Kings 3, Phoenix 2, shootout.

Posted on April 7, 2011 by J.P. Hoornstra

Of the many questions they have faced this season, the Kings answered the biggest of them all on Wednesday: They will participate in the playoffs.

A dominant victory over a possible first-round playoff opponent would have been a nice luxury. A 3-2 shootout win, in which Jonathan Quick stopped two out of the three shooters and Michal Handzus and Jarret Stoll beat Ilya Bryzgalov, got the job done.

The Kings moved into fourth place in a still-tight Western Conference playoff race, and have the inside track on home-ice advantage for the first round. Stoll also scored in regulation off a terrific Dustin Brown set-up, and Kyle Clifford scored off a terrific Wayne Simmonds set-up.

The Kings finished 3-3 against the Coyotes in the regular season, winning the last two.

Here are a few more notes that won’t make tomorrow’s editions:
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Kings 4, San Jose 3, shootout.

Posted on March 24, 2011 by J.P. Hoornstra

The short version: Puck dropped, Oscar Moller debuted, Kyle Clifford returned, the penalty-kill streak ended, the power-play streak ended, Willie Mitchell scored, Ryane Clowe chirped, Patrick Marleau fooled Jonathan Quick, Dustin Brown answered, Antti Niemi exited, Marleau fooled the entire defense with 4.1 seconds left in regulation … overtime, shootout, Dan Boyle scored, controversy ensued, Jarret Stoll scored, Quick save, Quick save, Quick save, Brown goal, Quick save, game.

Just another night in the NHL.

“I’m not disappointed and I’m not surprised that stuff like that happens,” Terry Murray said after another gut-wrenching, 65-plus minutes of hockey. “I’m watching games in this league right now and it is incredible what’s happening late in games, overtimes, shootouts.”

My early story, which some of you will find in your newspaper tomorrow, has plenty of details on Moller’s first NHL game in more than three months. “For the first game in a long time here, he was really good,” said Murray, who went on to compliment Moller’s composure and puck-moving skill on the power play.

Some of you will find my late story, which has plenty of game details — in complete sentences, no less.

The Sharks were happy to get the point, which allowed them to match Detroit at 95 points (though the Wings have a game in hand). The Kings sit five points back with 90 points, three points behind second-place Phoenix and three points ahead of the final Western Conference playoff berth.

Some additional notes, courtesy of the Kings’ PR staff:
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Stars 4, Kings 3, OT.

Posted on March 7, 2011 by J.P. Hoornstra

The Kings let one slip away.

In a game they led for all but 89 seconds, the Kings watched the Dallas Stars leap two points ahead of them in the standings on Brenden Morrow’s goal 38 seconds into overtime.

The blame was squarely pointed toward a power play that failed to convert four chances spanning 9:00 — including a three-minute major penalty after Steve Ott was penalized for spearing late in the first period.

“We need to re-focus, re-adjust — especially on the power play — and I think maybe just relax a little bit,” said Justin Williams, who had a goal and an assist. “We know we’re struggling on the power play but we need to relax out there I think a little bit with the man advantage and in turn make plays because there are a lot of guys that are really good with the puck and we need to execute that.”

Willie Mitchell and Kyle Clifford also scored goals for the Kings (36-25-5, 77 points), who got 18 saves from Jonathan Bernier. With the Kings up 3-2 at 5:20 of the third period, Bernier was burned for a short-handed goal by Jamie Benn, who stole the puck from Drew Doughty just inside the Kings blue line and skated the length of the ice before depositing the puck between Bernier’s legs.

Mike Ribeiro and Trevor Daley also scored for Dallas (36-23-7, 79 points).
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Penner practices, other changes.

Posted on March 2, 2011 by J.P. Hoornstra

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.”

Kings 3, Ducks 2.

Posted on February 24, 2011 by J.P. Hoornstra

Willie Mitchell picked a good time to score his second goal of the season.

His long slapshot, off a perfect drop pass from Justin Williams, found its way through a screen at 6:45 of the third period and broke a 2-2 tie at Honda Center. The split crowd of 17,174 voiced its mixed emotions, and the Kings clinched their sixth win in the final game of a 10-game road trip.

Anze Kopitar scored his second goal in his last 16 games, Ryan Smyth scored his 20th goal of the season, and the Kings get to come home (even though they’ve been at home the last three days) to play Minnesota tomorrow night.

Here’s the game story and here are a few details I left out:
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Kings 4, Washington 1.

Posted on February 12, 2011 by J.P. Hoornstra

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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