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

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…
Continue reading “Boston practice photos” »

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