LA KINGS NEWS CLIPS 3/9/11

Transcription

1 LA KINGS NEWS CLIPS 3/9/11

2 FROM LAKINGS.COM Kings beat Red Wings 2-1 Rich Hammond DETROIT -- Terry Murray extended his arms, placing his hands as far apart as possible. How much, Murray was asked Wednesday morning, did he want to see goalie Jonathan Quick grab hold of the No. 1 job and remove any doubt during the Kings' playoff push? ``About that much,'' Murray said with a laugh, arms spread. ``A whole lot.'' If they're going to hold on to a playoff spot in the tight Western Conference, the Kings are going to need -- among other things -- some consistently strong play from Quick. They certainly got it Wednesday night, as Quick turned in one of his best efforts of the season in a 2-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena. The Kings survived a rough first period, broke their power-play drought on the game-winning goal and played an excellent final 20 minutes in the defensive zone. Quick made 28 saves, including a couple highlight-reel saves, to make the narrow lead hold up. ``(Detroit) played a good game but we found a way to win, which we're going to have to do some more of,'' Kings captain Dustin Brown said. The game had plenty of subtext, particularly for Quick, even setting aside the fact that every point is critical for the Kings in this final month of the regular season. Going in, the wounds were still fresh from the Feb. 28 game at STAPLES Center, in which the Red Wings scored seven consecutive goals, chased Quick from the game in the third period and went on to record a resounding 7-4 win over the Kings. Quick got the call against the Red Wings again, though, and a chance to prove that his last effort in Detroit was no fluke. On Dec. 13, Quick had a monstrous effort in a 51-save shutout, but his effort Wednesday night arguably matched them. Quick recorded what might have been the Kings' save of the season, in terms of skill and significance. The Kings trailed 1-0, seven minutes into the second period, when Valtteri Filppula made a nice backdoor pass. Niklas Kronwall fired a one-timer, but Quick, cool as can be, flipped his blocker to make the save and send the puck out of play. On the Kings' next shift, Anze Kopitar tied the game by knocking in a rebound. ``The absolute turning point of that game was when it was 1-0,'' Kings winger Justin Williams said. ``They had a backdoor play to Kronwall, and he came across, post to post, and made a save. It would have been 2-0. Instead we came back a couple minutes later, and Kopi scored, and I thought that's when we really turned the corner. ``(Quick is) the reason we won that game. He's the reason we were able to turn it around. It was a huge, huge two points for us.'' Seven minutes after Kopitar's goal, Dustin Brown was credited with a power-play goal, for deflecting in a point shot by Alec Martinez, and that's all Quick would need. The Kings did an excellent job of limiting the Red Wings' offensive chances in the third period, although they did have some nervous moments with the Detroit net empty in the final minute. Ultimately, they held on to start the four-game road trip with a win. In two games in Joe Louis Arena this season, Quick stopped 79 of 80 shots. True to his low-key nature, Quick deflected the attention given to his strong game. ``It was a great team win,'' Quick said. ``We have to keep it going here. Just because we won, we have no breathing room at all. We've got to keep on it. We've got to keep pushing here, to make sure we're in that top eight at the end of the year.'' The Kings had to overcome some early adversity to get the two points. Detroit didn't score on an early power play, but generated some momentum and took a 1-0 lead 5:57 into the first period. Darren Helm carried the puck up to the middle of the left faceoff circle, then put a shot on goal. Quick made the initial stop, but the puck trickled behind him and rolled across the goal line. The Kings tied the game 7:50 into the second period. Dustin Penner shot from the left boards and, after the puck bounced on the way to the net, goalie Jimmy Howard couldn't control it. Kopitar crashed the net and knocked in the rebound to tie the game 1-1. Williams also picked up an assist. The Kings took a 2-1 lead on Brown's power-play goal with 5:17 remaining in the second period. Michal Handzus pushed the puck up top to Martinez, who took a slap shot from the point. Ponikarovsky tipped the shot, and Brown was credited with the goal for tipping the puck right in front of the net. The Kings tweaked their power-play setup after going 0-for-10 in the previous two games, and although it was the second unit -- not the first unit, on which the Kings made the changes -- that scored, coach Terry Murray was happy with the attitude that led to the goal. ``Both goals,'' Murray said. ``It's the same with the first play. Just get pucks to the net. The power play was a little bit of a struggle there at the start. We could not get a recovered puck, to get set up. We looked very disorganized, but the unit that was out there with Martinez, they worked very hard. Ponikarovsky was good down low. He recovered some pucks, whenever they were loose, to get it back up top again, and just with that shot attitude, it paid off for us.'' From there, the Kings did a good job in the neutral zone to limit Detroit's chances, and actually outshot the Red Wings 9-8 in a scoreless third period. ``The one thing with Detroit is, you've got to really have your tracking coming back, reloads, everybody has to work very hard,'' Murray said. ``They're coming with four and five. So that was just the conversation. We know how to check. We've done a very good job on that in the last couple years. Our attitude in the second half of the game was more as to what we need to do in order to play a hockey game the right way.''

3 Kings Get Another Look at Detroit By Rich Hammond DETROIT -- Terry Murray chuckled before the question could even be finished. The question was about the Kings' previous game against the Detroit Red Wings and, to his credit, Murray was able to laugh rather than run out of the room screaming. As much as possible, the Kings would like to forget their 7-4 loss to the Red Wings at STAPLES Center last week, a game in which the Kings trailed 7-1 at one point, but Murray said there were lessons to be learned from the blowout loss, lessons he hopes the Kings can apply tonight against the Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena. Sometimes after a blowout loss, a coach will figuratively ``burn the tape'' and pretend as though the awful game never existed. This time, though, Murray said he showed clips to the Kings the day after the game, figuring there were coachable moments. ``The biggest thing, against Detroit, is managing the the puck the right way,'' Murray said. ``As soon as you turn back into your own D-zone and get away from north attitude on your breakouts and your counters, you think you're going to bring it back and regroup and do something extra, they have a green light and they come very quickly. ``They're an experienced team that reads those situations. They forced us to make the wrong decisions on several of those goals the other night. When you go back through all their games, that's their attitude, is to stay over top, make teams come through them, and as soon as there is a bobbled puck, a bad pass, a decision that's not the right one, that's when we're coming.'' Even when the Kings have beaten the Red Wings this season, it hasn't been easy. The win at STAPLES Center came in overtime, and the win at Joe Louis Arena came in a game in which the Red Wings totaled 51 shots on goal but didn't score. Jonathan Quick will get the start in goal for the Kings, and he's been on both sides of fortune against the Red Wings this season. He was in goal for that 51-save shutout, and also for last week's game, when he was pulled after allowing six goals on 24 shots. ``That's a team that knows how to play with the right kind of attitude, a veteran team that has been through it many times,'' Murray said of the Red Wings. ONE IN, ONE OUT The Kings are expected to make one lineup change, with Brad Richardson re-entering the lineup as the fourth-line right winger in place of Kevin Westgarth. Westgarth has been scratched from the three previous games this season against Detroit, as the Red Wings lack a traditional ``enforcer'' in their lineup. POWER-PLAY JUMP START? The Kings, 0-for-10 on the power play in their last two games, will go with a bit of a different power-play look tonight, Murray said. ``We are changing it up, the one group with (Anze) Kopitar and (Drew) Doughty and Jack (Johnson),'' Murray said. ``We're going to change the setup in the offensive zone. I think you get to a point, sometimes, where change is very important. You get stale. You're getting stationary, often, when you get so used to one setup. ``It's a power-play look that I used years ago, when I was coaching in Florida. It's a change. It gets the puck in different people's hands. There's more movement in it, and it gets you thinking. To me, with where we are right now, we're a team that's looking to make the automatic play all the time. You've got to get some thought back into it.'' The Kings enter the game ranked 19th in the NHL in powerplay efficiency, while Detroit ranks 16th in penalty-kill efficiency. CLIFFORD MAKING AN IMPACT Kings rookie winger Kyle Clifford will look to build on one of his highest-impact games of the season. Against Dallas on Monday, Clifford scored a goal and also drew a spearing penalty on the Stars' Steve Ott that led to a game-misconduct penalty. ``It was disappointing how it ended, losing the lead three times, but we've just got to put that in the past and move on,'' Clifford said. ``We've got a big, important stretch coming up to focus on.'' Clifford, who made the Kings' roster out of training camp, rather than being returned to his junior team, has been a lineup staple since late October. Of late, Clifford has been playing a fourth-line role, with Murray desiring to manage Clifford's minutes and situations a bit closer, but Clifford said he's enjoying late-season life in the NHL. ``I haven't played an entire season, but you can definitely feel the intensity,'' Clifford said. ``Teams don't take anything for granted, so everybody is kind of bearing down here.''

4 Punch in Nose Brings Relief to Mitchell To defenseman Willie Mitchell, surviving big hits means the concussion is behind him By Rich Hammond Don t misunderstand Willie Mitchell. It s not that he enjoys being hit in the nose -- or the eye, the chin, etc. -- but he does enjoy the fact that, after such hits, he's not dizzy. It s now been almost six months since Mitchell returned to NHL action, returned from a serious concussion, the third of his career and one that severely impacted his life for months. With every on-ice hit, Mitchell still winces and his loved ones still cringe, but, knock on wood, Mitchell has showed that he s back to being a normal NHL defenseman. Mitchell has played a big role for the Kings this season, that of a veteran, big-minute partner for Drew Doughty and as a key contributor on the team's strong penalty-kill unit. And while Mitchell has missed 26 games this season because of wrist and knee injuries, he has been able to, thus far, make it through the season with an affirmative answer to the most important question: could Mitchell avoid another concussion? ``The reality is that I could get another one,'' Mitchell said. ``That's just part of the game. I think the part that I've been happy about is knowing that if it happens again, it's going to be on some bad hit from behind or something. It's not going to be something that's just incidental. I think that's what you're scared of, when you first come back. I've had my moments where I kind of tested it, so now I don't really even think about it at all.'' The latest test came last week, when Phoenix's Kyle Turris flipped a wrist shot that hit Mitchell -- who was not wearing a visor -- flat on his left eye. Bloodied, Mitchell went to the locker room and needed approximately 40 stitches to close cuts around his eye. During that painful process, Mitchell felt relief? ``To be honest with you, I hate to keep reassuring myself with this stuff, but to get hit in the head like that, with the puck, and to have my head be good, I was pretty happy about that, after what I've been through,'' Mitchell said. ``You don't want to go through this in order to reassure yourself that your head is all right, but to get hit with the puck that hard, and not have ill effects, it was something to be happy about.'' The logic might be baffling for someone who isn't an ultra-tough NHL player -- what normal person feels relief after getting a bloodied, bruised eye socket? -- but for Mitchell, who had his livelihood called into question not long ago, it makes sense. Mitchell had his perspective changed for good on Jan. 16, 2010, when he received a concussion after a hit from Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin. Mitchell's symptoms didn't clear up until mid-june, and he signed a two-year contract with the Kings in August. Then, when the season started, even though Mitchell had long since been medically cleared to play, Mitchell admitted that his history was never far from his mind. What would the first bump be like? The first big hit? The first crash into the boards? ``Early on, the reality is that I was scared to do a lot of things,'' Mitchell said. ``It took time, to feel comfortable giving a hit and getting a hit.'' Ironically, it was new teammate Dustin Penner -- acquired in a tread-deadline-day deal with Edmonton -- who helped Mitchell get over some of his fears last month. ``I was playing against him in Edmonton,'' Mitchell said, ``and I was leaning into a pile and he went to spin and turn the other way, and he hit me with an elbow right on the button, right on the nose. My nose hurt and my eyes were watering. ``It hurt when I came back to the bench, but I was probably one of the only guys who gets hit in the nose and is like,

5 `Yeah, baby!' I was happy because nothing happened when I got hit really hard like that.'' That sense of relief goes beyond Mitchell. His wife, Megan, suffered along with her husband, during those spring and summer months of 2010 when headaches and sensitivity largely restricted Mitchell's day-to-day life. Even now, when he has played more than 40 games without incident, Mitchell said there are still on-ice moments when his wife cringes after he takes a hit. ``She's still scared,'' Mitchell said. ``I got hit in the face like this and she sees me go off after getting hit hard like that. It's kind of ironic, when you go through what I went through. The first thing you think about is, `I hope his head is all right.' When most people go through this, it's, `I hope his eye is all right.' She was worried, and Myles (Hirayama, assistant athletic trainer) went into the wives' room there and let her know everything was all right. It's tough to explain, if you haven't been through it. ``Even in the two previous concussions, I didn't have that extended period where I was in the same state for a long time. It's not fun, as the person who is going through it, and it's not fun for the wife or partner who has to be around the guy either. It's not just seeing a loved one like that. It's a bit of a drag on their life as well, because you're not going out and doing things that you would normally do together.'' As Mitchell discussed his comeback, he noted the number 91 on the white board in the Kings' locker room. The number designated Dallas Stars center Brad Richards who, at that point, had missed the previous nine games due to a concussion. Mitchell grimaced slightly at the news that Richards would not play that night against the Kings. According to unofficial counts in public reports, there were 33 concussions in the NHL in the first two months of the season and, as Mitchell spoke on Monday, 12 players were sidelined with concussions despite the league's recent attempt to reduce them. ``I look at this as kind of a good thing, to be honest with you,'' Mitchell said. ``That might sound weird, but hopefully it's that the training staffs and people are diagnosing them better, and that guys are now less susceptible to long-term concussions because people are taking care of them better. Obviously we have more concussions in the league, and that's something we have to look at. ``I think Bobby Clarke said it best. He said, `Back in the day, you hit someone to knock them off the puck, not to kill them.' I think, sometime in the last couple decades here, we decided that we're going to hit guys to kill them, and that has caused a few concussions. But that's how the game has evolved. As a player, you go on the ice and you assume the risk. It's just part of the game, but it's good to see that the league is starting to make some steps with that, for sure. This stuff doesn't change in a week. It takes time, and I think you're starting to see if evolve over the last couple years, in our sport and the NFL.'' Mitchell has taken measures to protect himself, most notably through headgear. Mitchell is one of the players -- along with teammate Kevin Westgarth -- who has been wearing the new Cascade M11 helmet, which is marketed as being a concussion deterrent. ``It does a good job of dispersing the energy,'' Mitchell said. ``The other ones are pretty rigid. When you get hit, it's almost like hitting brick, because the foam is so high-density. With this, it kind of disperses the energy because it's softer. ``I get a few verbal jabs, because it's a little bit of a bigger helmet, but it's not about the mirror test for me. It's about what makes me safe.'' The view from Detroit Posted by Rich Hammond on 10 March 2011, 9:15 am

6 The Detroit Red Wings are still securely in a playoff spot, but there s some concern in town now that the Red Wings are in their last four games and have also lost three consecutive home games. There was also some consternation last night about the non-call just before the Kings second-goal, in which Nicklas Lidstrom had his lip cut by Michal Handzus high stick. Here s a sampling of how last night s game was covered by the Detroit media Red Wings trying to restore its home hegemony (Detroit Free Press) L.A. 2, Detroit 1: Red Wings lose on power play that shouldn t have been (Detroit Free Press) Wings home woes continue with loss to Kings (Detroit News) Wings Brian Rafalski plays it safe with back (Detroit News) Dewey defeats Truman? Posted by Rich Hammond on 10 March 2011, 8:15 am Things happen with headlines. I ve made more than my share of mistakes while writing them, to be certain. But I had to laugh this morning at the WashingtonPost.com headline on the Kings-Detroit game story from the Associated Press. It read, Red Wings Rally Past Kings in Overtime. My first thought was I know it s been a long season, but did I miss that much of the game? The story is here, but since it s likely to be corrected at some point, here s a screen shot All in good fun. Like I said, mistakes happen. Keeping with the good fun theme of the morning, there s this. How should I put this? I know people in Detroit don t appreciate it when people make fun of their city. In reality, the piling-on probably does get gratuitous at times. But knowing the city s reputation, why in the world would they put up this sign in Joe Louis Arena? Really? Promoting the wait times at a hospital emergency room? 41 Comments Tonight s game story (March 9) Posted by Rich Hammond on 9 March 2011, 9:00 pm

7 Here s my LAKings.com game story for tonight, with stats and video included. Thanks for reading Kings beat Red Wings 2-1 The Kings are scheduled to practice tomorrow at 1:15 p.m. Eastern time (10:15 a.m. Pacific) in Columbus. Murray postgame quotes Posted by Rich Hammond on 9 March 2011, 8:15 pm Terry Murray s postgame thoughts (on Quick s outstanding game ) MURRAY: He needed to be that in the first period. In the first half of the game, I thought we might have been in for a little bit of a lesson here in the hockey game tonight. Detroit came out and played very well, really had a lot of territory, winning the battles, the dot-to-board play. They were just doing what they wanted to do, and we got into the middle of the second period and we got a break, just throwing a puck to the net. It s a rebound, and we seemed to get our pace picked up from that point. You never know what happens when you throw pucks to the net, I guess. (on the importance of the win ) MURRAY: That s what we want to keep focusing on, is moving up. This is a nice start to our road trip for us. Coming into this building is very hard. To get a big two points, and hopefully you can build on that momentum and that confidence and move on. (on the good third-period defense ) MURRAY: The one thing with Detroit is, you ve got to really have your tracking coming back, reloads, everybody has to work very hard. They re coming with four and five. So that was just the conversation. We know how to check. We ve done a very good job on that in the last couple years. Our attitude in the second half of the game was more as to what we need to do in order to play a hockey game the right way. (on a shot mentality leading to goals ) MURRAY: Both goals. It s the same with the first play. Just get pucks to the net. The power play was a little bit of a struggle there at the start. We could not get a recovered puck, to get set up. We looked very disorganized, but the unit that was out there with Martinez, they worked very hard. Ponikarovsky was good down low. He recovered some pucks, whenever they were loose, to get it back up top again, and just with that shot attitude, it paid off for us. Williams postgame quotes Posted by Rich Hammond on 9 March 2011, 8:00 pm Justin Williams postgame thoughts (on Jonathan Quick s game ) WILLIAMS: The absolute turning point of that game was when it was 1-0. They had a backdoor play to Kronwall, and he came across, post to post, and made a save. It would have been 2-0. Instead we came back a couple minutes later, and Kopi scored, and I thought that s when we really turned the corner. He s the reason we won that game. He s the reason we were able to turn it around. It was a huge, huge two points for us. (on being able to face Detroit again after the Feb. 28 loss ) WILLIAMS: It s not necessarily that. Obviously they beat us, and they beat us pretty handily too, but at the same time, the first win of a road trip always seems to be real important. It seems like you can relax a little bit, and it s real big when we re going into Columbus next. That s how you start on a roll. You win the first one and you feel confident, and we re going to be confident going into Columbus. Brown postgame quotes Posted by Rich Hammond on 9 March 2011, 7:45 pm Dustin Brown s postgame thoughts (on the game ) BROWN: They played a pretty good game. Quicker was really good for us tonight, especially in the first half of the game. He made a

8 save on Kronwall that probably was the difference in the game. It would have been 2-0 then. We came back and tied it up. They played a good game but we found a way to win, which we re going to have to do some more of. (on when the game turned around ) BROWN: With that save, really. I mean, he had an empty net and Quicker somehow made a save on it. If they score there, it s 2-0. We didn t have anything really going. After that save, we got a goal pretty soon after, and we started playing. Quick postgame quotes Posted by Rich Hammond on 9 March 2011, 7:28 pm Jonathan Quick s postgame thoughts (on his success at Joe Louis Arena ) QUICK: I don t know if it s that. I think that, both times we came in here, we were coming off losses and, as a team, we made a big push. We played a great second period. I thought we outplayed them. I think they got the best of us in the first, but in the second I thought we outplayed them. We got chances, we got two big goals there. Then the way we kind of shut them down defensively in the third period, you could kind of tell it was tough for them to get through the neutral zone. We really made it tough on them to get into the offensive zone and get set up and get opportunities in the third period. It was a great team win. We have to keep it going here. Just because we won, we have no breathing room at all. We ve got to keep on it. We ve got to keep pushing here, to make sure we re in that top eight at the end of the year. (on being eager to get another game against Detroit, after the last one ) QUICK: In your head, you know what happened the last time out, but at the end of the day, you re just taking it for today s game. The last game doesn t have any impact on today s game at all. You re just trying to make one save at a time and trying to make the saves in order for your team to win. FINAL: Kings 2, Red Wings 1 Posted by Rich Hammond on 9 March 2011, 6:55 pm The Kings survived a final-minute flurry and finished the season series against the Red Wings with a 3-1 record. Jonathan Quick stopped 79 of 80 shots this season in two games in Detroit. More from the locker room to come 148 Comments End of second: Kings 2-1 Posted by Rich Hammond on 9 March 2011, 6:03 pm The Kings outshot the Red Wings in the second period and scored twice. Detroit leads the shot count heading into the third period. 145 Comments Kings 2, Red Wings 1 Posted by Rich Hammond on 9 March 2011, 5:54 pm The Kings took a 2-1 lead on Dustin Brown s power-play goal with 5:17 remaining in the second period. Michal Handzus pushed the puck up top to Alec Martinez, who took a slap shot from the point. Brown, in front, tipped the puck past Howard. The assists went to Martinez and Alexei Ponikarovsky. 36 Comments Kings 1, Red Wings 1 Posted by Rich Hammond on 9 March 2011, 5:43 pm The Kings tied the game 7:50 into the second period. Dustin Penner shot from the left boards and, after the puck bounced on the way to the net, Howard couldn t control it. Anze Kopitar crashed the net and knocked in the rebound to tie the game 1-1. Justin Williams also picked up an assist.

9 56 Comments End of first: Red Wings 1-0 Posted by Rich Hammond on 9 March 2011, 5:11 pm Detroit outshot the Kings 11-3 in the first period, and the Kings posed almost no threat in the Red Wings zone. The Kings had a power play, but it lasted only 43 seconds and they never really got control of the puck with their power-play personnel on the ice. 90 Comments Red Wings 1, Kings 0 Posted by Rich Hammond on 9 March 2011, 4:47 pm Detroit didn t score on an early power play, but generated some momentum and took a 1-0 lead 5:57 into the first period. Darren Helm carried the puck up to the middle of the left faceoff circle, then put a shot on goal. Quick made the initial stop, but the puck trickled behind him and rolled across the goal line. Scouting the Red Wings Posted by Rich Hammond on 9 March 2011, 3:30 pm As usual, the Detroit Red Wings are comfortably in the Western Conference playoff picture, as they lead the Central Division by six points and sit second in the conference. The Red Wings have plenty of offense, as they rank third in the NHL in goals with 219, just one behind co-leaders Chicago and Vancouver. Detroit remains without Patrick Eaves (groin), Chris Osgood (sports hernia) and Brian Rafalski (back). Drew Miller is expected to be a healthy scratch tonight, with Jimmy Howard starting in goal. Below is my LAKings.com notebook for today, followed by game previews from the Detroit media and the expected lineups for the Red Wings and Kings. Wings try to clean up sloppy play at home (Detroit News) Chris Osgood, Brian Rafalski close to joining Red Wings lineup (Detroit Free Press) RED WINGS LINEUP Henrik Zetterberg-Pavel Datsyuk-Dan Cleary Todd Bertuzzi-Valtteri Filppula-Johan Franzen Justin Abdelkader-Mike Modano-Tomas Holmstrom Jiri Hudler-Darren Helm-Kris Draper Nicklas Lidstrom-Brad Stuart Niklas Kronwall-Jonathan Ericsson Jakub Kindl-Ruslan Salei Jimmy Howard KINGS LINEUP Penner-Kopitar-Williams Smyth-Stoll-Brown Ponikarovsky-Handzus-Simmonds Clifford-Lewis-Richardson Mitchell-Doughty Johnson-Scuderi Martinez-Greene Quick

10 Late-season learning curve for Clifford Posted by Rich Hammond on 9 March 2011, 2:30 pm Kyle Clifford is coming off a high-impact game, Monday against Dallas, in which he scored a go-ahead goal in the third period and also drew the spearing penalty and game misconduct on Dallas Steve Ott. Clifford had an effective game and, as a 20-year-old rookie winger, is getting his first real test of late-season, high-intensity NHL action. The game against the Stars was arguably one of Clifford s most notable of the season, but it s a credit to Clifford that, when asked about how fun that game must have been, he turned the focus away from himself CLIFFORD: It was disappointing how it ended, losing the lead three times, but we ve just got to put that in the past and move on. We ve got a big, important stretch coming up to focus on. Question: You ve been able to be in the lineup all season, but are the games different now? CLIFFORD: I haven t played an entire season, but you can definitely feel the intensity. Teams don t take anything for granted, so everybody is kind of bearing down here. Like all the guys in here, we just try to bring our `A game every night and push for a win every game. Learning from the last Detroit game Posted by Rich Hammond on 9 March 2011, 1:30 pm The old saying goes, If you don t laugh, you ll cry. Well, the last game between the Kings and Detroit when the Red Wings scored seven consecutive goals and went on to a 7-4 victory was bound to be brought up sometime today, and when it was, Murray laughed at the let s-get-this-out-of-the-way nature of the question and answer. Murray took the question seriously though, in terms of what the Kings needed to take away from that loss and apply tonight MURRAY: The biggest thing, against Detroit, is managing the the puck the right way. As soon as you turn back into your own D- zone and get away from north attitude on your breakouts and your counters, you think you re going to bring it back and regroup and do something extra, they have a green light and they come very quickly. They re an experienced team that reads those situations. They forced us to make the wrong decisions on several of those goals the other night. When you go back through all their games, that s their attitude, is to stay over top, make teams come through them, and as soon as there is a bobbled puck, a bad pass, a decision that s not the right one, that s when we re coming. Question: Do you even show video of that last game to the players, or do you just try to forget about it? MURRAY: After the game, the next day, we did (show video). And it s the stuff I just talked about. We had the puck on the breakout, behind our goal line, in a D-to-D situation. We hesitated, we turned back one more time for the second option and they jumped on us and they scored a goal on us. That s exactly the clip that I showed from their game against Buffalo. It was the same play, the two D messing around and being casual. They made that third D-to-D pass, and the puck bobbled, the D turned his back and they scored on it. That s a team that knows how to play with the right kind of attitude, a veteran team that has been through it many times. To play well against Detroit, you have to get it up and get it going. Quick has seen it all against Detroit Posted by Rich Hammond on 9 March 2011, 12:30 pm Jonathan Quick has been to both extremes against the Detroit Red Wings this season. On Dec. 13, he had an outstanding 51-save shutout. Then, on Feb. 28, he finished the game on the bench after he allowed six goals on 24 shots as part of a 7-4 Detroit victory. Quick gets the call tonight, and although Terry Murray indicated that Jonathan Bernier will continue to get work during this road trip, the coach agreed with the though that the Kings would love to see Quick grab a hold of the goaltending situation with some strong performances going forward MURRAY: That s exactly what we need here, quite honestly, is to grab a hold of it. That s exactly the right way to describe it. That opportunity is going to be presented. I m going to keep going, as we get into this trip, with both goaltenders playing, but on the other side of it, it s time to start looking at getting more games to Quicker. I want him to really embrace that opportunity. And he will. I have confidence that he will. There s not doubt in my mind. It just gives him a little time, right now, to look at his game, to get a little rest on this road trip and to gather himself in and go back at it.

11 Murray discusses new power-play look Posted by Rich Hammond on 9 March 2011, 11:30 am It s raining in Detroit today, but are the Kings putting away their umbrella? After today s morning skate, Terry Murray indicated that the Kings will shake up their power play a bit tonight, going away from their traditional umbrella look and toward a style with more movement. It will be interesting to see how notable the changes are on the ice. After a 5-for-19 stretch on the power play, the Kings went 0-for-10 with the man advantage in their last two games. The Kings enter the game ranked 19th in the NHL in power-play efficiency, while Detroit ranks 16th in penalty-kill efficiency. MURRAY: We are changing it up, the one group with (Anze) Kopitar and (Drew) Doughty and Jack (Johnson). We re going to change the setup in the offensive zone. I think you get to a point, sometimes, where change is very important. You get stale. You re getting stationary, often, when you get so used to one setup. It s a power-play look that I used years ago, when I was coaching in Florida. It s a change. It gets the puck in different people s hands. There s more movement in it, and it gets you thinking. To me, with where we are right now, we re a team that s looking to make the automatic play all the time. You ve got to get some thought back into it. European openers likely for Kings Posted by Rich Hammond on 9 March 2011, 10:33 am It s not yet official, but multiple sources have said that the Kings are on track to open next season with games in Germany and Sweden. One scenario the most likely has the Kings playing one preseason game, plus the season opener, in Germany, then playing the second game of the season in Stockholm. The league has yet to announce its intentions in terms of which teams will play where in Europe. Michael Altieri, the Kings vice president of communications, said, We are working with the League on the potential opportunity but there is nothing to confirm at this time. The Kings and Anaheim Ducks opened the season with two games in London. 111 Comments Wednesday skate update; Richardson update Posted by Rich Hammond on 9 March 2011, 9:30 am The Kings will make one lineup change tonight, with Brad Richardson replacing Kevin Westgarth as the fourth-line right winger. Jonathan Quick will start in goal. After the skate, Terry Murray said that the Kings would wait for it alter their power-play structure (in terms of setup, not personnel) tonight. More on that, and other notes and quotes, to come

12 The Postseason Race Friday, / 12:03 PM / News By Dewayne Hankins - Director, Digital Media Updated as of March 10, 2011 GR W L OT PTS L- 10 RW +/- LY PTS LAST NIGHT TONIGHT H/R LEFT NEXT FIVE GAMES /8 3/14 MIN 3/16 COL 3/18 PHX L, 2-1 LA OFF 9/6 3/11 EDM 3/16 WSH OFF VAN 9/6 3/10 VAN 3/12 NYR 3/17 MIN SOL, OFF 6/8 3/14 SJ 3/23 FLA /7 3/12 VAN 3/15 PHX 3/17 COL SOL, 4-3 CGY OFF 8/7 3/11 MIN 3/13 LA 3/15 SJ 3/17 CHI 3/19 PHI W, OFF 8/7 3/17 STL 3/19 ANA OFF CGY 8/6 33 E 76 7/ W, 5-2 NYR OFF 8/ OFF MIN 12/ OTL, 4-3 STL 9/7 3/10 CGY 3/10 MIN 3/11 LA 3/13 PHX 3/12 COL 3/15 CGY 3/16 STL 3/15 LA 3/15 BOS 3/17 BOS 3/17 DET LATEST ON THE PLAYOFF RACE X - Clinched Playoffs, Y - Clinched Division, Z - Clinched Conference, P - Clinched Presidents' Trophy GR - Games Remaining, W - Wins, L - Losses, OT - OT/Shootout losses (worth one point), PTS - Points RW - "Real Wins" or number of games won excluding games won in the shootout (new tiebreaker for ) +/- Goal differential, LY PTS - Point total of NHL team with this seed at the same point in the season L10 - Record in last ten games, H/R LEFT - Breakdown of home/road games remaining on the schedule Division leaders are seeded 1, 2, and 3 in Conference standings. If two or more clubs are tied in points during the regular season, the standing of the clubs is determined in the following order: 3/19 CBJ 3/20 CGY 3/19 DET 1. The fewer number of games played (i.e., superior points percentage). 2. The greater number of games won, excluding games won in the Shootout (NEW for ). 3. The greater number of points earned in games between the tied clubs. If two clubs are tied, and have not played an equal number of home games against each other, points earned in the first game played in the city that had the extra game shall not be included. If more than two clubs are tied, the higher percentage of available points earned in games among those clubs, and not including any "odd" games, shall be used to determine the standing. 4. The greater differential between goals for and against for the entire regular season.

13 LAKings 1. Morning video to start the day - Anze Kopitar was a guest on NHL On The Fly last night: 28 minutes ago via HootSuite 2. Where do the #LAKings find themselves after last night's big win in Motown? about 7 hours ago via HootSuite 3. Heck yeah, we are Being interviewed at my about 9 hours ago via HootSuite 4. If Drew Doughty dedicates his life completely to hockey starting Friday, he could be Ray Bourque ll. He is stupid talented. about 14 hours ago via HootSuite 5. Ironic names-kevin Slowey and Pervis Short. Accurate names- Jonathan Quick and Fat Albert. about 14 hours ago via HootSuite 6. Quick gets his 29th victory of the season and stops 28 of 29 shots. #LAKings in 6th right now, sure to change by end of the night. about 14 hours ago via HootSuite 7. #LAKings now over their last 12 road games with tonight's big 2-1 victory about 14 hours ago via HootSuite 8. Over the last two games #LAKings Jarret Stoll has won 21-of-23 faceoffs (11-of-13 tonight). about 15 hours ago via HootSuite gameday report: congrats to Jarret Stoll. Tonight he will appear in his 500th NHL game. The Kings are vs. DET this year.-pr about 17 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry 10. Reminder Kings fans - game is on KCOP ch 13 today at 4:30 not FSW or PT like normal about 18 hours ago via HootSuite 11. We are for the 13th Annual NHL Foundation Award. Here s a look at his community involvement: about 18 hours ago via HootSuite Oh he's a beauty, look at that grin. We hope he never has less teeth than he does now. Keep your stick on the ice Axl... about 19 hours ago via HootSuite in reply to TheJohnnyAbides 13. About Friday's game: if you can't wait to watch the tape delay, there's always the live call on the radio. about 19 hours ago via HootSuite 14. Quick in net tonight for #LAKings and Richardson taking Westgarth's place in the lineup. No other roster changes about 19 hours ago via HootSuite 15. New PP look tonight as the Kings seek revenge against Wings about 19 hours ago via HootSuite Yep but it is on KCOP ch 13 in LA, not FSW or PT like normal... about 19 hours ago via HootSuite in reply to the_krt 17. #lakingsinsider reporting that #lakings may start next season in europe: about 21 hours ago via HootSuite Don't sound so excited, you just want to go to #Oktoberfest

14 latimes.com/sports/la-sp-kings-red-wings ,0, story latimes.com Jonathan Quick saves the Kings in 2-1 victory over Red Wings He stops 28 shots and the Kings use goals from Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown to hand Detroit a fourth straight loss. Associated Press 9:34 PM PST, March 9, 2011 DETROIT With his team down a goal and the Detroit Red Wings pressuring the net, Jonathan Quick made a couple of big saves in the second period. They ended up turning the game around. Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown scored later in the second and Quick made 28 saves in the Kings' 2-1 victory over the slumping Red Wings on Wednesday night. Darren Helm opened the scoring for Detroit in the first, but Quick made sure the deficit didn't get any worse. "Quick was really good, especially early in the game," Brown said. "He gave us a chance to come back." Detroit has lost four straight and trails Vancouver by nine points for the top spot in the Western Conference. The Kings, meanwhile, continued their push in the middle of a jumbled race for playoff positions in the West. They are in their last 20 games. The Kings, against the Red Wings this season, are seventh in the West with 79 points. Quick improved to in his last 14 games. The Kings took the lead when Brown scored on a power play with 5:17 left in the second. Alec Martinez's shot from the point was actually deflected twice by Alexei Ponikarovsky and then Brown on its way into the net. Detroit fans voiced their displeasure, because it appeared Nicklas Lidstrom had been high-sticked immediately before the goal by Michal Handzus. "I got a few stitches in the lower lip," Lidstrom said. "There are four guys on the ice and no one saw it. There's nothing you can do." It was Brown's 22nd goal of the season. "It's a tough play on the one goal where they score," Detroit Coach Mike Babcock said. "We could have easily been going on a four-minute power play there. That's the way it goes." Quick made a nice save early in the first period, stopping Jiri Hudler's shot from just to the left of the goal. The goalie was less fortunate when Helm's shot slipped through his legs and trickled slowly across the goal line. Detroit outshot the Kings 11-3 in the first period and seemed on the verge of increasing its lead in the second, but Quick made a glove save on Kris Draper's backhand, and then robbed Niklas Kronwall from point-blank range. The Kings tied it with 12:10 left in the second when Dustin Penner took a soft shot from the left boards. Jimmy Howard left a rebound, and Kopitar was able to put the puck in for his 21st goal of the season. "We played a great second period. I think we outplayed them and got chances and scored two big goals," Quick said. "You could tell it was really hard for them to get through the neutral zone. It was hard on them." Once the Kings took the lead, Quick made it hold up. He stopped Valtteri Filppula's shot from the slot with 8:29 left in the game. Henrik Zetterberg also had a chance to tie it in the final seconds but couldn't beat Quick from a severe angle. "I thought the third period was a muddy track, like you expected against a team that is checking and you're working and you're pushing," Babcock said. "It was a tight game, we had every opportunity to win the game, we didn't find a way. We've just got to keep playing like that and starting like we did and getting pucks ahead and shooting pucks and going to the net." Kings defenseman Drew Doughty staggered to the bench early in the third period after being caught in the face by Todd Bertuzzi's elbow while the right winger playing without a stick was trying to clear the puck from his own zone. Doughty was able to return.

15 FROM THE DAILY NEWS Kings push on in the West with 2-1 win in Detroit By The Associated Press Posted: 03/09/ :29:38 PM PST Updated: 03/09/ :31:22 PM PST DETROIT - With his team down a goal and the Detroit Red Wings pressuring the net, Jonathan Quick made a couple big saves in the second period. Quick made a nice save early in the first period, stopping Jiri Hudler's shot from just to the left of the goal. The goalie was less fortunate when Helm's shot slipped through his legs and trickled slowly across the goal line. They ended up turning the game around. Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown scored later in the second and Quick made 28saves in the Kings' 2-1 victory over the slumping Red Wings on Wednesday. Darren Helm opened the scoring for Detroit in the first, but Quick made sure the deficit didn't get any worse. "Quick was really good, especially early in the game," Brown said. "He gave us a chance to come back." Detroit has lost four straight and trails Vancouver by nine points for the top spot in the Western Conference. The Kings, meanwhile, continued their push in the middle of a jumbled race for playoff positions in the West. They are in their past 20 games. Quick improved to in his past 14 games. The Kings took the lead when Brown scored on a power play with 5:17 left in the second. Alec Martinez's shot from the point was actually deflected twice - by Alexei Ponikarovsky and then Brown - on its way into the net. Detroit fans voiced their displeasure, because it appeared Nicklas Lidstrom had been high-sticked immediately before the goal by Michal Handzus. "I got a few stitches in the lower lip," Lidstrom said. "There are four guys on the ice and no one saw it. There's nothing you can do." It was Brown's 22nd goal of the season. "It's a tough play on the one goal where they score," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. "We could have easily been going on a four-minute power play there. That's the way it goes." Detroit outshot the Kings 11-3 in the first period and seemed on the verge of increasing its lead in the second, but Quick made a glove save on Kris Draper's backhand, and then robbed Niklas Kronwall point-blank. The Kings tied it with 12:10 left in the second as Kopitar scored on a rebound. "We played a great second period. I think we outplayed them and got chances and scored two big goals," Quick said. "You could tell it was really hard for them to get through the neutral zone." Once the Kings took the lead, Quick made it hold up. He stopped Valtteri Filppula's shot from the slot with 8:29 left in the game. Henrik Zetterberg also had a chance to tie it in the final seconds but couldn't beat Quick from a severe angle. "I thought the third period was a muddy track, like you expected against a team that is checking and you're working and you're pushing," Babcock said. "It was a tight game, we had every opportunity to win the game, we didn't find a way. We've just got to keep playing like that and starting like we did and getting pucks ahead and shooting pucks and going to the net." Kings defenseman Drew Doughty staggered to the bench early in the third period after being caught in the face by Todd Bertuzzi's elbow while the Red Wing - playing without a stick - was trying to clear the puck from his own zone. Doughty was able to return. Also... Detroit D Brian Rafalski (back) was scratched.... Los Angeles killed two penalties, running its streak to 15 straight. The Kings have killed 58 of their last 63 penalties.... Helm's goal was his 10th of the season.

16 FROM THE DAILY NEWS BLOG J.P. HOORNSTRA Kings 2, Red Wings 1. By J.P. Hoornstra on March 9, :47 PM Permalink Comments (0) ShareThis In fairness to Jonathan Quick, he hasn't had many bad starts this season. Bad goals? Yes, but he usually recovers. It just so happened Wednesday that his last bad start -- one of the worst of his career -- was against Wednesday's opponent, the Detroit Red Wings. There was some pressure on Quick to re-establish his lock on the No. 1 goalie position after a couple good starts by Jonathan Bernier, and he delivered with an outstanding 28-save effort. Because of Quick, goals by Anze Kopitar and (officially) Dustin Brown were enough. Brown's goal, a deflection of an Alec Martinez point shot during a second-period power play, held up as the game-winner. Kopitar snuck in on the backdoor to tie the game at 1 at 7:50 of the first period, batting in the rebound of a Dustin Penner shot. Darren Helm got the Red Wings on the board with one of those bad goals in the first period; Quick got a piece of Helm's hard slapshot, but the puck trickled slowly behind him and over the goal line. Credit the Kings' penalty kill for allowing only one shot to reach Quick in 2:43 of man-advantage time for Detroit, which had scored at least one power-play goal in seven straight games. By the time the day's games were complete, the Kings needed a win to remain in the top eight of the Western Conference standings. They can't be knocked out of the top eight tomorrow, either; only a Phoenix win against Calgary could push them into eighth. A few more notes: Penner is looking like a better fit on the line with Kopitar and Williams with each game. He has points in two of three games since arriving from Edmonton at the trade deadline. In the other, he screened the goalie on the game's only goal. Jarret Stoll went 12-4 in the faceoff circle and is up to ninth in the NHL in faceoff percentage (56.7). Drew Doughty had to leave the ice early in the third period after taking a pretty blatant elbow to the face from Todd Bertuzzi (no penalty was called). He returned later in the period. The Kings have killed 15 straight penalties, and 58 of their last 63 penalties. It's too early to say whether the "new look" power-play is a hit or miss. At times, the Kings couldn't run it if their lives depended on it. At times, they could. It led to one goal, but not because the Red Wings were caught out of position. Video replays on television appeared to show that Alexei Ponikarovsky, not Brown, deflected Martinez's shot with the blade of his stick. However, as of this blogging, the goal is still being credited to Brown.