Andrew Campbell and Marc-Andre Cliche have been assigned to Manchester, while Kyle Clifford has been returned to Barrie of the OHL.

Here is how the Kings skated today:

Smyth-Kopitar-Williams
Purcell-Stoll-Brown
Frolov-Handzus-Simmonds
Clune-Lewis-Westgarth
Richardson-Schenn-Harrold

O’Donnell-Doughty
Drewiske-Greene
Scuderi-Johnson
Hickey-Martinez

Quick
Ersberg-Bernier

It was a “therapy” day for Ivanans, who is nursing an injury that has lingered for a couple days, according to Terry Murray.

Kyle Clifford, Marc-Andre Cliche and Andrew Campbell were not on the ice, so there is little mystery there…

Here’s a video of the Sean O’Donnell incident from Kansas City. It’s a wide-angle TV view, so it’s pretty tough to determine what’s going on. In the first few moments, Doughty is standing near the boards at the top of the screen. He starts to skate away and then you see O’Donnell charging in from the middle of the ice. Unfortunately, we’ll probably never get a look at the hit on Doughty that sparked the whole thing. I’ll attach the video after the jump below, for those who have trouble with the videos…
Continue reading “O’Donnell video” »

The Kings’ Richard Clune vs. Colorado’s Cody McLeod last night. Also of note…the fact that this picture was taken by an Associated Press photographer named Jack Dempsey…

Colorado pushed its lead to 3-1 on a T.J. Hensick goal 5:28 into the period (assists to former King Kyle Quincey and Chris Stewart. Trevor Lewis scored his first goal of the preseason, shorthanded (assist to Brad Richardson) to pull the Kings with 3-2 with 2:12 to play, but goalie Craig Anderson and the Avalanche held on.

Some notes…

— Erik Ersberg played the entire game and stopped 22 shots. Anderson stopped 31.

— The Kings had only one power play and failed on it (the also failed on the aforementioned penalty shot by Marc-Andre Cliche). The Kings’ penalty kill went 3 for 3.

— Rich Clune got in two first-period fights and Matt Greene got in a third-period fight.

— Jack Johnson led all Kings in ice time at 23:38, 14 seconds more than Drew Doughty. Justin Williams led all Kings forwards at 21:09.

— Williams had a game-high six shots on goal. Rob Scuderi blocked three shots.

— Trevor Lewis was the star in the faceoff circle, winning 7 of 11. Cliche lost 8 of 10.

Stastny and Hejduk scored second-period goals for the Avalanche, and Marc-Andre Cliche failed on a penalty-shot attempt, so it’s now 2-1 Avalanche early in the third period. Ersberg stopped 11 of 13 shots in the second period and is 19 for 21 in the game.

Peter Harrold scored an even-strength goal, 11:17 into the first period, to give the Kings a 1-0 lead over the Avalanche, and that’s where it stands in the first intermission. Raitis Ivanans and Jack Johnson picked up the assists. Erik Ersberg stopped all seven shots he faced and Rich Clune managed to get in two fights in the game’s first 10 minutes…

Here’s how the Kings are expected to skate tonight against the Avalanche in Denver. Note that Ryan Smyth is not expected to be in the lineup against his former team…

Purcell-Kopitar-Williams
Clifford-Schenn-Brown
Richardson-Lewis-Clune
Ivanans-Cliche-Harrold

Johnson-Scuderi
Hickey-Greene
Martinez-Doughty

Ersberg (He is expected to play the entire game)
Bernier

From the NHL… I’ll attempt to get some comment from Lombardi…

KINGS’ O’DONNELL SUSPENDED FOR REMAINDER OF PRE-SEASON AND TWO REGULAR SEASON GAMES

TORONTO (September 23, 2009) – Los Angeles Kings’ defenseman Sean O’Donnell has been suspended for the remainder of the Kings’ pre-season schedule and two regular season games as the result of a match penalty in a pre-season game against the New York Islanders, September 22, the National Hockey League announced today.

At 16:37 of the second period, O’Donnell was assessed a match penalty for delivering a cross check to Matt Martin of the Islanders.

O’Donnell will miss the Kings remaining three pre-season games (tonight and Sept. 26 against Colorado and Sept. 27 at Anaheim) as well as the first two games of the Kings’ regular season schedule. He will be eligible to return Oct. 8 vs. Minnesota.

First… Wow…the response today has been completely overwhelming. Thank you so much. I should have noted that things will remain normal around here for the next week. I’ll let everyone know exactly when the move is being made, and to where. Back to hockey!

Terry Murray has not officially said that Jonathan Quick will start the season opener next Saturday. Unofficially? Well…

“I think, on the issue of our No. 1 goalie, there’s no question that Quick is our No. 1 guy at the start of the season,” Murray said. “He earned that with the way he played last year.”

So while Murray has not officially announced Quick as the opening night starter, it’s hard to imagine a scenario in which that wouldn’t happen. A better, more relevant question is, who will be the backup? Erik Ersberg or Jonathan Bernier? Murray isn’t ready to reveal that answer yet either, but gave his strongest hint to date when I talked to him this morning.

“It’s a very close call, because both have played well and both of them have looked good in training camp,” Murray said. “If you look at the way Bernier has developed, I have been very pleased, but for him to be able to continue to play, and play a lot — meaning in Manchester — that would be a good thing in my mind.”

Murray noted, however, that the decision is not entirely his. Meaning, of course, that Dean Lombardi’s input will also factor heavily into the discussion. In the end, it probably makes sense to have Bernier in Manchester as the No. 1, at least at the start of the season. The Kings would need to watch him carefully, though, to make sure he stays mentally sharp and doesn’t get “down” about the assignment, the way he did at the start of last season.