doing. I have been very happy with that attitude, all the way right through. The thing now that came up, with the groin injury, there's a question of how long he has been playing through some stuff with that, that might be impacting him. Clearly he's one of our most talented players. He's big and plays a power forward game. He has that ability and shows that kind of game. When things are going right, he can dictate the game, almost with every shift. Sometimes you get a little greedy as a coach and you want to see that every time, but you always want to see him lead the way. For this team to move on and become a real good team, your best players have to be your best players. I expect him, and the other top players, to be the best players every night. We need him to be good.''

A couple things coming out of today's practice...

-- Alexander Frolov skated this morning, before the Kings practiced, but he will not play tomorrow. Terry Murray said that Frolov will participate in tomorrow's morning skate, which will be held at Staples Center because the team is taking its official group photo. Frolov's ``lower-body injury'' is a groin strain.

-- Kyle Quincey missed practice because of a doctor appointment. For those who might not be aware, Quincey has been dealing with a back injury since before the Kings acquired him from Detroit. The Kings have known, all along, that Quincey will likely need back surgery during the offseason, but Quincey has played through the periodic discomfort. He is expected to play tomorrow.

I have some quotes from Murray about a variety of subjects, so I'll be posting that stuff as I have time to do so...

For those who might have missed it, a few things happened last week...

-- Jarret Stoll and Alexander Frolov both went down with injuries. Frolov, who has one of those mysterious ``lower-body injuries,'' could come back this week. The Kings didn't practice Sunday so we'll see if he's back on the ice today. Stoll is out for the season with a groin injury.

-- Bemidji State shocked the college hockey world and reached the Frozen Four, along with Boston University, Vermont (which won on a shot that went THROUGH the net) and Miami of Ohio.

-- The Kings went 1-2-1.

-- A couple people who you will never hear from again were eliminated on American Idol.

-- Brian Boyle came up from Manchester and scored a goal. Kevin Westgarth went back to Manchester.

-- Those who went with a conservative NCAA Tournament bracket thrived in their office pools.

Finally, I think this got posted around (and maybe even here, by Jill), but for those who might have missed it, here are some comments that Dean Lombardi had last week about Alexander Frolov...

Thomas Hickey will play for the Manchester Monarchs for the rest of their regular season. The Monarchs have seven games remaining, starting with Wednesday's game vs. Lowell.
(CORRECTION) Hickey WOULD be able to play in the AHL playoffs, because he is a junior player already under contract, and his junior season is complete.

As a side note, thanks for all the support over the furlough week. It was fun to communicate with people through Facebook, and it's a good outlet for promoting the blog even more.

Just to set the table going forward, there will be no more anonymous commenting. If you wish to comment, please register with a valid e-mail address. It's no coincidence that the percentage of ``problem comments'' that come from anonymous people is overwhelmingly high. It will help me moderate things better and ban any problem people, and hopefully this will be the only step I need to take. Thanks again.

The Kings host the Dallas Stars tomorrow, and the Stars have been a welcomed sight this season. The Kings are 4-0-1 against Dallas and if the Kings earn at least one point tomorrow, they'll have earned a point in every game of the season series for the first time since the 1995-96 season.

Here's today's story on the Kings' loss to Nashville. The Kings are eight points out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

The Predators' Steve Sullivan scored a power play goal in overtime to beat the Kings, who were 2-3-1 on the roadtrip. Quick made 24 saves but allowed all four goals. The Kings were 0 for 2 on the power play.

Here is the column on Brandon Mroz, the hockey goon turned figure skater.

The Kings conclude their six-game roadtrip with this afternoon's game against Nashville. I'll post a live chat starting at 2:30 p.m. Puck drops at 3 p.m.

Congratulations to Evan Lysacek, who won the men's title at the World Figure Skating Championships at Staples Center on Thursday. What's his connection to the Kings? Well, he's a Kings fan and trains in El Segundo.

Jarrett Stoll is out for the season with a groin injury, and Brian Boyle was called up from Manchester. Stoll had played in 126 consecutive games.

You're all correct...the Kings are not officially eliminated from the playoffs. It's improbable, but yes, still possible. Anyway, the Kings beat the Stars 1-0 in a shootout to stop a three-game skid.

Washington Caps coach Bruce Boudreau - the former Manchester coach - got uncharacteristically heated with reporters Thursday when discussing the celebration by Alex Ovechkin after his 50th goal. Boudreau was asked if he figured Tampa would seek retribution, and that's when he lost it. Click here for more.

There will be a live chat for the Kings-Stars game tonight. I've just scheduled it to start at 5 p.m.. I won't be able to host it since I will be at the World Figure Skating Championships, but I will monitor it every once in a while. Keep it clean! Thanks and have fun.

From hockey to figure skating? The World Figure Skating Championships are at Staples Center this week, and American Brandon Mroz is a pretty good story. As a kid, he was the ultimate hockey player. He loved to skate but didn't get to do it much because he also loved to get in fights and was always in the penalty box. So, Mroz's parents moved him to figure skating. Now, the former goon is doing quadruple toe loops. I'll have a column on Mroz in tomorrow's paper. The Kings aren't going to make the playoffs, so we can have a little fun on the blog.

The Stars' center Brad Richards returned Saturday after missing 15 games with a broken wrist, then broke his other hand in his return. Talk about bad luck. He's out indefinitely. Dallas could've used him in this late playoff push, but the Stars do have a game against the Kings tonight.

Jonathan Quick will start tonight's game at Dallas.

Is this really the best time to be advertising for 2009-10 season tickets? The front page of the Kings Web Site says ``Buy or Renew Season Tickets Today'' .... meanwhile, the Kings are going to miss the playoffs for the sixth consecutive year.

What does the Kings' 2-0 loss to St. Louis on Tuesday mean? Well, the Kings surely won't make the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season. Nine games to go, do you watch them?

Just wondering if you guys would like me to post a chat room during Kings games until Rich gets back. I'll be happy to do it if any of you still care.

Sorry I haven't been posting, but due to a communications snafu and being out of town covering the NCAA Tournament, I didn't realize I was going to post on the Kings this week. My apologies, and I'll try to keep you guys up to date in between covering quadruple toe loops and triple axels at the World Figure Skating Championships!

I'm now officially on furlough for a week. For those not familiar with the term, don't worry. I had no clue either, until about six weeks ago. Basically, it's a week off without pay, a measure enforced by our company to try to save costs. I'm not going to complain, since others are far worse off these days than I am.

I know Jill will do her best to keep everyone updated on Kings news, but she's in the middle of March Madness and we already ask her to do 18 other things at the paper.

So for the next week, you might want to visit the blog's Facebook page. Per company rules, I can't post on this blog until next Monday, but fortunately my company doesn't own Facebook, so I can do as much personal ``blogging'' as I choose. The format is different, of course, but the content will be roughly the same. Facebook members can comment as well, so it could be fun.

So feel free to check it out here:

Rich's completely non-Daily-News-related Kings page on Facebook

EDIT: For those who can't access Facebook at work, try putting this URL into any feed reader.

http://www.facebook.com/feeds/notes.php?id=49384086650&viewer=3433802&key=465e878945&format=rss20

I'll be back here on the 30th, and most likely with some changes to the comments part of the blog. I've asked, over and over, for people to be civil and communicate like adults, and there are some people who are just unwilling or unable to figure out how to get that done. So I'm going to figure out exactly how to fix that. It's not a threat. I'm just letting people know, in advance, that change is coming. Thanks.

See you all on the social-networking side...

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that the NHL had a disciplinary hearing, by phone, with Evgeni Malkin today, following his hit on Wayne Simmonds.

The Kings yesterday announced that their inaugural ``Hockey Fest'' event, which will be held at LA Live in August. I remember some readers asking when the Kings would put on an event such as this, so hopefully this will be a strong event. From the Kings' news release:

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LOS ANGELES - LA Kings Hockey Fest '09, a three-day interactive festival celebrating the Los Angeles Kings and the game of hockey will take place beginning Friday evening, Aug. 28 and conclude on Sunday, Aug. 30.

This inaugural event will feature Kings' players, coaches, alumni, hockey dignitaries, special Kings' merchandise, hockey memorabilia, special Q&A sessions with players and autograph sessions.

All activities and events during the LA Kings Hockey Fest '09 will take place at LA Live in the heart of Downtown Los Angeles.

Season Ticket Members will have an advanced opportunity to purchase tickets for the first-ever LA Kings Hockey Fest at the discounted rate of $45 beginning Tuesday, March 24. This is an all-inclusive ticket price which entitles ticket holders admittance into all LA Kings Hockey Fest events for the weekend. Tickets for the General Public will go on-sale on Monday, March 30 at 10 a.m. and will cost $60.

"Hosting Hockey Fest at LA Live will be a great way for fans to interact with the LA Kings in ways they have never done before. It's a celebration of the best game in the world and a can't miss event for anyone who loves the LA Kings and the sport of hockey," said Kings' President of Business Operations Luc Robitaille. "Hockey Fest will be a fantastic way to kick off the 2009-10 season."

Seth Rorabaugh, who maintains a fantastic Penguins blog on the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette website, made mention of a brief postgame incident last night that was apparently in response to Malkin's hit on Wayne Simmonds:

``We almost had a scuffle at center ice after the game. A few Kings bumped a Penguin on their way to the locker room. A few of the Penguins immediately went over and seemed to challenge the offending Kings players. Guerin, ever the veteran stepped in and quickly defused the situation by acting as a peacemaker.''

-- The Kings' only goal in their 4-1 loss to Pittsburgh, initially credited to Drew Doughty, was later given to Michal Handzus, with assists to Doughty and Kopitar. Handzus has now scored a goal in three consecutive games and has three goals and two assists in his last four games.

-- Justin Williams made his Kings debut. He played 13 minutes, 36 seconds, was credited with one shot on goal and was charged with one giveaway, which led to a Penguins goal.

--With Justin Williams joining the lineup, Terry Murray took the opportunity to shake up the Kings' lines. The first line of LW Teddy Purcell, C Anze Kopitar and RW Dustin Brown stayed intact, but Williams fit into the second line, alonside LW Kyle Calder and C Jarret Stoll. C Michal Handzus and RW Wayne Simmonds stayed on the third line and were joined by enforcer RW Raitis Ivanans. LW Alexander Frolov, the Kings' leader goal scorer, and RW Peter Harrold were dropped from the second line to the fourth line, alongside C Derek Armstrong.

--Alexander Frolov, in his fourth-line role, played 17 minutes and recorded one shot on goal.

--The Kings had the odds against them before they even stepped on the ice. This was the 13th time this season that the Kings had played games on back-to-back nights. With Friday's loss, their record dropped to 4-8 in the second game of those back-to-back situations.

-- Drew Doughty had an assist, following up on his two-point game Thursday against Boston. Doughty had previously gone five games without a point and 15 games without a goal. Doughty led the Kings in ice time, at 26:56.

-- Jonathan Quick was back in net, in the second of a back-to-back games scenario, and it didn't go well. Quick stopped 22 of 26 shots to fall to 1-5 in his last six road games. Quick has allowed a total of 19 goals in his last five road games.

-- Dustin Brown had a game-high six shots on goal.

-- Anze Kopitar had an assist, one night after his seven-game point streak got snapped in an overtime victory over Boston. Kopitar now has six goals and five assists in his last 10 games. Kopitar led all Kings forwards in ice time at 21:09. (edit)

-- Davis Drewiske, recalled Friday morning from the American Hockey League, played in place of injured Denis Gauthier. Drewiske played 15 minutes, 30 seconds, and was credited with one shot on goal.

-- Denis Gauthier missed the game with an undisclosed upper-body injury and returned to Los Angeles. Gauthier is expected to be out until the second week of April.

-- The Penguins outshot the Kings 26-25.

Feel free to comment on tonight's Kings-Penguins game...

Per the Kings, here's how they're expected to skate...

Purcell-Kopitar-Brown
Calder-Stoll-Williams
Ivanans-Handzus-Simmonds
Frolov-Armstrong-Harrold

O'Donnell-Doughty
Quincey-Johnson
Greene-Drewiske

Quick

On today's Kings road report, Justin Williams talked about playing his first game for the Kings tonight, against a talented Pittsburgh team...

``I know that Pittsburgh is a very skilled offensive team,'' Williams said. ``They've even added some more talent with Bill Guerin and Chris Kunitz up front so they're one of the most talented teams in the league up front and we need to be good defensively, it's plain and simple. We know how dangerous they can be and no lead is safe since they have the top two scorers in the league. They're tough to stop and we need to try to skate with them tonight.

``We are a young team in the fact that nothing really phases us. Regardless of how the game goes tonight, if we're down a goal or if we're down two goals or three, we have the attitude that says, 'nothing is going to phase us.' So we need to come out and try and get a lead tonight and try and get the crowd against them and I think we can do that.''

There are also quotes from Drew Doughty about facing the Penguins' forwards

To tie up the other roster loose end, Jonathan Quick will start in goal tonight.

Some updates from Pittsburgh...

Justin Williams has been activated and will play tonight. Davis Drewiske has been called up from Manchester and will play tonight.

Denis Gauthier has been sent back to Los Angeles and will be out 1-2 weeks with an ``upper-body injury.''

Oscar Moller, Brad Richardson, Kevin Westgarth and John Zeiler are the expected scratches tonight.

According to a report on the Kings' site, Denis Gauthier suffered an undisclosed injury in the third period last night. Gauthier did not play in the final seven minutes or in overtime.

Since the Kings don't have any spare defensemen on their roster, if Gauthier can't play, Peter Harrold would likely move back to defense. Of course, Manchester is close enough that a defenseman could be recalled, but there's no indication of that right now.

Quotes, courtesy of the Bruins...

DUSTIN BROWN
On the game winner...
``It was a deep regroup in our own zone. I got a pass with some speed on it. I just went up the wall and once I got across the blue line I just cut. It was kind of a tough play to shoot, so I just dished it wide and went to the net. There was just a rebound waiting for me.''

On coming back against the Bruins...
``Obviously it is a huge win for us. We are battling for a playoff spot. These road games are huge. Showing that we can come back, like we have done it many times this season, this is just another example. It just happened to be against one of the better teams in the league. I think we played pretty desperate in the third. That was the difference.''

On the importance of tonight's win...
``It was huge, especially considering we had that game where we lost against Nashville where we lost in the last minute. They are ahead of us in the standings so that was a big blow. We wanted to get these two points after a big loss. Certainly to do it against one of the best teams on the road was a big lift for this team.''

On where things turned around for the Kings...
``I would say it was the power play goal. I think it was with 10 seconds left and it was just a scramble. We got that first one by Thomas and we peppered them from there after. Maybe it was just that first goal was all we needed.''

JONATHAN QUICK
On the importance of tonight's win...
``We are a few points back in the playoff race and those were a big two points we stole at the end of that game there.''

On the key to tonight's game...
``The team played great in front of me all game long. A lot of my play is due to the way the team played in front of me. They get all the credit. They battled all game long and they got a lot of pucks at Thomas. He was great through the whole game and we were able to squeak a few pucks in there at the end and push them to overtime. Brownie got a big goal.''

On what led to the teams turnaround in tonight's game...
``We just had to keep doing what we were doing. We were playing well all game and we finally got some bounces going our way.''

On what he felt his biggest save of the night was...
``On their power play they had a lot of chances, but I forget who shot it, but he had the top corner labeled pretty well [Ryder]. It was big for me to make that save for the team to keep us in there. They responded well and they battled hard. The PK closed it out in front of me. It was a great game.''

DREW DOUGHTY
On coming back in tonight's game...
``We came in after the second period and we knew it was do or die. We had to get those goals and we had to win the game. We want to make the playoffs. That's the whole thing with the LA Kings this year. We will do anything it takes.''

On gaining confidence from tonight's win...
``It was definitely special. They are the best team in the Eastern Conference and to play them like that and out-shoot them and winning the game gives us confidence. We have a couple games left on the road trip and I think due to winning this game we are going to have confidence going down the stretch.''

TERRY MURRAY
On the performance of the Kings tonight...
``We need to play our games with desperation. It needs to be with structure and system, but it needs to be with desperation. When you are down two to nothing you have to push up hard with everybody. You need to be aggressive and get pucks to the net. I think what we saw with the end result with this hockey club, and the young guys that were making it happen for us, is a great learning situation for them. It was a special kind of the situation with the Boston Bruins being a premiere team in the league, to come back, and seeing the young guys contribute the way they did it was really good. But then on the other side you saw one of our veteran guys, O'Donnell, getting the puck to the net and Brown driving for the rebound.''

On what his team did right in tonight's game...
``There are certain things that you always look at when you are analyzing what you can do better. Overall we came to play. We weren't in awe of the Boston Bruins. We know they are a great team but we know we have to go out and play the game. Playing with composure and playing the right way was what was talked about in the start and I thought they did a great job.''

On importance of tonight's win...
``We know that we don't have too many more losses in front of us where we are going to be really in trouble as far as climbing that mountain in front of us. So today was a big win for us. To start out a long road trip, we have two weeks and six road games ahead of us. To start off with a win in Boston, it is important to have that feeling as we start the rest of the trip.''

-- The Kings bucked a couple negative trends with Thursday's victory. They had been 3-23-4 when trailing after two periods, 2-16-5 when trailing after one period and 5-22-7 when allowing the first goal this season. The Kings also had an 0-5-1 record in their last six road games.

-- The Kings outshot the Bruins 38-26. The Kings had not outshot an opponent since their March 5 victory over Dallas.

-- The Kings went 1-for-3 on the power play and killed all four Boston power plays. The Kings are 15-for-16 on the penalty kill in their last three games.

-- Drew Doughty had a goal and an assist to break a five-game streak without a point. Doughty recorded his sixth multi-point game of the season (all have been two-point games).

-- Jonathan Quick stopped 24 of 26 shots. Quick had lost four consecutive road games and, in his last three road games, had allowed a total of 13 goals.

-- Teddy Purcell had an assist. Purcell now has three goals and five assists in his last nine games.

-- Dustin Brown scored the winning goal in overtime and broke a nine-game streak without a goal. Brown now has one point and one assist in his last two games, after totaling only one point in his previous four games. Brown also had a team-best seven shots on goal.

-- Wayne Simmonds had two assists for the first multi-point game of his career. Simmonds now has points in three consecutive games, after going nine consecutive games without a point.

-- Alexander Frolov did not record a point and had his point streak ended at seven games, one short of matching his career best.

-- Derek Armstrong had an assist. Armstrong had recorded only two points in his previous 23 games.

-- Michal Handzus had a goal. Handzus has two goals and two assists in his last three games.

-- Sean O'Donnell had an assist to break a 17-game stretch without a point.

Feel free to comment on tonight's Kings-Bruins game. No lineup changes for the Kings...Moller, Richardson and Zeiler are scratched once again.

After switching things up in practice a little, the Kings seem to be back to their previous lines...

Purcell-Kopitar-Brown
Frolov-Stoll-Harrold
Calder-Handzus-Simmonds
Ivanans-Armstrong-Westgarth

O'Donnell-Doughty
Quincey-Johnson
Greene-Gauthier

Quick

This will be the fifth month of measuring fans' approval ratings of Dean Lombardi and Terry Murray.

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): Lombardi, 86 percent; Murray, 64 percent.
Mid-February (team record: 24-22-7): Lombardi, 97 percent, Murray 96 percent.
Mid-March (team record: 29-30-10): ???

According to the report on the Kings' website, Jonathan Quick will start in goal tonight.

``We're a young hockey club that is headed in the right direction,'' coach Terry Murray said. ``It's very important that you approach these games with a playoff mentality and take something from this that's going to be there for you in the future.''

Boston reader Mark, who supplied yesterday's practice report, also took some pictures that I've been able to size and post. You can take a look at the Boston University arena (scheduled to host the NCAA women's Frozen Four) and a couple shots of the Kings in action...

Here's a story from this morning's Seattle Times, looking at Kings prospect Thomas Hickey. The WHL playoffs start Friday when Seattle travels to face the Spokane Chiefs, and Hickey's heralded junior career is coming to an end...

Thomas Hickey relishes final shot for Thunderbirds

To follow up on Mark's practice report from this morning, the Kings' defensemen skated in the following pairings...

O'Donnell-Doughty
Quincey-Johnson
Greene- Gauthier

We had a spy, a very nice reader and long-time Kings fan named Mark, from the Boston area, out at practice today. He reports that the Kings skated as follows...

Purcell-Kopitar-Brown
Frolov-Stoll-Moller
Calder-Handzus-Simmonds
Ivanans-Armstrong-Westgarth

I'll see if he has the defense pairs, because sometimes Harrold skates with the defensemen when there are an odd number of defensemen practicing.

Mark says he has some photos to send over a bit later, so I'll be more than happy to post those.

For those who usually rely on Nick and Daryl...a change. Thursday's game at Boston will not be broadcast live on 1150-AM. It will be tape-delayed (7 p.m. Pacific) on 1260-AM.

The Kings did not practice in El Segundo today. They had an 8 a.m. flight to Boston and will spend an extra day there in advance of Thursday's game.

Interesting news for local hockey fans...Kings prospect. Colten Teubert has been assigned to the Ontario Reign. Teubert recently concluded his season with the Regina Pats, with 12 goals and 25 assists and 136 penalty minutes in 60 games. (edit: that's what I get for believing the numbers on Regina's website...) Teubert is expected to join the Reign -- which is in first place in its division with nine games remaining -- on Thursday.

``It'll give me an opportunity to keep the skates on and keep playing,'' Teubert told the local paper, the Leader-Post. ``That's what I want to do. I want to stay on the ice for as long as I can. It gives me an opportunity there. Ontario's doing great right now, they're in first place. Hopefully we can make a playoff run and I can get some ice time down there.''

TERRY MURRAY:
(Re: Game recap): ``That's a tough one. Starts good but when it comes down to making plays at critical times in the game, we don't make the plays, with the turnovers and the basic plays. The first goal, we have possession of the puck, it's actually a pretty simple play that we should be able to make, a simple breakout with lots of time to make the play, and we don't do it. It was the same as the winning goal.''

(Re: Lessons learned from this game): ``I don't want them to put this game behind them. There's learning points in the season and this is real important here for us to understand what is going on, why things happen and decisions that we made as a team to probably give them momentum. That's the puck management that we have talked about. I have talked about it from the start of the year, that you have to do the right things through the middle of the ice and get the puck in the right position to have offensive opportunities.''

MICHAL HANDZUS:
(Re upcoming road trip): `We know we can do it. We did it when we went to the East Coast earlier in the year. We've got to get better. We didn't play 60 minutes tonight. I think we played 30 minutes very well. Against those top teams we've got to play 60 minutes and we will get some points.''

(Re: game recap) "We started well in the first and then they came back. When we were tied 3-3, we didn't go after it. They started pushing back and we were on our heels. It wasn't good enough.''

ANZE KOPITAR:
(Re game recap): ``We got away from our game. We did a really good job chipping the puck into their zone and getting the forecheck going. We drew a lot of penalties off that too. Sometimes we just get too fancy and we got away. They created a turnover and they came right back into our zone and when you don't get the puck and your legs get tired, you're scrambling and they took advantage of it.''

(Re: game recap) "That was a huge game for us. It puts us (six) points out of eighth place. If we had won we would have been (four) points out.''

-- After a three-game winning streak, the Kings are 0-2-1 in their last three. With tonight's loss, the Kings fell six points out of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference, with 13 games remaining. The Kings are in 13th place in the Western Conference.

-- Terry Murray went with the odds in goal, and it didn't quite work out. The Kings started Erik Ersberg, who was coming off perhaps his best game of the season in a 2-1 shootout loss at San Jose on Saturday. Murray went with the hot hand, and also went with a guy who had previous success against Nashville. Ersberg had allowed the Predators only two goals in a 3-1 loss on Nov. 15 and also fared well against them in a relief role on Oct. 25. Ersberg couldn't carry it over, however, as he stopped 26 of 30 shots in Monday's loss. Ersberg has now lost seven consecutive decisions and hasn't been credited with a win since Dec. 13.

-- Alexander Frolov had an assist to extend his point-scoring streak to seven games. Frolov's career-best scoring streak is eight games. Frolov has two goals and seven assists in those seven games. Frolov also had a team-high seven shots on goal.

-- Michal Handzus had one goal and one assist for his seventh multi-point game of the season and his first since he recorded a hat trick against Dallas on March 5. Handzus won 18 of 25 faceoffs.

-- Teddy Purcell had a second-period goal. Purcell broke a two-game streak without a point and now has three goals and four assists in his last eight games.

-- Anze Kopitar scored a first-period goal to give the Kings a 1-0 lead and extend his hot streak. Kopitar has scored a goal in six of his last eight games and has at least one point in seven of his last eight. In those eight games, Kopitar has six goals and four assists. The goal also gave Kopitar his team-best 60th point (in his 69th game) and his 25th goal pulled him within three of team leader Alexander Frolov's 28 goals.

-- Dustin Brown had a first-period assist. Brown had totaled only one point in his previous four games and still has not scored a goal in his last nine games. Brown's assist was his 29th of the season, tying the career high he set last season.

-- Wayne Simmonds had an assist. Simmonds now has points in two consecutive games, after going nine consecutive games without a point. On the other hand, Simmonds' second-period hooking penalty led to Joel Ward's power-play goal, which put Nashville up 2-1.

-- Drew Doughty led the Kings in ice time at 26:00. Anze Kopitar led all Kings forwards at 22:11.

-- The Kings went 1-for-4 on the power play and 3-for-4 on the penalty kill.

-- Nashville outshot the Kings 30-29.

Kings scratches: Oscar Moller, Brad Richardson, John Zeiler
Nashville scratches: Jason Arnott, Wade Belak, Radek Bonk

Officials: Steve Kozari, Ian Walsh, Brad Lazarowich, Andy McElman

FIRST PERIOD
KINGS: Kopitar from Brown, 14:42
NASHVILLE: Weber from Dumont and Ward, 19:45
Shots: Kings 11, Nashville 6. PP: Kings 0-2, Nashville 0-1

SECOND PERIOD
NASHVILLE: Ward from Dumont and Legwand, 1:24 (PP)
KINGS: Purcell from Handzus and Frolov, 16:25 (PP)
NASHVILLE: Sullivan from Erat and Suter, 18:10
Shots: Kings 11, Nashville 12. PP: Kings 1-1, Nashville 1-2

THIRD PERIOD
KINGS: Handzus from Simmonds and Calder, 9:53
NASHVILLE: Jones from Manhuis and Tootoo, 17:42
Shots: Kings 6, Nashville 12. PP: Kings 0-1, Nashville 0-1

Even if Wayne Simmonds hadn't scored a goal Saturday -- the Kings' only goal -- Terry Murray would have been happy with Simmonds' play. Simmonds' goal broke a 15-game goal drought, and he also had a season-high seven shots on goal (his previous high was four). Based on that, and his overall strong game, Simmonds got a season-high 18 minutes, 27 seconds, of playing time. Here's what Murray thought of Simmonds' game against the Sharks...

MURRAY: ``I thought he was outstanding, maybe his best game of the year. ... He really competed hard. He was alert, he was making strong plays all the way through. He's got tremendous feet and he really showed that (Saturday) night against one of the premier teams in the league. I used the phrase (on TV) between periods, and I'll use it again. He was emotionally connected for the whole game. He was on top of the puck, he was killing penalties, he was blocking shots, played physical and made very smart decisions when he was coming through the middle of the ice to manage the puck properly and allow a lot of good things to happen in the offensive zone. It was a very mature game.''

Justin Williams' recovery, from his broken finger, is continuing on schedule. Based on the initial estimate, and Terry Murray's comments on Sunday, the over/under date for Williams' return would seem to be Sunday's game at Chicago. Williams has been practicing in a yellow no-contact jersey and has been handling/shooting pucks.

Question: Any update on Justin Williams' status? Will he go on the road trip?

MURRAY: ``Yes, he will go on the trip. It's getting very close. After we practiced (Saturday) in San Jose, his passing comment was, `I think I'll be ready to go in a week.' I don't know, right now, when the doctor will give him clearance or if there is another appointment. I'll check on that and get that information. But he's getting itchy. You can see him jumping in more on the drills. He wants to be a part of it and he's got a real itch to get back to playing.''

Erik Ersberg still hasn't won a decision since Dec. 13, but he's coming off one of his best games of the season, a 38-save effort in Saturday's shootout loss to San Jose, and will start again tonight.

Ersberg has already faced Nashville twice this season. On Oct. 25, he relieved Jason LaBarbera after 14 minutes (and three goals) and stopped 10 of 12 shots in a 5-4 loss. Ersberg got the start against the Predators on Nov. 15 and stopped 19 of 21 shots in a 3-1 loss.

MURRAY: ``He played very well (against the Sharks). It probably goes without saying that it was his best game since he did have that knee injury, going back a couple months now. He was very sharp and aggressive in the net and made several critical saves. And as a result of the good play (Saturday) night, we'll put him back in.''

Based on the way the Kings practiced Sunday, it's reasonable to think (although not 100 percent) that Oscar Moller will return to the lineup tonight after being a healthy scratch in Saturday's game. Moller has shown great skill in certain areas, particularly on the power play, but size seems to be an issue. Moller is listed, quite generously, at 5-foot-11 and 182 pounds, and it seems as though one issue for him is strength, and whether or not he can assert himself physically in the NHL. I asked Terry Murray about Moller's development...

-----

Question: You might not be to the point of thinking about this yet, but when Oscar Moller comes back in September, what do you want to see from him? Does he need to get stronger? Are there certain skills he needs to develop?

MURRAY: ``Well, that will be an exit meeting. I haven't spent a great deal of time thinking about that stuff yet. The one thing that we always ask of young players is to work at, and develop, that explosive quickness skill, and give that a good push in the offseason. That is something, in the first two or three years, that you really have to make your main focus, and then as you go through it in your career, you maintain it. The plyometrics, the stationary hurdles, those exercises are important for hockey players all the time, but they're given a push early.''

Question: Does he need to get bigger, in terms of strength, to play at his level?

MURRAY: ``Yes. He needs to get stronger, yes. Quite honestly, that probably goes without saying for all young players. And that will happen, through maturity. They will get stronger, physically. They're going to continue to work out in the offseason and that will come. But a big push for me, with Oscar, will be the first couple strides, that explosiveness to be able to pull away and protect the puck. He has a lot of the other things that we don't coach, that are instinctive for him.''

Jack Johnson became a topic of discussion a couple weeks ago, when Terry Murray removed him from all special-teams duty and talked about the need for players to ``earn'' roles on the team. The implicit suggestion was that Johnson wasn't earning those roles. Well, Murray had high praise for Johnson after Saturday's loss to San Jose. Johnson played 19 minutes, 30 seconds, and was credited with three hits and four blocked shots. And even though we've debated the merits (or lack thereof) of the plus-minus stat, it's at least worth noting in passing that Johnson is plus-2 in his last two games, after being a cumulative minus-15 in his previous 16 games.

Question: Seemed to be a strong game for Jack Johnson (against the Sharks)...

MURRAY: ``That's where he was when he first came back after his injury. He was hard, he was heavy and playing with a lot of authority. He seemed to get away from that. I had a meeting with him about it and (Saturday) night he was very strong and assertive. There was a real purpose to what he was doing on his man-on-man coverage. That makes a big difference.''

-- Erik Ersberg will start in goal tomorrow.

-- Justin Williams will accompany the team when it leaves Tuesday for the road trip and might be a week away from his return.

-- Terry Murray had strong praise for the play of Ersberg, Jack Johnson and Wayne Simmonds.

-- Murray went into what Oscar Moller needs to improve (strength, explosiveness).

-- The early part of practice was dedicated exclusively to reviewing the breakdown that led to San Jose's goal.

Some quotes to follow later...

Westgarth has NOT been sent to Manchester. It's Frolov who is getting a day off today.

Practice is scheduled to start in about 15 minutes, so I'll be out there to see what's happening. Reports later...

It's an office-shift night for me, but I'll update the scoring here, and feel free to comment on tonight's game...

FIRST PERIOD
SAN JOSE: Michalek from Pavelski and Boyle, 5:28

SECOND PERIOD
KINGS: Simmonds from Frolov and Handzus, 0:41

THIRD PERIOD
No scoring

OVERTIME
No scoring

SHOOTOUT
Joe Pavelski and Jack Johnson both scored in the second round. Jonathan Cheechoo secored in the seventh round.

Not to bring back bad memories, but a lot of people probably didn't get a chance to see Henrik Sedin's second goal last night, which put the Kings down 4-2 in the third period after they had rallied from a 2-0 deficit to tie the game.

According to the preview on the Kings' website, Kyle Calder will return to the lineup tonight and Oscar Moller will sit. Michal Handzus moves back to center.

Purcell-Kopitar-Brown
Frolov-Stoll-Harrold
Calder-Handzus-Simmonds
Ivanans-Armstrong-Westgarth

Erik Ersberg is scheduled to start in goal.

-- I'll be a guest on Facewash, the Kings' online postgame show, in the next half-hour or so. Those so inclined can listen to the show here.

-- The Kings got stomped in the first period, then got goals 26 seconds apart (from Frolov and Kopitar) to tie the game 2-2. Henrik Sedin then made it 3-2 and Sedin scored again 30 seconds later with a highlight-reel, 360-degree spin, shot and score.

-- Vancouver outscored the Kings 2-0 in the first period, but it wasn't even that close. The Canucks recorded the first eight shots of the game, and the Kings didn't record their first shot until 6:47 into the game. At that point, the Kings were being outshot 11-1, and they were outshot 20-3 in the first period. For the game, Vancouver outshot the Kings 32-26.

-- Strong special-teams played had fueled the Kings' recent three-game winning streak, but that ended Friday night. The Kings entered the game 9-for-9 on the penalty kill in their last three games, but they gave up a 5-on-3 goal to the Canucks late in the first period. The Canucks went 1-for-6 on the power play. The Kings also went 0-for-5 on the power play. They had scored five power-play goals in their last three games and had scored at least one power-play goal in 19 of their previous 22 games.

-- The Kings missed a chance to match their season-best four-game winning streak, which they had accomplished twice this season, most recently from Feb. 3-10.

-- Alexander Frolov scored a third-period goal to extend his point-scoring streak to five games. Frolov has two goals and five assists in his last five games. Frolov also had a game-high eight shots on goal.

-- Anze Kopitar scored a third-period goal. Kopitar now has a goal in five of his last six games, and in those six games, Kopitar has five goals and four assists.

-- Jonathan Quick was strong in the first period, as he stopped 18 shots, but one mistake midway through the first period doomed him and the Kings. Quick went behind the net to play an uncontested puck, but it bounced off his stick and into the goal crease, where it was tapped in by Vancouver LW Alex Burrows. Quick rebounded with a strong effort and made 28 saves but still had his personal three-game losing streak ended. Roberto Luongo made 24 saves for Vancouver.

-- Raitis Ivanans returned to the lineup after missing five games with an undisclosed ``upper-body injury.'' Ivanans left the March 6 game against Detroit in the second period after he was struck in the head. Ivanans had been on injured reserve since March 8. He began the game on a line with Derek Armstrong and Kevin Westgarth.

-- Kyle Calder was a healthy scratch with the return to formerly injured LW Raitis Ivanans to the lineup. Calder had appeared in 61 of the Kings' 66 games this season but had recently fallen into a fourth-line role and had totaled only one goal and two assists in his last 17 games.

-- Ivanans and Westgarth did not leave the bench in the third period, and Denis Gauthier had only two shifts in the third period.

-- Frolov led the Kings in ice time at 24:15. Drew Doughty led all Kings defensemen in ice time at 24:00.

Tonight's game thread, for those who need scoring updates...

Officials: Marc Joannette, Steve Kozari, Lonnie Cameron, Jay Sharrers

Kings scratches: Kyle Calder, Brad Richardson, John Zeiler
Canucks scratches: Rob Davison, Ossi Vaananen

Goalies: Quick vs. Luongo

FIRST PERIOD
VANCOUVER: Burrows from Pyatt and Mitchell, 10:39
(Quick misplayed a dump-in behind the net, puck slid to the front and Burrows tapped it in)
VANCOUVER: Sundin from Bieksa and H. Sedin, 17:58 (5-on-3 PP)
(Shot was deflected high in the air and landed behind Quick. Sundin tapped it in)
Shots: Canucks 20, Kings 3. PP: Canucks 1-4, Kings 0-1

SECOND PERIOD
No scoring.
Shots: Canucks 7, Kings 9. PP: Canucks 0-2, Kings 0-3

THIRD PERIOD
KINGS: Frolov from Stoll, 6:50
(Off the draw, Frolov swept from behind the end line, cut in front, shot and scored)
KINGS: Kopitar from Brown, 7:16
(Kopitar went down the left side, fired a wrist shot from just inside the boards and scored)
VANCOUVER: H. Sedin from Kesler and Demitra, 8:44
(Demitra skated into the zone and flipped the puck to Kesler, who made a nice centering pass, past Quincey, to Sedin for the one-timer right in front)
VANCOUVER: H. Sedin from D. Sedin, 9:14
(Sedin was 1-on-1 in the offensive zone with O'Donnell, did a 360-degree spin, shot and scored)
Shots: Canucks 5, Kings 14. PP: Canucks 0-0, Kings 0-1

According to the road report on the Kings' website, Raitis Ivanans will return to the lineup tonight and skate on the fourth line with center Derek Armstrong and right wing Kevin Westgarth, apparently leaving Kyle Calder out of the lineup.

Purcell-Kopitar-Brown
Frolov-Stoll-Harrold
Handzus-Moller-Simmonds
Ivanans-Armstrong-Westgarth

O'Donnell-Doughty
Quincey-Greene
Johnson-Gauthier

Quick

A correction on the O'Donnell item from before. Tonight is actually career game 999.

Vancouver enters tonight's game against the Kings with a seven-game home winning streak -- their longest since the start of 2007 -- and the Canucks haven't lost in regulation at home since Jan. 28. Then again, Vancouver was riding a 8-1 stretch when the Kings beat them on Monday. Sean O'Donnell plays his 1,000th NHL game tonight.

From the AP:
``At this point of the season, it doesn't matter how we win games - as long as we're winning them," captain Dustin Brown said. "We've got to keep this momentum going and scrape and claw for everything we get. We're on the outside looking in. And with the way the schedule is, teams are flip-flopping left and right, night after night.''

Kings-Canucks Preview

Also, for those who listen to the ``Facewash'' show on LAKings.com after road games, I'm scheduled to be a guest in the second segment tonight.

A reader e-mailed me to tell me about a tournament at the Roller Dome this Sunday in Thousand Oaks. The tournament benefits a roller hockey player's daughter, Quinn, who was recently diagnosed with Leukemia.

It's pretty remarkable that Patrick O'Sullivan has played eight consecutive road games. The Kings had just concluded their five-game road trip when he got traded to Edmonton, and then he played three road games for the Oilers. Tonight, O'Sullivan makes his home debut for the Oilers, against Atlanta.

In a story in today's National Post, O'Sullivan talked about his new teammates. ``It's a group of guys who, for the most part, are in the same age bracket," said O'Sullivan, ``and I've only been here for a few days, but you can see that everyone cares about each other in the dressing room. That's something that makes for a better team.''

Hectic time for new Oiler O'Sullivan

In the random-and-unimportant-stat department, O'Sullivan played in Edmonton, with the Kings, on Nov. 26 and had one goal and one assist in a 2-1 Kings victory.

Raitis Ivanans has been activated from injured reserve. As of now, Kevin Westgarth remains on the roster, and the Kings don't need to make a roster move to fit in Ivanans, so we'll see what happens this afternoon.

The Manchester Monarchs today announced their clear-day roster, which designates players who are eligible for the AHL playoffs. Teddy Purcell and Kevin Westgarth are the only current Kings on the list. Junior players (whose seasons might end before or during the AHL playoffs) and players signed to amateur-tryout agreements are eligible to be added to the list later.

Goaltenders (2): Jonathan Bernier and Daniel Taylor.

Defensemen (7): Andrew Campbell, Drew Bagnall, Alec Martinez, Tom Preissing, Joe Piskula, Davis Drewiske and Viatcheslav Voynov.

Forwards (13): Trevor Lewis, Marty Murray, Richard Clune, Brian Boyle, Marc-Andre Cliche, Scott Parse, Vladimir Dravecky, Justin Azevedo, Gabe Gauthier, Matt Moulson, David Meckler, Teddy Purcell and Kevin Westgarth.

In Residence (2): Paul Crosty (LW/D) and Josh Kidd (D).

Here is the seventh, and final, edition of the open forum answers. It's always fun to see what's on people's minds, and to answer the questions as best I can, so thanks to everyone who participated...

Matt Greene was quoted on the Kings' website talking about his head-save from Monday night

GREENE: ``I blocked the first one and I was getting my head up to see where the puck went. Once I looked up I saw the shot coming right back at me, so I tried to get my face out of the way but it didn't work. ... I just got up and didn't really realize what it was, what it looked like. Maybe I was just punch-drunk but I was just trying to get off the ice; that was about it.''

In non-bloody news, Raitis Ivanans practiced and skated on the ``healthy scratch'' line with Richardson and Zeiler. He's still on injured reserve.

The sixth set of answers...one more to go.

I'll do my best to get a practice update a bit later, but for those asking about Matt Greene, there shouldn't be any problem there. That's pretty remarkable to say, given that the guy got crushed in the noggin by a puck two nights ago, but by all accounts he was fine after the game. Every time I see that guy, he has a new bruise or scab on his face. It's a fun game of, ``So, how did that one happen?''

Getting back to yesterday's questions, here's the fifth set of answers. Please feel free to continue posting questions, but I'm going to try to get through the remaining ones in the next couple hours.

Still going with the open forum answers. Looks as though there will be a couple more sets of answers to go...

The third set of open forum answers follows...

The next set of answers to today's questions...

Larry Regan, the Kings' first general manager (1967-73) and their head coach for parts of two seasons (1970-71) has died at age 78.

STATEMENT FROM THE KINGS
"The Kings are saddened by the news that Larry Regan has passed. The club's first General Manager following a playing career that included five NHL seasons - which was highlighted by the Calder Memorial Trophy as the league's rookie of the year in 1956-57 - Larry also served as a head coach with the Kings for parts of two seasons in the early 1970s. The Kings organization offers its condolences to the entire Regan family."

QUOTE FROM BOB MILLER
"I was saddened to hear of the passing of former Los Angeles Kings General Manager Larry Regan. Larry was the first General Manager in Kings history starting in 1967 when the Kings entered the National Hockey League. He was still General Manager in 1973 when I joined the organization. Larry was a fierce competitor both as a player and a general manger. His focus was always making the Kings competitive and successful. He brought in some of the best known players in Kings history such as Eddie Joyal, Bill Flett, Rogie Vachon, Bob Berry, Juha Widing, Butch Goring and Bob Pulford as coach."

The Kings will have quite a bit on Regan on their website today, but there's one story that stands out. The Kings tell the story of how ``Regan was once fined $1,000 by NHL President Clarence Campbell for punching Referee Bruce Hood in the face following a Kings game in Oakland on October 13, 1968. In a Los Angeles Times story from October 15 of that year, Regan admits to hitting Hood, saying "Someone had to do something with officiating like that.'''

The Ottawa Citizen did a story on Regan last October...

Ex-NHLer knows virtues of a stiff punch, hearty laugh

Given the statements that Dean Lombardi made a few weeks ago, the vote probably wasn't unanimous...

NAPLES, Fla. (AP) -- NHL general managers think some fighting in their league needs to be eliminated or at least reduced.

They're recommending a rule change that would give a 10-minute misconduct penalty to players who fight immediately after a faceoff. The 10-minute misconduct could also be applied to any other fight a referee believes was staged.

"I'm kind of offended by the fact that it's a staged fight," said Minnesota Wild general manager Doug Risebrough, a 13-year NHL veteran. "The idea is that players have to be involved in the game.

In staged fights, there is an unspoken understanding between teams allowing players to tangle with each other, usually during inconsequential parts of the game.

"I've never really thought of the strategy because I thought it was a dumb idea," Risebrough said.

The general managers spoke during the second day of their annual meetings. Their recommendations would have to be approved by the NHL's competition committee and Board of Governors before the 2009-10 season.

The GMs also recommended limiting fighting in response to a clean hit, by calling the instigator penalty more aggressively. The league has seen an increase in violent reactions to clean hits.

"I don't like those fights. I don't understand them," said Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke, former GM of the rough-and-tumble Anaheim Ducks and a longtime proponent of fighting. "Start calling the instigator penalties, and we'll get rid of some of this nonsense."

OK, here's the first set of answers to some really good questions. Feel free to keep asking, and I'll try to get through them as quickly as possible...

My apologies to the squeamish... There's an even better picture, one I received via e-mail, of Jonathan Quick just staring at Greene's head, but unfortunately it's not an AP picture I can post. (but here's a link)

It was a good weekend for the Manchester Monarchs, and especially Jonathan Bernier. The Monarchs picked up victories on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and Bernier started all four games. He allowed a total of five goals in those four games, and three of those goals came Sunday, at the end of a four-games-in-five-days stretch. Combined, Bernier stopped 100 of 105 shots. He has won six consecutive starts.

Marc-Andre Cliche, Brian Boyle and Alec Martinez each had two goals, and Trevor Lewis and Marty Murray each had four points on the week. Cliche had a ``Gordie Howe Hat Trick'' in one of hte games.

The Monarchs are 7-0-1 in their last eight, and Murry leads the team with 42 points.

In the ECHL, Jeff Zatkoff has been a bit uneven for the Ontario Reign of late, but he stopped 36 shots to beat Stockton 2-1 on Sunday. On Saturday, he stopped 18 of 21 shots to beat Bakersfield but on Friday, he stopped only 18 of 23 shots in a loss to Utah. For the season, Zatkoff is 14-9-1 with a 2.72 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage.

Thomas Hickey has 15 goals, 33 assists and a plus-31 rating in 53 games for Seattle of the Western Hockey League. Colten Teubert has 12 goals and 22 assists and a minus-8 rating in 57 games with Regina, where goalie Linden Rowat has a 2.68 GAA and a .904 save percentage in 57 games.

Martin Jones and the Calgary Hitmen are all but unstoppable in the Western Hockey League. With two games remaining in the regular season, the Hitmen have a 56-8-3-1 record. Jones is 43-4-3-1 with a 2.08 GAA and a .915 save percentage. Jones is coming off a 4-0 victory over Vancouver on Friday, in which he made 28 saves.

The Windsor Spitfires, with Andrei Loktionov, are also doing quite well, with a 56-8-0-1 record in the OHL. Loktionov had a hat trick in Friday's victory over the Plymouth Whalers, and isn't it good to know there's still a team named the Whalers out there? For the season, Loktionov has 23 goals and 41 assists in 49 games.

Manchester puts out extensive notes every week, so I'll cut and paste them after the jump...

The Kings aren't practicing today, because their schedule has been rough recently and there's not another game until Friday, so if there are questions out there for an ``open forum,'' go ahead and post them and we'll see if I, or your fellow readers, can come up with some good answers.

I'll try to do an update of some of the minor-league and junior prospects a bit later as well.

Looking over the stats and minutes, the Kings played with a short bench for a majority of the third period.

Alexander Frolov did not have a shift after his turnover led to Vancouver's second goal, 5:26 into the third period. Derek Armstrong and Kevin Westgarth did not have a shift in the third period.

Who got the most work in the third? Matt Greene and Jarret Stoll each had 11 third-period shifts.

TERRY MURRAY
(Re: game recap): ``It was a lot of digging in, a lot of battling in that last 10 minutes. It was a good win. There were a lot of big plays in the third period. We, at times, showed a little bit of a lack of composure with the puck and could have made plays, and maybe we were feeling the stress of a 3-2 game, but every time they would get possession of the puck, there was a lot of digging in. At the end you have (Matt) Greene lying down to block a shot, then the rebound goes right back and hits him in the head, but he jumped right back up. The guy was a warrior tonight.''

(Re: Moller and Simmonds): ``The line did a good job. Moller's line was good again tonight. They matched up against (Kyle) Wellwood all night and right at the very end they got caught out there, because of the icing, but it was a good experience for two young players.''

JARRET STOLL
(Re game recap): ``We did a good job of checking and we were all over the puck. There weren't too many odd-man rushes and we locked it down pretty good defensively. They had some good shifts in the third but Quick made some big saves and we had some timely power-play goals. Just a good battle from everybody, especially at the end with Greene blocking that shot with his face. Stuff like that, there's not stats for stuff like that, but it's really important and it was tonight.''

(Re composure during the game): ``Our composure was pretty good. When they got the second goal to get within one, I don't think we changed our game too much. We wanted to stay on the forecheck and go out for the puck and not let back too much. Sometimes you have a tendency to do that when you have a lead late in the third. Everyone dug in the third.''

JONATHAN QUICK
(Re game recap): ``Every guy put in a little something today. Greene took one off the face and still kept playing there. We kept playing and just kept doing what we were doing. The team especially responded well after that [Vancouver's second] goal.''

(Re second Vancouver goal): ``I'm not letting myself off the hook. I should've had it. It was just through the legs and I never picked it up and it was one of those goals you have to forget about and keep playing.''

(Re playoff race): ``Three points out, that's a game and a half, 16 games to play and we have a lot of hockey to play. It's not over yet and we're going to continue to fight. We're going to make this push here.''

-- The Kings passed St. Louis for 12th place in the Western Conference and are three points out of the three-way tie for seventh place, although they trail all of the teams ahead of them in wins. The Kings are two points behind 10th place Minnesota and one point behind the 11th-place Ducks.

-- The Kings earned their 67th point tonight (Last season they finished with 71 points. They finished with 68 points in 2006-07).

-- Teddy Purcell, with two assists tonight, extended his point streak to a career-high five games (2-4=6).

-- Jarret Stoll (two goals tonight) had his seventh career two-goal game (no career hat tricks) and his second two-goal game of the season. He also won 14 of 20 faceoffs tonight and had a team-high five shots on goal.

-- Anze Kopitar (one assist tonight) extended his point streak to five games (4-4=8). Kopitar led all Kings forwards in ice time at 21:07.

-- Kyle Quincey (one assist tonight) now has a career-high four-game assist and point streak (1-4=5).

-- Alexander Frolov (one assist tonight) now has a four-game point streak (1-5=6).

-- The Kings are 19-for-66 on the power play in their last 13 games (28.8 percent). They've scored a power-play goal in 19 of their last 22 games. The Kings were 2-for-6 on the power play and 4-for-4 on the penalty kill.

-- It's the fourth time this season the Kings have won three games in a row. They have a chance to match their season-best four-game winning streak (accomplished twice this season) Friday at Vancouver.

-- It's the 14th time in Kings history they've swept a three-game homestand (last was Jan. 30 to Feb. 7, 2003).

-- Shots were even, 22-22.

-- Matt Greene led the Kings in ice time, at 21:39, and was out there at the end when he blocked a shot with the side of his head in the final minutes. Greene skated off after the horn, albeit a little bloody.

A highly impressive effort tonight from the Kings, who pulled within three points of the two-way tie for seventh in the Western Conference. Denis Gauthier scored 3:35 into the game and Jarret Stoll scored 12:17 into the game, on the power play, for a 2-0 lead.

The Kings' only significant stumble came 4:40 into the second period, when Alex Burrows scored on a slap shot from just inside the blue line, with only Jack Johnson between Burrows and goalie Jonathan Quick. The Kings faced trouble when Kevin Westgarth went off for slashing just 21 seconds later, but they killed the penalty and took a 3-1 lead when Stoll scored his second goal of the game 12:51 into the period.

Vancouver pulled within 3-2 when Taylor Pyatt scored off a turnover in the Kings' zone, 5:26 into the third period, but the Kings held on for the final 14-plus minutes, much as they did Saturday against Minnesota.

Quick made 22 saves, but the final save of the night went to...the right side of Matt Greene's face.

Notes and quotes to follow...

Obviously, every game is big for the Kings these days, but tonight they face a Vancouver team that has been very strong of late (12-2-1 since Feb. 1) and a goalie, Roberto Luongo, who has been particularly successful at Staples Center. Luongo has won four consecutive games in L.A., with a 1.25 goals-against average, including a 4-0 victory on Oct. 30. That was the teams' only meeting so far this season. They will play again on Friday in Vancouver.

The Kings enter the night in 13th place, five points out of the two-way tie for seventh. Here's how things look in the West:

6. Columbus, 72 points (33 wins, 16 games remaining)
7. Edmonton, 70 points (32, 17)
8. Nashville, 70 points (33, 16)
9. Dallas, 70 points (31, 16)
10. Minnesota, 69 points (32, 17)
11. Ducks, 68 points (31, 15)
12. St. Louis, 66 points (29, 17)
13. Kings, 65 points (28, 17)

And here's what Terry Murray had to say about the tight playoff race...

MURRAY: ``It's fun. This is fun. This is a wonderful time to be a player here, on this team, to go through this and experience what this is all about. I don't think it will ever go away, in the league. The parity seems to be getting stronger every year. That's the fun part about it, is playing at this time of the year in order to figure out how you need to play and how to win and how to battle, and all those cliches we often throw out. You can talk about it as a coach in front of your team, but you really need to get on the ice and feel the excitement of the moment, and go through it and execute. It's a great, great time. It's a great race right now.''

Following up on Terry Murray's comments on young players with big-game experience, Jonathan Quick talked about the correlation. Quick's resume includes a trip to the NCAA Tournament with UMass in 2007, and an overtime shutout victory over Clarkson in the first round. Then, last season, Quick got the majority of the starts down the stretch as the Manchester Monarchs made a late-season run and earned a playoff spot in the AHL. Here are Quick's thoughts about how that experience might translate to the NHL...

Question: You helped lead the way for Manchester down the stretch last season, when they made the playoffs. Does that experience translate to this playoff run, even though it's a different level?

QUICK: ``Yeah, it is a different level, but we were fighting in Manchester last year. I think we were five points out, just like we are now, down the stretch, and we battled there and ended up sneaking into the playoffs. The concept is the same. The fact that it's on a different level, it might change it a little but I don't think it changes that much. You're still trying to do the same thing. You're still trying to achieve the same goal, by making the playoffs. Even though it was the American League, you're still getting some experience from that. Hopefully that will help down the stretch.''

Question: If I had told you, at the beginning of the year, that you'd not only be with the Kings but that you'd be in a playoff race, would you have considered that pretty unlikely?

QUICK: ``Yeah, I really didn't foresee that happening when I was down there in Manch at the beginning of the year. You've just got to be thankful for what has happened over the course of the year so far. You can't get complacent. You just have to keep battling, and our team is doing that right now. The team is playing great the last couple games here and we're not quitting. We're playing for that last spot right now.''

Question: People wonder if you might be playing too much here, but looking at that Manchester schedule, it looks much more grueling for a goalie...

QUICK: ``You can do four games in five nights. That's not uncommon. A lot of times we'd do Wednesday, then Thursday off, then Friday, Saturday and Sunday. That is pretty grueling. You're doing similar road trips. You're traveling a lot further here, but the travel life is a lot more comfortable than the buses, so you're appreciative of that. You just try to come ready to play every game, that's about it.''

Arrive early to practice in the next couple weeks, and you're likely to see Justin Williams on the ice, in a no-contact yellow jersey, skating. Williams is still roughly two weeks away from playing, but he has been cleared to skate (but not yet handle pucks). Williams fractured either the middle finger (I believe) of his left hand, and the fracture ran from his second knuckle down to the hand. Terry Murray wants Williams on the ice as much as possible as the finger heals...

MURRAY: ``Yeah, I'd like to see him out there every day now, to get his legs going again. That's just a broken bone, and when you get that OK from the doctor, you want to hit the ice full stride. There's probably a need for a lot of skating to be done over the next couple of weeks.''

It's been a frustrating season for Jack Johnson, who missed the majority of the season after undergoing shoulder surgery and, more recently, has been in Terry Murray's doghouse a bit. Johnson was taken off all special-teams duties last week, but returned to power-play duty Saturday and had what Murray called one of his best games of the season.

Johnson has four goals, three assists and a minus-15 rating in 24 games this season. Here's what he thinks about how things have gone this season...

Question: Terry had his meeting with you, then took you off special-teams play, then said you had one of your best games (Saturday). What did you take from that meeting?

JOHNSON: ``It was just nice to get feedback from the coach and know where you stand and to know what they're thinking. What the player thinks and what the coach thinks can be two different things, so it's just nice to know what the coaches are thinking and what they like and what they want to see.''

Question: Do you have any sense of how you will look back at this season, once it's over?

JOHNSON: ``This was kind of a (bad) year, for lack of a better word. I thought it was going to be one of those big years, and that I would be able to establish myself, but now I'll just have to wait until next year. There's nothing I can do about it now. I'm just trying to make the best out of the cards I've been dealt and play the best I can the rest of the year.''

Question: Do you feel like you're starting to get back into a groove at all?

JOHNSON: ``Yeah. Like coach said, I'm still trying to earn what they give me. I went through that last year with Crawford and I'm still going through it. Being injured didn't help me at all with any of that, so like I said, I'm just looking forward to next year.''

The Kings are, somewhat remarkably, still in the Western Conference playoff race even though they have the NHL's youngest roster. One explanation for their success is that while the Kings are young, they do have some experience in high-intensity games. Rookies such as Drew Doughty, Oscar Moller and Wayne Simmonds have experience in intense World Junior Championships games, and Jonathan Quick played some huge games down to the stretch last season to help Manchester reach the AHL playoffs.

I asked Terry Murray if that experience, at lower levels, can translate to the NHL and help these young guys feel more comfortable in this playoff race...

MURRAY: ``You definitely can take all of your winning experiences, from all levels, and bring them to this moment. It's very important that you have winners in your organization, coming up through the beginning of their hockey careers as a pee-wee. We see that, clearly to me, with a young guy like Doughty, who has been through so many experiences as a young guy, as a 19-year-old. He has been put in a lot of very high-level game and tournament scenario, and you can see and feel the composure that he brings out there on the ice. Those World Championships and Juniors, in particular, that's a big deal. If players respond in those situations, you're going to be able to connect the dots and carry it right through to the next level. So all of the young guys that have been through it, and then you have a couple older guys who have been through it also, and that means a great deal to your team at this time of the year.''

One of the primary questions surrounding the Kings in the early part of this season was, ``What's wrong with Anze Kopitar?'' Through the first 38 games of the season, Kopitar had 10 goals and 19 assists, pedestrian numbers at best. Were the pressures of his new contract and/or being named an alternate captain getting to Kopitar?

Throughout the struggles, Terry Murray said he wasn't worried about Kopitar, and perhaps now Murray's patience is being rewarded. In his 17 games in February and March, Kopitar has 11 goals and eight assists, and he has scored a goal in four consecutive games heading into tonight's big game against Vancouver.

Here are Murray's thoughts on Kopitar's turnaround...

Question: Throughout the season, when Kopitar's offensive numbers weren't there, you praised his work ethic and defense. Were you always confident that his offensive game would come around, and how has that situation evolved?

MURRAY: ``Kind of as I expected from the beginning of the year. Everybody knows the talent level and skill level that he has, that he is a point producer and a playmaker, and that never leaves a player. I've seen this many, many times over the years in this business, where you come in and change the focus of a team and a player. As a result of that, you take a step back in other areas, but it only is a matter of time before it starts to come back around again. It's as expected that good things would start to happen on the numbers side of it.''

Question: Is it just that he feels more comfortable, that the defensive side becomes instinctive and then he can go back to feeling comfortable on offense?

MURRAY: ``I think it's just a matter of implementing everything. The offensive part of the game is such a special part of the game. If you retool and you're trying to get the focal point on the defensive part of the game, there's that timing issue and there's a matter of trying to sort it out as you play the game. I don't know baseball that well, but I would think that with a hitter, if you're asking them to make a change in bat speed or bat angle, or some area that concerns that, to improve it in the long run, you're going to go through a dip. That's all this was with Kopi and the offensive players. They really want to buy in. The thing that I've really been proud with him is that, from the first day of the camp, when we talked about the defensive part of the game, he has been really conscientious and working hard on bringing that to his game. He's becoming a real complete player, and that's how it has to be in order to become a champion.''

Nothing too big to report today. Williams looked good skating this morning but still hasn't been cleared to handle pucks. Today was Ivanans' first time back on the ice, so his return isn't imminent.

Most importantly, Williams plays ping-pong, and he's good. Williams and Kopitar teamed up for a 22-20 victory over the vaunted Team Red Bull, Armstrong and Richardson.

I got a few things from Quick, about playing in a playoff race, and from Terry Murray, about Kopitar's recent play, so I'll try to post that a bit later.

Justin Williams and Raitis Ivanans are both on the ice for conditioning skating before practice. Williams probably won't be handling pucks yet because of his broken finger.

TERRY MURRAY
(Re: strong power play): ``Our power play has been real good at critical times. The secret is that we're shooting the puck. We're taking it, attacking the seams, attacking the net, we have great traffic in front of the net right now and we're keeping it pretty simple. We're not looking to pass the puck into the net and I think that was the big issue that we had in the early part of the season, but now it's the way it supposed to be. Get the puck into the hands of the people who have good positioning and shoot it.''

(Re: Kopitar's play): ``I think he's had a pretty good year on the checking part of the game. I think that was a big change for Kopitar. Whenever I come in to talk about responsibilities in our defensive zone away from the puck, he did a tremendous job on focusing on play below our goal line to help our defensemen out. The offensive part was just a matter of time before it worked itself out.''

KYLE QUINCEY:
(Re moving forward): ``We need to focus on the details. We're going to have to come out every night. We can't take any nights off. We can't give any teams easy wins. We have to play perfect hockey here. We showed that we can go on rolls and it's do-or-die for us now. You either show up or you don't.''

ANZE KOPITAR:
(Re game recap):``It was great to create some momentum and we certainly did. We had really two strong efforts. We came from behind Thursday but it doesn't really matter - we'll take two points any day.''

(Re lucky bounces): ``When you're on a little hot streak, it seems like the puck is coming to you. When you're struggling with scoring, it seems like everything is getting away. But hopefully I'm going to keep going like that. It's just the right spot at the right time.''

(Re four-game sweep of Wild): ``I don't know; it's hard to say. It just seems like were playing really good against them and the past two years we've struggled against them. But like I said, it's definitely a big game this time of the year for us.''

For the most part, the Kings appeared to skate as follows...

Purcell-Kopitar-Brown
Frolov-Stoll-Harrold
Handzus-Moller-Simmonds
Calder-Armstrong-Westgarth

O'Donnell-Doughty
Quincey-Greene
Johnson-Gauthier

-- The Kings are back on a two-game winning streak after losing their previous four games and going 2-7-2 in their previous 11 games.

-- The Kings went 4-0 against the Wild this season (one of the victories was in a shootout) and outscored Minnesota 14-7 in the season series.

-- Kyle Quincey had the Kings' first goal and assisted on Teddy Purcell's eventual game-winning goal in the third period. Quincey now has a three-game point streak and one goal and three assists in his last four games.

-- Teddy Purcell scored to put the Kings up 4-2 in the second period, and that was the eventual game-winner. After going without a point in the first three games after his call-up from the AHL, Purcell now has points in four consecutive games (two goals, two assists), a career best.

-- Jonathan Quick stopped 21 of 24 shots for the victory. Quick has now won consecutive decisions for the first time since his four-game winning streak from Feb. 3-10, even though he has allowed a combined 12 goals in his last three starts.

-- Kyle Calder scored a first-period goal. Calder had gone 14 consecutive games without a goal, and had two assists during that stretch.

-- Anze Kopitar scored a second-period goal. Kopitar has scored a goal in four consecutive games (a career best) and also has three assists in his last four games. Kopitar and Quincey tied for the team high with six shots on goal.

-- Jack Johnson had one assist and returned to the power play, with 1 minute, 5 seconds, of power-play time. Johnson has three points (one goal, two assists) in his last four games.

-- Michal Handzus had one assist, after his hat trick Thursday against Dallas. Handzus now has three goals and three assists in his last five games.

-- Matt Greene had one assist. Greene had one point (an assist) in his previous eight games.

-- Alexander Frolov had one assist. Frolov led all Kings forwards in ice time with 20:47. Frolov had one goal and four assists in his last three games.

-- Peter Harrold played 15 minutes, 56 seconds, a season-high for him when playing on the wing.

-- In a largely penalty-free game, the Kings went 1-for-3 on the power play (Purcell) and the Wild went 0-for-2.

-- The Kings and Wild each had 24 shots on goal.

-- Denis Gauthier was credited with a game-high six hits.

-- Kevin Westgarth played (in place of Brad Richardson) and had 6 minutes, 27 seconds, of ice time. He had one shot on goal.

-- Drew Doughty played a team-high 23 minutes, 40 seconds.

-- Referee Rob Shick worked his final NHL game today.

The Kings sweep the season series from the Wild... They will stay in 13th in the West but pull within five points of eighth place.

The Kings led 1-0 (Quincey), 2-1 (Calder) and 3-2 (Kopitar) before Teddy Purcell scored with 4:49 remaining in the second period for a 4-2 Kings lead. Minnesota's Eric Belanger scored 4:43 into the third period, but the Kings and goalie Jonathan Quick held on. Minnesota goalie Niklas Backstrom got pulled, in favor of Josh Harding, after Kopitar made it 3-2 in the second period.

Notes and quotes to follow...

Teddy Purcell has one goal and two assists in his six games since being recalled from Manchester, and all three points have been in his last three games. Purcell is now skating on the top line, with Alexander Frolov and Anze Kopitar, and today, Terry Murray talked about Purcell's development...

Question: What have you seen from Teddy Purcell? He has played a handful of games now and it looks like he's in a top-six (forward) situation...

MURRAY: ``And that's where he needs to play, in order to give him a fair look and see how things come together for him. The M.O. that he comes with, as we all know, is that he's an offensive player, a goal scorer, a creative player. He's out on the power play and we're looking for him to be able to use his skills to the best of his ability to help us win games. It's OK. He's in there, he's working hard, he's trying to do all the right stuff on all sides of the puck. You're seeing him in there quickly on the forecheck and working hard along the boards, trying to get the puck back whenever it is loose. He's making a good impression. There has been considerable improvement, I believe, from the time that I first saw him, going back to training camp. He's a young player who is making strides.''

Question: It seems like this is an opportunity, with (Patrick O'Sullivan) gone. He was a top-six, and now Oscar is back too...

MURRAY: ``You're right. (Purcell's) other looks were, `OK, if he grabs this ball in these two games, then great,' but I always seemed to slide him to another position. He ended up being a fourth-line center iceman this year. So this clearly is a critical time of the year, where the push is on still, and it's a great opportunity for him to really step up and show us that he's ready to make the jump and be a player in the NHL. He will stay in our top six. I'm a big believer that that's where a player who has that kind of ability need to play in order to show us what he can do.''

As previously posted, Kevin Westgarth was recalled from Manchester today, and he will be in the Kings' lineup tomorrow against Minnesota. Westgarth played two games for the Kings during his previous recall, and in 55 games with Manchester this season, Westgarth has two goals, six assists 146 penalty minutes. With Raitis Ivanans on injured reserve with some type of head/neck injury, it's pretty clear why Westgarth is here...

Question: Is Westgarth coming just for depth, or do you want to get him in the lineup?

MURRAY: ``I want the grit. I want the toughness. I think you've got to have it. I believe in that, and with Raitis out of the lineup, I know we're a different team. I know the opposition teams that we're playing treat us differently. We need the physical presence.''

Question: So he's in for tomorrow?

MURRAY: ``Yes.''

Sixteen of the Kings' 18 skaters had at least one shift on the power play last night, and Jack Johnson was not one of them. Nor did Johnson have a penalty-kill shift. Here's what Terry Murray said about Johnson's reduced role...

Question: I believe last night was the first time, since he came back, that Jack Johnson didn't get any power-play time. Is that a reflection of his play?

MURRAY: ``For me, with the players, you earn the right to be there. It's penalty killing, it's playing on the top line, it's minutes played... It's a, `Do you have the right to play in the NHL?" kind of attitude. And I'm not specifically talking about Jack. It's anybody. If you come up, as a player, do you deserve to be here to get that shot? It's earning the right to play in those situations and to play in the league and to be a successful team. You earn the right to make the playoffs. You earn the right to win the Stanley Cup. It's not something that's going to be handed to anybody. You've got to dig in and do it. So, performance is my read on it.

``When I'm looking at young players, I really think that there are some young players that need to be brought along at the right pace, whether it's just playing the 5-on-5 game properly and getting the fundamentals down, then you move on and move up, and start killing penalties and start playing on the power play. I think every player on our team has kind of gone through that process.

``I think that last night, after coming back from his injury, I think last night was his 21st game back. I did this with every player on our team. After the first 20 games, there was an evaluation process. I had meetings with players at the end of the first 20 games and talked about what I see, what we need, expectations, role, and a re-evaluation of how things are being handled. That's the process I go through.''

Question: Were there any pointers given to Jack that you could share?

MURRAY: ``The conversation with a young player, a young defenseman especially, is about really being consistent in the fundamentals of the game, being a good defending defenseman. That's where it has to start. I went through a lot of young defensemen, even when I first started as an assistant coach, and that was just the way it was. I had Rod Langway a couple years with Washington, coming from Montreal. I talked to him extensively about this and about what the process was like with the Canadiens. It was about earning the right to play. Of course, everything has changed from those days, but that's still a proven way of doing things. We need every player to be solid in the basics and the foundation, and from there, you build.''

The Kings had almost 15 minutes of power-play time last night, including two 5-on-3s, and they scored two power-play goals in 10 chances. That's pretty consistent with their power-play percentage this season, but the 5-on-3s, in particular, seem to be a point of frustration for fans because of the Kings' apparent reluctance to shoot the puck. If you feel that frustration, well, Terry Murray seems to be with you...

-----

Question: When you're on the power play, you hear the fans yelling for players to shoot. Are you yelling that too?

MURRAY: ``Yes, I do it all the time. If I'm not saying it, I'm thinking it. I've been around long enough to see 5-on-3s happen where... You might have a 5-on-3 for 40 seconds, and if you do too much of that passing stuff, next thing you know you've got five seconds left and you haven't taken a shot. You're trying to set up the perfect play. Shooting the puck is where it's at on the 5-on-3.

``To keep it simple is best. Plays happen off loose pucks in the NHL. That's all there is to it. You get the opposition defensemen turning around, the penalty-killing team is facing their net, loose pucks and scrambles happen and good things happen for you as a team that is shooting the puck. Goaltenders are human. There is a lot of stress and there is a lot of pressure on them, and fatigue does become a part of the power play and it works for you.

``So I'm constantly looking at power plays that shoot the puck. I really believe that the blue line is where it starts. In order to have a successful power play, you've got to be able to bring the puck from the top. The statistics are -- and I have this someplace but I don't know where I put it -- but the percentage of power-play success rate from the top, shots that come from the blue line as opposed to any other area on the ice, it's incredible. It's like 78 percent, as opposed to 15 percent. It's an incredible stat. So when you ask that question, yes, I'm constantly saying that guys have to get the puck to the net. They've got to shoot it.

Here's the interview with Justin Williams. As you'll see below, the Kings also posted many of the quotes with Williams' interviews last night, so I tried to ask some different questions today and you can read all of the quotes here...

Question: After getting to hang around last night and this morning, are things starting to settle in a little bit?

WILLIAMS: ``I don't think I'll be settled and happy until I get out there and play. Yeah, I feel part of the team and everyone has welcomed me, but I'm not going to realistically feel at home until I start contributing. I'm just trying to get the lay of the land and get to know the guys, because I don't know anybody.''

Question: Obviously it was only one game, and a pretty wild game at that, but what were your impressions from watching the team last night?

WILLIAMS: ``I watched the game from above, and I was studying the media guide and just trying to get to know what type of player everybody is. It's going to take a couple games, and probably a lot longer than that, to really get a feel for everyone. But when I do get into the lineup, I want to know the players that I'm playing with as much as I can. The game was exciting, definitely exciting. I know that the guys haven't really had a problem coming back this year. They've had quite a few games where they have been down a couple goals late and come back and won. I think that's very promising, because it's such a young team. When you have confidence and don't get upset when you're down a couple goals, it's fine. Being young and having no worries and having that confidence that you can come back, no matter what the score is, that's really positive and that showed last night.''

Question: You mentioned this being a young team. Not a lot of guys here have even been to the playoffs. You've won a Stanley Cup. What do they need to know about what it takes to crack that level?

WILLIAMS: ``Well, I'm not downsizing the Stanley Cup win and the playoffs, but everybody is eventually going to get there. This team is, if not this year than definitely next year. It's really close. I'm not going to act like this old veteran who knows everything, because I don't. I've been to the playoffs a couple times and I was fortunate enough to play on a real good team and be a part of something real special. That's something that I want to bring here, but the guys here are more than capable of carrying themselves throughout the playoffs. I'm going to help, maybe when we do get there, just as a calming factor, as someone who has been there before.''

Question: How is the knee strength at this point. Are you 100 percent there?

WILLIAMS: ``There are no problems with my health, other than my finger. I'm just waiting to get out there. It's frustrating to come to a new team and not be able to contribute right away. They go out for practice today and I'm in the weight room, so that's frustrating, but it's something that should be over soon.''

Question: Terry talked about getting you out there just to skate a little bit. Is that something you might do soon?

WILLIAMS: ``Yeah. I'm going to see the hand doctor in about an hour and a half here, and he will make a plan for me, of what we're going to do. But yeah, I'm definitely going to get back on the ice as soon as possible.''

There are many more quotes from Justin Williams below, or you can click here.

The big talker at practice today was Anze Kopitar's game-tying goal with 14 seconds remaining in the third period. Kopitar threw the puck to the front of the net, from the corner, and it deflected off Stars defenseman Stephane Robidas and past Marty Turco, who apparently was checking out some of the Lakers' retired jerseys. I jokingly asked Terry Murray is that's how he had drawn the play up.

MURRAY: ``It's not a bad idea to get the puck to the net, you know? Good things can happen from that. That was one of those examples, I think. You just keep pushing. The power play gave us that attitude of shooting the puck. I don't know how many we had in that third period, but you get that shooting mentality and the next thing you know, you're back at full strength and you just keep following through and hoping that some good stuff can happen. An exciting finish.''

I talked to Kopitar about the goal, and asked him if he had any idea where Turco was, or who was in front of the net, when he threw the puck in front.

KOPITAR: ``No. I knew my position on the ice, and at that point I didn't even know how much time was left, so at that point, everybody was just trying to get it on net somehow. I turned around and I was pretty fortunate that it bounced in. ... (Getting the puck to the net), at least that's the game plan. Everybody was hanging out around the net and we were trying to get the puck there, so I was hoping somebody was there and it turned out all right.''

Question: That seemed to be about as happy as you guys have been after a victory this season...

KOPITAR: ``Every game for us right now is a Game 7. We cannot give away points. Coming back from three down, it's pretty special for sure. We've done it in the past, so we just said, in the locker room, that we had to throw everything at them and see what happens. I think we're going good. We were a little lucky, but that's part of success too.''

-- Kevin Westgarth is on the way from Manchester and will play tomorrow. Terry Murray talked about the need for a physical presence.

-- Dustin Brown got a "therapy day" and will play tomorrow, Murray said.

-- I talked to Justin Williams, who should be on the ice in the next few days for conditioning skating. He will (eventually) wear No. 14. And to provide an answer to the question, he's more like 5-11.

-- Murray addressed Jack Johnson's lack of power play time by talking about how players have to earn those roles.

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

Dustin Brown isn't on the ice this morning but is in the building. It's apparently just a rest day.

Frolov-Kopitar-Purcell
Handzus-Moller-Zeiler
Calder-Stoll-Simmonds
Richardson-Armstrong-Harrold

Justin Williams is here and riding a stationary bike, so I'll talk to him soon.

For those in the neighborhood, the Kings are scheduled to practice at 11 a.m. today. I'll be heading out there to see what's up and hopefully grab an interview with Justin Williams.

MICHAL HANDZUS:

(Re game recap): ``For us it's two points so it's the most important thing. We are scrambling and we needed two points. It wasn't the best game we ever played, but we won and that's what's most important right now.''

(Re: last five minutes of game): ``When we are down two or three goals that's our game. We play desperate and start to put the puck toward the net, we start skating and you saw what happened. We got a couple of lucky bounces but we put it in the net. That's what you have to do for 60 minutes to win more games.''

(Re: last season compared to this season): ``My key in the off-season was to get ready and have a good summer and be stronger. To get ready for next season was my key and I think I can still get better. I think I'm getting there.''

ANZE KOPITAR:

(Re on Michal Handzus): ``He's huge. He and Jarret are really good on faceoffs and he's really huge on the penalty kill. He did a lot of dirty work in front of the net and especially on the power play. He really came through and he's really been valuable for our team this whole year.''

(Re Playoff hopes): ``Absolutely. We're a desperate hockey club. When we're desperate we play really good hockey. We're going to take it game by game and see where it leads us.''

TERRY MURRAY:
(Re game recap): ``I've said many times this year that the power play can win you games and the penalty kill can lose you games. This was the perfect example. The first three power plays we had in the first period were critical and I was nervous about that; nothing happened on them. Our penalty killing was pretty good, we had a big kill in the third period and then the power play came alive and it ended up winning the game.''

(Re: Kings' start) ``I liked the start. Coming back after the road trip, I liked the start. There was good intensity, good emotion. There was a good flow to the game. We ended up with three power plays and maybe that looks like there was not a lot happening because we didn't score on it, but I liked the way we started the game. Everybody was ready to go after this trip and it's something that everybody has to prepare for by themselves to make sure that they are because Dallas, to me, is a rested team.''

(Re: upcoming games) ``We've got two more games at home and we've got to keep pushing. We want to keep this attitude and give ourselves an opportunity to make the playoffs. It's still within our grasp and I think we're going to determine our own outcome in that by how we're going to play, but this keeps it going, keeps it alive.''

-- The Kings had a season-high 10 power-play chances and scored two power-play goals. Their previous high was nine power-play chances, on Oct. 14 against Anaheim, and the Kings scored three power-play goals in that game.

-- Thursday's game continued a season-long Kings-Stars trend. All four games between the teams this season were decided by one goal. The Kings beat the Stars 3-2 in a shootout on Nov. 11 at Staples Center, then beat them 3-2 two nights later in Dallas. On Jan. 17, the Stars beat the visiting Kings 3-2 in a shootout.

-- Michal Handzus had a hat trick to break out of his recent scoring slump in a big way. Handzus had scored only one goal in his previous 13 games. It was Handzus' second career hat trick. He had one on Dec. 23, 2000, while playing for St. Louis. Handzus has scored both Kings overtime game-winning goals this season, with the other coming on Oct. 17 vs. Carolina. Handzus also won 19 of 22 faceoffs.

-- The Kings outshot the Stars 40-23, including 21-3 in the third period.

-- Erik Ersberg started his first game in goal since signing a two-year, $1.5-million contract extension on Wednesday, and it didn't go well. Ersberg allowed four goals, all of them coming on 13 Dallas second-period shots, and Ersberg was pulled at the start of the third period in favor of Jonathan Quick, who stopped three shots in third period and one in overtime.

-- Anze Kopitar had one goal and two assists for his fifth three-point game of the season. Kopitar has three goals and three assists in his last three games, after a three-game scoreless streak.

-- Drew Doughty had two assists. Doughty had only one point (an assist) in his previous eight games. Doughty led the Kings in ice time with 26:50.

-- Alexander Frolov had one goal and two assists for his second three-point game of the season. Frolov had one goal and two assists in a Feb. 16 shootout victory over Atlanta.

-- Teddy Purcell had an assist and has a three-game point streak.

-- Dustin Brown had an assist and a game-high seven shots on goal.

-- The Kings have scored with the goalie pulled in three of their last four home games (Feb. 14 vs. Edmonton and Feb. 16 vs. Atlanta).

-- The Kings had been 1-5-2 in their previous eight games at Staples Center.

-- The Kings avoided a season-worst five-game regulation losing streak. The Kings lost five in a
row from Oct. 25-Nov. 4, but one of the losses was in overtime and another was in a shootout. The Kings haven't recorded a regulation victory since Feb. 18 at Anaheim.

Quotes to follow shortly...

Officials: Dennis LaRue, Justin St Pierre, Mike Cvik, Mark Wheler

Kings scratch: John Zeiler
Dallas scratches: Jere Lehtinen, Andrew Hutchinson, Joel Lundqvist

LInes/pairs:
Frolov-Kopitar-Purcell
Handzus-Moller-Brown
Calder-Stoll-Simmonds
Richardson-Armstrong-Harrold

O'Donnell-Doughty
Quincey-Greene
Johnson-Gauthier

Ersberg

FIRST PERIOD
No scoring
(Shots: Kings 10, Stars 6; PP: Kings 0-3; Stars 0-0)

SECOND PERIOD
Dallas: Eriksson from Modano and Sutherby, 5:49
Dallas: Ribeiro from Ott and Parrish, 10:38
Dallas: Neal from Brunnstrom and Fistric, 12:03
Kings: Handzus from Quincey and Frolov, 15:41 (PP)
Kings: Frolov from Brown and Kopitar, 16:14
Dallas: Ott from Ribeiro and Eriksson, 19:46
(Shots: Stars 13, Kings 8; PP: Kings 1-2, Stars 0-1)

THIRD PERIOD
(Quick in goal for Ersberg to start period)
Kings: Handzus from Kopitar and Doughty, 16:42 (PP)
Kings: Kopitar from Purcell and Doughty, 19:46
(Shots: Kings 21, Stars 3; PP: Kings 1-5, Stars 0-2

OVERTIME
Kings: Handzus, 1:31

(Once again, please don't post links to streaming websites. Thank you.)

Expect a close game between the Kings and Stars tonight, if the previous three games are any indication. The Kings beat the Stars 3-2 in a shootout on Nov. 11 at Staples Center, then beat them 3-2 two nights later in Dallas. On Jan. 17, the Stars beat the visiting Kings 3-2 in a shootout.

Erik Ersberg started all three of those games, a bit of a quirk given that Ersberg has only started a total of 21 games this season. Ersberg is expected to start tonight.

The Stars enter the game in 10th place in the West, one point behind Edmonton and Ducks and seven points ahead of the 13th-place Kings. Their victory over San Jose on Sunday snapped a five-game losing streak, during which they scored only six goals.

Dallas claimed Brendan Morrison off waivers from the Ducks on Wednesday. The Dallas Morning News reports that Morrison will play tonight, that Jere Lehtinen is out with an upper-body injury and that the Stars might skate as follows:

Ott-Ribeiro-Parrish
Neal-Morrison-Brunnstrom
Eriksson-Modano-Conner
Sutherby-Begin-Barch

The Kings, meanwhile, are 1-5-2 in their last eight games at Staples Center.

Shortly after news of Sean O'Donnell's contract extension broke yesterday morning, Jim Fox reported that Erik Ersberg had signed a two-year extension. It's for $1.5 million. Ersberg has a 2.49 goals-against average and a .901 save percentage in 24 games (21 starts) this season. Here's what Ersberg said about his new contract...

-----

Question: Were you concerned, leading up to the deadline (that you might be traded)?

ERSBERG: ``I tried not to think too much about it. I heard something about it, but it's a lot of rumors. You can't control it anyway, so I didn't really think about it.''

Question: So you weren't watching all the potential trades (Tuesday) night?

ERSBERG: ``I was watching, as always, because I think you want to see what's going on around the league and perhaps with your team too. But I knew I was going to finalize this (Wednesday) morning, so I didn't have to worry about myself too much. That was nice.''

Question: Was it important for you to get a two-year deal, to have a little more security there?

ERSBERG: ``It was nice to get a two-year deal. Pretty much, not for my whole career but for the last five or six years, I've always had one-year deals, so it's kind of nice that I don't have to worry about that next year and in the summer. It's a good feeling.''

Question: You can finally feel like this is home a little bit?

ERSBERG: ``Yeah, I really like it here. I get along well with the guys on the team and I think we've got a young, promising team here. So it's nice to be here for two more years and see what happens.''

It got lost in the shuffle yesterday, but Sean O'Donnell and Erik Ersberg signed contract extensions. O'Donnell signed for one year and $1.25 million. O'Donnell, who will turn 38 in October, has 10 points (all assists) in 63 games this season, but he also has a plus-3 rating and has been revered for his work with the Kings' young defensemen (particularly Drew Doughty) both on and off the ice. Here are O'Donnell's thoughts about returning to the Kings next season...

-----

Question: Did you know all along that you wanted to come back here next year?

O'DONNELL: ``Yeah. I'm hoping that this is just one year leading into a couple more years. I understand L.A.'s view, with the way things are on the horizon as far as the salary cap and my age and some of these young kids and how quickly they're going to progress. They wanted to keep it at one year, and they expressed that is doesn't mean it's one year and out the door. It's one year at a time, and let's just review it every year. I'm hoping that goes on for a while, but I'm just happy to get this done. I think we made some steps here. We're making a push for the playoffs and we're moving in the right direction.''

Question: Is is personally satisfying to you that not only did Dean Lombardi not trade you -- as he easily could have -- but that he chose to sign you for another year?

O'DONNELL: ``Well, he also kept that third-round pick, which was kind of nice too (laughs). Let's not forget that that was there too. But yeah, from what I heard from Dean and from what they expressed to my agent, they have been very happy with the way things have gone, with the way I have come in here since training camp and performed. I think it was probably one of the more courteous negotiations. I haven't been a part of all of them, and you'd have to ask them on their side, but from what I've heard, it was never a matter of them showing my weak points or us saying, `You guys are trying to screw us.' It was just a matter of finding a price that was comfortable for everybody. Both parties were happy with the way things were going. It was just about finding a deal that made sense.''

Justin Williams is not scheduled to arrive in Los Angeles until late this afternoon, but should arrive in time to watch tonight's game at Staples Center. I should be able to catch up with him tomorrow morning at practice for an in-depth interview.

Stepping away from trade talk for a minute, I know a lot of you are interested in Dustin Brown and how his family is doing. As you probably know, Dustin Brown's wife, Nicole, delivered the couple's second child on Feb. 23. I'll assume, from some of the comments that were posted here and elsewhere, that some people weren't aware of the details. They weren't reported, out of respect for Brown and his family's privacy. Now, after talking with Brown and the Kings, it's clear that everyone is OK with sharing the details.

Brown's son, Mason Cole, was born at 31 weeks, four days, which was just more than eight weeks premature. He weighed 4 pounds, 4 ounces, and was 16.5 inches long. Mason remains in the hospital, in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, where he will remain for the next several weeks. The hope is that, in the next few days, Mason will have his IV removed and be moved from an incubator to an open crib, although there are problems with his body-temperature regulation at the moment. The baby is on a feeding tube, but the hope is that bottle-feeding can start in the next week or two. Mason is gaining weight, which is a good sign, and yesterday he got back up to his birth weight.

I'll do my best to keep everyone updated, and I'm sure Dustin and Nicole appreciate your well wishes.

It's hard to think of a Kings-related story that has generated as much debate in recent years as this O'Sullivan-Williams trade. I've read a lot of the comments -- although it's tough, because there were more than 700 yesterday...wow -- and there have been a lot of great points made on both sides. That's what makes for a good debate.

To be honest, when I first heard about the trade, I ridiculed it. There are still parts of it that don't make a lot of sense to me. None of them have anything to do with Justin Williams as a player. He's a two-time 30-goal scorer and a Stanley Cup winner, a guy who theoretically could be entering his prime. He's a bigger winger who plays the type of game Lombardi and Murray want. Patrick O'Sullivan, for all of his undeniable talents, never really fit here. For that, you can blame Lombardi, Murray or O'Sullivan, or all three of them. It doesn't change the fact that he never really fit here.

So then, why is there debate about this trade? Because it's an enormous risk, and the timing of it seems odd. For all of Williams' talent, he can't stay on the ice. In the past 12 months, he has had hand, back, knee and Achilles tendon injuries. All in one year. It's accurate to say that they were largely ``fluke'' injuries. It's also accurate to say that Williams had two consecutive seasons in which he played 82 games. But it's hard to escape the feeling that some guys are just injury-prone, through no fault of their own.

Beyond that, it's hard to shake the feeling that by trading O'Sullivan and a second-round pick now, the Kings might have left something on the table. Williams might be a strong pick-up, but the Kings need more, and by trading O'Sullivan, they just cashed in on one of their most valuable assets. Might they have been better served by packaging O'Sullivan with a top prospect and a top pick, in order to land a really big fish? Maybe, or maybe I'm really underestimating what Williams will bring to the team when healthy. And perhaps the Kings will be able to fill that bigger void via free agency, or by trading with a team that is desparate to dump salary this summer.

Also, in defense of Williams, he's also in his first year back after ACL surgery. That's exactly where Michal Handzus was last year, and it's well known that an athlete doesn't resemble his former self until his second season back.

So, there's no easy answer. With a day to reflect, what do you think?

Justin Williams is expected to be in Los Angeles and meet his new Kings teammates and coaches this morning. He's expected to be out of the lineup for roughly two more weeks with a broken finger.

As an aside, Dean Lombardi mentioned yesterday how Oscar Moller was tied into all of this. Moller will be staying with the Kings now, but the whole decision about whether to keep him or send him to Seattle was based on Williams. Knowing that Williams is injured, the Kings decided to keep Moller around. This question came up a few days ago...Moller can go to Manchester, but only when his junior team has been eliminated from the playoffs.

Here's what Dean Lombardi said today about Patrick O'Sullivan. Lombardi starts off talking about O'Sullivan, swings back into Justin Williams territory and then comes back to O'Sullivan...

Question: How do you view O'Sullivan? For whatever reason, it seemed like he never completely found a fit with the Kings...

LOMBARDI: ``Well, I think he has made a lot of strides. If you remember where he was when we first got him, and we had to send him back down (to the AHL), he's a much better player. There is a little bit of, like you say, the fit, as far as which line. In fairness to him, we don't have the right mix in our top nine. Like I said, we have focused on the back end. The one good thing, as this trade deadline shows me too, is that I don't have to talk about 15 boxes (to fill). The key for us was looking at improving our front and getting the right mix and the right amount of size, grit and skill. That's where our focus now moves.

``We signed Ersberg. The back end still has some work to do, but it's there. The front end, you look at it and it's just not in sync. So that was what we spent the whole trade deadline looking at, is for players who fit in your top six, and then how that fits with your seven through nine. We sort of like certain combinations. Simmonds seems to go with Handzus. Stolly and Brownie have kind of hit it off a little bit, but do we really have that right guy with Kopitar? And does that depend on where Frolov is? This is what I'm talking about with Williams too. With Williams' game, he's a really smart player. He can do a lot of things for you and, again, he has proven he can play in the playoffs. I think he's a better fit for us.

``Now, would I have done this if Justin Williams was 31 years old, or a rental player? No. That was the other thing I was looking at at the deadline. We weren't looking at any rentals. Anybody we were going to get, it had to be somebody who fits with us next year and the year after. So this was a good fit, on all accounts. He's signed, he's bigger, he's more experienced but still only 27 years old, and I think he's a better fit in our top six.

``Again, that's not taking anything away from Sully, but I think there is a little bit of...where exactly does he fit with the guys we were going with? Sully would probably still be a player with upside. I think he has showed a lot of upside in his last 24 months. Now there's another step that needs to be taken. But with the opportunity to get a guy like this (Williams), we felt that this works for us now and down the road. With the injury, it's tough, but we do have Moller, so we're going to keep Moller. I'm OK with Oscar holding the fort for now, and then Justin comes in when he's ready.''

OK, here are Dean Lombardi's comments on Justin Williams. There's a second part to this, in which Lombardi talks about letting go of O'Sullivan, and why he did it now. I'll try to get that stuff posted a bit later.

-----

Question: Was this trade more about getting Williams or getting rid of O'Sullivan?

LOMBARDI: ``It was about getting the guy. He's a proven 30-goal scorer and only 27 years old. He is arguably just entering his prime. He's really competitive. We know him intimately from Philadelphia. We didn't want to trade him when we were there, but he was part of the Markov deal. He's a really smart player. Those are the two things that jump out at you, right from his draft year through on. He's really smart and really competitive. Then, like I said, the numbers speak for themselves.

``The difference, too, when you look at this guy and his numbers, when he's healthy, is that he did it on a Stanley Cup winner. He brings a ring and he's only 27 years old. The other thing is, he makes us bigger on the wings. He's not a 6-4 guy, but that's a major issue for our team. We go and face a team like San Jose, and we're very small on the wings. We've got to continue to address that. He helps that. We're not done there, but it is an issue and he helps address that.

``He is signed for the same length as Sully, and we took on a little more salary than with Sully, but that's just a reflection of the player. His injuries, obviously, were a big thing going into it, before it blew up last night, before it was interrupted by a certain writer. We had his knees checked out. He's had a couple freak injuries here in the last couple years, but we had that all checked out and made sure we were getting a 27-year-old athlete here. That took a long time, to get all the reports and everything here, but we're satisfied. That broken finger, what are you going to do?''

OK, as quickly as I can (because I'm supposed to be working a desk shift in the office at the moment), here's how things will down with the Justin Williams trade.

This three-way trade was all but finished last night. The Kings nearly pulled Patrick O'Sullivan from the lineup last night, but didn't because they were still looking at medical records. Then it all fell apart, in PART because of me and my attempts to confirm the blog item that was in the Toronto paper. Certain details of the trade went public, and the trade fell apart. Dean Lombardi, who was my source last night in reporting that the Kings weren't interested, told me today that he had to lie about his interest in Williams, because the deal was in danger of falling apart. He gave me permission to say that, because he knows my credibility would take a hit, but he didn't have another choice at the moment.

The trade got revived this morning, and the bottom line is that the Kings had to throw in a second-round draft pick in order to get the deal done.

That's the short story. There's a much longer story, but I think you're probably more interested in WHY the deal got done. I have some quotes from Lombardi about why he wanted Williams, and I will post them, but I'm going to beg for patience because I'm trying to help get a newspaper out as well...

Tom Preissing, who has the same number of goals this season as Justin Williams (three), has been assigned to Manchester.

It appears to be O'Sullivan AND a second-round pick for Williams in the three-way deal with Edmonton. This is a bit bizarre, and there must have been a MAJOR changing of the mind in the Kings' front office this morning about Justin Williams.

Patrick O'Sullivan is not on the ice. It appears to be a trade and a flip involving Edmonton and Carolina. I'm at the rink and news is trickling in.

Sean O'Donnell signed for one year, $1.25 million.

Erik Ersberg signed for two years, $1.5 million (combined).

Jim Fox just reported, on the NHL Network, that Erik Ersberg will sign a two-year contract extension.

Rather than post something new every time a trade/move happens today, I'll just update this post and, if you desire, you can check back for the latest...

-- Columbus acquired forward Antoine Vermette from Ottawa for goalie Pascal Leclaire and a 2009 second-round draft pick. (TSN)
-- Calgary acquired defenseman Jordan Leopold from Colorado for defenseman Lawrence Nycholat, defenseman Ryan Wilson a draft pick. (TSN)
-- Pittsburgh acquired defenseman Andy Wozniewski from St. Louis for defenseman Danny Richmond. (TSN)
-- Buffalo acquired goalie Mikael Tellqvist from Phoenix for a fourth-round draft pick. (TSN)
-- Toronto acquired goalie Martin Gerber off waivers from Ottawa. (TSN)
-- Dallas acquired forward Brendan Morrison off waivers from Anaheim. (TSN)
-- Anaheim acquired forward Petteri Nokelainen from Boston for defenseman Steve Montador. (TSN)
-- Calgary acquired forward Olli Jokinen from Phoenix for forward Matthew Lombardi, forward Brandon Prust and a first-round draft pick. (TSN)
-- Boston acquired forward Mark Recchi and a 2010 second-round draft pick from Tampa Bay for defenseman Matt Lashoff and forward Martins Karsums. (TSN)
-- Pittsburgh acquired forward Bill Guerin from the New York Islanders for a conditional draft pick. (TSN)
-- Philadelphia acquired forward Daniel Carcillo from Phoenix for forward Scottie Upshall and a second-round draft pick. (TSN)
-- New York Rangers acquired forward Nik Antropov from Toronto for a second-round pick. (TSN)
-- New York Rangers acquired forward Derek Morris from Phoenix for defenseman Dmitri Kalinin, forward Nigel Dawes and forward Petr Prucha. (TSN)
-- Buffalo acquired forward Dominic Moore from Toronto for a second-round draft pick. (TSN)

Sportsnet has reported a one-year contract extension for Sean O'Donnell, which certainly makes sense but has not yet been made official. We'll see what materializes in the next hour or so.

As of this moment, the Kings don't have anything cooking in terms of serious trade talks. That includes anything you might hear/read about Carolina's Justin Williams. That one seemingly took a wrong turn at Albuquerque, to paraphrase Bugs Bunny.

We'll see if things change in the morning, but as of the moment, there is zero to report. I'd like to have something exciting for you, but it's just not there, and that comes from a very good authority.

From the AP:

MURRAY: ``At the end of the day, their best players made the plays to win the game. That's what it comes down to in a critical situation. That's the way it's supposed to be. Their best players stepped up and got it done.''

-- The Kings have now lost four consecutive games and are 1-6 in their last seven. The Kings fell to 26-28-9 and fell two games under .500 for the first time since Jan. 20.

-- The good news for the Kings? They scored four goals in a game for the first time in almost two weeks. The Kings had scored a combined four regulation goals in their last four games. The bad news? Obviously it's that they allowed five goals, an unfortunate plateau they have reached three times in their last nine games.

-- In their final meeting of the season, the Kings and Blue Jackets broke a trend. The three previous games between the teams this season had all been shutouts. The Kings beat Columbus 3-0 on Dec. 6 in L.A. and 3-0 on Dec. 23 in Columbus, and lost 2-0 on Dec. 29 in L.A.

-- Of the Kings' 18 skaters, 11 had at least one point in the game. Jarret Stoll, with one goal and one assist, was the only multi-point player. Stoll now has scored goals in two consecutive games, after going six consecutive games without a point.

-- Oscar Moller wasted little time getting back in the NHL groove, as he scored a second-period goal, which temporarily gave the Kings a 4-3 lead. Moller suffered a fractured clavicle while representing his native Sweden in the World Junior Championships in December and was playing only his second game for the Kings since Dec. 17. Moller returned for a Feb. 12 game but then went on a two-week conditioning assignment in the AHL.

-- Teddy Purcell got moved down to the fourth line on Tuesday, to make room for Moller, but it didn't seem to bother Purcell, who second a second-period goal.

-- Jonathan Quck had another rough outing, at least statistically. Quick stopped 20 of 25 shots, coming off a game Sunday against Chicago in which he allowed four goals. Quick now has a 2-4-2 record in his last eight games and has allowed at least three goals in five of his last seven starts.

-- Jack Johnson and Denis Gauthier each had minus-2 ratings.

-- Tom Preissing was placed on waivers by the Kings on Monday morning and cleared waivers on Tuesday morning. The Kings have not announced what they intend to do with Preissing. Preissing, a healthy scratch on Tuesday, has three goals, four assists and a minus-7 rating in 22 games this season. He has often been a healthy scratch and recently missed 14 consecutive games because of undisclosed issues involving dizziness. Preissing was activated from injured reserve on Sunday.

-- The Kings outshot Columbus 26-25.

-- The Kings went 1-for-3 on the power play. The Kings took only one minor penalty, Denis Gauthier's first-period hook, but the Blue Jackets scored a power-play goal.

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

O'Donnell-Doughty
Quincey-Greene
Johnson-Gauthier

Quick

-----

-- Jarret Stoll scored a power-play goal 6:18 into the first period (Handzus, Quincey assists) for a 1-0 Kings lead.
-- Jakub Voracek scored an even-strength goal 9:35 into the first period (Umberger, Torres assists) to tie the game 1-1.
-- Raffi Torres scored a power-play goal 16:!9 into the first period (Malhotra, Russell assists) for a 2-1 Columbus lead.

-- Manny Malhotra scored an even-strength goal 5:32 into the second period (Rome, Nash assists) for a 3-1 Columbus lead.
-- Teddy Purcell scored an even-strength goal 12:19 into the second period (Armstrong, Greene assists) for a 3-2 Columbus lead.
-- Anze Kopitar scored an even-strength goal 13:45 into the second period (Brown, O'Sullivan assists) to tie the game 3-3.
-- Oscar Moller scored an even-strength goal 14:14 into the second period (Stoll, Frolov assists) for a 4-3 Kings lead.
-- Jiri Novotny scored an even-strength goal 17:18 into the second period to tie the game 4-4.

-- Manny Malhotra scored an even-strength goal 10:16 into the third period (Nash, Huselius assists) for a 5-4 Columbus lead.

Oscar Moller will be in the Kings' lineup tonight, in place of Peter Harrold. Tom Preissing and John Zeiler are also scratched.

The Blue Jackets enter tonight's game in sixth place in the West, but just two points ahead of ninth-place Nashville. They're seven points ahead of the Kings, but the teams have a lot of similarities these days.

The Kings and Blue Jackets have both lost three of their last four games, and both have totaled only five goals in their last four games. Columbus' only win in its last four games was a 1-0 victory over Edmonton last Thursday. The Blue Jackets have the league's worst power play and haven't scored on their last 13 power-play chances.

Columbus does, however, have rookie goalie Steve Mason, who leads the NHL withe eight shutouts but also has a 3.43 goals-against average in his last six home starts.

The Blue Jackets have been without Rostislav Klesla, Fredrik Molin and Jason Chimera due to injuries, and Michael Peca left Sunday's game with an undisclosed injury.

No game chat tonight, but if you're hanging around tomorrow morning, we'll do a chat to talk about what's going on in advance of the trade deadline.

Andrei Loktionov, a fifth-round draft pick of the Kings last June, continues to have a strong season for the junior-level Windsor Spitfires of the CHL. Loktionov had three goals and four assists in a three-game span last week. For the season, Loktionov has 20 goals and 39 assists in 46 games. Loktionov, 18. was already in the Kings' good graces because he came over from Russia and volunteered to play junior-level hockey, rather than insisting that he break in at the minor-league level.

Tom Preissing cleared waivers this morning. No official word yet on what the Kings' next move might be.

It would be exciting for everyone if there was much to report, but there really isn't as of this morning. Even if the Kings wanted to sell, there isn't much on their shelf, and any ``big'' deal that takes place is likely to be a last-minute, out-of-nowhere deal that is conceived and birthed some time in the next 24 hours.

At this point, I'd say it's far more likely that the Kings will make a splash near the time of the June draft. By then, next season's salary cap will be set and Dean Lombardi will have a better idea of where he stands, particularly if he can lock up Jack Johnson to a multi-year contract before then.

Could something happen? Sure. Lombardi will continue to do his ``due diligence,'' as he says, half-mockingly, every time I ask him about the trade deadline, but right now there seems to be more smoke -- fanned by Internet rumor-mongers and legitimate-but-overexcited Canadian journalists -- than fire.

Lombardi confirmed in a report today that he won't move Sean O'Donnell, which is no surprise for a number of reasons. The Kings like O'Donnell, O'Donnell likes the Kings, and there's the little matter of the third-round draft pick the Kings would lose if they traded O'Donnell. It would almost certainly be a step backward to trade him at this point. So many people want to see Kyle Calder and Tom Preissing get traded, which I find funny because some of these people are the same folks who trash Calder's and Preissing's play. So what you're saying is, they're so bad that teams should be lining up to hand over assets to get them? Somebody is going to have to explain the logic on that one.

As far as Alexander Frolov goes, he should really run for prime minister in Canada. They're ready to throw feasts in his honor up there. But it doesn't make sense for Lombardi to make a move on that front right now, unless it's an overwhelming offer, something where the Kings give up Frolov and a top pick/prospect to get a mega-star. I just don't see that mega-star out there right now, at least one that the Kings are interested in. Plus, Frolov's cap hit next season is $2.9 million, which is a steal. Now, in a year we could be having a very different conversation. If it looks as though the Kings won't be able to re-sign Frolov, or if they just flat-out decide to go in a different direction, Frolov will be a Grade-A target.

Beyond that, it's impossible to predict. Given the number of prospects and picks the Kings have, Lombardi could pull just about anything out of his hat at this point.

Personally, I'm still waiting for Jason Spezza to arrive. Bryan Murray must be surprised to know he was getting calls from Dean Lombardi about Spezza, seeing as how Murray told TSN yesterday that he had received ``Not one call'' about Spezza. Oops.

Anyway, we'll see what happens. It will get fun at some point, either today, tomorrow or in June.

Jonathan Bernier's struggles with Manchester this season have been well documented, but Bernier appears to be back on the upswing. Here are his last five starts...

Feb. 20 at Providence: 32 shots, 31 saves (in relief role)
Feb. 21 vs. Lowell: 33 shots, 31 saves (win)
Feb. 22 vs. Hartford: 28 shots, 25 saves (loss)
Feb. 28 at Lowell: 35 shots, 34 saves (win)
March 1 at Springfield: 19 shots, 18 saves (win)

You might note that Bernier's only three-goal game in that stretch came at the end of a three-games-in-three-nights run.

Oscar Moller will be rejoining the Kings, most likely tonight, in Columbus.

Also, Tom Preissing was indeed placed on waivers this morning.

This was tucked into the bottom of the Kings' ``road report'' yesterday, a quote from Terry Murray about Wednesday's trade deadline...

MURRAY: ``We're trying to put something together here to get a foundation in place with young players. This is the group I expect us to have on Thursday.''

Of course, the flip side of this is that Dean Lombardi makes the trades, not Murray, but obviously they communicate quite a bit.

Also, I have a message in to Dean Lombardi to see what the Kings' plans are with Oscar Moller, and to confirm that Tom Preissing has been placed on waivers. Just to clarify, being placed on waivers doesn't take Preissing off the team right now. It's a procedural thing that can lead to a roster move, so we'll see what happens over the next 24 hours.

From the AP story...

KOPITAR: ``We kind of shot ourselves in the foot. That first period wasn't good at all. When you fall behind right away, it kind of kills the motivation right off the hop.''

MURRAY: ``We responded just OK (to the early deficit). There's a great need to a lot of desperation right now in our schedule and our games. Getting down makes it really hard, especially in this building. ... They're (the Blackhawks) a great skating team. They could be a dangerous team in the playoffs.''

-- The Kings have now lost three consecutive games and are (edit) 1-5 in their last six. The Kings fell to 26-27-9 and fell under .500 for the first time since Jan. 31.

-- With the loss, the Kings remain in 13th place in the Western Conference six points out of eighth place and four points ahead of last-place Colorado.

-- The Kings had beaten Chicago twice this season, by identical scores of 5-2 at Staples Center. The teams meet again on March 22 in Chicago.

-- The Kings dropped to 2-21-4 when trailing after two periods, and 4-21-6 when allowing the first goal.

-- The Kings were outshot 38-24, following Friday's game against Detroit, in which they were outshot 41-31.

-- The Kings have scored four regulation goals in their last four games and, at one point. This streak follows a four-game stretch in which the Kings totaled 15 goals.

-- The Kings made more mild line changes. Brad Richardson, inserted into the lineup because of Raitis Ivanans' injury, played on a line with Jarret Stoll and Teddy Purcell. Kyle Calder, who had been a winger on that line, dropped to the fourth line alongside Derek Armstrong and Peter Harrold. Drew Doughty and Sean O'Donnell once again became a defensive pair, as Jack Johnson skated with Denis Gauthier and Matt Greene skated with Kyle Quincey.

-- The Kings placed Raitis Ivanans on injured reserve and activated Tom Preissing from injured reserve. Ivanans left Friday's game in the second period after being hit in the head. Preissing has missed 14 games because of dizziness issues.

-- Anze Kopitar had one goal and one assist. Kopitar had gone three consecutive games without a point and now has 14 points (eight goals, six assists) in his last 13 games.

-- Jonathan Quick stopped 34 of 38 shots. He allowed three goals on 14 shots in the first period, then stopped 23 of 24 over the final two periods. Quick is now 2-4-1 in his last seven starts, following an eight-game stretch in which he went 7-1.

-- Jack Johnson scored a first-period goal. Johnson has four goals and one assist in the 19 games since his return from shoulder surgery.

-- Drew Doughty had one assist. Doughty had gone six consecutive games without a point.

-- Kyle Calder had one assist. Calder had gone five consecutive games without a point.

-- Teddy Purcell had one assist. It was Purcell's first point in four games since being recalled from Manchester,

-- The Kings went 1-for-4 on the power play. Chicago went 1-for-5 on the power play. The Kings had been 3-for-16 on the power play and 10-for-11 on the penalty kill in their previouds four games.

-- Drew Doughty led the Kings in ice time, at 24:34. Alexander Frolov led all Kings forwards at 20:12. Anze Kopitar led the Kings with four shots on goal. Denis Gauthier was credited with a team-high four hits.

Raitis Ivanans, who missed today's game because of an ``upper-body injury'' (he was hit in the head against Detroit) was placed on injured reserve today. Tom Preissing, who has been out with dizziness issues, has been activated from injured reserve.

Scoring and notes from today's game...

Officials: Dave Jackson, Brian Pochmara, Derek Amell, Michel Cormier

FIRST PERIOD
Chicago: Toews from Walker and Kane, 0:47
Chicago: Keith, unassisted 6:18
Kings: Johnson from Kopitar and Doughty, 8:22 (PP)
Chicago: Byfuglien from Havlat and Campbell, 16:22
Kings: Kopitar from Purcell and Calder, 19:19

SECOND PERIOD
No scoring.

THIRD PERIOD
Chicago: Bolland from Havlat and Ladd, 19:17 (PP)

To set the Kings' lineup for this afternoon, Jonathan Quick will start in goal and Brad Richardson will be in the lineup in place of Raitis Ivanans, who had to leave Friday's game after being struck in the head during the second period.