LA KINGS NEWS CLIPS 1/24/11

Transcription

1 LA KINGS NEWS CLIPS 1/24/11

2 FROM LAKINGS.COM First look at the Bruins Posted by Rich Hammond on 24 January 2011, 9:06 am Tonight marks the second and final meeting of the season between the Kings and Boston Bruins. In the first game and stop me if you ve heard this one before the Kings took a 3-0 lead, then allowed three consecutive games and won 4-3. That was in a shootout, on Nov. 20 in Boston. The Bruins tonight will be without forward Marc Savard, who once again is being tested for a concussion after a hit in Saturday s game against Colorado. Savard missed the first 23 games of this season because of a concussion he suffered last year. Even without Savard, the Kings will need to watch out for Boston s offense. The Bruins are in their last eight games and have scored at least six goals in four of their last seven games. The Bruins got into town yesterday afternoon and practiced in El Segundo, so they won t have a morning skate today, but for the latest on the Bruins, you can check out these stories from the locker newspapers. The Kings will have their morning skate at 10 a.m. Sunday practice update Posted by Rich Hammond on 23 January 2011, 2:01 pm Rob Scuderi was off the ice for a maintenance day at practice today, Terry Murray said. At one point last night, Scuderi was slow getting back to the bench, seemingly in some discomfort, but didn t miss a shift, so it s hard to imagine that he wouldn t play tomorrow against Boston. Jonathan Quick will start in goal against the Bruins. Postgame notes (Jan. 22) Posted by Rich Hammond on 23 January 2011, 10:30 am Some notes from last night s game The Kings beat the Phoenix Coyotes for the first time this season, in four tries, with a 4-3 victory on Saturday night at Jobing.com Arena. The Kings led 3-0 after less than 14 minutes in the first period and outshot the Coyotes 10-0 in the first eightplus minutes, but then allowed three consecutive goals before Jarret Stoll scored the game-winning goal just under five minutes into the third period. The Kings had been in their previous five games against the Coyotes and had lost three consecutive games in Arizona. The Kings scored three goals in the game s first 13 minutes, 33 seconds. They had totaled two goals in their previous 181 minutes, 50 seconds. The Kings have a record when scoring at least three goals in a game. The Kings improved to and broke a three-game road losing streak and when scoring the first goal, when leading after the first period and in one-goal games. The Kings outshot the Coyotes The Kings have held opponents to 28 or fewer shots in seven consecutive games and in 11 of their last 12 games. Every Kings skater except Willie Mitchell recorded at least one shot on goal, and none had more than three shots on goal.

3 The Kings went 0-for-3 on the power play and 1-for-2 on the penalty kill. The Kings are now 0-for-22 on the power play in their last seven games. Jonathan Quick stopped 23 of 26 starts, stopped a personal four-game losing streak and improved his record to Quick became the third goalie in Kings history to record at least 20 wins in three consecutive seasons. Rogie Vachon (six seasons, ) and Kelly Hrudey (three seasons, ) are the others. Jarret Stoll scored the game-winning goal. Stoll now has 14 goals in 48 games this season, including three goals in his last five games. He had 16 goals in 73 games last season. Justin Williams had a first-period goal, and now is the team leader with 18 goals this season. Williams has two goals in his last four games. Drew Doughty had a first-period goal, his fourth goal of the season. Doughty has two goals in his last five games. Alec Martinez had a first-period goal. After scoring two goals in his first five games, Martinez had gone 22 games without a goal. Ryan Smyth had two assists. Smyth had gone five consecutive games without a point, and recorded his seventh multi-point game of the season. Matt Greene had one assist. Greene has four assists for the season, including two assists in his last three games. Jack Johnson had one assist. Johnson ranks second on the Kings with 29 assists and broke a four-game streak without a point. Anze Kopitar had one assist. Kopitar is tied for 11th in the NHL in points (48) and is tied for 13th in the NHL in assists (32). Kopitar has one goal and two assists in his last five games. Brad Richardson had one assist. Richardson has two assists in his last three games. Six different Kings each had three shots on goal. Four different Kings each were credited with four hits. Matt Greene had a team-high three blocked shots, and 13 of the Kings 18 skaters recorded at least one blocked shot. Anze Kopitar led the Kings in ice time, at 22 minutes, 41 seconds. Drew Doughty led all Kings defensemen in ice time at 22:23. The Kings won 41 of 70 faceoffs (59 percent). Michal Handzus won 14 of 19 draws (74 percent).

4 Bruins head to L.A. without Savard Brian Compton - NHL.com Staff Writer Stats 48 GP W L 22 7 OT 1 61 P P% G/G GA/G PP% PK% S/G SA/G FO% 50.6 Date Vis/Home Final Nov 20, 2010 LAK@BOS LAK, 4-3 BRUINS ( ) at KINGS ( ) TV: NESN, Fox Sports-West. Last 10: Boston 6-3-1; Los Angeles Season Series: This is the second and final meeting between the teams. Los Angeles earned a 4-3 shootout win against the Bruins on Nov. 20 at TD Garden. Big Story: Bruins center Marc Savard suffered another injury on Saturday when he collided with Colorado defenseman Matt Hunwick midway through the second period. Rather than fly with the team to Los Angeles, Savard returned to Boston to be re-evaluated. Savard has 10 points (2 goals, 8 assists ) in 25 games this season. "Our trainers felt it was better to make sure and be cautious about that and let the doctors evaluate him," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "We saw it with [Patrice Bergeron], he came back and...the minute a guy gets hit you worry about him. "We have a tendency to want to link those things together. Right now we're just going to be cautious and I think it's the right thing to do." Team Scope: Bruins: Boston received tremendous performances from Milan Lucic and Brad Marchand on Saturday. Both scored a pair of goals to lead the Bruins to a 6-2 win at Colorado. Marchand, 22, also had two assists in the victory. "You know he's going to come and play hard," Julien said of Marchand. "Some nights he's better than others and some nights he works hard (and it) doesn't mean he has a great game or accomplished a lot but you can lean on him, you can rely on him and tonight was one of those nights where he came up big for us."

5 Kings: A loss on Saturday at Phoenix would have been devastating for Los Angeles, as it would have dropped it into 13th place in the Western Conference. But the Kings managed to escape the desert with a 4-3 victory and moved them within four points of eighth-place San Jose. "There are no gimmes in this League, especially here in the West," Kings goalie Jonathan Quick said after the win. "There's a lot of talented teams, so we have to come to play every night. We got a big win here, and we're looking to move forward and build on the momentum that we started here tonight.'' Who's Hot: Bruins goalie Tim Thomas is in his last 10 games as he continues to make his case for the Vezina Trophy. Justin Williams has two goals in the last four contests for Los Angeles. Injury Report: The Kings will be without Scott Parse (hip) and Marco Sturm (knee). Stat Pack: A trio of Bruins forwards are struggling -- David Krejci (no goals in 14 games), Nathan Horton (one in 18) and Blake Wheeler (no goals in six, one in 12). After going 13 consecutive games without a goal, Kings defenseman Drew Doughty has a pair of even-strength goals in his last five games. Puck Drop: "To hear some music in the dressing room after a win is nice, and see some smiles around here. We got two points and they got none. That's a good night, however you look at it. There were a lot of good things here tonight. We had a lot of good things against these guys at home on Thursday and didn't get the result. Tonight, we got the result, and we've got to build from here. We have to have a good day at practice tomorrow and get ready for Monday and a big, huge two games before the (All-Star) break." -- Kings forward Jarret Stoll LAKings 1. #LAKings scored three goals in the game s first 13:33 on Saturday. They had totaled two goals in their previous 181:50. per #LAKingsInsider 1 minute ago via HootSuite 2. #LAKingsInsider tells us that Jonathan Quick will get the start tomorrow and that Scuderi was off the ice for a maintenance day.

6 latimes.com/sports/la-sp-kings-tonight ,0, story latimes.com Up next for the Kings: Monday vs. Boston Kings go for a season sweep of the Bruins and are looking to build some momentum after ending a three-game losing streak Saturday. January 24, 2011 When: 7:30. Where: Staples Center. On the air: TV: FS West; Radio: Records: Kings , Bruins Record vs. Bruins: 1-0. Update: Goaltender Jonathan Quick will start for the Kings, who ended a three-game losing streak with a 4-3 victory Saturday at Phoenix. Quick stopped 38 Bruins shots on Nov. 20 in the Kings' 4-3 shootout victory at Boston. The Kings have not scored a power-play goal in seven games, going 0-for-22 since Justin Williams scored a power-play goal into an empty net Jan. 8. Defenseman Rob Scuderi didn't practice Sunday and a team spokesman said Scuderi took a maintenance day. The Bruins will be without center Marc Savard, who suffered a head injury Saturday for the second time in a week. He missed the first 23 games of the season while recovering from a concussion he suffered last March. Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas leads the NHL in goalsagainst average (1.83), save percentage (.945) and shutouts (seven). Helene Elliott Copyright 2011, Los Angeles Times

7 FROM THE BOSTON GLOBE KEVIN DUPONT All the Kings men can t put it together By Kevin Paul Dupont January 23, 2011 The Bruins won t see old friend Marco Sturm when they re in Los Angeles tomorrow night to face the Kings. The fleet winger, dished west Dec. 11, was placed on injured reserve Thursday and will be out at least a week. In hindsight, probably not the smartest thing we ve done, having him jump right into a stretch where we played five games in seven nights, said Kings general manager Dean Lombardi. He s got a little tendinitis in his knee, minor swelling, and we decided it best to give him the full week to get some rest, get it right. Lombardi wishes he could write a similar prescription to place his entire Kings squad on the road to recovery. After jumping out to a sensational 12-3 start, the Kings have lapsed into protracted slumps that right now have them out of playoff contention. First came a 1-7 slide, followed by a slight recovery, and then a 2-10 slump, including a 2-0 loss to the Coyotes Thursday night that had the typically calm Lombardi steaming over a goal/no goal call. Ultimately, the Phoenix goal stood, which led a sizzling Lombardi to point an incriminating finger at league official Mike Murphy, part of the video review committee that night in Toronto, suggesting that his view might be, shall we say, skewed, because he sought to be the GM in LA before Lombardi landed the job in April Just a stupid, stupid thing to say on my part, a contrite Lombardi said less than 24 hours later. Regardless of the fact that it s something I said in the heat of the moment, it s still stupid. I ve called Mike and apologized, and I give him a ton of credit, not only for accepting my apology, but for how gracious he was in doing so. Class act. And kind of like the Marco thing not the smartest thing I ve ever done. Maybe it got the heat off the team and put it on me, which is OK, but that s not the way to do it. By end of business Friday, Lombardi was $50,000 lighter in the wallet, fined by commissioner Gary Bettman for his comments directed at Murphy. Such are the tangential perils in a season that has strayed far from the game plan. After going six seasons without making the playoffs, the Kings made an impressive rebound with 101 points in , then bowed out in a Round 1 playoff set, 4-2, to the Canucks. This was the season, most pundits agreed, that the sons of the Triple Crown could challenge for the title in the West, perhaps even make it to the Cup finals. In a way, I knew it would be tough, said Lombardi, noting that he went through similar fits and starts in his tenure as San Jose s general manager. All the things that are said and written... you worry, Are we getting ahead of ourselves here? You look at your roster, and maybe you re short in some areas, like most teams, and we ve got a lot of young guys on our roster who have to go through the process of really understanding what it takes to win. Foundation players such as defenseman Drew Doughty, goalie Jonathan Quick, and forward Anze Kopitar are learning now, over and over and over, quite painfully. Coach Terry Murray has little option but to stick with his three stars, and Lombardi reiterated that he s sticking with Murray and the rest of the coaching crew. We re in this together, said the GM. We were in it together at 12-3, and we re in it together now. I see signs. I m confident that we ll work our way out of it. When we do and I know we will then we ll be OK. I m convinced it s all mental. You lose like this, and guys start to look around, doubt themselves, ask what s going on. That element of being fragile works its way into your team. I know in the end we ll look back and say we ve learned from it, but boy, it s hard. Lombardi, like virtually every other GM, isn t looking at the Feb. 28 trade deadline as a target date to bring in a highimpact player. His hunt for a top-six forward had him kicking the tires on Tomas Fleischmann (Washington to Colorado) and Jamie Langenbrunner (New Jersey to Dallas), and he landed Sturm (an acquisition that had the Kings having to take only what remained of the veteran s $3.5 million salary). Sturm, finally back from knee surgery Dec. 21, collected four goals and four assists in his 15 games before his knee began to tighten and swell. Best to back him up now, said Lombardi. Now, was he at the level we expected to see out of him? You saw signs of it. He s got to get over this little bit of tendinitis. We re sure it s nothing wrong, structurally. Then when he s back, he s got to get over that mental hump that comes after any injury, get in shape, and he should be fine.

8 FROM MAYORS MANOR JOHN HOVE Update on Scott Parse - The Other Left Wing Amidst the Kings' season long search for scoring left wingers, there is one name that many people may have forgotten...scott Parse. After all, he only played in five games before being placed on long term IR. And he was limited to 59 games last year while being shuttled back and forth several times between LA and Manchester (AHL). So, he's not exactly a household name just yet. Even so, optimistic Kings fans had high hopes entering the season - especially after GM Dean Lombardi said "Scott Parse is near the top three on the team in terms of skill" during his State of the Franchise session at the annual HockeyFest event in September. So, what's up with Parse now? Well, he elected not to perform DIY hip surgery, as written about here. Instead, it was performed by Dr. Byrd - one of the leading specialists for sports-related hip injuries. More importantly, he's been back training with the team recently. So, I caught up with him for an update... MM: Let's start with the obvious - it's been about two months since the surgery, how are you feeling? SP: I'm doing good, getting better every day here. There's no timetable yet (for my return), but it's feeling stronger every day. What's been the most frustrating part about being off the ice over the last few months, especially these last few weeks while the team has been struggling? Just not playing. A lot of times you don't feel like you're a part of the team. It's tough, watching the guys play. But, you do what you can and I'm trying to get back as soon as possible. Along those lines, what do you do to stay connected to the team - maybe try to grab extra lunches or dinners with the guys when they're in town? I've been around them here at practice now, so that's been nice. As far as the game situation goes, you want to be a part of it and contribute. I can't right now, so... Can you take any positives from having to watch the games as a spectator? Have you learned anything about some of the other teams that maybe you wouldn't have if you were on the ice? Actually, yeah. I've been trying to watch the other teams' defensemen a little bit - trying to see their tendencies and pick up anything I can. We quickly moved on to talking college hockey. On a somewhat related note, Parse played at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. And over the weekend his alma mater traveled to the University of North Dakota to take on Derek Forbort (Kings 2010 first round draft pick) and his Fighting Sioux teammates. North Dakota (ranked second in the country) and UNO (ranked 16th) split the two-game series. As for Parse, he's at least another month away. Original estimates put him out for 3-4 months. So, early March would be a rough guideline. If he can make it back this season, he could provide some punch to an offense needing all the goals they can get. He's also solid defensively, having led all forwards last season with a plus-13.

9 FROM MAYORS MANOR JOHN HOVE Shane Doan Would Pick Kopitar at All-Star Draft Anze Kopitar received some recent praise from one of the most respected captains in the league... Friday afternoon Shane Doan of the Phoenix Coyotes was a guest on The PowerPlay (NHL Radio show) and they were talking about the fact that the Coyotes didn't have any players selected to attend this year's NHL All- Star Game. Which, if you're looking for a positive, means Doan doesn't have to worry about potentially being the last player selected in this Friday's All-Star Draft (note: the NHL is using a new format this year, where two captains actually hand pick their teams in a televised special airing live this coming Friday). On the other hand, the hosts wanted to know - hypothetically, if Doan was one of the captains picking the teams, who would be some of the players he'd pick earlier than people might expect? He responded with "I think Kopitar is an incredible player. I think he'd be a guy that would go high. He's so talented. I like Jonathan Toews and Danny Briere too. Obviously, everybody is going to be picking them high as well. But, Anze Kopitar is as good as there is when it comes to young guys in the league. If his team was doing a little better, he'd be getting the attention he deserves." In reality, the All-Star Game captains will be Nicklas Lidstrom (Detroit Red Wings) and Eric Staal (Carolina Hurricanes). And yes, it will be interesting to see who selectes Kopitar...and when.

10 Colborne Again! Monarchs fall in a shootout; Bruins forward collects his sixth goal against Manchester PROVIDENCE, RI The Manchester Monarchs picked up one point in the standings but dropped to second place in the Atlantic Division as they fell to the Providence Bruins, 2-1, in a shootout at the Dunkin Donuts Center on Sunday evening. Manchester ( ) dropped their third shootout game of the season and fell to second place in the Atlantic Division with 58 points, one point behind the Portland Pirates ( , 59 points). Providence ( ) earned their 20th win of the season and sit in fifth place in the Atlantic Division with 44 points. The team battled through adversity and got a point for our efforts, said Monarchs Head Coach Mark Morris. (Goaltender Jeff) Zatkoff was solid and our penalty killers worked their tails off. Similar to last night, we were whistled for penalty calls time and time again throughout regulation and overtime. We fought the odds and I give our guys credit for keeping their composure. Some nights you just have to suck it up and take your lumps and we did that. The team rallied around the breaks that we didn t get and I m proud of the way we hung in there. The shootout didn t end as we hoped but I m encouraged by the way we competed. Better days are coming for us when we work like we did this afternoon. In the shootout, Monarchs goaltender Jeff Zatkoff halted shots by center Jamie Arniel, center Joe Colborne and right wing Jordan Caron but was unable to stop center Zach Hamill, center Maxime Sauve and center Trent Whitfield. Monarchs centers Oscar Moller and Justin Azevedo were able to solve netminder Nolan Schaefer but it was not enough as left wing Bud Holloway, right wing Brandon Kozun, defenseman Viatcheslav Voynov and center Corey Elkins were stopped in the shootout. At 18:35 of the opening period, Colborne recorded his 11th goal of the season to give the Bruins a 1-0 advantage. With Monarchs defenseman Colten Teubert in the penalty box for cross-checking, the Bruins set up their power play in Manchester s zone. Providence cycled the puck along the blueline. Following a shot from the right point, Sauve collected the puck in the left face-off circle and tossed it into the slot. The puck fell to the feet of Arniel. As the center attempted to untangle the puck from his feet, Colborne grabbed it and flipped a shot over Zatkoff. Kozun tied the game at 1-1 at 4:20 of the third period with a power play goal. The puck was cleared out of the Bruins zone and slid down to the ice to the stick of Zatkoff. The netminder sent pass that Kozun picked up at the Bruins blueline. The rookie winger carried the puck into the right face-off circle where he snapped a wrist shot that beat Schaefer for his 10th goal of the season. Zatkoff ( ) dropped his third shootout loss of the season stopping 34-of-35 shots in regulation and overtime as well as 3-of-6 in the shootout. Schaefer (7-12-1) stopped 41-of-42 shots on net through 65 minutes of play and 4-of-6 in the shootout, earning his seventh decision of the season. Manchester went 1-for-8 on the power play. Providence was 1-for-9 with the man advantage. Notables: Manchester fell out of first place in the Atlantic Division for the first time since they took the lead on November 26 The Monarchs are 3-for-3 in the shootout this season Manchester is on a three-game winless streak, tying their longest winless streak of the season Right wing Brandon Kozun recorded his 10th goal of the season and his first tally since January 2...Bruins center Joe Colborne has collected six goals and an assist for seven points in eight games against the Monarchs. The Monarchs return to the Verizon Wireless Arena on Wednesday, January 26 when they host the Norfolk Admirals at 7:00 p.m. If the Monarchs win on Wednesday, fans can redeem their tickets from the game for the next Winning Weekday on Wednesday, February 9 against the Hershey Bears. Catch all of the play-by-play action of Monarchs hockey with Ken Cail on the Monarchs Radio Network WGAM 900/1250 AM and at

11

12

13

14