The race is on

And if the 'Nucks have a little extra jump tonight, this could be why....

http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Canucks+word/1368296/story.html

Buckle up Folks!! It's going be FAST & FURIOUS!!

I hope Labs gets the start in goal tonight for the Canucks.

hahah yeah.... If they started Labs all we would see are the kings lighting the lamp while the other 5 players try to play goalie at once. I hope the kings continue to play strong, Roberto is tough to beat. Go Kings!

With 4 more wins and 5 more points, it's fun to be an Edmonton Oiler too... LOL.

Ivanans will get a hat trick tonight.

It should be a fun ride.....Go Kings!

Marc Nathan,
Now I'll be keeping an eye on Edmonton too.
I can't let go of Sully quite yet.

I wish both teams make it.
And if LA doesn't, I hope AEG fires the GM.

why would you fire the GM? so we an ruin what we've begun? sully got pushed off the puck and he couldn't control the puck especially on the power play...he was a good player...but wait to see how justin williams does first...

"I wish both teams make it.
And if LA doesn't, I hope AEG fires the GM."

Sigh...

Anthony, you cant be serious. Wow, I refrained from slandering you. NO ONE expected the kings to make the playoffs this year. If you truly thought at the beginning of the season that they had a chance to make the playoffs you know even less about hockey than I feared. This team is building a future powerhouse for years to come and in many knowledgeable peoples opinion is actually doing better this year than expected. So for once could you please just sit back, keep your sticky fingers off the keyboard and enjoy the ride or consider moving to Edmonton to stalk your beloved Sully

Let's be honest anthony, you want them to fire Lombardi regardless of whether or not they make the playoffs.

even if the kings don't make the playoffs, this team has impressed me this year.

and anthony, you really should try to pickup some hockey knowledge from a place other than NHL '94

If the Kings can manage to win tonight. Their chances of making the playoffs will double. But they have to win tonight.
DL made one of those unpopular trades, there is no question about it. But on the other hand this team needs bigger wingers that can penetrate the slot area. With O'Sullivan that part of the game was not going to be possible. I am not saying that J Williams is the answer, but he may be a stepping stone. I still say, we should give another chance to Boyle. He can be that big winger on the second or third lines, which can change the dynamics of the game immensely. What I hear from Manchester is he is beginning to come around and play more of a complete game again. As a center he can’t play effective at this level. But as a winger he can do some damage.
TM and DL I hope you are reading this blog.

Roger

Its not so much trading Sully away as it is other things.
The biggest problem I have is DL's creepy and childish obsession he has with gathering poor players and coaches from the Philadelphia Flyers.
Count them:
TM,
Hextall
Gauthier,
Handzus
Calder
Williams
a few scouts
Some of these names are worthless. Maybe most.
Also, its the God like complex he has. You must not EVER, I mean EVER, disagree with him or jugde his moves. Otherwise, you're gone. If a player like Sully or Cammi, follow their agents advice instead of DL's, - DL takes that personally. And we all see the consequences.

I'm not impressed with the Sully trade. WIlliams played 33 games this season and only has 3 goals. Thats one goal every 11 games. He's never gonna regain his form. Sully has more upside.
I agree with Rich. If you're gonna trade him - package him up with perhaps another player, picks, or a prospect in order to acquire the big fish sniper that this team needs.
Instead, DL goes for an ex-philly player.

Next season, when Sully has training camp under his belt he's gonna play like he's on a mission.

Anthony; Is it safe to say you were saying the same thing about Zeus last season???? Why dont you wait and see how he plays before you judge this one? Or do you truly enjoy the taste of your own feet? I think its about time you set up a meeting with DL, lawyer to lawyer. Maybe you can turn this franchise around

Otherwise, you're gone. If a player like Sully or Cammi, follow their agents advice instead of DL's, - DL takes that personally. And we all see the consequences.

EVERY GM has this complex. Every single one. If they don't, they get walked on in negotiations. And I don't buy that Sully is on his way out because of the negotiations.

And you wanted Cammi gone too. I could find any number of comments from you about "Lord Cammi" and his selfish play on the ice.

I'm not impressed with the Sully trade. WIlliams played 33 games this season and only has 3 goals. Thats one goal every 11 games. He's never gonna regain his form.

Just like Michal Handzus.

The playoffs are a pipe-dream that I am smoking like a nervous high school kid.

Um. . .So who's in goal for LA?

(I'm hoping the answer is Quick)

Handzus and Williams will not be worth the $$$ we're paying them.
Not by a long shot.
I don't care what Handzus does this season.
If you're a center getting paid $4 mil a season, you better be scoring 30-40 goals or 65-75 points.
Otherwise, there's something wrong with the GM that signed him.

please everyone stop saying JW is going to turn out like Handzus. We really dont know whats going to come. And to use Handzus as a comparison does not work for me. I think we pay way to much money for his limited ice time and faceoffs. JW had a couple of good years but thats it. First round pick ok theres something but he didnt produce in Philly. his numbers there were pretty weak. And they traded him. what does that say about him. do you really trade a guy with all this promise and being a first rounder. I just dont know. He had alot of talent around him those two good years. I remember a lot of hockey players having good years when they had strong linemates ie Calder. Time will tell but I will miss Sully. Just like I miss a lot of x kings and it kills me when they put up numbers and I wish they were still here. Its funny my wife sometimes watches the games with me and I can always point out an x king that doing well somewhere else.

Rob,

the "lawyer to lawyer" comment was gold!

Anthony, I have a hard time reading your comments. At the beginning of the year you were lamenting about how terrible this season would be to watch due to the teams youth and inexperience. You and I and everybody else here EXPECTED this team to be bad because it is rebuilding. You even said it yourself!

You can't actually expect that much out of DL.

anthony said:

Wow...i normally dont say anything about Anthony but it just shows how ignorant you are.

The biggest problem I have is DL's creepy and childish obsession he has with gathering poor players and coaches from the Philadelphia Flyers.

Count them:

TM - "hmm....instilled a defensive structure to our team, Oh what a problem that is.....Oh and has us 5 points out of a playoff race. Werent we out of the playoff race last year at Christmas???"

Hextall - so its bad to have a former all-star, Vezina and Conn Smyth trophy winner in our organization, wow what a bad influence that must be on our young team.

Gauthier - "im not the biggest supporter of Goat, believe me I have yelled some obscenities at him multiply times, but he does bring us that physical presence and is a good penalty killer"

Handzus - "one of our best players this season, what he brings to us defensively, veteran presence and as a mentor to Simmonds is completely priceless"

Calder - eh, bridge player. We needed some more veteran presence on the team. He may not score as much as he used to but he does fight for the puck.

Williams - "you havent even seen the guy play 1 game with the Kings yet and your calling him a poor player? A Stanley Cup winning, 2-time 30 goal scorer, all-star.....how many accomplishments does O'Sullivan have out of those? NONE. Even by Williams age, 27, I dont even see O'Sullivan being an all-star, not saying he cannot ever reach that potential, but I just dont see that ever happening unless he get it out of his head that he deserves big money and big minutes....he needs to EARN it.

a few scouts - "these same scouts that found moeller, simmonds, all of which are playing in the NHL as rookies now. How many other teams can you say have that many quality rookies that are playing this year?

The Kings have never been this deep as an organization and theres no doubting that. And that is because of DL, his "Philly" staff and rest of the crew. We have numerous amounts of quality goaltending prospects that we never have had in our organization (Bernier, Zatkoff, Rowat, Jones) not to mention how deep we our in defensive prospects. And with DL and his staff armed with 14 more picks this draft, our organization is going to be fighting for the #1 spot in organizational depth. The only thing poor is your attitude about this team and their staff. If you dont like it go find another team to talk about your mindless remarks.

I guess it's time to kick some French-Canadian but tonight!!!

Ca⋅nuck
   /kəˈnʌk/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [kuh-nuhk] Show IPA
–noun Slang: Sometimes Offensive.
a Canadian, esp. a French Canadian.

Don't really know what happened to the 2nd "t" in my previous post.

I'll try to watch the rest of the season and enjoy the ride.
But its amazing as to how many lombardi supporters, or should I say worshipers, continue to give him a pass on everything.
Lets toast for a victory tonight for the kings.
And a victory tomorrow for the oilers.

Shorter Anthony: "I hope we make the playoffs. If we don't, I will blame management. That's easier than blaming the players. Also, I miss Patrick O'Sullivan."

Comment to actual Anthony: I don't know if there are ever so many Lombardi supporters as when you go off on him. Normally, I'm sure everyone has the normal amount of cynicism re management. But when you ratchet up the hyperbole to Oliver Stone-ian levels, it causes a counter-reaction and has the tendency to overstate the DL support just to bring you back to the Milky Way.

The Philadelphia Conspiracy stuff is goofy. It's a little "magic bullet"/"grassy knoll" for me. It stands to reason that all of his prior knowledge comes from his experience at the places he worked before, as opposed to, you know, watching stuff on TV.

Anthony I just want to say I like Lombardi and think he has helped build the Kings to be a serious team in the next couple years that can actually compete and be in Stanley Cup conversation rather than just bottom dwelling team always with a top ten pick. I am not a blind supporter of him but so far I have liked most of his decisions and trust his judgment in evaluating talent far more than my own or anyone on this site's evaluations. I liked O'sullivan but remember Williams from that Cup run and know he has some serious talent and can play in key situations. If Lombardi actually does some of the crazy stuff you say is inevitable(such as trading JJ for *random garbage player from another team* and a bag of pucks if he doesn't sign tomorrow,etc) then I will agree with you that he should be fired and run out of town but until then I'll support him. Try to look at some of his moves unbiased before you condemn his moves.

PS- Gauthier scores to put us up 1-0. Hope you love it Anthony ;) haha

PPS- why are we hoping the oilers win tomorrow??? I know the Canadiens suck and the refs robbed us that one game. But we are fighting with the oilers for a playoff spot while Montreal is in the other conference. I at least will hope for Montreal to win because it benefits Kings more

Anthony..

How do you expect people to like you when you keep saying the most useless and stupid comments? Why would we fire Dean Lombardi? No one expected us be doing this well, and look at us. Last time I checked, O'Sullivan wasn't Gretzky... Justin Williams might be the missing piece to this team, and you can't disagree until the guy plays.. I agree that Handzus shouldn't be getting paid 4 mil a year, that's just ridiculous, but he did step his game up this season. The difference between this summer and the summer we picked up handzus, calder, nagy and tom preissing was that the top free agents (briere and drury) didn't want to come to LA. This summer will be different (hopefully).. Gaborik, Hossa or even Havlat will WANT to play for the Kings.. The NHL is starting to take notice of this young team, and so are the rest of the players.. We sweeped Gaborik's team this year, and what he must be saying to himself is "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em"..

let's keep it up boys

Wow, I hope they can keep it up... that was good.

I have another comment for Anthony (or whoever cares to take note). It's clear that you have issues with certain players, management, etc. In one way or another everyone here probably has players they like and ones they don't. If you really want the Kings to win, I can tell you one way that they for sure won't: just keep destabilizing the franchise. Bring in a new GM, then next year they make the playoffs and lose in the first round. Call for his head too, and change again. Keep making those changes... because No One Is Perfect.
Making constant changes (which is exactly what the Kings have done for most of their history) is the quickest way to ensure a mediocre franchise.

Personally I didn't care for the JW trade and in spite of some peoples feelings here changing, I still don't care for it. I'm with you on it. I hope that we are proven wrong (in the long term.... not a la Deadmarsh, great for a few months then kaput). But even if I thought it was a horrible trade I wouldn't want DL fired. I had just become a Kings fan around the time George McGuire traded Buffalo a first rounder for Rick Martin (or Reechard Mar-tan for you purists). I hated the trade immediately... and after his one goal (I think) and 10 games as a King I was proved right. I tend to think that JW will at least turn out better than that one.

And we keep getting mad about moves like Sully because we care about this group of players and are salivating at what can be with this team. Finally we are set to compete for a long time after so many patchwork seasons giving up players to move into that final playoff spot. This is the deepest the organization has ever been at almost every position. Some of the posters on this board have given Deano a lot of crap for certain things and everyone is entitled to their own opinion no matter how screwy it may be. But, Deano has done more in 3 seasons to rebuild this team than any other GM has done in that short amount of time. Some of it has been hit and miss Cloutier, McCauley, Bure etc but, for those moves that didn't work out the others in the draft and trades have worked out. So if he's getting it right 80% of the time that's better than getting it wrong 100% of the time. AK47 hit it right on the head players are taking notice and are going to want to come to LA to play with this group of young players. Make a list of the bad players that have come here during Deano's tenure and make a list of all the good ones he's acquired through drafting and trades to build a solid foundation. The positives outweigh the negatives. Peace Out.

Gentlemen, our Kings are up 2-0 by the way. lol.

Go Kings!

Double E did a DirecTV commercial?? LOL...

What I forgot to say was that Rick Martin was coming off a bad knee injury. Hmmm.

Anonymous....That was excellent, thank you!

Duckhunter....Welcome back...Where the hell ya been? I loved the comparison with the French Canadiens....

Wesgarth>Ivanans

Josh said:
Anyway...hope ivanans stays outta the lineup...westgarth doesn't take dumb penalties but still gives us the fighter option...

OOPS. Spoke too soon Josh

hey...at least he wins fights though haha

The boys are playing great!

take apart johnson and gauthier...they are awful together...

I think its about time you set up a meeting with DL, lawyer to lawyer.

I doubt Anthony is really a lawyer, he just plays one on this blog.

Moondoggie,

Thanks for the welcome back. Two words my friend, Chemistry and Anatomy. Combine those two with me not being very bright to begin with, equals many hours of study time.

Three in a row folks, that's great. Maybe, just maybe, we get there. What's our longest winning streak since the lockout, does anybody know?

The stars were aligned for a Kings win. It was a hell of a performance by both teams, though--totally a playoff atmosphere!