LA KINGS NEWS CLIPS 4/22/10

Transcription

1 LA KINGS NEWS CLIPS 4/22/10

2 FROM LAKINGS.COM RICH HAMMOND ARTICLES ON LAKINGS.COM AND LA KINGS INSIDER Canucks beat Kings 6-4 Rich Hammond For the first 11 periods of their first-round series, the Kings did a commendable job against Vancouver s Daniel and Henrik Sedin, two of the NHL s most potent scorers. The third period of Wednesday s Game 4, though, was the Revenge of the Twins. Given open ice, for an extended period, for perhaps the first time in this series, the Sedins factored in three third-period goals as the Canucks rallied from three different deficits to beat the Kings 6-4 before a standing-room-only crowd of 18,322 at STAPLES Center. The series, tied 2-2, now returns to Vancouver for Game 5 on Friday, and the Kings have to feel as though they missed an opportunity to take a commanding lead in the series. The Kings held a 3-2 lead going into the third period, but the Canucks scored four times. After a Kings offensive-zone breakdown, Henrik Sedin broke a 4-4 tie with 2:58 remaining and Ryan Kesler added an empty-net goal in the final minute. The Kings held leads of 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 in the game, but lost all of them. The Kings had a record, during the regular season, in games that they led after two periods. ``We were expecting a long series against these guys, and they came out and had a great third, Kings defenseman Matt Greene said. ``They showed what their team can do. They've got a great top line there, and (Roberto) Luongo made some key saves for them. ``That's a third period that we wanted to avoid against them, but I think they showed us what they can do, and now we've got to learn from that, and respect it, and come back the next game with a way to slow them down a little bit. The Kings third-period breakdown can be traced to a few moments. At the 2:30 mark, the Kings got a power play but didn t score. The Kings streak of six consecutive power-play goals had been snapped in the second period. At the 6:21 mark, Alexander Frolov had a breakaway but Luongo made the save. At the 7:29 mark, Mikael Samuelsson scored his fifth goal of the series to tie the game. At the 10:22 mark, the Kings took a penalty for too many men on the ice, and on the ensuing power play, Sami Salo s slap shot gave the Canucks a 4-3 lead. The Kings rallied to tie the game just over one minute later, on Wayne Simmonds goal, but Henrik Sedin s game-winner came at the 17:08 mark. The Kings had the puck in the offensive zone, but Simmonds fell down behind the net and the Canucks started a counter-attack that saw them enter the zone with a 4-on-2 rush. Henrik Sedin took a pass from his brother, cut to the net and scored on a wrist shot that beat Kings goalie Jonathan Quick. ``We ended up with two players behind the net, Kings coach Terry Murray said. ``It looked like Simmonds just fell down, and Kopi might have been waiting for a reverse play. I'm not sure. He ended up standing behind the net, and Smytty is, I think, thinking the same, that maybe the puck is going to come to him, so he is on the boards at the top of the circle. You get caught flat-footed and it becomes an odd rush. ``Now we commit at the blue line, and you have to have a read on that. Just back in. If it's a 4-on-2, just back in and hope that support is going to come. The Canucks outshot the Kings 17-8 and generally looked like what they were, a team desperate not to go home facing a 3-1 series deficit. ``I can give Vancouver credit, Murray said. ``Their best player stepped up at a critical time and made a big play [Sedin s game-winning goal]. When you have a lead going into the third period, you've got to be able to nail that thing down. ``That's your objective, obviously. Keep playing hard, keep playing heavy and be physical on their players and shut that down and win the game. The Kings couldn t shut it down, and the Sedins stepped up. Henrik Sedin had the most points in the NHL this season, and his brother Daniel is a potent linemate. Daniel Sedin assisted on Vancouver s first three goals of the third period, including the one scored by his brother, and Henrik had one assist in addition to his winning goal. ``They're great players, Kings captain Dustin Brown said. ``If you give them an opportunity, with the puck on their stick late in the game, to make a play, they're probably going to do it.'' The Kings, the No. 6 seed against the No. 3 Canucks, are not in a bad spot, tied 2-2 in a series that is now essentially a bestof-three. They can point to the fact that they took three leads in Game 4, and already have one victory in Vancouver. Drew Doughty, Brown, Anze Kopitar and Simmonds had

3 goals but, to be certain, the Kings will be tested as they never have before when they face a hostile crowd in Game 5 of a tied series. ``This is part of the process, Murray said. ``You've got to go through it as a young group of guys, and you're going to face adversity. Again, I feel we have handled those situations pretty well over the course of the year. We ve shown to be resilient and gritty and bounce back. It s going to be a big test back in Vancouver. The Kings made one lineup change Wednesday, as defenseman Randy Jones entered the lineup in place of Peter Harrold. Vancouver also made one change on defense, as Nolan Baumgartner replaced Aaron Rome. The Kings entered the game 7-for-12 on the power play this season, and they scored on their first two power-play chances in Game 4. The Kings got the game's first goal on their first power play. Brown tried a backhand shot from close range, and before Luongo could cover the puck, Doughty came in and knocked the rebound past Luongo with 6:34 remaining in the first period. Vancouver tied the game with its own power-play goal 3:36 into the second period. Alex Edler pass to Christian Ehrhoff, who found plenty of open ice near the top of the right circle and, with traffic in front of the net, beat Quick with a slap shot to make it 1-1. The Kings took the lead back with yet another power-play goal at the 5:56 mark. After a faceoff scrum, Fredrik Modin pushed the puck to Brown, whose leaning one-timer from the left circle beat Luongo. More than halfway through the second period, the Canucks killed their first penalty since Game 2 and snapped a 6-for-6 run by the Kings. Perhaps enthused by their penalty-kill success, the Canucks tied the game 2-2 with 4:25 remaining in the second period. Pavol Demitra took a pass from Ehrhoff and started a quick 2- on-1. Demitra kept the puck and beat Quick with a sharp wrist shot from the right side. The Kings took the lead back with a 4-on-4 goal, and on a delayed penalty, with 2:51 remaining in the third period. Simmonds passed the puck in front, from the right boards, and Kopitar tipped it in from directly in front of the net to make it 3-2 Kings. power-play goal. Henrik Sedin passed to Salo, who scored on a one-timer from the high slot. The Kings tied the game just 1:02 after the Canucks took the lead. Ryan Smyth controlled the puck behind the net and centered it, just as Simmonds crashed the net and beat Luongo from close range with 6:42 remaining. Henrik Sedin scored with 2:52 remaining to give the Canucks the lead again. On a counterattack, Daniel Sedin dropped a pass for his brother, who cut to the net and beat Quick with a high wrist shot. Kesler scored into an empty net with 16.1 seconds left. ``We made two costly mistakes, and they are a transition team, Smyth said. ``We have talked about this at the start of the series and throughout the series. They thrive on that kind of stuff, and it showed. We have got to eliminate the turnovers and the odd-man rushes. They do not need a lot of room. Time and space, they take full advantage of that. You have to make sure you are above their third guy, and above the pocket. In this case (on the winning goal), we got caught. ``We have geared ourselves up for a long series. We know it was not going to be easy. They are a fighting team, and so are we. We are geared up. We are ready for it. LAKings.com's NOTES The Kings are now 9-for-16 on the power play in the series (56.3 percent)...the most power play goals the Kings have ever had in a playoff series is 11 (1989 vs. Edmonton)...When tied 2-2 in a series the Kings have won the series seven of 10 times... Dustin Brown has assists in all four games of the series... Drew Doughty has six points in the last three games (2-4=6)...Jack Johnson has six assists in the last three games... Johnson and Doughty are tied with Pittsburgh s Sergei Gonchar for most playoff points by a defenseman (all have six). Three star selections 1st: HENRIK SEDIN 2nd: DUSTIN BROWN 3rd: CHRISTIAN EHRHOFF Winning Goaltender Roberto Luongo Losing Goaltender Jonathan Quick Vancouver tied the game 7:29 into the third period. Daniel Sedin made a sharp pass from the blue line, and Samuelsson's deflection wobbled and beat Quick high to tie the game. After a strong stretch of play in the third period, the Canucks took their first lead of the game with 7:44 remaining, with a

4 Morning Skate Notes: Jones In By Rich Hammond Randy Jones will return to the Kings lineup The Kings hope that Randy Jones days of being a stationary spectator are done. They want Jones on the ice, not watching games from the press box, and when he s on the ice, they want the defenseman moving his feet, not being stationary and making plays that lead to turnovers and scoring chances. Jones will be back in the lineup tonight, in place of Peter Harrold, when the Kings host the Vancouver Canucks at STAPLES Center in Game 4 of a first-round series that the Kings lead, two games to one. "We have an experienced player going in, in Randy Jones," coach Terry Murray said. "He's been in this situation many times. He was taken out for reasons that I did speak to him about, and I think he got the message. We'll get him in and get him going.'' Jones was a healthy scratch in the second and third games of this series, after his turnover in Game 1 led to the Canucks overtime goal and 3-2 victory. A puck-moving defenseman acquired off waivers from Philadelphia early in the season, Jones had five goals and 16 assists in 48 regular-season games. In the process, Jones showed strong offensive instincts but also tended to commit costly turnovers. The issue, on which Jones and Murray agreed, is Jones ability to keep his skates going and make good decisions with the puck. "I've got to be moving my feet at all times," Jones said after Wednesday s morning skate. "Sometimes when you get the puck, rather than looking up and waiting to make a play, it's a lot more beneficial, and easier on your teammates and yourself, if you start skating with it and start moving your feet, and then start looking to make plays. It just opens up a lot more for you, and that's what I've got to get back to doing.' Murray, who served as an assistant coach during part of Jones stint with the Flyers, said it s an issue he s been working on with Jones for quite a while. "That's exactly what happens with Jonesy," Murray said, "and it goes back through my time with him in Philadelphia, when he was coming into the league from the (AHL) Phantoms. They had a great year down there, won the Calder Cup, and he comes in and shows flashes of being a top-four defenseman in the National Hockey League, and then he gets into this lull in his game, standing and watching and waiting for things to happen. He gets the puck on his stick and, instead of being assertive with it, he throws the puck around the boards and it gets to be a turnover situation. "So that's the areas that I address with him on a fairly regular basis. Most important is, get your feet moving, get skating. He's a good skater. He can carry the puck out of danger and he can make good plays.'' ONE MORE CHANGE Other than Jones inclusion, the Kings will go with the same lines and pairs they used in Game 3. The Canucks are expected to make one change, with Nolan Baumgartner replacing Aaron Rome on defense. Rome missed the first two games of the series with an injury. EXPECTING ADJUSTMENTS The Kings are 7-for-12 on the power play so far in this series, an astronomical rate of success for any team, but the Kings aren t expecting to have things so easy on the power play for the rest of this series. No doubt, the Canucks will adjust, as Kings defenseman Drew Doughty said after Game 3, and it will be up to the Kings to counter-adjust. Asked, in general, about how to reverse a team s fortunes when things aren t going well on the penalty kill, Murray said there s no magic formula. "It comes down to an individual team's situation," Murray said. "Are you too aggressive? Are you over-pursuing? Are you running at the points? Are you chasing the puck? Do you have your sticks in the right lanes? It all depends on when you watch your team play on video, as to what specifically you're going to focus on." FILLING ALL ROLES The line of center Michal Handzus and wingers Fredrik Modin and Brad Richardson might be known as the Kings "third line," but it s hard to argue that it s been anything less than the team s most valuable line so far. In the first three games of the series, Handzus, Modin and Richardson have combined for five of the Kings 10 goals and also have played a significant role in defending Vancouver s top line of Daniel and Henrik Sedin and Alex Burrows. "Handzus, Modin and Richardson, they ve very good checking players, very responsible," Murray said. "They re big bodies. They re guys who can hold onto the puck. Both Modin and Handzus, for me, have great resumes on the offensive part of the game. I go back with Handzus in Philadelphia, and I even followed him back in his St. Louis Blues days, when he was paired up with Demitra. They had great success in the offensive part of the game. "Same thing with Modin. He plays in Tampa Bay and he s a big part of the Stanley Cup championship year there. He had a great series against the Flyers in that conference final, and you saw the offensive part of the game always there with him. He s bringing it together now with great chemistry. Richardson is starting to, I think, find that offensive part of the game that he knows, he believes, is in there. He showed it in junior. He told me all about it at the end of last season, in his exit meeting. It was a little bit of a challenge to him, to bring it out, and he shows that knack, that skill that he s able to play at that level."

5 Canucks postgame quotes Posted by Rich Hammond on 22 April 2010, 12:40 am Here are some quotes from the Canucks tonight, with a major assist from ESPN.com s Pierre LeBrun Roberto Luongo s postgame thoughts (on his third-period save on Frolov ) Obviously we were taking a few chances there to try and tie the game up. On Frolov I just wanted to do something a little different and he ended up shooting and I got a piece. (on how he feels now ) I felt great, but obviously it was a high-scoring game. Sometimes you just have to make the saves that get the win. At the end of the day when the game is on the line you have to make the save. (on the season being on the line tonight ) Yes and no, obviously we didn t want to back (to Vancouver) down 3-1. We would have still had confidence down 3-1 but needless to say it s a huge win. (on finally killing a penalty ) We just wanted to kill one, he laughed. We were so happy to kill on, we were really excited when we came into the locker-room after the second period. It felt as if we had just killed off 40 straight after we killed that one off. (on the Canucks penalty-kill struggles ) You just have to fight through these things. Obviously it s something that I ve never seen before. They seem to be going in every which way on the PK. But you fight through it. You re going to be challenged throughout the course of the year and the course of the series. Daniel Sedin s postgame thoughts (on the game ) The difference tonight was, we were in the game going into the third. And we can score. (on Luongo s game ) Looking back, he saved the game for us. It s great for the guys to come back, an play the way we did. We showed some composure, some character. (on the series ) This can be a big turnaround for us, but at the same time, we ve done nothing but take back the home ice advantage. Henrik Sedin s postgame thoughts (on his team ) I ve known these guys for quite some time and I know how bad they want this. I thought we were a little tight in the first period but our guys played through it and found a way to get their play to a level it needs to be to beat such a strong opponent. (on putting the Sedins on the PK ) Well, they had scored six in a row. So I had to try something, he laughed. I think guys were doing cartwheels on the bench when we finally killed that one. (on his team s response tonight ) I believe this group has learned every year and we re ready for this moment. You can tell how bad the guys want it. I mean, it s a tough series, they re all one-goal game basically and they re going back and forth. That s a real strong team on the other side. They were two points behind us this season but they were in a better division. It s a really challenging series and we re trying our best out there and they re trying their best. (on switching Samuelsson and Burrows ) Sometimes you got to make some adjustments here and there. Samuelsson was going well and the twins needed to pick up their game a little bit and I thought that sparked them for the remainder of the game when we made that adjustment. (on Demitra s game ) Well that s how we need him to play. He played I thought tonight with a lot of passion and a lot of intensity on the ice. Played a real strong game for us at both ends of the rink. And that s why he got more ice time. (on Luongo s game ) I mean, we ve seen that quite a few times this year. We ve been behind quite a few times this year and when you have to press you give up some chances and you need your goaltender to keep you in the game and that s what he did. Comment (RSS) Permalink 39 Comments Tonight s game story (April 21) Posted by Rich Hammond on 21 April 2010, 11:19 pm Here s my LAKings.com game story for tonight, with stats and video included. Thanks for reading! Canucks beat Kings 6-4 I ll have some Vancouver quotes to post a bit later. 20 Comments (on whether the Sedins asked their coach to kill penalties ) It s tough to see a lot of pucks go in. We ve both played PK before, and we wanted to do something. He gave us a chance. (on the series ) If you look at all the series, all the games, a goal here and there is going to change the momentum in every series. Now we have it, and we ve got to hold on to it. Alain Vigneault s postgame thoughts Murray postgame quotes Posted by Rich Hammond on 21 April 2010, 11:00 pm Terry Murray s postgame thoughts (on the game-winning goal ) MURRAY: We ended up with two players behind the net. It looked like Simmonds just fell down, and Kopi might have been waiting for a reverse play. I m not sure. He ended up standing behind the net, and

6 Smytty is, I think, thinking the same, that maybe the puck is going to come to him, so he is on the boards at the top of the circle. You get caught flat-footed and it becomes an odd rush. Now we commit at the blue line, and you have to have a read on that. Just back in. If it s a 4- on-2, just back in and hope that support is going to come. (on the game ) MURRAY: I can give Vancouver credit. Their best player stepped up at a critical time and made a big play, the play we were just talking about. When you have a lead going into the third period, you ve got to be able to nail that thing down. That s your objective, obviously. Keep playing hard, keep playing heavy and be physical on their players and shut that down and win the game. (on where the Kings are in the series right now ) MURRAY: Good spot. Great effort. I loved our start. The first period was exactly what we needed; go after it. This is part of the process. You ve got to go through it as a young group of guys, and you re going to face adversity. Again, I feel we have handled those situations pretty well over the course of the year. We ve shown to be resilient and gritty and bounce back. It s going to be a big test back in Vancouver. (on any explanation for Luongo s net being off in the third period ) MURRAY: No one saw it. No one saw what happened. I m assuming and I didn t see it I m assuming that it probably happened the play before it came back down to our end. There was a lot of action around the net, and maybe it got knocked loose at that time. Comment (RSS) Permalink 20 Comments Greene, Smyth, Kopitar quotes Posted by Rich Hammond on 21 April 2010, 10:50 pm Quotes from Matt Greene, Ryan Smyth and Anze Kopitar Matt Greene s postgame thoughts GREENE: We were expecting a long series against these guys, and they came out and had a great third. They showed what their team can do. They ve got a great top line there, and Luongo made some key saves for them. That s a third period that we wanted to avoid against them, but I think they showed us what they can do, and now we ve got to learn from that, and respect it, and come back the next game with a way to slow them down a little bit. Ryan Smyth s postgame thoughts SMYTH: We made two costly mistakes, and they are a transition team. We have talked about this at the start of the series and throughout the series. They thrive on that kind of stuff, and it showed. We have got to eliminate the turnovers and the odd-man rushes. They do not need a lot of room. Time and space, they take full advantage of that. You have to make sure you are above their third guy, and above the pocket. In this case (on the winning goal), we got caught. We have geared ourselves up for a long series. We know it was not going to be easy. They are a fighting team, and so are we. We are geared up. We are ready for it. Anze Kopitar s postgame thoughts (on the game ) KOPITAR: We played pretty good. We had some really good things happening on the ice. We want to take the positive side of this game and build on it going into Game 5. We have done it in their building already, we won Game 2 there. We know we can do it. We have to eliminate the chances we gave up. They have some talented players that are going to capitalize on our mistakes, so we want to eliminate those. We need to make sure we play a solid game. (on playing against Luongo ) KOPITAR: It is just getting some shots on net, and getting bodies in front. No goalie likes traffic, so we just want to get in there and make it hard on him. Comment (RSS) Permalink 17 Comments Brown postgame quotes Posted by Rich Hammond on 21 April 2010, 10:30 pm Dustin Brown s postgame thoughts (on whether this feels like a missed opportunity ) BROWN: Definitely. We had the game, and we made mistakes and they capitalized on them. We had a too many men on the ice, and a power-play goal. We had a bad change, and a goal. Then we got caught with three men below the hash marks on the winning goal. So that s three goals right there that could have been prevented. (on how the game got away from the Kings ) BROWN: We made some mistakes, and they re good players over there. They have a good team, and they re going to capitalize when we make mistakes. We haven t made too many, in regards to too many men or bad changes. They haven t really had many chances in the first three games, but we gave them two tonight and they scored on both. You can t give good players great opportunities. (on the Sedins strong play ) BROWN: They re great players. If you give them an opportunity, with the puck on their stick late in the game, to make a play, they re probably going to do it. Comment (RSS) Permalink 8 Comments FINAL: Canucks 6, Kings 4 Posted by Rich Hammond on 21 April 2010, 9:42 pm The Canucks scored four third-period goals, including Ryan Kesler s empty-netter with 16.1 seconds remaining, to even the series 2-2. Click below to watch the coaches postgame media sessions live. More from the locker room ASAP Coaches press conferences 139 Comments Canucks 5, Kings 4 Posted by Rich Hammond on 21 April 2010, 9:35 pm

7 Henrik Sedin scored with 2:52 remaining to give the Canucks the lead again. On a counterattack, Daniel Sedin dropped a pass for his brother, who cut to the net and beat Quick with a high wrist shot. 25 Comments Kings 4, Canucks 4 Posted by Rich Hammond on 21 April 2010, 9:27 pm The Kings tied the game just 1:02 after the Canucks took the lead. Ryan Smyth controlled the puck behind the net and centered it, just as Wayne Simmonds crashed the net and beat Luongo from close range with 6:42 remaining. 9 Comments Canucks 4, Kings 3 Posted by Rich Hammond on 21 April 2010, 9:25 pm After a strong stretch of play in the third period, the Canucks took their first lead of the game with 7:44 remaining, with a power-play goal. Henrik Sedin passed to Sami Salo, who scored on a one-timer from the high slot. 6 Comments Kings 3, Canucks 3 Posted by Rich Hammond on 21 April 2010, 9:16 pm Vancouver tied the game 7:29 into the third period. Daniel Sedin made a sharp pass from the blue line, and Mikael Samuelsson s deflection wobbled and beat Quick high to tie the game. 13 Comments End of second: Kings 3-2 Posted by Rich Hammond on 21 April 2010, 8:42 pm Shots are in favor of the Canucks through two periods. The Kings have two power-play goals and one 4-on-4 goal. 36 Comments Kings 3, Canucks 2 Posted by Rich Hammond on 21 April 2010, 8:39 pm The Kings took the lead back with a 4-on-4 goal, and on a delayed penalty, with 2:51 remaining in the third period. Wayne Simmonds passed the puck in front, from the right boards, and Anze Kopitar tipped it in from directly in front of the net to make it 3-2 Kings. 5 Comments Kings 2, Canucks 2 Posted by Rich Hammond on 21 April 2010, 8:33 pm Less than three minutes after the Kings had their streak of six consecutive power-play goals snapped, the Canucks tied the game 2-2 with 4:25 remaining in the second period. Pavol Demitra took a pass from Ehrhoff and started a quick 2-on-1. Demitra kept the puck and beat Quick with a sharp wrist shot from the right side. 11 Comments Kings 2, Canucks 1 Posted by Rich Hammond on 21 April 2010, 8:16 pm The Kings took the lead back with yet another power-play goal at the 5:56 mark. After a faceoff scrum, Fredrik Modin pushed the puck to Dustin Brown, whose leaning one-timer from the left circle beat Luongo. 28 Comments Kings 1, Canucks 1 Posted by Rich Hammond on 21 April 2010, 8:11 pm Vancouver tied the game with its own power-play goal 3:36 into the second period. Alex Edler pass to Christian Ehrhoff, who found plenty of open ice near the top of the right circle and, with traffic in front of the net, beat Quick with a slap shot to make it Comments End of first: Kings 1-0 Posted by Rich Hammond on 21 April 2010, 7:46 pm The Kings held a 9-8 edge in shots in the first period. They scored on their only power play of the period while the Canucks didn t score on their only power play. 25 Comments Kings 1, Canucks 0 Posted by Rich Hammond on 21 April 2010, 7:35 pm The Kings continued their power-play success in the first period Thursday, as they got the game s first goal on their first power play. Dustin Brown tried a backhand shot from close range, and before Luongo could cover the puck, Drew Doughty came in and knocked the rebound past Luongo with 6:34 remaining in the first period. 23 Comments Pregame reading Posted by Rich Hammond on 21 April 2010, 6:00 pm To catch up on today s news and notes, please check out my LAKings.com notebook Kings notebook (April 21) Also, Terry Murray gave his thoughts on what he expects at the start of tonight s Game 4 MURRAY: We expect a real hectic start again, like last game. It was an incredible first 10, 15 minutes in that first period, and I think that pace is going to be at that same level again tonight. We re excited about it. It s a young group of guys that are going out to meet the challenge. 43 Comments

8 Pregame listening Posted by Rich Hammond on 21 April 2010, 5:20 pm Nick Nickson caught up with Ryan Smyth, Michal Handzus, Terry Murray and Brad Richardson for some thoughts in advance of tonight s Game 4. To give them a listen, click here. Comment Veteran presence Posted by Rich Hammond on 21 April 2010, 4:40 pm Terry Murray was asked today about the veteran presence of players such as Ryan Smyth and Jarret Stoll who went to the Stanley Cup Finals with Edmonton in 2006 and whether their personalities led them to being coaches on the ice for younger players MURRAY: They want to play coaching roles, sometimes. (laughs) Those veteran players are real important to your locker room. Smytty has been through the wars of getting to the Finals in the past, as Stoll has. Their attitude, about how to come to the dressing room and just relax and have fun, help everybody settle in, go on the ice and go through your work in practice, really is contagious for the young players. 16 Comments How to fix a PK Posted by Rich Hammond on 21 April 2010, 4:00 pm To be certain, Terry Murray doesn t want the Vancouver Canucks to fix their penalty kill. The Kings are 7-for-12 on the power play entering tonight s Game 4, a huge reason why they hold a 2-1 lead in the series. Murray was asked today though, in general, how a team can go about making fixes to its penalty-kill unit in short order MURRAY: I ve been through it many times, unfortunately, where things go back on you. What I have done in the past is just pull it together and spend some time together as a group. Have some discussion, bring the players into it, get their opinions and sort it out and, at the end of the day, I think you, as a coach, need to gather that information, filter it out and bring it back to them again the next day and say, `OK, here s where we re going to get a real big focus on tonight. A Vancouver reporter pointed out to Murray that the Canucks didn t do any on-ice penalty-kill work in practice Tuesday, and instead watched extensive video. Murray was asked about his thoughts on fixing things through video MURRAY: Video is a good thing. You don t have to take it on the ice. There are a lot of visuals that are important in the process, when you get into this time of the year. Certainly, again, just sorting out some things. You can t over-complicate it, but just sort it out and get to specific points and go from there. Finally, are there certain areas, within the penalty kill, that teams seek to address when things aren t going well? Pressuring the points, for instance? MURRAY: It comes down to an individual team s situation. Are you too aggressive? Are you over-pursuing? Are you running at the points? Are you chasing the puck? Do you have your sticks in the right lanes? It all depends on when you watch your team play on video, as to what specifically you re going to focus on. Comment (RSS) Permalink 18 Comments Bettman interview II Posted by Rich Hammond on 21 April 2010, 3:20 pm Here s the second, and final, part of my interview with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, in which he discusses the collectivebargaining situation, hits to the head, the importance of the Los Angeles market, building momentum after the Olympics, the idea of East Coast bias in the league and his role as commissioner Question: Could you maybe give fans an idea where we are in terms of the CBA, and what they can expect over the next couple years? BETTMAN: If I had a crystal ball, I d be able to give you an accurate answer. The collective-bargaining agreement has one more season to run. The players association has the right to extend it for another year, and my guess is, when we get to collective bargaining, there are things the players are going to want to focus on and there are things that we re going to want to focus on. Overall, on a macro basis, the system is working as intended, but that doesn t mean that it doesn t need adjustments on either side. Beyond that, there s no way to know. The union is in the process of looking for a new executive director, and once somebody is in place, actually running the union, I think we ll have a better sense of how things will go forward. Question: Will the league be comfortable with that extension? BETTMAN: That s a judgment that the players have to make. I m not going to be presumptuous or suggestive, one way or the other. Question: Could you share your thoughts on the rule change regarding the hits to the head? It s a complicated issue, but do you feel like you addressed it as well as you could in that short period of time? BETTMAN: I think your question takes that a little out of context. What we did was evolutionary. Since the late 90s, we have been focused on injuries and, in particular, concussions. We ve had a series of initiatives where we have cracked down on hits to the head. What we isolated, and were able to focus on specifically this year in part because it was a work in progress and in part because of the Booth and Savard hits was that we understood what we needed to do to get something out of the game that we didn t like without reducing the physicality of the game. We averaged 40 to 42 hits per game, over 50,000 hits during the course of the season, and there were probably a handful or two of hits that we didn t like, such as the Booth and Savard hits. By focusing on lateral, blindside and backpressure hits targeting the head, we think the general managers, as a group, were able to come up with a rule that was enforceable, understandable and addressed what needed to be addressed. The reason we enacted it the way we did was, we didn t want the officials to have to call it this season, because there wasn t adequate time and preparation and we had already played most of the season. But we wanted the players to understand that we would punish it through supplemental discipline, as a means of deterring that type of hit for the balance of the season. I ll keep my fingers crossed, but it seemed

9 to have the intended effect. The game is still physical, and we haven t seen those types of hits. Question: There are a great atmosphere in Staples Center for the first playoff game the other night. Can you talk about the importance of the L.A. market in terms of the success of the league? BETTMAN: Every market is important. I don t want to minimize what s going on here in L.A., because I think it s a great story, and after eight years it s great to see the success and the enthusiasm. But this is most important to the Kings and their fans. That s what is good to see. You never want to see a franchise struggle for a long period of time. Every franchise has to go through a rebuilding period. We ve had franchises that have gone even longer without being in the playoffs, and still aren t in the playoffs. The fact of the matter is, whenever a franchise is not having the type of success that it, or its fans, want, and that becomes a prolonged period of time, it s nice to see it when the franchise stops struggling. But from the league s standpoint, we want 30 healthy, successful, competitive franchises. Question: Could you talk about trying to build momentum out of the Olympics, after that gold-medal game? BETTMAN: All of the metrics are good, but that doesn t surprise me, because we ve had four record-breaking seasons coming into this one. How much of that is the bounce from the bounce, and how much is just the continued growth of the game? It s hard predict. I tend to view the Olympics more long-term, where children who saw what they saw which was spectacular, much like in 1980 decide that this is a game they want to play. Southern California is a very good example of the growth of youth participation, which I think is very positive. There are some clubs that were positively impacted, competitively. There were some that were negatively impacted. But on balance, we re having a good season and it s probably attributable to a variety of factors. Question: As commissioner, where would you say you spend the majority of your time? Obviously you have deputies and staff that help out, but in a week of Gary Bettman s work, what would you say you focus on the most? BETTMAN: I think it s undefinable. This is a very complex business that is constantly in the public eye. Some people have analogized sports leagues to the Disney company, which is a model that I think it admirable. We have our theme parks, which are our arenas. We have hundreds of hours of programming. We have sponsorship arrangements and advertisers. We have licensed product. We have multiple platforms, be it NHL.com or the NHL Network or XMSirius. So we are like an entertainment company that touches all bases. Most importantly, we re in the business of serving our customers, who are our fans. There is no shortage of issues, and my job is to manage it all, and make sure it all works, and I do that with the help of a terrific organization, both at the league level and with the 30 great organization we have with the clubs. So we re also in the franchise business. Maybe we re Disney, but even a little more complicated, with all due respect to my friend Bob Iger, who I admire very much. Question: In every sport, you hear the term East Coast bias, perhaps because so many league offices and large media headquarters are in the East. Can you talk about the challenges in making sure that the West Coast is properly represented? BETTMAN: I think there are two reasons for that. One is that teams in the West tend to travel more. That s a function of geography. I think the other is that the day starts earlier on the East Coast than it does on the West Coast. I don t think there s any bias. You re in a position media on the West Coast where you watch what goes on on the East Coast, because it s part of your normal day. Media on the East Coast, a lot of them don t stay up to see what goes on on the West Coast. You ll have to talk to your colleagues about why that is. But at the end of the day, all of our franchises are important, and there is no bias. Here I am, on the West Coast, having this conversation with you. Question: Are you on sort of a tour here? Trying to see as many playoff cities as you can? BETTMAN: I m trying to get to places that I haven t been in the regular season. In the course of the season, I try to get everywhere. I m not always 100-percent successful, based on my schedule and the way the schedule plays out. I hadn t been to Los Angeles for a game this season, and I thought this would be a good opportunity. Question: I imagine that s beneficial to you, to be able to see the markets first-hand BETTMAN: That s why I try to get to games in every building. You want to experience it. You want to talk to the organization. You want to interact with fans. You want to talk to the media and you want to see the game presentation in each place. That s the good news. The bad news is, I have a full day of meetings back in New York tomorrow, so I m going to red-eye back after the game. Comment (RSS) Permalink Bettman interview I Posted by Rich Hammond on 21 April 2010, 2:40 pm Here s the first part of my interview with NHL commission Gary Bettman today, in which he discusses the kicked-in goal from Game 3, the league s television arrangement, the possibility of the Winter Classic in Los Angeles, relocation/expansion, the league s online-streaming thoughts and the possibility of seeing Eastern Conference teams every year Question: There s been a lot of talk in the past couple days about the incident of Sedin kicking in the puck, a lot of talk about the kicking motion. What was your take on that situation? And does it bother you, even if it s just in a joking way, to hear the word conspiracy being tossed around? BETTMAN: First of all, I don t believe we had an `incident. We had a close call that was made by our professionals in hockey operations in the Toronto office. I am comfortable with their professionalism, their integrity and their judgment. Whenever you have a situation that s a close call, you re going to have one side that s happy and one side that s unhappy. For anyone to suggest, or use the word `conspiracy is simply absurd. There s no foundation to it. My guess is, it s no different than what we ve seen and experienced in prior years in the first round of the playoffs. Emotions are up, passions are up and the stakes are high. Question: There s been a lot of debate about that rule. Did you think it was clearly defined and explained? BETTMAN: No matter how clearly you define a rule, you re going to see something. If the leg swung six feet, it would be a lot clearer than if it moved an inch or two. So there are always going to be tough

10 calls, but it s been well defined. It s something that the general managers have reviewed. There s been a DVD, with video examples, that was circulated previously, in seasons past. As I said, I m comfortable with the judgment that was made by our folks in charge of video review. Question: There are a lot of fans asking about TV, and the idea of ESPN and Versus BETTMAN: First of all, Versus is doing a great job. Their coverage is wall-to-wall and extremely well done. Their distribution, particularly now that they re back on DirecTV, is close to 80 million homes. They give us the promotion, the scheduling and the coverage that we wouldn t get anywhere else. I think a fair amount of the media talk about TV, and why we re not on ESPN, actually comes from ESPN. Question: When I talked to Tim Leiweke, though, he said he respectfully disagrees with you and talked about the value of exposure on ESPN BETTMAN: AEG has a studio on its property for ESPN. They are business partners, so while I respect Tim s view, the fact is that we re going to have to agree to disagree. Question: Tim Leiweke also talked about bringing the Winter Classic to Los Angeles. Is that something you ever see happening? BETTMAN: It s not something we have studied, because I presume that, from a weather standpoint, it would be difficult for us to ensure that the ice and the game conditions would be consistent or stable enough for us to conduct a game that actually counts in the standings. But if they re serious about it, then we ll have to study it in more depth. Question: There are a lot of questions from fans outside the Southern California market about possible expansion to Canadian cities or to the Northwest. Could you just talk, in general, about the idea of relocation or expansion in the coming years? BETTMAN: I don t want to make any promises to any city that doesn t have a team, that they might get one in the immediate future. I don t want to raise expectations. That s been done, in other instances, by other people, and I think it s been unfortunate, especially for the people whose expectations have been raised. We re on record, and our record is clear, that we do everything possible to avoid relocation. At the present time, particularly in a recessionary environment, we re not looking to expand. If we were to do either of those two things, an unavoidable relocation or expansion, then obviously we re going to look at the places that have expressed interest in a team. Question: Given the growth of online viewership with the GameCenter Live package, do you anticipate any changes in how that is handled? There are some questions about games being blacked out, and similar issues. BETTMAN: First and foremost, we are very mindful of the important relationships that teams have with their local TV providers. We try not to do anything to interfere with those important relationships. If you re going to see streaming of home-team games locally, it s going to be through a joint endeavor with us, the club and the regional sports channel or local broadcaster. BETTMAN: There are always discussions ongoing, because this is a space that is evolving at record speed. So we re very mindful of it. We went through a point in time where we wouldn t stream games out of market because there were issues with gating. Those were solved. Technology has become spectacular. People continue to compliment us on how good our games look, streamed online, which is a credit to NeuLion, which is our technology provider. Our visits to NHL.com this season are up 30 percent. Our subscriptions to GameCenter Live, I think, are up over 50 percent. We have the most tech-savvy fans, and the fact that we may have been challenged in traditional media means it s even more important that we re using the digital space to connect with our fans.. Question: In terms of scheduling, there are questions about whether or not there will be any more changes, particularly in terms of being able to see every team, every year BETTMAN: You see them every year, either on person or on television, which is a change from where we were. The overwhelming feedback, since we made the last change, is that people seem to like what we have. Unless we see a groundswell of interest in making a change, I don t see the point in making a change just for the sake of making a change. With our conference-based playoffs, which have resulted in incredibly competitive regularseason races, it seems to be working as we intended it, and quite well. Comment (RSS) Permalink 36 Comments Jones return Posted by Rich Hammond on 21 April 2010, 1:50 pm Randy Jones will be back in the Kings lineup tonight, after missing the previous two games. Jones last appearance came in overtime of Game 1, when his turnover led to the Canucks overtime goal. After that, Peter Harrold replaced Jones in the lineup, but Jones will go back in tonight. Today, Jones and Terry Murray talked about Jones game, and what needs to be different going forward Question: What would you say are the things in your game, going forward, that you need to emphasize in order to be effective in the playoffs? JONES: I ve got to be moving my feet at all times. Sometimes when you get the puck, rather than looking up and waiting to make a play, it s a lot more beneficial, and easier on your teammates and yourself, if you start skating with it and start moving your feet, and then start looking to make plays. It just opens up a lot more for you, and that s what I ve got to get back to doing. Question: You missed some time with what they called an upperbody injury. Is there any thought that the recovery process from that has taken a while? JONES: I want to say no. I never want to use injuries as excuses or anything like that. I was injured at the time, and the trainers made sure I didn t come back until I was 100-percent healthy, so I never want to use injuries as an excuse. And here s what Murray said today about Jones inclusion in the lineup Question: Is that something that s plausible?

11 MURRAY: We have an experienced player going in, in Randy Jones. He s been in this situation many times. He was taken out for reasons that I did speak to him about, and I think he got the message. We ll get him in and get him going. Question: Randy has said that, in terms of not moving his feet and things such as that, it s something that he might not even be aware of until he sees it on video. For you, and as a former player, does that seem like a reasonable thing? MURRAY: It is very reasonable. That s exactly what happens with Jonesy, and it goes back through my time with him in Philadelphia, when he was coming into the league from the (AHL) Phantoms. They had a great year down there, won the Calder Cup, and he comes in and shows flashes of being a top-four defenseman in the National Hockey League, and then he gets into this lull in his game, standing and watching and waiting for things to happen. He gets the puck on his stick and, instead of being assertive with it, he throws the puck around the boards and it gets to be a turnover situation. So that s the areas that I address with him on a fairly regular basis. Most important is, get your feet moving, get skating. He s a good skater. He can carry the puck out of danger and he can make good plays. Comment (RSS) Permalink 48 Comments Fines issued Posted by Rich Hammond on 21 April 2010, 1:13 pm TSN has reported that Vancouver defenseman Shane O Brien and coach Alain Vigneault have been fined $2,500 and $1,000, respectively for the ongoing pregame shenanigans between the Kings and Canucks. O Brien apparently shot a shot toward Jeff Halpern during warmups before Game 3, although O Brien told reporters today that he was only joking around with Halpern, a former teammate. There was also an incident, before Game 3, between the Kings Rich Clune and Vancouver s Ryan Kesler, but I haven t been able to confirm whether there were fines issued for that incident. In other Canucks news, Nolan Baumgartner is expected to replace Aaron Rome on defense in the only lineup change tonight. 45 Comments Wednesday morning skate Posted by Rich Hammond on 21 April 2010, 11:18 am As expected, the Kings will make one lineup change tonight, with Randy Jones replacing Peter Harrold on defense. Jones and Terry Murray talked today about the need for Jones to keep his feet moving and make the simple plays, something that has been reinforced on video. More from the morning skate to come. I ll be having my interview with Gary Bettman within the next hour also 80 Comments Thanks for patience Posted by Rich Hammond on 21 April 2010, 9:49 am As you have probably noticed in the past few days, the blog can get very slow, or even go down, at certain important times. I apologize for that, and I can assure you of two things: one, it s being worked on, and two, nobody is more frustrated about it than me. Quite frankly, there are so many of you reading and interacting that it s straining the server, so that s amazing. Your loyalty has blown away expectations, but it also needs to be rewarded with a quality product, so that s priority No. 1 for me right now. Thanks again for your patience and all your tremendous support! 84 Comments

12 Monarchs To Face Worcester in Round 2 MANCHESTER, NH The Manchester Monarchs, the primary affiliate of the Los Angeles Kings, will be playing the Worcester Sharks in the 2010 Calder Cup Atlantic Division Finals. Tickets for the division finals are on sale now at and the Verizon Wireless Arena box office. Along with the box office, tickets for the second round are available at Ticketmaster by calling (800) or by visiting Ticketmaster online at Fans may also purchase playoff tickets at all Ticketmaster locations, including the Customer Service Desk at the Mall of New Hampshire. Ticket prices for the second round of the playoffs are $23 for adults in the Gold level and $17 for adults in the Silver level of the Verizon Wireless Arena, $21 for seniors (65 and older) in the Gold level and $15 for seniors in the Silver level and $13 for youth tickets (12 and under) in both levels. For group and birthday party pricing during the 2010 Calder Cup playoffs, contact the Monarchs at (603) Round 2 Dates And Times Game 1 - Sunday, April Worcester, 3:05 p.m. Game 2 - Wednesday, April Worcester, 7:05 p.m. Game 3 - Friday, April MANCHESTER, 7:30 p.m. Game 4 - Saturday, May MANCHESTER, 7:00 p.m. Game 5 - Wednesday, May Worcester, 7:05 p.m. (if necessary) Game 6 - Friday, May MANCHESTER, 7:30 p.m. (if necessary) Game 7 - Saturday, May Worcester, 7:05 p.m. (if necessary)

13 A Kings Fan Down Under A loyal Kings fan travels all the way from Australia to see the first four games of the Kings-Canucks playoff series By Andrew Howard - Staff Writer Hartman claims the atmosphere at STAPLES Center was louder than that in Vancouver. It's a question that Scott Hartman has been asked, by his count, every day for the last month. How does a man from Australia with no connections to Los Angeles come to follow the Kings, much less the game of hockey? And for Hartman, the answer isn't that complicated. "It was a love at first sight thing," Hartman said. "I watch hockey, it's physical, it's fast, [and] it's just a great game to watch. As far as the Kings, it was a case of I come to L.A. quite a lot and I love hockey. It was an easy match." On the surface, Hartman resembles any other Kings fan. Sunglasses on, a freshly looking Anze Kopitar alternate jersey with blue jeans, Hartman blends in seamlessly with the Southern California crowd. That is, until you meet him and understand what he goes through to follow his team on a daily basis. The first time Hartman visited Los Angeles was in As a young Australian who works for the public transportation section of his home in Perth, Western Australia, Hartman admitted that he was a bit nervous for his first trip to California. "It takes some getting used to," Hartman said. "The second time I came back is when I just fell in love and certainly a case of one day I'd like to move here. But it's easier said than done." Hartman did not come to Los Angeles on business. He did not come to visit family or friends. He simply just came for the fun of it. "Obviously coming from Australia, L.A.'s sort of a launching pad," Hartman said. "You tend to fly into L.A. and go everywhere from here." That trip began a love affair with the Kings that has blossomed into what Hartman describes as an obsession. Ever since NHL opened up its NHL GameCenter available across the globe, Hartman has watched every Kings game, not missing a single game for the past two seasons. There are two factors which make it easy for Hartman to see all the games. One is his work schedule in which he works mainly afternoon and night shifts, allowing him to watch the Kings when they typically come on around 11 o'clock in the morning Australian time. The other reason is that there aren't any blackouts in Australia, allowing for every game to be shown, a problem some teams in the leagues such as the NFL have struggled with. Hartman said that he usually makes two or three trips to the United States to watch the Kings play live. This season he was in the country for the first month and final month of the season, seeing games. "It's hard but it makes me enjoy it more when I'm here," Hartman said. Not only has Hartman seen the Kings play at STAPLES Center, he has traveled across the country to places such as Nashville, Minnesota, St. Louis and Colorado. When the Kings opened up this Western Conference quarterfinal series against the Vancouver Canucks last Thursday in Vancouver, Hartman was there for both games at GM Place. "Game 1, I didn't see another Kings jersey the entire night," Hartman said. "Every other game that I've been to, there's always a bunch around you, not just walking the concourse. But walking around the concourse, walking outside the arena that first game, I didn't see anyone and they gave me a hard time. For the most part they were good, 99.9 percent of them were really genuine hockey fans, really nice people, [so I] couldn't complain." That game the Kings fell 3-2 in overtime. Walking out of the arena, Hartman said that a couple of Vancouver fans adopted him, taking him out for drinks. Hartman recalls that he didn't have to pay for a drink all night. However, after the Kings returned the favor and defeated the Canucks 3-2 in overtime, the reception he received was a bit different. There were no free drinks, no friendly greetings and some unpleasant chants. Hartman continued his trip and was present for games three and four in Los Angeles at STAPLES Center. Every time he comes to STAPLES, Hartman said that he always sits in the same seat in section 216. However, there was something different about Monday night. "I sat in the same seat that I sat in all the games I've been to at STAPLES, and for me anyway, I felt like I was somewhere else," Hartman said. "I felt like it wasn't STAPLES Center. It was that loud." In his estimation, the STAPLES Center crowd, which hadn't seen a playoff game since 2002, was more energized and loud than the Vancouver crowd in the first two games. "I'm sure Canucks fans will tell you that it's a lie, they'll tell you that it's the acoustics, they'll tell you it's anything they want to tell you," Hartman said. "But I think its probably just our years without playoffs." Immediately following the Kings 6-4 loss, Hartman was on his way to LAX to catch a red-eye flight back home so as not to miss Game 5. Also, after being away from home for over a month he said that he's pushed not going to work for as long as he can. However, there is one way in which he could possibly find himself back. "When they make it [to the Stanley Cup finals], I'll be here," Hartman said. "I can assure you of that."

14 Kings In Unfamiliar Territory After finishing the regular season with a mark when entering the third with a lead, LA gives up four in final stanza to lose Game 4 By Andrew Howard - Staff Writer The Canucks tallied four times in a wild third period to erase a 3-2 deficit. LA was during the regular season when entering the third period with a lead. Throughout the regular season, the Los Angeles Kings were rock solid entering the third period with a lead, posting a mark, one of two NHL teams not to suffere a regulation loss when leading after two. That was the regular season. Scoring his first goal of the series, Sedin gave the Canucks the lead for good after three Kings players got caught in Vancouver's defensive zone, creating an odd man rush which resulted in a goal with 2:52 remaining. "We made two costly mistakes, and they are a transition team," Kings forward Ryan Smyth said. "We have talked about this at the start of the series and throughout the series. They thrive on that kind of stuff, and it showed. We have got to eliminate the turnovers and the odd man rushes." Entering the third period with a 3-2 lead on Wednesday night, the Kings allowed the Canucks to score four goals en route to a 6-4 loss for Los Angeles in front of a standing-room only crowd of 18,322 at STAPLES Center. Instead of an opportunity to take a commanding 3-1 series lead heading into Friday night's game in Vancouver, the series is now even at 2-2 with the certainty that the two teams will meet at STAPLES Center on Sunday for a sixth game. "When you have a lead going into the third period, you got to be able to nail that thing down," Kings coach Terry Murray said. "That's what you're objective [is], obviously. Keep playing hard, keep playing heavy and be physical on their players and shut that down. "Win the game." Vancouver tied the game at 7:29 mark of third period on goal by Mikael Samuelsson off a rebound, and then took the lead for the first time in the game almost five minutes later on a power-play goal by Sami Salo. The fact that the costly penalty for the Kings was for too many men on the ice was ironic, as it was a similar penalty that powered the Kings to an overtime win in Game 2. "We have the too many men on the ice and they capitalize on the power play," Murray said."that kind of kicked the door a little bit." While Wayne Simmonds made it forgivable for a moment with a spectacular goal while flying through the air less than a minute later to tie the game, the NHL scoring champion Henrik Sedin brought the win home for the Canucks. Ryan Kesler would add an empty-net goal but by then the story had been written for the Kings. With an opportunity to cap off the return of playoff hockey to Los Angeles with two wins, the Kings must head to Vancouver for the start of what is now essentially a three-game series. "They're a good club," Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick said. "If you don't play the full 60 [minutes] it's going to happen to you and they capitalized on a few mistakes we made." Quick added that in playoff scenarios a teams goaltender needs to step up with big-time saves, something he said he didn't do. Someone who did was Vancouver's Roberto Luongo. After consecutive games against the Kings at STAPLES Center in which he allowed eight goals and five goals, Luongo made some crucial saves down the stretch. "I felt great, but obviously it was a high-scoring game," Luongo said. "Sometimes you've just got to make the saves and get the win. Like we've seen in the past, we are a bit more high-scoring and sometimes these games are going to happen, but at the end of the day when the game is on the line, sometimes you've got to make the save." The Kings must now prove that they have short memories and put Wednesday's costly third period behind them. If the team wishes to return to STAPLES Center with a lead in the series, they must show that a young team can bounce back. "This is part of the process," Murray said. "You got to go through it. As a young group of guys you're going to face adversity and again we, I feel, have handled those situations pretty well over the course of the year where we've shown to be resilient and gritty and bounce back. Its going to be a test up in Vancouver."

15 Bettman 'Comfortable' With Sedin Ruling National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman comments on the Daniel Sedin's overturned goal in Game No. 3. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman on Wednesday issued a strong defense of the league s video-review process, in the aftermath of a controversial incident in Game 3 of the Kings-Vancouver series, and rejected any suggestions of a league "conspiracy." Bettman Press Conference League pundits and fans have been buzzing, since Monday, about Daniel Sedin s overturned goal, after videoreview officials in Toronto ruled that Sedin s "kicking motion" sent the puck into the Kings net. The call has led to intense debate, but in an interview with LAKings.com on Wednesday, Bettman said he was comfortable with the way the incident was handled and dismissed the idea that any league officials have a rooting interest in any games outcome. "First of all, I don't believe we had an incident," Bettman said. "We had a close call that was made by our professionals in hockey operations in the Toronto office. I am comfortable with their professionalism, their integrity and their judgment. Whenever you have a situation that's a close call, you're going to have one side that's happy and one side that's unhappy. "For anyone to suggest, or use the word 'conspiracy' is simply absurd. There's no foundation to it. My guess is, it's no different than what we've seen and experienced in prior years in the first round of the playoffs. Emotions are up, passions are up and the stakes are high." Bettman also said he was satisfied with the way that league officials explained the "kicking" rule. After the game, an explanation was posted on NHL.com and Mike Murphy, the league s vice president of hockey operations, gave an explanation on TV. "No matter how clearly you define a rule, you're going to see something," Bettman said. "If the leg swung six feet, it would be a lot clearer than if it moved an inch or two. So there are always going to be tough calls, but it's been well defined. It's something that the general managers have reviewed. There's been a DVD, with video examples, that was circulated previously, in seasons past. As I said, I'm comfortable with the judgment that was made by our folks in charge of video review." Bettman was also asked about the prospect of the Winter Classic -- the league s annual outdoor regular-season game -- ever being played in Los Angeles, something Kings governor Tim Leiweke recently said the Kings are interested in staging. "It's not something we have studied," Bettman said, "because I presume that, from a weather standpoint, it would be difficult for us to ensure that the ice and the game conditions would be consistent or stable enough for us to conduct a game that actually counts in the standings. But if they're serious about it, then we'll have to study it in more depth." To read the entire interview with Bettman, visit LAKingsInsider.com.

16 LA Kings Ice Crew presented by William Rast Featured on SI.com Wednesday, / 5:21 PM / Kings Ice Crew The LA Kings Ice Crew presented by William Rast was recently featured on Sports Illustrated's Web site CNNSI.com with a 34- picture pictorial in their Photo Gallery section. Click here to see photos of Jennifer, Erica, Mellissa, Michelle, Ashley, Stephanie, Carrlyn, Sara, Debbie, Stephanie as they perform their on-ice duties as LA Kings Ice Crew members. For more information on the LA Kings Ice Crew, visit Lady Byng Finalists Announced (April 21, 2010) -- Pavel Datsyuk of the Detroit Red Wings, Brad Richards of the Dallas Stars and Martin St. Louis of the Tampa Bay Lightning are the three finalists for the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy, which is awarded to the player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability, the National Hockey League announced Wednesday. The Kings have had five winners of the Lady Byng trophy by three different players starting with Marcel Dionne in , Butch Goring in and Wayne Gretzky three times, , and Click here for a list of all Kings NHL Award Winners. The members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association submitted ballots for the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy at the conclusion of the regular season, with the top three vote-getters designated as finalists. The winner will be announced Wednesday, June 23, during the 2010 NHL Awards that will be broadcast live from the Pearl Concert Theater inside the Palms Hotel Las Vegas on VERSUS in the United States and on CBC in Canada. Following are the finalists for the Lady Byng Trophy, in alphabetical order: Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit Red Wings Datsyuk is seeking to become the first player in League history to win five straight Lady Byng Trophies -- New York Rangers legendary center Frank Boucher won it seven out of eight years from 1928 through 1935, including four straight seasons from 28 through 31. Brilliant at both ends of the ice, Datsyuk led Detroit in scoring for the fifth straight season and led the NHL in takeaways for third time in the past four seasons with a career-high 132. He is a finalist to win the Selke Trophy as the League s top defensive forward for the third straight season. Datsyuk was one of only three of the League s top 30 scorers this season who had fewer than 20 penalty minutes. Brad Richards, Dallas Stars Richards won the Lady Byng Trophy in 2004, shortly after capturing the Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He also was a runner-up to Datsyuk for the award in Seventh in the League in scoring this season with 91 points and fourth in the NHL with 67 assists, Richards was assessed only 14 penalty minutes while playing an average of 20:51 per game and appearing in 80 games. Consistently among the League s least penalized and most productive players, Richards was named to the All-Rookie Team and won the 2004 Conn Smythe Award as playoffs MVP while never amassing more than 32 PIMs in any of his nine NHL seasons. Martin St. Louis, Tampa Bay Lightning St. Louis has been the runner-up to Datsyuk for the Lady Byng Trophy the last three seasons. The Tampa Bay winger had a superb season, ranking sixth in the League in scoring with 94 points, the second-highest total of his 11-year NHL career. His 12 penalty minutes were the fewest among the League s top 50 scorers and the fewest among the 88 players who appeared in all 82 games. The winner of the Hart Trophy and Art Ross Trophy in Tampa Bay s Stanley Cup season of , St. Louis has eclipsed 30 penalty minutes in a season only twice in a career that has seen him score 30 goals five times and appear in five NHL All-Star Games. History Lady Byng, wife of Canada s Governor-General at the time, presented the Lady Byng Trophy during the season. After Frank Boucher of the New York Rangers won the award seven times in eight seasons, he was given the trophy to keep and Lady Byng donated another trophy in After Lady Byng s death in 1949, the National Hockey League presented a new trophy, changing the name to the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy.

17 -- MEDIA ADVISORY -- AEG SPORTS PRESIDENT, CEO AND NHL GOVERNOR TIMOTHY LEIWEKE IS TODAY S GUEST ON NHL HOUR WITH COMMISSIONER GARY BETTMAN NEW YORK (April 22, 2010) NHL Governor and AEG Sports President and CEO Timothy Leiweke is today s guest on NHL Hour With Commissioner Gary Bettman on NHL.com and SIRIUS XM Radio at 6 p.m. ET. AEG, the parent company of the Los Angeles Kings, is considered one of the world s leading presenters in the professional sports and entertainment industry. Leiweke, in his 14th year with AEG, was instrumental in acquiring and merging more than 50 divisions and companies whose alliances create a global live entertainment organization. He recently was selected by the Sports Business Journal as Sports Executive of the Year. Leiweke s latest venture L.A. Live, a multi-faceted entertainment district that is adjacent to the STAPLES Center, will serve as host to prospects, their families, media and Club representatives when NHL Entry Draft comes to Los Angeles in June. NHL Hour with Commissioner Gary Bettman broadcasts live on Thursdays from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. ET on NHL Home Ice (XM Channel 204 and on SIRIUS Channel 208 as part of the Best of XM programming package) and NHL.com. The show will re-air on SIRIUS XM Radio, with archived shows available for download via podcast on NHL.com. The show encourages fans to call in with questions. To submit questions to NHL Hour call NHL Hour with Commissioner Gary Bettman is a production of NHL Radio. ### (4/22/10)

18 Accreditation Application Available Today for Media Attending the 2010 NHL Entry Draft The National Hockey League (NHL) has made available today the accreditation application for media attending the 2010 NHL Entry Draft. The 2010 Entry Draft will take place at the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles on Friday, June 25 Saturday, June 26, Members of the media can obtain their application online at Entry Draft: (Los Angeles, CA) Available Wednesday, April 21 st Deadline Wednesday, May 12 th Notification Friday, May 14 th Members of the media attending the Entry Draft can find hotel booking information below. The JW Marriott Los Angeles at L.A. LIVE 900 West Olympic Boulevard; Los Angeles, California Phone: Room Rate: $189 Cancellation: by 3 pm the day prior to arrival Deadline: Friday, May 14, 2010 For reservations, copy and paste the following link into a web browser: For reservations by phone, please call and use group code "Entry Group" Also currently available at members of the media can find the 2010 NHL Awards accreditation application. The annual awards celebration will take place in Las Vegas on Wednesday, June 23, 2010 at the Pearl Concert Theater inside the Palms Hotel Las Vegas NHL Awards: (Las Vegas, NV) Deadline Thursday, May 6 th Notification Friday, May 14 th Members of the media attending the 2010 NHL Awards can find hotel booking information below. Palms Hotel Las Vegas 4321 W. Flamingo Road; Las Vegas, NV Contact: Christina Calata, Group Coordinator Phone: ext. 6477; christina.calata@palms.com Room Rate: $99 Group Code: NHLPR For reservations, copy and paste the following link into a web browser: BIN/LANSAWEB?procfun+rn+resnet+res+funcparms+UP(A2560):;NHLPR;? More details regarding the 2010 NHL Awards schedule of events, ticket and broadcast information, festivities, entertainment, and other events, will be announced at a later date. Contact: Nicole Buckley National Hockey League nibuckley@nhl.com ###

19 TODAY IN KINGS HISTORY- APRIL 22: Butch Goring (Kings all-time scoring) scored 18:28 into overtime ( 700K) at the Forum to beat the Boston Bruins, 4-3 and even the series at three wins apiece. After the goal, which was scored against Hall of Fame goaltender Gerry Cheevers, the Kings carried Goring off the ice on their shoulders to the roar of the Forum crowd. "I can't say enough about the club. They played their hearts out," Kings head coach Bob Pulford said. "That we were down two goals and came back the way we did made me very proud of them." Mike Corrigan tallied two goals in the third period as the Kings erased a 3-1 deficit to force overtime. Tom Williams put the Kings up 1-0 in the second period but Boston's Bobby Schmautz tied the game and the Daryl Edestrand and Gregg Sheppard put the Bruins on top 3-1 before Corrigan tied it in the third and Goring won it for the Kings Kings named Dave Taylor as the team's new General Manager, replacing Sam McMaster, who had been the G.M. for the previous three seasons. McMaster was named the Kings G.M. on May 24, 1994 and led the Kings to a record, without making a playoff appearance. Taylor became the seventh G.M. in the club's 30-year history. Taylor held the post until April 18, 2006, with the franchise posting a mark over that span with four post season (1998, ) appearances (10-18). [Back] KINGS IN THE NEWS Ch. 2 (Jim Hill) and Ch. 4 (Mario Solis) are broadcast live from STAPLES Center last night during their respective sportscasts during the 6 o clock hour to preview Game 4. Heidi Androl s scheduled interview with 710 AM will took place yesterday at 2:40 p.m. (postponed from Tuesday). Luc Robitaille is scheduled to join the NHL Power Play show on Friday at 1:45 p.m. PT with host Denis Potvin. The show is seen and heard on NHL Network, XM and Sirius. Hear special editions of a Kings post-game radio show on AM 570 following those games in which Kings Talk will not air due to travel. Eddie Garcia and Vic The Brick Jacobs will talk Kings hockey on AM 570 following the conclusion of Game 5 from Vancouver. Here is a CBC feature on Drew Doughty from Saturday night. It also features an interview with Sean O Donnell: Here is a clip from Fox 11 s story last night on Ice Crew / Game Entertainment Yesterday, the Ch. 5 Morning Show and AM 830 did a joint piece on the Kings along with City TV in Vancouver KINGS TWITTER PAGE: LAKingsHockey 1. #LAKings fall to 6-4 in a wild, back-and-forth affair and the series is tied 2-2. Best of three to advance. about 12 hours ago via web 2. Vancouver back on 5-4 with H. Sedin scoring on a 5-on-3 breakaway and the #LAKings trail by one late. about 12 hours ago via web 3. Unreal. Wayne Simmonds scores and Los Angeles comes back to tie it after trailing for the first time tonight. #LAKings 4, Canucks 4 about 12 hours ago via web 4. Vancouver has erased 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 deficits, #LAKings tied in the third. about 12 hours ago via web we're efforting to find that record at the moment. We'll see. about 13 hours ago via web in reply to uscpsycho 6. What an amazing, back and forth game, #LA Kings lead 3-2 at second intermission. about 13 hours ago via web 7. #LAKings underway after fantastic anthems from Rachael Stark. about 14 hours ago via web 8. #LAKings forward Jarret Stoll's Journey Blog No. 2 for LAK series. Check it out. about 15 hours ago via twaud.io 9. #LAKings forward Ryan Smyth with Nick Nickson as LA prepares for Game No. 4 about 15 hours ago via twaud.io 10. #LAKings forward Michal Handzus with Nick Nickson as LA prepares for Game No. 4 about 18 hours ago via twaud.io 11. #LAKings coach Terry Murray with Nick Nickson as LA prepares for Game No. 4 about 19 hours ago via twaud.io 12. #LAKings forward Brad Richardson with Nick Nickson as LA prepares for Game No. 4 about 20 hours ago via twaud.io 13. The #LAKings Ice Crew makes Sports Illustrated. Check out the photo gallery on SI.com: about 21 hours ago via HootSuite 14. Today in Kings History: April 21, 2006: Dean Lombardi was named the eighth General Manager in club history... about 23 hours ago via Facebook 15. Check out the beard of the day Eric Ennabe. (4/21/10), one of our most active facebookers! He currently ranks :37 AM Apr 21st via Facebook

20 latimes.com/sports/la-sp-0422-elliott-kings,0, column latimes.com Kings see double as Canucks tie series with 6-4 win Sedin twins take over in the third period, when Vancouver scores four times. Helene Elliott 11:22 PM PDT, April 21, 2010 The Kings and Vancouver Canucks are back to where they started in one sense, even in games after the Canucks scored four times in a furious third-period push Wednesday to wrest a 6-4 victory at Staples Center that sent the series back to Vancouver for Game 5 on Friday tied at 2-2. But it's tough to look at this and not think the Canucks have taken the upper hand after twins Henrik and Daniel Sedin, effective but not extraordinary in the early going, broke the game open and combined to score a goal and four assists. Henrik, the NHL scoring champion, scored Vancouver's fifth goal and his first of the series at 17:08, on a pass from Daniel off a four-on-two created when Wayne Simmonds fell in the Vancouver end and Ryan Smyth was spun out of position and left staring at the twins' jet fumes. Ryan Kesler scored into an empty net to clinch it with 17 seconds left to disappoint a Staples Center crowd of 18,322 and the many fans who had seen the Kings win a home playoff game Monday for the first time in eight years and desperately wanted to feel that winning feeling again. They were denied by Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo, regaining some semblance of his top form with a sprawling, on-his-back glove save on an Alexander Frolov breakaway early in the third period while the Kings held a 3-2 lead, and by the double, world-class threats named Sedin. "That top line picked it up. They scored some pretty goals on us in the third," Matt Greene said. "It's something we knew was going to come. And this is when they brought it. Hats off to them." The Kings extended their power-play streak to six in building a 2-1 lead early in the second period and even after the Canucks built a 4-3 lead the Kings made it 4-4 at 13:18 on Simmonds' lunging rebound. But they soon lost their composure and the game. "I thought we were playing well and we just got away from our game a little bit but that's exactly what got them to the point to finish third in the West," Greene said. Kings goalie Jonathan Quick couldn't be blamed for bending under that onslaught in the third, but neither did he make the kind of momentum-changing save that might have inspired his teammates. "In order to win a playoff series you need your goalie to make a few big saves for you down the stretch and I wasn't able to do that for the team," he said. The Kings scored first, during a power play, when Drew Doughty backhanded a loose puck that Luongo couldn't cover at 13:26 of the first period.

21 Vancouver tied it during a power play of its own, at 3:36 of the second period, when Christian Ehrhoff beat a screened Quick to the stick side with a 30-foot slap shot. The Kings converted yet another power play to take a 2-1 lead on Dustin Brown's wicked, 25-foot shot that beat Luongo at 5:56. Their power-play streak ended at six, but that became less important than the fact that Vancouver pulled even at 15:35. Sean O'Donnell turned the puck over in the neutral zone and promptly went to the bench, leaving the Canucks with a two-on-one break. Former King Pavol Demitra snapped the puck home from about 25 feet out on the right side. The Kings scored again at 17:09 while the teams were skating four-on-four and a delayed penalty was pending against the Canucks. Simmonds rifled a perfect pass toward the front of the net for Anze Kopitar to redirect past a helpless Luongo and give the Kings a 3-2 lead. But Vancouver began to take control in the third period and the Kings' defensive play grew ragged. The Canucks tied it at 7:29 of the third when Mikael Samuelsson, at the inner edge of the right circle, converted a pass from Daniel Sedin, and they took the lead on a power-play goal after the Kings were caught with too many men on the ice. Sami Salo ripped a shot from about 45 feet that Quick probably still hasn't seen. The Kings matched that on Simmonds' goal, but they couldn't match Henrik Sedin's feat on the fifth goal. And so it's back to Vancouver, where the Kings won Game 2 and must win or face elimination at home on Sunday. "Hopefully we can learn from our mistakes against that big line," Greene said. "We've got to shut them down and have better success against them. That's extremely evident after tonight." Or there won't be many tomorrows left this season. helene.elliott@latimes.com twitter.com/helenenothelen Copyright 2010, The Los Angeles Times

22 latimes.com/sports/la-sp-erskine ,0, column latimes.com CHRIS ERSKINE / FAN OF THE HOUSE How Kings' Die-Hards live hockey They're a big-hearted, mostly harmless band of brothers (and sisters) who date back to the Dave Taylor days. Chris Erskine 11:44 PM PDT, April 21, 2010 Jennifer Ogawa of Torrance was sitting minding her own business, as if that's even possible at a hockey game, when a few rows up, one Steve Raboin of Chino Hills stumbled forward and landed in Ogawa's lap, not on purpose. Two minutes: drinking. As so often happens at hockey games, no one was hurt during what would appear to be a crushing hit, probably because Ogawa's boyfriend didn't witness the incident. "He was in the bathroom," Ogawa explains. Such is life in what they call the Die-Hard section of Staples Center, a family-oriented section in the higher reaches, if your family consists of knuckleheads and other ne'er-do-wells, which it probably does. Are people constantly falling on each other up here, I ask, or is it a rather rare thing? "Well, not rare," Ogawa explains. Wrigley Field has its Bleacher Bums and Staples has its Die-Hards, a big-hearted, mostly harmless band of brothers (and sisters) who date back to the Dave Taylor days. Once known as "Dave Taylor's Die-Hards," they are now mostly just the Die-Hards. Their 'hood ranges from sections 304 to 314 in the nosebleed seats, and only the top three rows at that though some lower rows claim to be Die-Hards too, proving there is no end to the odd associations to which some people aspire. "Luon-goooo!" the fans shout, jeering the opposing goalie. Luon-goooooooooooooooooooooooo!" At Staples on Wednesday, there were more bad noses than a Scorsese movie, and I'm not just talking about the players. You should see the louts up here in the Die-Hard section. War whoops. "Puckhead" hats. Crowns. And beer breath that would kill a goat. There's Steve Anetil of Cypress, who keeps insisting that the Die-Hards are like family, keeping in touch on Facebook during the season and off. There's Russian-born Greg Tsipkis, who stands against the wall with his buddies at the very back of the section because the seats make you docile. "I have good days when the Kings win," he explains, "and I have the worst days when the Kings lose."

23 Join the crowd, dude. See, hockey fans are almost their own ethnic group. They swagger off to games the way Vikings did to conquer rival villages. Beards, beer guts, clubs. And I'm not just talking about the women, either. Many of the men exhibit these same physical traits. The typical hockey fan woman or beast appears to be about six months pregnant. "Go, Kings, go! Go, Kings, go!" they scream. Let me just say: There's nothing better than a hockey game in person, or worse than a hockey game on TV. In person, it's like a sport the Marx Brothers might've invented. They wear boots designed to slide in an effort to chase something the size of a urinal cake. Assuming they can even catch the darned thing, the urinal cake wants to roll, skid, flutter like a finch. Playing hockey is like cutting diamonds with a tent mallet. Out of frustration, the players usually turn on each other, the thinking being: "I can't get that bleepin' puck, so I'll just hit you instead." That, in essence, is hockey. Three periods? Somebody explain to me three periods. It would be as if football had two halftimes. Evidently, hockey was invented by someone who couldn't count to four. And the season is mortally long two years. It's almost harder to miss the playoffs than make them. In many ways, the NHL is like AYSO soccer. Everyone plays. Yet, hockey is wicked fast, wicked fun. It's all angles and blood and stitches after the game. They play it on ice just to stanch the swelling. If there are more passionate fans, I have yet to find them. Hockey crowds always smell faintly of moose to me. Doesn't matter if it's Edmonton or L.A., the musk of antlers and unwashed flannel shirts hangs over the arena. But that's only part of the appeal. They also sing the anthem like no other fans in Wednesday's case, the American and the Canadian anthems. They sing it loud, and not very well, the way anthems should be sung. And once the game starts, they fall all over themselves. Just ask Jennifer. chris.erskine@latimes.com Copyright 2010, The Los Angeles Times

24 latimes.com/sports/la-sp-nhl-gary-bettman ,0, story latimes.com Gary Bettman says Philip Anschutz deserves credit NHL commissioner says Colorado-based owner has been there for the Kings. By Helene Elliott 5:55 PM PDT, April 21, 2010 Philip Anschutz, who bought the Kings out of bankruptcy in 1995 and built Staples Center, hasn't gotten enough credit for stabilizing the franchise, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said Wednesday before the Kings faced the Vancouver Canucks at Staples Center in Game 4 of their playoff series. Anschutz, a Denver-based billionaire who regularly shuns interviews, has been vilified by fans who contend he ignores the team and bought it only to get a foothold in downtown real estate. Not so, Bettman said during an interview with The Times, adding that he had seen Anschutz's distaste for losing. "The fact that he doesn't choose to be out in the public doesn't diminish the fact that he's passionate about the team and that since AEG bought the team he has been there for the team in every way that mattered and he has been supporting the team financially," Bettman said. "And so to that extent it always amazes me when I read the stories about this is the equivalent of corporate ownership where nobody cares, or it's only about the money." Having the Kings in the playoffs after an eight-year absence, Bettman said, "is always good for the fans of the team. Any team. It's always good for any organization to overcome long droughts when a team hasn't been as successful as everyone would have hoped." Bettman, who has been in office more than 17 years and said he has not thought about how much longer he will stay, discussed a variety of topics. He said the league has managed to hold its own in a tough financial climate, though final numbers for this season aren't in. The salary cap rose $100,000 from to $56.8 million for this season and Bettman said he doesn't anticipate much change for next season. Last season revenues rose about 5%, slightly short of projections. "I think we're either going to be flat or up or down a percent or two, which is basically flat," he said. "In this environment this is pretty good, and relative to the other sports I understand that's very good." He also praised the competitiveness in the postseason, attributing it to "the way the game is being played now, which is a function of the officiating standards and the rules changes, and the fact that all teams can now afford to be competitive under the system we have." He also debunked theories that the league conspired to help Sunbelt teams and ignores Canadian franchises, a topic explored earlier this week in the Toronto Globe and Mail. "If that were the case, why has it taken eight years for the Kings to be in the playoffs? Why have the Panthers not been in the playoffs for 10 years? I don't think it's appropriate to dignify unfounded accusations," he said. The review that nullified an apparent Canucks goal in Game 3 fed those theories because of the involvement of Mike Murphy, a former Kings player and coach and now the NHL's vice president of hockey operations. The CBC aired a graphic that stated his Kings connection while interviewing Murphy by phone. Bettman said the perception of bias was "absurd it seems to be a subtle jab at integrity which is unfounded and inappropriate." He added, "Perhaps it's the CBC that evidences a rooting interest for its own TV ratings." helene.elliott@latimes.com twitter.com/helenenothelen

25 latimes.com/sports/la-sp-bettman-q-and-a ,0, story latimes.com Q & A with Gary Bettman The NHL commissioner discusses a number of topics, including Philip Anschutz s impact on the Kings, the bounce of the Olympics, and conspiracy theories. By Helene Elliott 8:50 PM PDT, April 21, 2010 NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, in Los Angeles for Game 4 of the Kings' playoff series against the Vancouver Canucks at Staples Center Wednesday, addressed a variety of topics during an interview with The Times. Question: Having the Kings in the playoffs after a long absence, having the L.A. market involved, what are your thoughts? "It's always good for the fans of a team. Any team. It's always good for any organization to overcome the long droughts when a team hasn't been as successful as everyone would have hoped." Q. Also having the draft here following their filing for bankruptcy. They're in the process of being sold]. "The good news is the city approved a memorandum of understanding. That was a big step forward. But the process still has work that remains to be done. We remain optimistic that everybody's going to do what they need to do, and it's nice to see that the team has had success because it's demonstrating, among other things, that people in the Valley of the Sun, will support a team that has credibility on the ice. And that people know how to get to Westgate. "Hopefully it will all come together. We've put a lot of effort into stabilizing the team and doing what needed to be done last year. And hopefully the things that will need to get done in order to finalize all the arrangements that are necessary for the team will hopefully get done in the not too distant future." Q. Is there an ownership issue as well in Dallas, with Tom Hicks? "It's a coincidence. It's good to be here. We've been planning it, as have the Kings, for a while, but we know that this is a market that will support hockey. We had a terrific All-Star Game here in 2002, when things were not as exciting as they are today. But you always have to look at these things for the long term." Q. Looking back at the situation the team was in when Phil Anschutz and AEG bought it, there's been a dramatic turnaround in terms of stability. Competitiveness aside, stability. "It's interesting that you say that because I don't think Phil Anschutz gets enough credit. That's probably because he's a private individual and the fact that he doesn't choose to be out in the public doesn't diminish the fact that he's passionate about the team, and that since AEG bought the team. "He has been there for the team in every way that mattered and he has been supporting the team financially and so to the extent, and it always amazes me when I read the stories, [how] this is the equivalent of corporate ownership where nobody cares, or it's only about the money. They really aren't looking at what's happened here during the term that Phil Anschutz has owned this team, supported this team and made sure that the team has been stable." Q. I think that perception is fed by his choice to not be in the public. "But he's like that in all of his endeavors. It's no different than any of the multitude of businesses that he owns. This is the way that he chooses to conduct himself, but I think ultimately he should be judged by the fact that he has always stood behind this team. And believe me, because over the years I've seen firsthand how he feels. He does not like losing." Q. Can you give an example of conversations that you might have had with him, issues important to him? "It's more that I know it pains him when the team isn't successful." Q. At the moment, the issue that everyone seems to be looking at is the Coyotes. If you can just update a little bit on where that situation stands. [The Coyotes are being operated by the NHL "I think first and foremost it's been very public that Tom Hicks has been in a process to sell the [Texas] Rangers. I think it's just been announced that there's a process to sell Liverpool. And he's made no secret that he's looking at his options with respect to the Stars. I believe there are a lot of people who, if the team is ultimately to be sold, would be interested in buying the Stars." Q. They're going through a down time competitively, but in terms of people supporting them, are they OK over the long term? "I think the issues are less about the Stars than a more general issue with respect to Tom's relationship to his banks. The team is doing OK. That team is not a concern." Q. Looking at the playoffs so far, so many games have been so close and so competitive. Home ice has not really been that huge an advantage. Is this ultimately what you envisioned in terms of parity and competitiveness? "First and foremost, when you look at the games they have been hugely entertaining, and that, to us, is the most important thing about what happens on the ice. The fact that I think this is the first time in the history of the best-of-seven round in the first round that all series were tied at one tells you how competitive the game is. Which is no surprise coming out of the regular season. You talk to coaches and managers and players for a number of teams and they'll tell you they've been in the playoffs for the last six weeks and we think that's a function of a variety of things: The way the game is being played now, which is a function of the officiating standards and the rules changes, and it's the fact that all teams can now afford to be competitive under the system we have." Q. You got a pretty good bounce coming out of the Olympics in terms of TV and other measurable factors. Is that accurate? "In a difficult climate our business has been pretty strong this year. I don't know that you can quite yet measure the impact of the Olympics. To me the Olympics is more about the kids who watched the gold medal game and decided they want to play hockey, not unlike what we saw from '80 and that's a longer-term thing. But the

26 metrics surrounding our business have been strong this season but they've been strong for the last four seasons as well." Q. Do you envision revenues staying stable? "We don't have final accounting yet. Last year, the first part of the recession, we were up about 5% when we had, before the recession started, projected 7%. So we saw a little bit of an impact. I think we're either going to be flat or up or down a percent or two, which is basically flat. In this environment this is pretty good, and relative to the other sports I understand that's very good." Q. So that would affect the salary cap as well. "One of the things, and I'm talking real revenues, native revenues, the Canadian dollar, which goes into the computation but isn't a real economic factor, may change things a little bit because of its volatility but I don't envision much change in the cap one way or the other." Q. In terms of labor relations with the players' association, everybody looks at what's going on over on their side, and that's their business but what kind of relationship do you have right now with the PA [player's association]? "There's really nobody who's dealing with us on a day-to-day basis. They have some staff that are attending to things that need to be attended to, but in terms of the initiatives and major things that we might want to do, there's really little structure for us to do it with, so we, like everybody else, are looking forward to a time where there will be a strong, stable union that can be a partner to work with us in growing the business." Q. Getting the headshots rule put in was fairly significant and it has the potential to change. "I think it was important. Significant makes it sound like it was out of the blue. I think it was more evolutionary. We have been for years dealing with concussions and injuries and hits to the head and it's been in very measured, studied ways. This was another step along that road. While there may have been two hits this year [on David Booth and Marc Savard] that helped expedite the process, I think it also helped to define what it is precisely what we needed to do. "The concern had always been if you over-legislate here players won't know what to expect. Officials won't know what to call. And you might be taking physicality out of the game. I think managers were able to come up with something that was very specifically focused." Q. In talking to general managers, they've said, "We've been talking about this for years and years but we never came to a definition." "Part of it is we've had the concussion study group, the injury panel. We had the standard three years ago with the DVD about hits to the hit when using an elbow, a stick, leaving your feet, all that stuff. One of the things that we did, which probably didn't get a lot of attention at the time, was we hired some experts and professionals to actually analyze what actually happened in concussions by going over the videotape and using a multitude of criteria to evaluate it. Time of game. Was it a penalty? Where did it come from? Where on the ice? "It may not be an overstatement to say maybe half of our concussions came from lateral or hits from behind. And so with that data, coupled with the Booth and Savard hits, we were able to very clearly focus on what we believed was wrong and needed to be eliminated from the game, and I think the managers were really good in how they focused on that with us.' Q. How long do you envision yourself remaining in this job? "It's not something I think about. I do it because I love doing it. I find it stimulating and challenging and I've been doing it now for more than 17 years. I've never thought about it and I don't. I can't even tell you when my contract expires because it's not something I focus on." [Reportedly, his contract expires in 2012]. "As long as I'm stimulated and challenged and I love what I'm doing and as long as the owners are comfortable having me then the relationship continues." Q. We ran into a situation the other night when a goal was waved off after consultation with Toronto and I found it interesting that the CBC got Mike Murphy [vice president of hockey operations] on the phone and the put on the screen, "Mike Murphy, former Kings player and coach." Does that bother you that there may be a perception of bias involved [in a decision that favored the Kings and went against the Canucks]? "I think it's absurd. First of all, anybody who works for the league office in hockey operations had to work for some club. Secondly, most people who weren't working for clubs anymore probably got fired. And third, it seems to be a subtle jab at integrity, which is unfounded and inappropriate." Q. You have no concern about him being involved in a decision involving the Kings? "None whatsoever. In the final analysis, Mike Murphy, Colie Campbell [senior executive vice president of hockey operations] and all of our referees work for me and we stand for integrity and if anybody wants to challenge our integrity then they should have some basis for it, not some slanderous speculation that's unfounded. "Perhaps it's the CBC that evidences a rooting interest for their own TV ratings." Q. And I was reading something that appeared in the [Toronto] Globe and Mail about this supposed conspiracy to help Sunbelt teams. "And what's that based on other than utter gibberish? The conspiracy theories are absurd. If that were the case, why has it taken eight years for the Kings to be in the playoffs? Why have the Panthers not been in the playoffs for 10 years? I don't think it's appropriate to dignify unfounded accusations. "This is what we see in a variety of forms every year in the first round. I don't know if it's gamesmanship, the conspiracy theories and critiquing of officiating. The officiating standard hasn't changed. The fact is we don't care who wins. We simply don't. It's about the competition on the ice and it goes back to your first question about how exciting these playoffs have been. The end result takes care of itself on the ice, by the players.' Q. You mentioned the referees. We've seen so many veteran referees forced, required, obligated to retire because of age. "It's not because of age. It's because their ability to perform physically is not what it was.' Q. You lost Kerry Fraser, Don Koharski, a lot of people with experience and authority. "Yes, but at some point your experience and authority doesn't overcome some of the limitations that overcome you. Nobody can perform on the ice forever. The same thing happens to players. At some point, no matter how big a star you were, how great a leader you were, the fact is at some point you can't do what you used to be able to do.' Q. Gordie Howe didn't think so. "Gordie Howe in his 50s wasn't Gordie Howe in his 20s and 30s. It's not about age. It's about performance.'

27 latimes.com/sports/la-sp-kings-sidebar ,0, story latimes.com Vancouver s Sedin twins are key to win over Kings Henrik scores game-winning goal set up by brother Daniel. By Lisa Dillman tonight, we may have killed one off." 11:46 PM PDT, April 21, 2010 The season was slipping away in the din of Staples Center, and the Sedin twins recognized the slippery slope. How could they not? But they are both alert and intelligent enough to recognize that things, indeed, may be different for the Canucks. Forty minutes of adversity didn't mean that it was destined to end in tears. "I said it from Day One, it's a different team," Henrik Sedin said. "And we stuck with it. That's the biggest thing. Personally, our line, if this would have been a couple of years ago we would have started cheating. "Would have made plays we shouldn't have made and the game would have been out of hand after 40 minutes. You have to stick with it." That they did. The Sedins showed up in a big way. Henrik Sedin scored the game-winning goal late in the third period, set up, of course, by his identical twin, Daniel. And the Sedins combined for five points in the Canucks' 6-4 win against the Kings in Game 4 at Staples Center. And if that wasn't enough they helped kill penalties. The woeful Canucks penalty kill got a little better with some help from their friends, the Sedins. Then again, it couldn't get much worse. The Kings scored on their first two power-play opportunities. Then Vancouver stopped its free fall and killed the final two chances. Henrik even cracked a joke about the difficulties. Scoring game winners, killing penalties and delivering a dry line. Yes, Henrik really did do it all on Wednesday. They wanted to help kill penalties. "We talked about it. We wanted to do it," Henrik said. "It's tough to see a lot of pucks go in. We both played PK before and we wanted to do something. He gave us a chance and hopefully we can stay there." Said Daniel Sedin: "I think we showed a lot of character. We know our PK is good." Henrik scored on an outnumbered attack, a four-on-two rush, saying: "I was going to pass first, but I was pretty open so I made the shot and it was nice to see it go in." Said the Kings' Dustin Brown: "You can't give good players great opportunities. They're great players and you give them an opportunity with the puck on their stick late in the game and they'll make something happen." The twins were boosted by a different look on their line, as right wing Mikael Samuelsson joined them, adding some speed. But Daniel thought the game turned when goalie Roberto Luongo stopped the Kings' Alexander Frolov on a breakaway early in the third period. "Those are the saves we need to get because they're going to get scoring chances. He was great tonight and hopefully he'll keep going," Daniel said. lisa.dillman@latimes.com Twitter.com/reallisa Copyright 2010, The Los Angeles Times "Like I said, our PK killed us last game," he said. "And

28 The Fabulous Forum The who, what, where, when, why and why not of L.A. sports Kings-Canucks, second period April 21, :12 pm News flash: The Canucks finally killed a penalty. It was getting so ridiculous - the nearly unstoppable Kings' power play - that it was time to find out who was in charge of this train wreck. Wandered over to ask a Vancouver reporter buddy: "Who is in charge of the Canucks' PK...and does he get to go home with the team on the plane?" Or someone else pointed out, he might have to walk home. The poor soul in charge of the Canucks' penalty killing is associate coach Rick Bowness. Fixture in the NHL and was the head coach of five NHL teams. And, seem to remember, in a previous life covering hockey, that he was a good guy. But back to the second period. The Kings now lead 3-2 early in the third, boosted by Dustin Brown's power-play goal at 5:56 of the second and Anze Kopitar's late goal with just 2:51 remaining in the second. For Brown, it was his first playoff goal. Kopitar has points in three of the four games. The Kings, in the series, are nine for 15 on the power play (60%) and managed to score six straight goals on the power play, starting with Kopitar's overtime goal in Game 2. On to the rest of the third. Kings, once again, were economical, needing just 31 seconds to score. Again, there was more than one culprit. Canucks' goalie Roberto Luongo couldn't quite cover up the puck in the scramble but defenseman Kevin Bieksa didn't do him any favors on the play. -- Lisa Dillman More in: Kings Watching Kings-Canucks Game 4 tonight? Keep your eye on the goalie, if not on the puck April 21, :04 pm There may be a lot of viewers out there now watching the NHL playoffs who don't usually watch during the regular season. But as these videos courtesy of NHL.com show, the bottom line is this: Keep your eye on the goaltender. For the Vancouver Canucks' Roberto Luongo, if he failed to make this save in Game 1 at home, the Kings would have won. It also goes to show you how difficult a goalie's stick can be (watch the video). Then, in the video below, there is this goal by the Kings' Drew Doughty in Game 3, when Luongo never saw the puck coming, even though he probably knew it was coming. All of which whets the appetite for Game Debbie Goffa -Lisa Dillman Kings lead Canucks, 1-0, after first period April 21, :04 pm OK, this power play is almost freakish. And we mean that in the most complimentary way, of course. Defenseman Drew Doughty's power-play goal at 13:26 gave the Kings a 1-0 lead after one period. That means the Kings have scored on their last five power plays, starting in overtime of Game 2. One of my esteemed colleagues, Eric Stephens of the Orange County Register, just tweeted that the Canucks have got to be scared to take a penalty now. Be afraid, be very afraid. Kidding aside, this particular penalty was more than a singular mess up: The Canucks were called for too many men on the ice, and the

29 Kings' game day skate: Jones returns on defense after being told to move his feet April 21, :11 pm Kings defenseman Randy Jones didn't realize that his game had regressed until he was pulled from the lineup for Games 2 and 3 of the Kings' playoff series against Vancouver and sat through taped examples of his recent misplays. "I didn t feel that I had lost it," said Jones, who had a good start after he was claimed off reentry waivers in late October but became more inconsistent as the season progressed. "When you re going long stretches at this time, you think you re making the right plays, and you think you re doing something, but you re really not. You don t realize it until you see it on video or you re in the stands watching the game. So I don t want to say that I lost it or anything like that, but it s playoff time and everyone s got to be great." Simply using his skating skills and making better decisions are all Coach Terry Murray is asking from Jones. Taking Peter Harrold out and inserting Jones was the only change Murray made for his lineup for Game 4 Wednesday night at Staples Center. "I have an experienced player going in, in Randy Jones. He s been in this situation many times. He was taken out for reasons that I did speak to him about, and I think he did get the message and we ll get him back in and get him going," Murray said after the Kings' morning skate in El Segundo. Murray also said this wasn't the first time he had talked to Jones about allowing his game to slip and proved it by showing tapes of his performances. "That s exactly what happens with Jonesy, and that goes back with him through my time in Philadelphia when he s coming into the league as a young player from the Phantoms," Murray said, referring to the Flyers' top farm team. "They had a great year down there, and they won the Calder Cup, and he comes in and shows flashes of being a top-four defenseman in the National Hockey league, and then he gets into this lull in his game where he s standing and watching and waiting for things to happen. Gets the puck on his stick and instead of being assertive with it, he throws it around the boards, and it gets to be a turnover situation. That s the areas that I addressed with him on a fairly regular basis. "Most importantly is, get your feet moving. Get skating. He s a good skater. He can carry the puck out of danger and he can make good plays." We'll all be able to judge that Wednesday night. More later at ν Helene Elliott In opera and in hockey, it's not over till... April 21, :00 am If it's possible to go to a fight and see a hockey game break out, then surely it must be conceivable to go to a hockey game and see an opera unfold. The current Los Angeles Kings-Vancouver Canucks Stanley Cup playoff series, which resumes Wednesday night, is a case in point. Yes, there are plenty of bearded, helmet- and armor-clad Nordic types doing battle for the chance to possess a coveted piece of precious metal, albeit a silver cup rather than a ring of Rhinegold. But more important, we've noticed there's a literal connection between the two seemingly disparate worlds of hockey and opera, and specifically the Kings and Ring Festival LA. To wit: Before Monday night's Game 3, bass-baritone Alan Held sang the Canadian and U.S. national anthems -- certainly a change of pace from his recent role as Gunther in Los Angeles Opera's production of "Götterdämmerung." Held got a wild ovation from the towel-twirling, standing-room-only crowd. And he might even be considered a good-luck charm now, after the Kings went on to win the game 5-3. Held is not the first opera singer to perform before a Kings game. In fact, Benjamin Salisbury, the supervisor of game presentation and events for the team, says that the Kings and Los Angeles Opera (and its Young Artist Program) have long worked together to present singers such as Joseph Kaiser, Agostino Castagnola, Kyle Ketelsen, Angel Blue and Valerie Vinzant. But perhaps the most celebrated opera-related performance of the bunch came back in a regular-season game on April 1, when the Kings routed the Canucks, coincidentally enough, by a score of 8-3. With the match all but over, the L.A. mascot, Bailey (pictured), donned a Brünnhilde outfit -- complete with gold tresses and silver bustier -- while an aria was piped over the arena's loudspeakers. With the Kings now up 2 games to 1 in their best-of-seven series -- and another three rounds to go before the ultimate prize is awarded -- L.A. hockey fans would no doubt be happy to see Brünnhilde Bailey make several encores. -- Scott Sandell FROM CROWE S NEST As long as Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty and Jack Johnson remain in the fold, the Kings probably won't experience another eight-year playoff drought anytime soon....

30 FROM THE DAILY NEWS BONSIGNORE: It's OK for NHL commissioner Bettman to say he loves L.A. and the Kings By Vincent Bonsignore, columnist Updated: 04/22/ :34:47 AM PDT Gary Bettman's hastily arranged news conference prior to Game 4 of the Western Conference quarterfinals Wednesday was the perfect opportunity for the NHL commissioner to applaud the recent success of the Kings, the new league power rising from the West. He could have pointed to another loud, frenzied sellout crowd at Staples Center, the one that's given the Kings a huge lift in their firstround series against Vancouver, and proudly proclaimed it proof of the long-range potential of hockey in Los Angeles, and perhaps the signaling of an even healthier NHL itself. But he didn't. He could have mentioned the detail-oriented rebuilding plan Kingsgeneral manager Dean Lombardi carefully crafted four years ago, focusing on drafting and developing a core of young players, then asking for patience and understanding from fans as those youngsters grew and matured together. Lombardi's plan is an example for other struggling teams around the league hoping to breathe life into their franchises and their frustrated fan bases, unquestioned evidence that persistence and conviction eventually pays off. There was no questioning that Wednesday as the Kings whipped Staples Center into frenzy by coming back to tie Game 4 in the third period, only to fall 6-4, the winning goal scored by Henrik Sedin with 2:52 remaining. The series is now tied two games apiece, with Game 5 Friday in Vancouver. And While the outcome was disappointing, it did nothing to dampen the rising fortunes of a Kings franchise that has undergone a complete transformation over the past four years. And by the looks of things, the Kings should be a factor for years to come, their youth and talent that obvious. Not that Bettman bothered to acknowledge any of it. Instead it was the same old smug commissioner, downplaying any personal appreciation for the Kings and their newfound vitality, as if to say their vibrancy means the same to the health of the NHL as, well, that of the Vancouver Canucks. As for the Kings rebirth this year, Bettman said he found no more satisfaction in it than he would any other team in the league, and to draw any conclusions that success in LosAngeles is any more significant than in Columbus or North Carolina or Edmonton is just plain wrong. "We want all of our teams to be successful, we want all of our buildings to be full," he said. "All teams go through down periods, and whenever a team goes through a down period, it's nice to see, for their fans, not for the league, but for their fans and the organization, it's nice to see them have some success. That is my view universally for all 30 franchises." Huh? Look, with all due respect to our Canadian friends to the north, or those in Atlanta and Nashville down south, it goes without saying a healthy, exciting team in Los Angeles can do wonders for the future of the NHL. And to deny that or hide from it is absurd. Think about the last time the Kings enjoyed sustained success in the late 1980's and early 1990's after acquiring Wayne Gretzky, and think about how much the NHL flourished as a result. Five years after Gretzky's arrival from Edmonton, the once floundering Kings were playing for the Stanley Cup, and soon after franchises were sprouting up in unlikely locations like San Jose, Phoenix, Anaheim and Nashville. Gretzky took hockey to another level in the United States, paving the way for the game to flourish in cities it never would have without his impact. But it obviously helped his platform was Los Angeles, the second-largest media market in the country. Had Gretzky played in Buffalo or Minnesota, who's to say the impact would have been the same? With the latest hockey revolution ready to unfold in Los Angeles, a young, talented team prepared to make a prolonged run and a passionate fan base filling the arena in support, the NHL can certainly benefit. The league's national television contract - yes, there actually is one - is up after next season, and it's obvious Bettman will use a sparkling franchise in Los Angeles as a key bargaining chip for a more lucrative deal - and hopefully more televised regular-season games. Bettman knows all this. He's a shrewd, New York lawyer and a former confidante to NBA commissioner David Stern, who two decades ago took a provincial league and made it a global sensation. Of course, it helped that Stern had Magic Johnson in Los Angeles and Michael Jordan in Chicago to help fuel his vision. Bettman understands the benefit of a healthy team in L.A., but he just won't talk about it, at least not publically. See, the commissioner walks a fine line when it comes to the Kings, understanding any public show of appreciation for their success raises eyebrows throughout the league, especially in Canada, which already has major issues with the perceived preferential treatment for teams that play in the United States. In Los Angeles, Canada and smaller market teams in the United States see the glitz and the glamour and wonder what lengths Bettman and the league might go to seize an opportunity to cash in. The reality is Bettman doesn't have to do anything; the Kings are doing just fine rebuilding their empire on their own, and after years of languishing, the plan they committed to four years ago is now coming to fruition. They didn't need Bettman's help to make it happen; it just took a good blueprint and some persistence. And they won't need his help from here on out, either.as long as they stay healthy and stick to the plan, they'll be fine. It's OK for Bettman to acknowledge that, and even admit the NHL stands to benefit big time if the Kings go on a run the next few years. A healthy team in Los Angeles is good for the NHL, and the commissioner should not be afraid to admit that.

31 Bettman, Vancouver media clash By J.P. Hoornstra Staff Writer Updated: 04/21/ :32:35 PM PDT NHL commissioner Gary Bettman coming under fire, and firing back with passion, is nothing new. But Wednesday may have been the first exchange of its kind inside Staples Center. Prior to Game 4, the visiting Vancouver media peppered the commish with complaints from back home about the NHL's handling of video replay in Game 3. The play in question took place early in the third period Monday, when Daniel Sedin deflected a puck into the net off his right skate. The call on the ice was a good goal, but after a lengthy video review in Toronto, the goal was disallowed on the basis that Sedin used a kicking motion to put the puck in the net. Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault, as well as a nation of referees in Canada, disagreed with the decision. Some fans took it a step further, contending that NHL Senior VP of hockey operations Mike Murphy - a former Kings player and coach - wanted the goal overturned because of his pro-kings bias. "The Kings - have been very fortunate that Phil Anschutz has owned this franchise since the mid-90 s," he said. "There's no ownership issue here at all. Phil has stood behind this franchise every step of the way. "He's very passionate about this team. He wants it to be successful because he's someone who's used to having success in his businesses." Also... Randy Jones replaced Peter Harrold on the Kings' blue line Wednesday. Raitis Ivanans, Justin Williams and Davis Drewiske were the other healthy scratches. - According to multiple reports, the NHL fined Canucks defenseman Shane O'Brien for flipping the puck toward the Kings' Jeff Halpern in warm-ups prior to Game 3. It was apparently intended as a friendly gesture between former Tampa Bay teammates. - Bettman said he was open to "studying the possibility" of hosting a Winter Classic game in Los Angeles, but had concerns about the potential quality of the ice. - For the second straight game, the Kings announced a "standing-room only sellout crowd" for Game 4 - this time of 18,322. jp.hoornstra@inlandnewspapers.com Given his moment to respond, Bettman did not hold back. "This whole tact of innuendo and insinuation is either - it's probably both - insulting and pure fantasy," Bettman said. "I suggest that everybody move on and focus on the fact that we are having a terrific playoffs." Asked what he saw in the video to overturn the goal, Murphy told Canadian television network CBC "it's as tough a (decision) as we had. - to me it looked like (Sedin) twisted his toe and got it moving another direction." Murphy explained in the CBC interview that there is a difference between a "kicking motion" - which applied in this case - and a "distinct kicking motion," which is normally applied to overturn a goal scored off a player's skate. Bettman reiterated Wednesday that all 30 teams were recently given a DVD explaining how the "kicking motion" rule would be applied. He then reiterated his faith in Murphy. "Let's get something really straight," he said, "I have complete confidence in the integrity, professionalism and judgment of my hockey operations department. Period." More Bettman Asked about what makes success of the Kings unique, the commissioner complimented team owner Phil Anschutz.

32 Oh, brother! Kings fall, as Sedins help Canucks tie series with Game 4 victory By J.P. Hoornstra, Staff Writer For all of their early success containing Vancouver's dangerous Sedin twins, Daniel and Henrik, the Kings were always cautious in their optimism about the first-round playoff series. On Wednesday, it became clear why. Henrik Sedin scored the winning goal, Daniel Sedin added three assists, and the Canucks won 6-4 at Staples Center to even the bestof-seven series at two games apiece. "We have geared ourselves up for a long series," Kings forward Ryan Smyth said. "We know it was not going to be easy, they are a fighting team, and so are we. We are geared up, we are ready for it." Embattled Vancouver goalie Roberto Luongo shook off a slow start to make 22 saves and got support from six different goal-scorers. Drew Doughty, Dustin Brown, Anze Kopitar and Wayne Simmonds scored for the Kings, who got 31 saves from Jonathan Quick. The series resumes with Game 5 in Vancouver on Friday. The Kings' problem Wednesday was not how they started. Of the five goals scored in the third period, four belonged to the Canucks, who clearly benefited from a switch of right wings. Agitator Alexandre Burrows, the team's leading goal-scorer during the regular season, traded places in the third period with Mikael Samuelsson, the Canucks' leading goal-scorer in the playoffs. Samuelsson joined the Sedins and, on their second shift together, he scored his fifth goal of the series to pull Vancouver even at 3-3. The same trio was on the ice Vancouver took its first lead of the game on a Sami Salo slap shot at 12:16. Though Simmonds got the goal back 62 seconds later, trying the game at 4, it was merely a prelude to Henrik's heroics. With less than three minutes to play, the speedy Swede eluded Sean O'Donnell through the offensive zone after taking a pass from his twin brother. With only Matt Greene standing between himself and Quick, Henrik Sedin fired over Greene's stick and past Quick - the first goal of the series for the NHL's leading scorer in the regular season. "They are a transition team," Smyth said. "We have talked about this at the start of the series and throughout the series. They thrive on that kind of stuff, and it showed. Time and space, they take full advantage of that. You have to make sure you are above their third guy, and above the pocket. In this case, we got caught." Vancouver evened the score at 3:36 of the second period using a sequence out of the Kings' playbook. Steve Bernier set up shop in front of Quick, who could not see Christian Ehrhoff's blast from the right point that made it 1-1. When Canucks defenseman Kevin Bieksa was whistled for hooking 67 seconds later, the Kings had a golden opportunity to tie the game. Sure enough, Brown converted his team's sixth straight power play, burying a hard one-timer from the slot at 5:56. The Kings were a perfect 3 for 3 on the power play Monday in Game 3, a 5-3 victory. But after going 2 for 2 to start Game 4, the streak ended when the Canucks killed a high-sticking infraction on Jannik Hansen Less than a minute later, Vancouver had its second goal. Pavol Demitra led a 2-on-1 breakout and opted to shoot, fooling Quick into opening up the 5-hole and sending the puck between the goalie's legs at 15:35. The Kings' man-advantage drought didn't last long, however. Though not technically a power-play goal, Quick had been pulled for an extra attacker at 17:09 of the second period while a delayed penalty against Vancouver was in effect. Simmonds and Kopitar took advantage, with Simmonds sending a puck into the crease for Kopitar to tip it up and over Luongo, giving the Kings a 3-2 lead heading into the second intermission. Perhaps their best attribute during the regular season, the Kings never lost in regulation when leading after two periods - one of only five NHL teams that can make that claim. Conversely, the Canucks led the league with 11 wins when trailing after two periods. Something had to give - and Wednesday it gave in favor of Vancouver. "We've done it many times during the season where we had to dig one out in the third," Luongo said. "Obviously it was not a pretty one, but obviously it was a huge one." With the Kings trailing 5-4, Quick watched the game's final minute from the bench. He was helpless to stop a long-distance, empty-net goal by Ryan Kesler that provided the final score with 17 seconds left. After Games 2 and 3, the Canucks were the team searching for answers on how to get their top line going. Now it's the Kings who will need an answer for the Sedins before Game 5. "We want to take the positive side of this game and build on it going into game five," Kopitar said. "We have done it in their building already, we won Game 2 there. We know we can do it." jp.hoornstra@inlandnewspapers.com For the first time since Game1, the Kings scored first. For the millionth time in the series - at least it seemed that way - the goal came on the power play. With Michael Grabner serving a penalty for too many men at 13:26 of the first period, Doughty took advantage of sloppy glovework by Luongo to open the scoring, angling a loose rebound between the goalie's legs to give the Kings a 1-0 lead.

33 FROM ESPNLOSANGELES.COM BY ARASH MARKAZI Kings not at all surprised by this series Veterans had warned younger players it would be this way and now it's 2-2 By Arash Markazi ESPNLosAngeles.com Archive LOS ANGELES -- This is exactly what the Los Angeles Kings' veteran players had reminded the younger players on the team all along. The ones who had played in dozens of Stanley Cup playoff games and especially the four who have their names engraved alongside Lord Stanley's Cup told their inexperienced teammates, who were making their playoff debuts, it would be this way. None of them ever said their Western Conference series against the Vancouver Canucks would be easy or go fewer than six or seven games. In fact, veterans such as Sean O'Donnell, Ryan Smyth, Jarret Stoll and Rob Scuderi have repeated the line "six or seven" in almost every one of their answers about the series. So in a way the Kings' 6-4 loss to the Canucks on Wednesday at Staples Center that tied the quarterfinal series at 2-2, heading back to Vancouver on Friday, was expected. "We expected this to be battle and a long series," Stoll said. "We're not going to take these guys for granted or take them lightly or disrespect them. If we don't play the right way they're going to get chances and score some goals and that's what we saw tonight." In other ways, however, the Canucks' win, which saw Vancouver score four goals in the third period, snap the Kings' streak of six straight power-play goals and the Sedin Twins -- Henrik and Daniel -- break out of their slump may have been a premonition of worse times for the Kings. As much as Kings players wanted to put a silver lining on the loss, going back up to Vancouver, they knew they had blown a chance to take a commanding 3-1 series lead. Leading 3-2 in the third period, the Kings, who have made their mark this season by consistently coming from behind and never squandering a third-period advantage (they had been when leading after two periods) did exactly that at the worst possible time. The Kings had a chance to potentially put the game out of reach when Alexander Frolov had a breakaway opportunity on Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo, but after being pulled Monday when he gave up four goals, Luongo more than made up for it with a sprawling save to deny Frolov and keep the Canucks alive. A little over a minute later Mikael Samuelsson tied the score 3-3. "This is part of the process you've got to go through as a young group of guys and face adversity," Kings coach Terry Murray said. "Again, I feel we've handled those situations pretty well over the course of the year. We've shown to be resilient and ready and bounce back. It's going to be a big test back in Vancouver." Henrik Sedin, who won the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL scoring champion, scored his first goal of the series with 2:52 to play on a pass from his twin brother Daniel off a four-on-two created when Wayne Simmonds fell in the Vancouver end and Smyth was out of position. The goahead goal not only gave the Canucks a much needed win (Ryan Kesler added an empty netter with 17 seconds left) but also may have breathed new life into what had been a lifeless performance from the Sedins. Henrik and Daniel Sedin combined to score a goal and four assists in the win and seemed to be at their best when they were joined on the top line by fellow Swede Samuelsson, who has scored five goals in the series. Samuelson's impact on the Sedins and the Canucks goes beyond simply putting the puck in the back of the net. The 33-year-old winger has been a calming force on the team after signing with Vancouver in the offseason from the Detroit Red Wings where he won a Stanley Cup but felt was underutilized. "This is was what I hoped for," Samuelsson said. "This is what I wanted. I wanted to play a bigger role. I really liked it in Detroit, but I got stuck a little bit there and I thought I could do bigger things and I still think that." He has proven his worth so far, on and off the ice for a Vancouver team, which may have more playoff experience on the roster than the Kings but only has one player in Samuelsson who knows what it feels like to hold the Stanley Cup. "He's been unbelievable for us and that's what we need," Henrik said about Samuelsson. "He's been there every game for us. It's been fun to play with him. He's really calm out there. He makes the plays that we need and he's really patient and if things don't go right he stays with it and that's what we need." While the stat sheet will show Samuelson's impact on the ice, his ability to relax the Sedins and his teammates

34 may be just as important. This is a team that would have almost certainly fallen behind 3-1 in a similar situation last year but stuck with its game plan and battled back to get the win this year. "You have to approach it as a game," Samuelsson said. "If you want to get deep it's like if you're watching a movie. Last night I was watching a war movie. I can get into it, but you have to understand it's only a movie and this is only a game. It means a lot obviously, but you have to take it for what it is and separate yourself from it. I'm pretty easy going like that. I just try to stay calm." It has been hard for the much maligned Sedin twins to stay calm and level-headed during the playoffs in Vancouver. All their goals and awards and highlights mean little up north when the Canucks constantly get booted out of the playoffs early. "We know we have to do that," Henrik said. "We don't need the coach or the fans or the media to tell us that. We know when we have to do better. The difference tonight was we were still in the game in the third [period] and last night we were out of it. Both games we were patient and stuck with it. If this were a couple of years ago we would have started cheating and giving away breakaways and 2-on-1s and the game would have been out of hand." Perhaps the turning point in the series came when the Canucks finally stopped the Kings' streak of six consecutive power-play goals and followed that three minutes later with a goal of their own to tie the score 2-2 on a shot by Pavol Demitra, who Canucks coach Alain Vigneault has been waiting to step up since the Olympics ended. "For sure," said Henrik when asked if the power-play goals were getting in their heads. "The guys who were out there instead of making the play and being aggressive they're going to take away shooting lanes. It was big for us to be able to kill it off. That was six in a row. I've never heard of anything like that before." With their six power-play goal streak and two-game winning streak snapped, the Kings now head back up to Vancouver with a clean slate and essentially begin a three-game series with the Canucks. It may not be what the young Kings players had hoped for coming into Wednesday's game but it's exactly what the veterans on the team expected all along. "We know we can win in there barn so we got to go do it," Stoll said. "This could be good for us. This could be good so we learn how to play in the third period especially against a skilled team like this. It's going to be a battle. Going into this we expected a seven-game series, it would have been nice to get a win, sure, but we let it slip away and now we have to take care of business up there." Arash Markazi is a reporter and columnist for ESPNLosAngeles.com.

35 Murray confident Jones learned lessons By Arash Markazi ESPNLosAngeles.com Archive EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Los Angeles Kings coach Terry Murray will make a lineup change before his team's Game 4 matchup with the Vancouver Canucks in their Western Conference quarterfinal series Wednesday night. Mistake-prone defenseman Randy Jones, who has sat out the past two games, will replace Peter Harrold, who didn't play in the third period of the Kings' 5-3 win over the Canucks in Game 3. Murray had benched Jones after the Kings dropped Game 1 in Vancouver, 3-2 in overtime, when the 28-yearold defenseman gave up a turnover that eventually produced Mikael Samuelsson's game-winner for the Canucks. Murray, however, said he was more discouraged by Jones' activity on the ice than the turnover. "I have an experienced player going in, in Randy Jones; he's been in this situation many times," Murray said. "He was taken out for reasons that I did speak to him about and I think he got the message and I'll get him back and get him going." Murray talked to Jones about moving his feet and making the simple plays, which he noticed Jones wasn't doing when he watched tape of the first game. Jones also has struggled to regain his form after suffering an upperbody injury in December after a collision with Edmonton Oilers left wing Dustin Penner. "That's exactly what happens with Jonesy and it goes back to my time with him at Philadelphia," said Murray, who was an assistant with the Philadelphia Flyers from 2004 to 2008 while Jones with the team. "He came in and showed flashes of being a top-four defenseman in the National Hockey League and then he gets into this lull in his game where he's standing and watching and waiting for things to happen and gets the puck on his stick and instead of being assertive with it, he throws it around the boards and it turns into a turnover situation." Murray said he was confident after reviewing film with Jones that those issues have been resolved. "Those are the areas I address with him on a fairly regular basis. The most important thing is to get your feet moving," Murray said. "Get skating, He's a good skater and he can take the puck out of danger and make good plays." Arash Markazi is a writer and columnist for ESPNLosAngeles.com.

36 FROM FOXSPORTSWEST.COM BY PATRICK O NEAL By Patrick O'Neal FOX Sports West & PRIME TICKET April 21, 2010 Thanks to everybody at Foxsportswest.com for allowing me the space to put my thoughts down. Every single day I knot my tie, I get to rub elbows with the best athletes and coaches in the world, and I don t take it for granted. In the past, I would just move on to the next game and not really log what I just saw, or whom I talked to. My dad always told me to keep a journal, but I never managed to keep one going. But now once a week, I get to share my sports thoughts with whoever might be reading. I tend to write stream of consciousness, so I hope you follow. I just went to stir my pasta, and for some strange reason I splashed boiling water on my hand. Not a good feeling at 12:16 a.m. Then again, I shouldn t be eating pasta this late, right? So this week goes down in history for me as one of the best weeks of my professional career. I ve had amazing moments covering sports this past decade, but this Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday may be at the top of the list. Working 3 straight playoff games at Staples with the Kings Monday, then the Lakers, and right back to the Kings. I m talking a truly unreal week. Sometimes a guy gets lucky. I ve been on the Kings beat since the lockout, and I finally worked a playoff game. It s a truly rewarding feeling because I have hosted plenty of Kings shows where we were talking about loss after loss. But that s in the past, and I just feel happy for the team, and excited to be talking playoff hockey. So if any of you saw our postgame show Monday night, it was unbelievable! There were maybe a thousand Kings fans surrounding our set, with only 2 red-coats/security guards. There was nobody to prevent fans from climbing onto our set, so that s what they tried to do. It was the great Jim Fox and I, and absolute insanity. But it was just Kings fans having the time of their lives, and I will never forget that moment. I had to push fans off the railing while talking on air. I usually hate watching myself back on TV, but in this case, I think I have to see that show. What a great win for the Kings and for the fans that have waited 8 years for a chance to show their loyalty. Staples Center was jumping, and the Kings played amazing after a shaky start. If the Kings win Wednesday night to take a 3-1 lead, there is no reason they can t reach the Stanley Cup Finals. The Western Conference bracket is wide open. So on Tuesday, I got to work sidelines for the Lakers Game 2 against Oklahoma City on Fox Sports West. Let me put you in my size 11 s. I m talking to Kobe as he walks in. I ask if he s ready and he says to me, what do you think? Then he goes out and drops 39. He was ready. Huge win for the Lakers in a tight game. The Lakers are beat up physically, so a 2-0 lead means everything. They can t take a long series in the first round and expect to get to the Finals. Kobe spent almost an hour getting treatment on his body before he spoke with the media. I interviewed Andrew Bynum, Shannon Brown, Jordan Farmar, and Lamar Odom for our Lakers Live postgame show. Then I listened in on Ron Artest. He took offense to a reporter from another country suggesting the adjustments Kevin Durant made worked. He was like, what adjustments? It was pretty funny, cause Ron Ron was about to lose it. Finally, he said, "he had 8 turnovers, I think I did a good job." I watched the Chick Hearn statue unveiling in Star Plaza. I listened to stories about Chick from James Worthy and Byron Scott, Bob Miller, Keith Erickson, Stu Lantz and Mitch Kupchak. Then the curtain falls, and there he is. It s a perfect likeness of Chick, who is the greatest broadcaster of all time. It was so sweet to see Marge Hearn touch his face. The best part is the seat next to Chick for fans to sit in and take pictures. Warning, you will look small, cause Chick is bigger than life. So now it s 12:47 and my pasta is finished, and my hand is not that badly burned. I close out a great 3 days with Wednesday s clash at Staples! Kings/Canucks Game 4. We have the game for you on Fox Sports West at 7pm and I ll be setting the scene off the top. No doubt we will see a desperate, dare I say, even more physical Vancouver team in this game. Bring it. After the game stick around for Kings Live, although I ve been told we may have some security this time. Sorry, you might not see anybody climbing onto our set. But if they do, I ll be there. Hit me up on

37 It hasn't been easy for Kings, and isn't getting easier By MARK WHICKER COLUMNIST THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER LOS ANGELES It hasn't been easy for the Kings since, oh, and made plays we shouldn't have made, and the game would have been out of hand after a few minutes. In this, their first playoff adventure in eight years, the euphoria balloon they had been riding for four days crashed late in the third period of Game 4. Henrik Sedin, the NHL's leading scorer, finished a rush with a shot that sailed past Jonathan Quick and gave the Canucks a come-from-behind, 6-4 victory that tied this first-round series at 2-2, with two of the next three possible games in Vancouver. And, no, there was no Marty McSorley moment that served as the pendulum, even though the Kings led, 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2. In fact, they appeared to have risen up to meet a moment of truth with 6:42 left in the third, after Sami Salo's power-play bomb had just put the Canucks ahead, 4-3. Jack Johnson quite deliberately slammed a shot against the end boards and watched it bounce to Ryan Smyth, who just as cleverly fed an onrushing Wayne Simmonds, who had gotten inside Shane O'Brien. It was the tying goal and might have served as the most important score of these playoffs for L.A., if not for what happened next. O'Brien held off an L.A. rush and poked the puck away, and somebody fired a starter's pistol somewhere, and the Canucks were gone. Daniel Sedin got the puck from his twin brother and then fed it back. "(Sean) O'Donnell came up and it became a two-on-one," Henrik said. "Daniel held onto the puck and was extremely patient with it, and he finally gave it to me and I just shot it." And Quick couldn't stop it. But then Quick, belabored by traffic much of the night, couldn't quite make the game-framing saves on which playoff survivors depend. For Vancouver it could be remembered as an affirming victory depending on what happens up north. They're banged up, with stopper defenseman Willie Mitchell out because of a concussion. They were a little shaken by Monday night's loss, with Roberto Luongo failing to inspire trust. But thanks to a nice deflection by the hot Mikael Samuelsson, who moved to the Sedins' line, and thanks to Salo and brother Henrik, and thanks to the empty-netter by Ryan Kesler, the Canucks found reprieve. "The big thing about this game is that we kept at it," Henrik said. "In the past if we'd been in this situation, we might have started cheating "But I've said from Day One that this is a different team. People have to understand it's a 60-minute game. It's not every game that we're going to score in the first few minutes." The twins asked Coach Alain Vigneault if they could join the tattered penalty-killing unit, and they did get a few minutes. Not that it made any difference at first. Until this series nobody knew that a penalty in hockey could be as punitive as pass interference in the NFL end zone, which gives you first-and-goal on the 1. But when the Kings cashed their first two man-advantage situations, they had scored on six consecutive power plays against Vancouver, and when the Canucks mercifully did kill a penalty it only dropped the Kings' performance to 9 for 15. Pau Gasol would be proud of 9 for 15. "But we did manage to kill one, finally," Henrik said, smiling. They actually killed two, one in the third period, when Daniel Sedin was whistled for tripping. "The first power-play goal was a little bad luck," Henrik said, referring to a mixup between Luongo and Kevin Bieksa that allowed Drew Doughty to score the first goal of the game. "The second came right away off a faceoff (with Dustin Brown scoring). After that I thought we did a better job. We put more pressure on them. "It's tough to see a lot of pucks go in. We've played PK before, and we wanted to do something, and he (Vigneault) gave us a chance." Lost in all the power-play talk is Vancouver's abject superiority when the two teams are even. The Canucks lead L.A., 10-5, in those situations, and Samuelsson, who came over as a free agent from Detroit, has five goals in these four games. He replaced Alex Burrows on the first line. This was Henrik's first goal of the playoffs, but Vancouver is still in decent shape, with home ice recaptured. "He can create something out of nothing," Kings coach Terry Murray said of H. Sedin on Monday. "I think he's the most dangerous player in this league with the puck on his stick." When it mattered most Wednesday, the puck didn't stay there long.

38 «Return to Article Click to Print Kings let mistakes cost them in close game By ERIC STEPHENS :46:32 LOS ANGELES Henrik Sedin will certainly get his share of votes for the award that'll go to the NHL's most valuable player this season but he has also been a target for coming up short in the postseason for the Vancouver Canucks. But the league's leading scorer came up with the play that got his team back in the series and denied the Kings a chance to seize control in this best-of-7 Western Conference quarterfinal. Sedin scored on a hard wrist shot past Kings goalie Jonathan Quick with 2:52 left in the game to break a tie and Ryan Kesler added an empty-net score for a 6-4 victory Wednesday night at Staples Center that tied the series at two games apiece. Game 5 is Friday night at Vancouver's General Motors Place, where the Kings won Game 2 in overtime. But the Kings also felt as if a golden opportunity slipped away after letting three different one-goal leads slip away. Vancouver scored four times in the third period to erase a 3-2 deficit. Sedin and his twin brother, Daniel, factored in three of those goals. "We had the game," Kings captain Dustin Brown said. "We made mistakes and they capitalized on them. We had a too many men on the ice for a power-play goal. A bad change on a goal. We got caught with three men below the hash marks on the winning goal. "That's three goals right there that could have been prevented had we been sharper." Sami Salo gave the Canucks their first lead of the wild game with a one-timer off a play set up by the Sedin twins with 7:04 left in regulation but Wayne Simmonds brought the overflow crowd of 18,322 to their feet again with a tying score just 52 seconds later. But that just set Henrik Sedin to play the hero after a career-best 112-point regular season. "There were a couple there that I wished I could have stopped for the team to preserve the lead at times or keep it a tie game at times," Quick said. "I wasn't able to do that." The Kings pulled Quick for an extra attacker on a faceoff in the Vancouver zone with 1:25 remaining. Kesler finally wrapped it up with a drive into the open net with 16.1 seconds on the clock to send the once-rollicking but ultimately disappointed Kings faithful to the exits and onto the freeways.

39 Drew Doughty got the Kings going in the first period just like he did in their Game 3 win. Fittingly, it was on the power play after the Canucks were whistled for too many men on the ice. But the Canucks did show that they have more than a shattered penalty kill. Christian Ehrhoff started an eventual second period with a slap shot that flew past a effect screen of Quick by Steve Bernier for a 1-1 tie at the 3:36 mark of the second. The two teams then traded figurative punches. Brown's one-timer off a faceoff win by Fredrik Modin over Sedin delivered the Kings' sixth power-play goal on consecutive chances dating back to Anze Kopitar's Game 2 winner. But Pavol Demitra got the Canucks back into a tie when he snapped a wrist shot past Quick to finish a two-onone created on Sean O'Donnell's turnover in the neutral zone. The Kings again put Vancouver in comeback mode just 1:34 later near the end of the period as Kopitar got behind Bieksa for a pretty redirection of Simmonds' pass toward the net. Luongo was beaten on that one but he also made a number of big saves to keep the Kings from pulling away. None may have been bigger than his sliding stop on Alexander Frolov's breakaway attempt six minutes into the third. That save could have given the Kings a 4-2 lead. But Luongo also foiled other point-blank opportunties by Brad Richardson and Brown earlier in easily playing his best game of the series. "I felt great to be honest with you," said Luongo, who made 22 saves. "I felt really good in the first period. I made some nice saves. I was in the game. They just found ways to score. "You've just got to fight through it and have the confidence in your team that they're going to score goals, which we've done all year." Jones in lineup Defenseman Randy Jones was put back into the Kings' lineup in place of Peter Harrold after sitting out Game 3. "He was taken out for reasons that I did speak to him about," Murray said. "I think he got the message. Get him back in and get him going."

40 Kings-Vancouver Game 4, the morning after April 22nd, 2010, 12:59 am 2 Comments posted by Mark Whicker, ocregister.com - Roberto Luongo made a bunch of tough saves Wednesday and Jonathan Quick didn t. That was the story as much as anything was. - Mikael Samuelsson unquestionably was the best free agent buy in the NHL last summer and he has five goals in this series for Vancouver. He also was the guy who, when he didn t make the Swedish Olympic team, urged the decision-makers to do something anatomically impossible, and sure enough the Swedes didn t make the medal round. He usually was a third or fourth line guy in Detroit. Never underestimate a goal-scorer. - Surely no sane person in Vancouver thinks the NHL is actively favoring the Kings. Some of that talk surfaced when Daniel Sedin s goal was ruled a kick-in, in Game 3. Bad call, sure, but if the NHL really had the power to enforce a conspiracy, do you really think Chicago would be trailing Nashville, 3-1? Or that the Rangers would have missed the playoffs? Or that three consecutive finals would have been such ratings-killers as Ducks- Ottawa, Edmonton-Carolina and Tampa Bay-Calgary? Please. - Such questions irked commissioner Gary Bettman, but then he was his regular contentious self in a pre-game press conference Wednesday. He also poured hot water on the idea that the Kings or Ducks could play host to the Winter Classic outdoor game. I assume that people move out to California so they don t have to deal with weather cold enough to make ice outdoors, he said. The real problem is that such a Jan. 1 game would get buried by the Rose Bowl. - There were some knowing glances in the room when Bettman was saying that the warm Southern California temperatures might result in ice that isn t up to NHL standards. How often has the Ducks ice been up to that standard? For that matter, most of the Olympic hockey in Vancouver was played on questionable ice simply because of the volume of play. - Nothing s changed on the 2014 Olympics, since a collective bargaining agreement and the TV contracts have to be settled between now and then. Bettman again said the Olympics caused difficulties with the regularseason schedule and that an Olympics in Russia would cause more difficulties. He also said the league was in the process of determining how much of its ratings bump can be attributed to Olympic carryover. I recognize the logistical challenges, but what s good for hockey? An Olympics with NHL players is good for hockey. - Ryan Smyth said the Kings can t let Vancouver continue to tilt the ice with odd-man rushes. Indeed, the Kings didn t establish the cycle game in the corners against a depleted Vancouver defense, a habit they should resume in Vancouver on Friday.] - If the Kings win this series, who s next? Answer: Anybody but Colorado. Since the Kings are the sixth seed and Colorado eighth, and the NHL reseeds after each round to make sure the highest plays the lowest, the two can t play each other. But you wouldn t need much imagination to see get to the next round. In such a case, the Kings would have home ice against Nashville. - Drew Doughty played just two seconds short of 26 minutes, but it s just as impressive that Ryan Kesler, the Vancouver center, played over Nashville s Pekka Rinne and Colorado s Craig Anderson have been the most impressive goaltenders in the playoffs so far. They share this: they weren t in the Olympics. -

41 Poll: Are you rooting for the Kings? April 22nd, 2010, 7:00 am 4 Comments posted by Eric Stephens, Staff writer Since the Ducks again failed to find their game until January and missed out on the postseason fun this time, the Kings are the story for Southern California hockey right now as they head back to Vancouver for Game 5 of their Western Conference quarterfinal-round series. The matchup of the sixth-seeded Kings and third-seeded Canucks has the look of a potential classic after Vancouver s resilience surfaced in a 6-4 victory in Game 4 highlighted by a four-goal third period that had legitimate Hart Trophy candidate Henrik Sedin breaking a tie with 2:52 left. Now the series is tied at two games apiece heading back to Vancouver s General Motors Place, where the Kings do have a victory in Game 2. But their chance at moving on to the second round for the first time since 2001 dimmed a bit as they ll have to win again on the road. Still, it has been a thrilling series thus far and one worth watching. But are you doing that just that and, perhaps, secretly cheering for the Kings to keep their first playoff run in eight years going? We know that there are quite a few fans who swore allegiance to the Kings before the Ducks landed in O.C. Can you appreciate what the Kings are doing or does it turn your stomach? Go ahead and cast that vote. Will you root for the Kings in the Stanley Cup playoffs? Yes. Might as well cheer for our other Southern California team? No. Are you kidding? I'd rather undergo a root canal -- or three. Vote View Results

42 FROM NHL.COM JOSH BREWSTER Kings' young stars get a dose of reality By Josh Brewster - NHL.com Correspondent LOS ANGELES -- It is one thing to lose after a poor effort. It is quite another when a good effort goes for naught. The Los Angeles Kings, whose youngish roster features 13 players with no playoff experience, saw a splendid performance by some of their most important young players go for naught as the Vancouver Canucks evened their opening-round series with a four-goal third period en route to a 6-4 victory. Kings captain Dustin Brown, 25, Anze Kopitar, 22, and Wayne Simmonds, 21, all scored big goals that electrified the Staples Center crowd. But in the end, thanks to a resilient group of veterans, it was the Canucks who skated off with the win after a late tie-breaking goal by Henrik Sedin. For the Kings, whose playoff rise seemed meteoric after backto-back wins in Games 2 and 3, Wednesday night's 6-4 loss proved to be a reality check. The Kings led 3-2 after two periods, only to see Vancouver score four times in the third. It was the first time all season that L.A. lost a game in regulation when leading after 40 minutes. "When you have a lead going into the third period, you've got to nail that thing down," Kings coach Terry Murray said. "Keep playing hard, keep playing heavy and be physical on their players." Brown had a power-play goal and an assist and four shots. Kopitar's second goal of the series made the score 3-2 at the end of two periods. The pair have combined for 3 goals and 6 assists, with a combined 23 shots on goal. Kopitar has a game-winner. Brown has points in each game, Kopitar in three of four. Critics waiting for the young Kings to stumble have been disappointed. But rocking toward what looked like a 3-1 series lead entering the third period, the Kings' young stars were served a cold dish of playoff revenge when Henrik Sedin scored his first goal of the series at 17:08 to break a 4-4 tie. Murray said the sting of losing despite a good effort is part of the playoff package. "There are going to be these difficult times, adversities," Murray said. "You've got to know how to manage your emotions in these situations. Emotionally, you've got to deal with it." The Kings had their chances, but Roberto Luongo came up with two big saves in rapid succession, one on Brown, another on an Alexander Frolov breakaway. "I don't think there was much different (in LA's play) except Vancouver was able to score a couple of critical goals at critical times," Murray said. "I thought we were skating, doing a pretty good job of managing the puck. We (had) a breakaway with about 14 minutes left in the period on a 3-2 lead and if we score on it, maybe the game's put away. "It is what it is," Kopitar shrugged. "It would have been great to go up 3-1 in the series, but we've got to learn from our mistakes for sure." Wayne Simmonds' goal with 6:42 left in regulation got the Kings even at 4-4 after the Canucks capitalized on a too many men penalty to go ahead on Sami Salo's goal 62 seconds earlier. "There's a lot of positives in the game, but we made some mistakes out there," Brown said. The call, late in the game, seemed to be cosmic payback after the Canucks lost Game 2 when Kopitar scored the gamewinner on a power play caused by the same penalty. Brown says that while a too many men on the ice call "just can't happen," there's no time for looking backward. "At this time of the year, you can't sit here and say what if,' we've got to keep moving forward," Brown said. While neither goaltender was spectacular, Luongo made a couple of big saves, and Jonathan Quick says he didn't respond in kind. "In order to win in the playoffs," Quick said, "You need your goalie to make some big saves for you down the stretch and I wasn't able to do that tonight." Murray was pleased with the Kings' play -- at least through two periods. "(It was a) great effort, (I) loved our start," Murray said. "The first period was exactly what we needed." While Murray is surely glad that his young players are accountable for their actions, he needs them to keep on an even keel in dealing with the disappointment of a loss coming on the heels of a generally good effort. "Don't get too low," Murray said. "Don't over-think it, go back and start to play again. This is part of the process, you have to go through it. It's a young group of guys, and you're going to face adversity. We have handled those situations pretty well over the course of the year. We've proven to be resilient and gritty, and bounce back. It's going to be a big test back in Vancouver."

43 FROM NHL.COM BY DAVE LOZO Henrik Sedin says Canucks are different this year By Dave Lozo - NHL.com Staff Writer LOS ANGELES -- With their backs against the wall, the Vancouver Canucks were lifted to victory in Game 4 of their opening-round series against the Los Angeles Kings by Art Ross Trophy winner and Hart Trophy candidate Henrik Sedin. He broke a 4-4 tie late in the third period Wednesday night at Staples Center and the Canucks went on to the 6-4 victory and evened the best-of-7 Western Conference Quarterfinal series at 2-2. Sedin spoke after the game, and here's what he had to say: Q: Talk about the game-winning goal, where your brother set you up. Sedin: Danny (twin brother Daniel) made a great play. He was patient on it. I thought he was going to give it to me right away, but he held on to it. I was going to pass it at first, but I took the shot and it was nice to see it go in. Q: Coach Alain Vigneault said he wanted his best players to play like his best players. Was that the case in the third period of this game? Sedin: This is the playoffs; the last game we were as good in the third but we were out of it, and that was the difference. I think people have to understand it's a 60-minute game and if you're out of it after two, it's not going to help us. It's not going to be every game where we're going to score in the first two periods. It's going to take 55, 60 minutes, and tonight wasn't any different than the last game. But we were in the game and that was the biggest difference. Q: Are we looking at a different team compared to last year's team? Sedin: I said from Day One, this is a different team. We stuck with it, and that's the biggest thing. I think personally, our line, if this would've been a couple years ago, we would've started cheating, we would've made plays we shouldn't have made. And the game would've been out of hand after 40 minutes. But you have to stick with it. Q: What did Mikael Samuelsson bring to your line after he replaced Alex Burrows entering the second period? Sedin: He's got a lot of speed, he likes to hold on to the puck, he's strong on the puck. I thought he gave us a lot more energy for sure. He's fun to play with. Q: Was it nice to get some time on the penalty-killing unit with your brother? Sedin: We talked about it, we wanted to do it, (Vigneault) gave us a chance. The second goal went in off a faceoff, but it's something we can build on for sure. Q: Did you go to Vigneault and ask to kill penalties? Sedin: It's tough to see a lot of pucks go in. I think we both played PK before and we wanted to do something. He gave us a chance and hopefully we can stay there. Q: How big was it to get this win and tie the series? Sedin: Well, it's bigger than a loss for sure. A win is always big in the playoffs. It doesn't matter when it happens. If you look at all the series, all the games, a goal here and there is going to change the momentum in every series. Now we have it, and we have to keep holding onto it. Follow Dave Lozo on Twitter

44 FROM NHL.COM BY JOSH BREWSTER Power play continues to carry Kings By Josh Brewster - NHL.com Correspondent LOS ANGELES -- In each game of their series against the Vancouver Canucks, the Los Angeles Kings' power play has been the club's elixir, curing all ills, tying games, winning games, setting the tone. In Game 1, Fredrik Modin knotted the score and sent the game to overtime before the Kings lost. In Game 2, Anze Kopitar scored the overtime winner with the man advantage. Monday night, in Game 3 at Staples Center, an already outstanding Kings' power play was simply perfect, going 3-for-3 and paving the way for Los Angeles to take a 2-1 series lead heading into Game 4 Wednesday (10 p.m. ET, VERSUS, CBC). "They've got so much skill so if you give them a little bit of time, they're going to make plays," the Canucks' Daniel Sedin said. Now 7-for-12 with the man advantage and connecting at an astounding 58.3 percent clip, the Kings claim there's no secret to their success. "If there's a secret, let me know," said a smiling Jack Johnson, who recorded three assists and was named the game's first star. "We're just taking what's given." A standing-room-only crowd of 18,264 saw not only the first Kings playoff game on home ice since 2002, they saw what is clearly the League's most dangerous defensive pairing. Johnson's power-play partner, Drew Doughty, delivered a smashing performance of his own, adding one goal and three assists. "I've got Drew there to work with, and he and I both agree that that's one of the strong suits in our game, creating offense from up there on the blue line," Johnson said. "First and foremost, he and I are having fun out there." Doughty's first-period power play goal provided his club with a huge spark, tying the game at one apiece on a shot from the high slot at the 11-minute mark after Vancouver scored early. "We've been drawing up that play for a little bit and it finally worked," Doughty said. "The puck hit a shaft of a stick or something, I didn't get all of it. The guys did a great job in front screening, and that's why it went in." While Johnson insists there's no secret to the Kings' power-play prowess, Doughty and coach Terry Murray gave some clues to why the young pairing is so potent with the man advantage. "(Johnson and I) have a couple of different elements," Doughty said. "Since he's a lefty and I'm a righty, we can switch and we'll be on our off-sides for one-timers. At other times, we'll be on their strong side so we can make passes at the same time. It's been great, a great addition to the power play. We're pretty happy." "A big part of the success now is because of what they're doing on the back end," Murray said. "I'm big on having the activity start from the blue line." "They're the guys that are the key to their power-play success this year," Henrik Sedin said of Johnson and Doughty. "They hold on to the puck. They make plays up on the blue line, which means we have to go out on the point with two guys. It opens a lot of things for their players down low." "We're just taking shots and fortunately for us, the pucks are lying around there," Kopitar said. "Those two guys on the blue line are doing a great job and getting pucks through. We're feasting on rebounds." Vancouver features a defense capable of putting the puck in the net. In this series, it's been all Los Angeles. The Canucks have managed only three assists from their defense while the Kings have a goal and five assists, all from Johnson and Doughty. "They can move across the blue line backwards in a passing (or) shooting position as well as anybody in the League," Murray said. "When you have that kind of a look, and the puck is in a shooting position and a passing position, you're going to create some hesitancy. You'll make some players commit, they'll start to go down, looking to block shots. "They can hang on (to the puck), move a couple more feet and now you've got a wrist shot for the net. We saw that tonight. It gives you a real weapon. When you see players move through the blue line like that, it's a very dangerous look." Since they were playing at home Monday, the Kings got the last line change. Murray used checking line center Michal Handzus in a trio with Brad Richardson and Modin against Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin and Alex Burrows. With the man advantage, Handzus was a terror, scoring two power-play goals from in close. "(Handzus) digs in in those situations, he loves the challenge," Murray said. "He knows before the game what his role is going to be, he's played it for many years. He's a good shutdown player. A strong and heavy guy, a great penalty killer. He had an outstanding game." "He's a big body," Ryan Smyth said of Handzus. "He draws guys to him, he's hard to move out in front of the net. He plays a hard role. He plays power play, PK and a regular shift. He's a huge asset for us and it was huge to see him chip in those two goals around the crease." Smyth said that for the Kings to control the action, power-play dominance is key. "Whether we score or not, we want to carry momentum from the power play," Smyth said. "In this case, I believe it dictated the pace of the game for a while." His penalty-kill now just 5-for-12, his power play, 2-for-11, Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault is none too pleased. "Our penalty-killing hasn't done the job and our power play hasn't done the job," he said.

45 FROM NHL.COM BY DAVE LOZO Bettman discusses playoffs, Kings, Classic By Dave Lozo - NHL.com Staff Writer LOS ANGELES -- Conspiracies, the resurgence of the Kings and a Winter Classic in Los Angeles were the topics of conversation with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman at Staples Center less than an hour before the Kings hosted the Vancouver Canucks in Game 4 of their Western Conference Quarterfinal series Wednesday night. Conspiracy theorists will have you believe the NHL is out to get the Vancouver Canucks after a lengthy video review in Toronto overturned an apparent Daniel Sedin goal in Game 3. Bettman scoffed at those notions and said there's no foul play involved at the Toronto offices or at any other level of the League. "It was determined it was kicked in," Bettman said of the ruling. When asked about the seven-minute review, he added, "When they do video replay, they want to make sure they get it right. It should take as long as it takes them to get it right. I'd rather that than say you've got a minute and 30 seconds and get it wrong. "Let's get something straight -- I have complete confidence in the integrity and professionalism and judgment of my hockey operations department. Period. "I think this whole tact of innuendo and insinuation is both insulting and pure fantasy." Do the Canucks players believe in these conspiracy theories? "Oh yeah, definitely," forward Mikael Samuelsson said jokingly. On a more serious note, he added, "No, absolutely not. I think that's a weird way to look at it That's an easy excuse. We got some calls sometimes, sometimes we don't get the calls. You have to fight through that." Bettman was in Los Angeles to check out the downtown area in advance of the 2010 Entry Draft, which will be held at Staples Center. The rebuilt zone around Staples Center -- known as LA Live -- has breathed new life into the city and has turned a dilapidated area into a thriving business zone that tourists can enjoy. It's also nice to have a thriving team like the Kings -- taking part in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since finally having success. "We want all of our teams to be successful," Bettman said. "We want all of our buildings to be full. Teams at some point or another go through down periods. And whatever team is going through a down period, it's nice to see for their fans, not for the League, but for their fans and organization to see them have some success. "That's my view universally for all 30 franchises. And for various teams at various points in time, there will be success and for other teams there won't be. But it comes over time and depending on how well a team is run, that's how you'll see the success. Bettman paid tribute to the team's ownership. "I think what stands out about this franchise right now, and this is a historical perspective, is the Kings as an organization and a team and the fans of Los Angeles have been very fortunate that Phil Anschutz has owned this franchise since the mid-90s," he said. "That emanates in a whole host in the ways. "One, there's been economic stability. There's no ownership issues at all. Phil has stood behind this franchise every step of the way. I know because he tends to be very private, people confuse that with his interest. I tell you he's very passionate about this team and he wants it to be successful because he's someone who's used to having success in his businesses. I think what they've done to transform downtown Los Angeles is incredible." All that success and the revived downtown area have some people thinking that Los Angeles could be a possible host site for a future Winter Classic. Of course, the warm California sun, even on New Year's Day, could make that difficult. "I don't know how to handicap it, because I never assumed that anybody was serious or there would really be an opportunity to do it," Bettman said of holding the Winter Classic in Los Angeles. Of the weather, he said, "I think that's an important issue. Could you put out a sheet of ice and make ice? The answer's probably yes -- but would it be satisfactory for a competitive game, one that counts in the standings? I mean, we take two teams and put them outdoors but the points in that game matter. And when you look at the way our regular season ended, we have to make sure all of our games are played under as close to ideal conditions as possible. "And so I'm not interested in doing something where we're putting the player at risk or the game at risk by having ice that really isn't up to NHL standards. If in fact there is really genuine interest being expressed to me by the club, if that's the case then we'll study it to see if it's feasible." Bettman also touched on the possible effect the 2010 Winter Olympics have had on overall ratings for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. "We're in the process of studying that," he said. "I think there's probably some element to the success we're seeing in this part of the season from the Olympics. But I also think it's some element of what you're seeing in terms of ratings bumps, attendance and everything else is a function of what's going on on the ice every night. The end of the regular season was spectacular and these playoffs are off to an amazing start."

46 FROM NHL.COM DAVE LOZO Canucks vs. Kings blog Wednesday, / 5:30 PM / Canucks vs Kings Stanley Cup Conference Quarterfinals 6Share Harrold out; Jones back in / 5:30 PM ET Randy Jones, who sat Games 2 and 3, will return to the lineup in place of Peter Harrold, who will miss Game 4 with an undisclosed injury after missing the entire third period of Game 3. Jones found himself on the bench when his turnover during overtime of Game 1 led to Mikael Samuelsson's goal that gave the Canucks a 3-2 victory. "I have an experienced player going in, in Randy Jones. He's been in this situation many times," Kings coach Terry Murray said. "He was taken out for reasons that I did speak to him about and I think he got the message and I'll get him back and get him going." -- Dave Lozo Baumgartner gets his turn on 'D' / 3:00 PM ET LOS ANGELES -- Coach Alain Vigneault's wheel of sixth defensemen was given another spin Wednesday, and this time it's landed on Nolan Baumgartner. Andrew Alberts was benched after his penalty minute extravaganza over the first two games, then Aaron Rome suffered an injury near the end of Game 3. That opened the door for Baumgartner, who will be playing in his first postseason game since 2003 when he suits up for Wednesday night's Game 4 against the Kings. "It's going to feel good to get out there. I'm excited," said Baumgartner, who hasn't seen game action since April 11. Its' playoff hockey and I'm looking forward to it. "I'm not nervous at all. Just another game ramped up a little bit. I'm ready to go." The 34-year-old has amassed 7 goals and 40 assists in 143 games during his career. His best season by far was with the Canucks in when he 5 goals and 29 assists in 70 games. "I just felt that Baumer gives us a good puck-moving defenseman and we'll see how he handles it tonight," Vigneault said. ************* The last thing anyone is worried about is how Roberto Luongo will bounce back after he was pulled midway through Game 3, when he allowed four goals on 16 shots. Luongo was removed from a game against the New York Islanders on March 16 after giving up four goals on just 12 shots. He responded two nights later by making 32 saves in the Canucks' 3-2 win against San Jose. On March 5, the Blackhawks sent Luongo to the bench after blitzing him for five goals in the first period. He made 33 saves two nights later in a 4-2 win in Nashville. "We don't have any doubt that he will bounce back," said Mikael Samuelsson. When asked if he had confidence that Luongo will be ready for Game 4, Vigneault simply said, "Without a doubt." Luongo shares their confidence in himself, but he was borderline offended at the question. "I've done it a handful of times over the last month, so no worries there, buds," he said. -- Dave Lozo

47 FROM MYFOXLA.COM Meet the LA Kings Ice Girls Updated: Wednesday, 21 Apr 2010, 11:35 PM PDT Published : Wednesday, 21 Apr 2010, 11:30 PM PDT Posted by: Tony Spearman / myfoxla.com Los Angeles - So just who are the LA Kings Ice Girls? They are not just the girls who clean the ice and handout beads before games, but they also raise money for charities. As Hal Eisner reports, lots of NHL teams have ice crews, but the Ice Girls are special. FROM SPORTSILLUSTRATED.COM *FOR A PHOTO GALLERY OF THE KINGS ICE GIRLS, CLICK HERE: e.crew/content.8.html

48 FROM EXAMINER.COM BY JONATHAN MONCRIEF Kings learn tough lesson in Game Four loss April 22, 12:00 AM Los Angeles Kings Examiner Jonathan Moncrief It was right there for the taking. In a town full of predictable scripts that fit tired old formulas, the Los Angeles Kings were reading right from the page after 40 minutes in their playoff game Wednesday night. And then the Vancouver Canucks went off script, and now the series is tied at 2-2. "We made two costly mistakes," forward Ryan Smyth admitted, "they thrive on that kind of stuff and it showed. We have to eliminate the turnovers and the odd man rushes." The Kings committed seven penalties on the night, including getting called for a too many men penalty that led to Salo's goal. They didn't play with the same level of aggressiveness offensively in the third period as they had the previous two. And they let a team they had down and ready to be counted out of the series back up. Learning lessons to be sure for this team, but lessons they can still gain knowledge from and apply quickly as they are even through four games of the series. The Kings surrendered four third period goals and lost to the Canucks 6-4 in Game Four of the Western Conference Quarterfinals. For the first time all season, the Kings lost a game in regulation time that they led after 40 minutes of play. "Give Vancouver credit, their best players stepped up at a critical time," Kings head coach Terry Murray stated after the loss. "When you have a lead going into the third period, you've got to be able to nail that thing down." And so for the mostly young and playoff-inexperienced Kings, tonight's loss may be hard to take in the short-term, but may have many ancillary benefits to the organization long term. Reading from the 'Book of Cliches' comes this nugget that applies to this game: "Sometimes you have to learn how to lose before you learn how to win." The Kings scored first in this game, another statistic that all season seemed to guarantee victory, as Drew Doughty tallied a power play goal to make it 1-0. The teams traded power play tallies early in second period, first by Vancouver's Christian Ehrhoff and then by the Kings Dustin Brown. They then traded even strength goals as former Kings forward Pavol Demitra knotted the game at 2-2, only to have Anze Kopitar score with 2:51 to go in the second. Early in the third, Alexander Frolov had a breakaway chance to put the Kings up two goals and break the will of the Canucks. But Roberto Luongo stopped the meager shot attempt, and the momentum swung towards Vancouver. 'Kings Killer' Mikael Samuelsson scored his 5th goal of the series to even things up. Then finally getting some scoring on their own man advantage, Vancouver took the lead for the first time on a blast by Sami Salo. The Kings evened things up on a hard-working rebound goal by Wayne Simmonds at 13:18 of the third. But nearly four minutes later, Henrik Sedin showed why he's the Art Ross winner and a potential Hart Trophy finalist by taking a feed from his brother Daniel and burying a shot past goaltender Jonathan Quick for the decisive goal with 2:52 to play. They added an empty-netter with 17 seconds left for a 6-4 victory. Game Five will be in Vancouver on Friday night with a 7:00 local start time. The team announced that there will be a watch party held at the Hooters Restaurant in Long Beach. Details will follow later in the day on Thursday. Game Six will be played at Staples Center on Sunday. The starting time for the game has not yet been finalized, though there is hope the league will verify the time on Thursday as well. The Kings do have a lot of positives to build on, and a lot of suspect issues to learn from. Kings fans are hopeful that these lessons will sink in before Friday and that the Kings can once again flip the script in their direction. ************************ Other Notes Say what you will about his play defensively and about his bad decision making on the pinch and with the puck, and believe me Kings fans have been saying it loudly all year about Randy Jones. But to be fair, Jones was arguably their best defenseman in the third period in their own zone. He blocked three shots, including one where he bailed out Quick who was caught out of position... According to the team, the Kings have won seven of ten series alltime in which they were tied at 2-2. The team has also scored nine times with the man advantage, just two shy of the club record for a series (11 against Edmonton over seven games in 1989)... Late in the game, there was a play developing where the Kings were headed up ice on an odd-man rush, but the net behind Roberto Luongo was dislodged. I asked Murray in the post-game if he received a satisfactory explanation for what happened: "None of the officials saw what happened and assumed it happened on the previous trip down the ice."... NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman spoke with the media in the pre-game, and mostly defended the decision on the goal overturn controversy in Game Three - to me, it's a non-story, so I won't go any further on it... Congrats to the Kings AHL affiliates the Manchester Monarchs. They completed a four game sweep of Portland to advance to the Atlantic Division Finals where they will face the Worcester Sharks beginning on Sunday in Worcester. Bud Holloway had four goals for the Monarchs, while goaltender Jonathan Bernier allowed just five goals in the four games... The Kings will have an 11AM practice Thursday at Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo before boarding a chartered flight to Vancouver for Friday's Game Five.

49 CELEBRITY PHOTOS FROM LAST NIGHT S GAME:

50

51