George Foulsham: March 2008 Archives

Dustin Brown:
"They're a good team. Their goalie played real well. They got the goals they needed when they needed them.

"We keep giving teams two-goal leads and then we fight to come back."

Goaltender Erik Ersberg:
"Obviously, it's my job to stop the puck and I didn't stop all of them. But you can't get too down on yourself.

"All games are tough games. You just have to play your game. They're a good power play team. It was a pretty hard situation out there.

"I'm just enjoying it being up here."

Coach Marc Crawford:

"They're a team that can score. They're a dangerous club on the rush and on the power play. But if we put the kind of effort in most nights like we had tonight, we're going to come out on top.

"We didn't quite get as strong goaltending as we had the other night. The other night was excellent."

On the Kings goal that was disallowed in the first period:

"That's not the spirit of the law, but that's the breaks. You just have to persevere."

Signing off from Staples Center. Thanks for letting me be your Kings tour guide today.

George

Montreal wins, 5-2. Last goal was an empty-netter by former King Tom Kostopoulos.

Headed to the locker room for a few quotes.

Kings about to start a power play. Can the stage another one of those third-period rallies? They've outshot the Canadiens 32-21 and continue to keep the pressure on Halak. But there's only 8 minutes left.

Moments after Montreal made it 4-1 on a point-blank shot by Andrei Kostitsyn, the Kings responded with a goal by Anze Kopitar, a slap shot after a nice pass by Patrick O'Sullivan. It's Kopitar's 29th goal of the season.

Kings finally break through with a power-play goal by Rob Blake, his 7th goal of the season and the 700th point of his NHL career. It comes on a rebound of a shot by Michael Cammarelli. Kings added a late flurry of shots in the second but the period ends (well, not really) with the score 3-1.

We're in the second intermission, but the period's not over. A pane of glass shattered with 49 seconds left in the second period, so the referees decided to take the break now. They'll finish the second period when the teams come out after this break.

BTW, one of the highlights of the second period was a marriage proposal on the big screen. She said yes.

3-0 after a goal by Guillaume Latendresse. The Habs have 4 shots on goal this period and they've scored on 3.

Nice tip-in by Saku Koivu of the Canadiens on a shot by Mark Streit. Not much Ersberg could do on that power play goal. It comes less than two minutes after the first goal.

Moments after Kings goaltender Erik Ersberg made a great save on a shot from the left circle, Montreal's Patrice Brisebois scored on the rebound -- with a long slapshot from the right point. Unassisted. 1-0 Montreal in the second period. Ends a lengthy scoreless streak for Ersberg.

Despite the disallowed goal, an impressive first period for the Kings. Shots on goal were 10-10 but the Kings had far more quality scoring chances. And birthday boy Erik Ersberg was solid, with a couple of good saves. Is this really first against last? Kings hanging tough.

On the Preissing goal that was disallowed, the referee ruled that Calder was impeding the movement of Montreal goaltender Jaroslav Halak in the crease. Replays clearly showed that was not the case.

Looked like the Kings had taken a 1-0 lead after a power play goal by Tom Preissing on a nice rebound, but the ref wiped it out saying that Kyle Calder was in the crease. Was hard to tell from the replay if Calder was in or had just stepped out as Preissing shot.

Not dressing for the game this afternoon:

Defenseman Jon Klemm
Left wing Scott Thornton
And, of course, Jason Labarbera, who's out for the rest of the season.

There are a LOT of Habs fans here today. Montreal jerseys everywhere.

This is George Foulsham, a Kings blog rookie, reporting from Staples Center where the Kings go for two wins in a row today over another Eastern Conference powerhouse, the Montreal Canadiens. LA is coming off an impressive 2-0 win over Ottawa on Thursday night.

That victory featured the first-ever win (and first NHL shutout) by Kings rookie goaltender Erik Ersberg, who has been impressive in his first few appearances in net. He'll start again today.

Today's game matches a couple of strangers, so not sure what to expect. Montreal, which is tied for first place with Pittsburgh in the Eastern Conference, and the Kings haven't faced each other since 2005 and haven't played in Los Angeles for four years. The Kings are dead last in the NHL with 59 points, but could move ahead of Tampa Bay with a win here today.

I'll try to provide updates during the game, but remember, I'm an editor who hasn't written a sports story in 30 years. So be kind.