Penner practices, other changes.

Dustin Penner attracted more than the usual share of media and fans to Toyota Sports Center on a Wednesday morning. Penner is the Kings’ new star attraction but, Terry Murray cautioned, “I’m not looking for him to be a savior of the franchise.”

Given the revolving-door history of Kopitar’s left wings, there will be pressure on Penner to perform – but not as much as he faced in Edmonton. That will be the focus of tomorrow’s story, recapping what was an otherwise uneventful day of practice. Here were the new forward lines:

Penner-Kopitar-Simmonds
Smyth-Stoll-Williams
Richardson-Handzus-Brown
Clifford-Lewis-Westgarth-Ponikarovsky

Clifford goes to the fourth line by design; Murray said that he’s cognizant of the fact that the rookie hasn’t played more than 75 games in a season at the junior level. Clifford is at 59 now and Murray figures he will be more effective in energy-line minutes from here on out.

Jonathan Bernier will start in goal against the Phoenix Coyotes in light of Jonathan Quick’s subpar performance against Detroit on Monday.

“It has just about everything to do with the last game,” Murray said. “That’s how I make my decision. I’ve got to see performance. I’ll take a player out if he’s not performing, or having a really difficult day.”

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Rangers 4, Kings 3, SO.

If one point didn’t seem like enough Thursday night, Kings fans are officially spoiled.

Brandon Dubinsky’s wraparound goal with 3:08 left in the third period left the Kings trailing 3-2 at Madison Square Garden — a tall task to overcome for any team, especially one that wasn’t built to score in droves.

But Dustin Brown answered less than a minute later by coralling a Rob Scuderi shot off the end boards, then yanking the puck up and in past Henrik Lundqvist from behind the net.

When overtime began, a double-minor for high-sticking to forward Alexei Ponikarovsky gave the Rangers a 4-on-3 power play for the first four minutes. The Kings weathered that storm, too, and forced a shootout in a 3-3 game for the second straight night.

In the end, they were denied the extra point because starting goaltender Jonathan Bernier is not Jonathan Quick in the skills competition — at least not this season.
Continue reading “Rangers 4, Kings 3, SO.” »

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Kings 4, Washington 1.

Alex Ovechkin – who else – scored on the Capitals’ first shot of the game. That was the extent of the damage, and after a sluggish first period, it was all Kings.

Rather than squeak out a victory by the skin of their teeth, the Kings scored four unanswered goals and denied the same quality chances on the other end. Anze Kopitar tied the game at 1 in the second period by scoring his first goal since Jan. 15, putting back the rebound of a Wayne Simmonds shot from close range.

Andrei Loktionov put back a rebound at the end of a 2-on-1 rush with Kyle Clifford at 3:36 of the third period to give the Kings a 2-1 lead. Michal Handzus whacked in another loose puck in Semyon Varlamov’s crease at 12:28 of the third, and Jarret Stoll flew up the right wing for a much prettier goal at 13:56.

Jonathan Bernier made 22 saves, buckling down after Ovechkin’s goal 66 seconds into the game.

Going back to Dec. 27, when the Kings first slipped into a 2-10 coma, they had only beaten one opponent by three or more goals (a 5-2 win over Edmonton on Jan. 15). Since Jan. 22, they’re 6-0-2 and now have a decisive win over a good team that was booed heartily by the announced crowd of 18,398 at the Verizon Center.

A few more notes:
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Minnesota 1, Kings 0, SO.

Pierre-Marc Bouchard’s second-round shootout goal against Jonathan Bernier was the only puck that crossed the goal line in 65-plus minutes of hockey in St. Paul.

Bouchard’s backhand, five-hole beauty came immediately after Wild goaltender Niklas Backstrom kicked up his leg — from his belly — to stop Jack Johnson’s shot on the other end. Backstrom stopped Dustin Brown in the third round to seal the win and send the Kings (27-22-2) to their first shootout loss all season.

Bernier was hardly to blame. He got some help from a goal frame en route to a 25-save performance, but made some timely saves and was able to swallow up the big rebounds when he needed to.

That was the encouraging part, along with another typical stingy defensive performance by the Kings, who have a point in four straight games. The Kings will play four back-to-back games this month (beginning tomorrow night in Edmonton), which means Bernier figures to be called upon often.

Continue reading “Minnesota 1, Kings 0, SO.” »

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A quirky honor for Jonathan Quick.

The NHL’s marketing department chooses Three Stars for the entire league, every week. It amounts to a metaphorical pat on the back for the players, whose performances typically have meaningful implications for their respective teams.

Because of the all-star break, last week consisted of three days’ worth of actual games, 23 games total. A small sample size didn’t stop the NHL from handing out three stars, however, and Jonathan Quick is number two. From the league’s press release:

Quick registered a pair of victories heading into the All-Star break, helping the Kings (27-22-1) gain valuable points and momentum in the tight race for playoff berths in the Western Conference. Quick began the week by making 34 saves in a 2-0 victory over the Boston Bruins Jan. 24, collecting his career-high fifth shutout of the season. He then turned aside 22 of 24 shots through overtime and stopped all four shootout attempts as the Kings defeated the San Jose Sharks 3-2 Jan. 26. Quick improved to 5-0 in shootouts this season, stopping 87% of attempts. The 25-year-old Milford, Conn. native ranks third among NHL goaltenders in goals-against average (2.15) and tied for third in shutouts (five).

Quick’s reward for his exploits is a day off. Jonathan Bernier is expected to make his first career start against the Minnesota Wild tonight in St. Paul (expected temperature: -1F). The Kings are going to Edmonton (expected temperature: 27F) on Wednesday, where Quick figures to get the start. Quick has a 4-0-2 record with a 1.77 goals-against average and .930 save percentage in six career games against the Oilers.

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Prospect evaluation: Bernier

Following up on the player evaluations from a couple weeks back, Don volunteered to do prospect evaluations as well, and did a ton of great leg work to track down information and get fresh quotes directly from coaches. Don compiled 10 top prospects and I’ll start posting them in alphabetical order, along with, in maybe cases, a quick YouTube video to show what these guys look like…

—–

Jonathan Bernier
Goaltender
DOB – 8-7-88
Records/Stats:
Kings: 1-3-0, 4.03, .864
Lewiston (QMJHL): 18-15-0, 2.73, .908
Manchester (AHL):
– Reg season: 1-1-1, 1.63, .946
– Post season: 0-3, 2.76, .908

Manchester Coach Mark Morris on Jonathan Bernier:

“I’ve been sold on the kid since the very first time I saw him in development camp a couple of summers ago. I was blown away by his calm demeanor in net, his quickness, and he is very calculated in his movements, but positionally he is sound. He gives off an air of sure-handedness and calmness when there are mad scrambles in front of the net. There’s no panic. He’s got a high threshold for just holding his position and he doesn’t seem to give up a lot of rebounds. The puck seems to stick to him like velcro.”

Development areas:

“There aren’t a whole lot of major things that I can talk about when it comes to his weaknesses. I just think that over the course of time he will learn how to be a better puck handler and just seasoning. I don’t see a whole lot of holes in his game.”

Mental aspects of the game (following demotion):

“I think most guys who come our of Junior think they should be in the National Hockey League, and I’m not saying this about Jonathan in particular, but some guys that are drafted high just don’t have a clear understanding of the hockey that is played in the American League and the purpose of the league, which is to get these guys quality minutes and learning at a rate to get them ready for the NHL. You just don’t want to see a guy get in over his head and I think it is something that he is starting to appreciate now with the quality of shots and level of proficiency in the American League.”

Lewiston coach Ed Harding on Bernier:

“Jonathan is a very mature 19 year old. He is a professional with very good leadership qualities. Over his years in Lewiston, he has learned to compete hard every minute and his practice habits have developed tremendously.”

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Bernier interview/update

The last couple days have been big and busy for the Manchester Monarchs. Jonathan Bernier is there and will start in goal tonight against Worcester. Manchester can clinch a playoff spot with a victory and a Springfield loss. Teddy Purcell has been named AHL rookie of the year. Davis Drewiske, the defenseman the Kings signed out of the University of Wisconsin, made his debut last night. Also, Josh Kidd has signed an amateur-tryout agreement with Manchester and is playing. To make room for Bernier, the Monarchs released goalie Curtis Darling from his tryout agreement. Whew…anything else? Oh yeah, the Kings play their season finale against the Ducks this afternoon. I’ll be there to cover that and hopefully start putting the Lombardi quotes up.

For now, here’s a real treat. Don Fulton scored an interview with Bernier in advance of his first AHL start tonight, so I hope you enjoy the read…
Continue reading “Bernier interview/update” »

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