FINAL: Kings 4, Islanders 2

Preissing is going to have his knee scoped. I wonder if the problem occured last year. Hopefully, this will get him back to his old self.

Rich, Just got back to our hotel from the game (drove up from Oklahoma City). It was great, even though the big guns were not there. The biggest thing I got from this game was our D. Doughty is extreme, Hickey is smooth, Drewiskie is totally solid, Martinez is very good, Piskula was good except on the first NY goal, and, what can I say about OD (super teammate). Quick looked calm and "quick". The fights were cool but most were unnecessary (the KC crowd liked them, though). Hickey looks really good at the top of the power play. It was good to see Fro and Stoll on the ice. Both looked solid. Handzus played strong and Simmonds was Simmonds. The other forwards all had a positive game. TM has some tough decisions to make. Manchester should be really strong this year. Overall, it was an enjoyable game to be at.

Is this on tv/cable/ or anywhere sound like a good game to watch

Blugator, Did Doughty get shaken up at all on the play? Seems like there was a strong response. Hopefully he is fine...

Steve I believe you may be able to watch the highlights on NHL.com, I may be wrong though I'm going to check it out my self right now.

I was watching Simmonds in practice at training camp. This guy is good. He's got great presence around the net. I predict he will may a leap this year and score between 20 and 30 goals. The kid's got talent and drive. Watch him!

new york newspapers haha

"Nevertheless, Sean O'Donnell did one of those things O'Donnell does and attacked Matt Martin late in the second. Apparently, O'Donnell thought Martin highsticked the Golden Child (Doughty), so he punched him, jumped him, and kept punching him from behind while Martin was down on the ice. He didn't really stop when the refs got in there, either, so either O'Donnell wanted to teach a spry young thing a lesson, or he just wanted an early shower: O'Donnell received a match penalty. Five-minute power for the Isles bridging the 2nd and 3rd periods.

In keeping with the theme of the night, every time the refs penalized the Kings for doing something violent, they quickly penalized the Isles for a slash or hook or a we-should-call-something. So the five-minute powerplay was interrupted, too, but Josh Bailey eventually converted with a delicate, bad-angle touch after the best power play puck movement the Islanders had shown all night."

ridiculus

blake,

that's funny. For the Kings' perspective, unbiased of course :)

"Defenseman Sean O’Donnell spent the final period in the dressing room, punishment for the sin of defending a team mate. He received a match penalty at 16:37 of the second period when he essentially assaulted Islander forward Matt Martin for high sticking O’Donnell’s charge, Drew Doughty, good for a 5 minute major penalty and a game ejection.

This was not the first time Doughty was nearly injured by an unnecessary play, but it was the first time someone stood up for him. Last year Doughty was hit in the kneecap on what most saw as a dirty play by Evgeni Artyukin, then a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning. The hit was bad enough, but the more discouraging part was that Artyukin skated away without comeuppance. It would appear that the team has finally learned to protect its young stars, and Matt Martin picked the wrong game to take liberties with Doughty.

After viewing the play from across the ice, the war-torn veteran O’Donnell skated immediately over to Martin and knocked him down to the ice, pouncing on him like a lioness protecting her cubs."

from www.lakingsnews.com

I really hope Kings Vision puts highlights of the game up, I really want to see some of the plays, that one in particular. I want to see for myself how much of Nickson's enthusiasm was warranted, especially on the Quick doorstep saves.

Scarface,

No highlights on NHL.com, as I'm sure you found out. They didn't even have a running live box score during the game, like they usually do, and did, for every other game.

Agree with Matt R: We'll get 65-75 goals out of the checking line if it stays as is, with half of them coming from Frolov.

matt fryer, I did not see what the guy did to Doughty, but I did see the entire Kings bench jump up just prior to OD charging after the guy. Doughty appeared to be fine after all that took place.

How many goals has Simmonds scored in pre-season so far, like 40? Seriously, though, I think the Kings should strong consider checking him out on one of the scoring lines during this season or next.

He's like a grittier version of Brown, but with less hits.

@Matt Fryer: I only heard the game on radio, but Nick Nickson never talked about Doughty being hurt or losing time. The refs didn't even call the penalty. The impression given over the radio was that OD and Simmonds went after the Isles player because he didn't receive a penalty.

Semantics my friends...I think we could make everyone happy if we just the handzus, fro and simmonds line a scoring line.

wow. I didn't know that sports reporting had turned to an op ed piece. This is a blog site and Rich is about 1000% less biased than the tool that wrote the article in the NY paper.

Perfect. That article will be read by have the hockey public and it will be clear that the Kings kids are protected. I just wish it would have said, "..and Simmonds jumps Martin and mercilessly pounds him into the ice between scoring his two goals. This Kings team has a bunch of pyschos on the team."

Second thought, I would love to read this guys's article after their first Leafs game.

@Dan H: If that story came from the New York Post, that's pretty much par for their course. That paper is pretty much the height of "tabloid journalism" in the USA, next to of course real "tabloids".

Found this clip on youtube from last nights game

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLOIvVqdk80

I was at the game last night as well. Blugator summed up the game pretty well. It was entertaining from start to finish despite the lack of “stars”. Here are just a few of my observations. Doughty was easily the best player on the ice most of the night. Frolov-Handzus-Simmonds line played strong as a group, the Kings best line last night. The rest of the team played solid, but not spectacular. Exception to that might be Purcell, who was a notch better than the rest. The Kings PP was fun to watch, they had good puck control even on the attempts they didn’t score on.

D played well, except for the mental lapse on the first goal where they got caught puck watching and let Sutton slide in back door (I want to say it was Hickey’s man, but I’m probably wrong). Other than the OD incident, I agree with Blugator’s comment on the fights. Ivanans played the whole game with B. Westgarth on his back, and most of their scraps were hug-fests. The most entertaining fight was actually Clune vs Haley.

Matt: Doughty wasn’t shaken up, but Martin did take a cheap swipe at him. OD came clear across the ice and dealt with the situation immediately, and with force. A definite message sender. You gotta love it as a Kings fan.

Overall, the game was fun to watch…as was cheering for the Kings in person. Would have loved to see the first two lines, but you take what you can get. I don’t think the 4th line decisions were made any easier last night.

Thank`s Koirish2o,that was great!

Cry Baby said:
Semantics my friends...I think we could make everyone happy if we just the handzus, fro and simmonds line a scoring line.

Not quite. Checking lines are iced to primarily stop the oppposing teams scoring lines. That's not to say they don't score(obviously), but they don't get the same minutes as our "scoring lines".

That's where I think Simmonds should be tested.

Ersberg,

That is true, typically speaking. If I remember back to last year it seems that TM often matched Kopi or Stoll's line against the oppositions top line. I get what you are saying (and agree) but my point is that perhaps we will see some more balanced ice times this year.

I wouldn't mind seeing Simmonds playing himself into some power play time as well. If he could step up and add some secondary scoring that would go a long way for this time.

KC Kingsfan, Thanks. I agree with you about Purcell. He was fighting hard in the corners and positioning well all night. On the first KC goal, I was watching Hickey. He was all over the first guy into the zone. Piscula should have covered the open side as soon as Hickey became involved.

By the way, you have got a really nice facility there. It's a shame that it doesn't have a pro team.