Colorado came storming out of the gate versus Anaheim in SoCal on Wednesday, only to see the first period of their game yield no goals for either side. It was a surprising result, on two counts. On the one hand, Colorado was scary early, with shots and chances from...
After the LA Kings went down to Tampa Bay 6-4, Coach McLellan spared no criticism. He wasn’t angry, on the surface at least. But he methodically dismantled the first three goals against. Make that four, because he added the fourth as a kind of afterthought. “We ran...
It was a night of two debuts and a return as the Kings took on the Penguins in downtown Los Angeles Thursday. For LA, the game marked another chance to show what they can do after they upset the New York Rangers three nights prior. For Pittsburgh, it was the ...
No easy test, the Pittsburgh Penguins. Not with you-know-who (Evgeni Malkin) back in the lineup for the first time this year, and especially not when that same person scores two of four goals and almost gets an empty net marker to complete the hat trick. He...
The New York Rangers came to LA Monday night with the chance to become the league’s point-leading team. Their opponents, the Kings, merely hoped to vault themselves out of a Wild Card spot and into their Division’s top three teams. The Rangers would have to do it...
When a monkey wearing a diaper drops the ceremonial first puck of a hockey game, you know you’re in for a show. The Anaheim Ducks celebrated Anaheim Angels night with just such an occurrence, and the little dude threw the puck right down flat on the ice between the...
Has the Great Compression begun? That’s got to be a question that is starting to occur to West Coast hockey fans as teams battle a tight race for the Wild Card positions in the Conference. This is aided by the observation that at the very least, Anaheim is ...
It was supposed to be a big NHL double-header night uin SoCal Thursday. The Kings would host Nashville while down the highway the Ducks were set for Detroit. Never happened, as you likely know—the Ducks have Covid problems and had to postpone their contest until...
Calgary didn’t exactly romp through Los Angeles on Thursday night in the first of a SoCal back-to-back, but Darryl Sutter was the coach who said “It’s a 3-2 league” a few years ago when he coached in Cali, and that was the score by which his second-time-new team, the...
The Anaheim Ducks love to make things exciting. Take for example Wednesday night in Anaheim with Vegas in town. They kept the pace even and the score 0-0 through one period. Then they exploded in the second, scoring four goals while allowing one, to appear to be...
It would have been advisable for the Kings to beat that Ducks Tuesday night. After all, they had two games in hand, and they came into the game having gone 1-3-1 in their prior five games, but winning the last of those, against Ottawa, 4-2. All of these contests, by...
The Anaheim Ducks started well against the Toronto Maple Leafs at home in a Sunday 5pm start. The measure of their early success was that period one ended 0-0 with the shots in favor of the Ducks, 14-10. They were on their way to a 40-31 margin, including 20 shots...
It was all LA Kings to start the game versus Ottawa at 4pm Saturday. Los Angeles got the first goal and dominated in the shots. But by the end of one period, the game was tied. What did this signal for a team that came in badly needing a win to get back to positive...
I’ve spent lot of Black Fridays in the Anaheim Ducks’ barn watching hockey. They were all good Fridays, as far as I was concerned. This year, I’m still sitting out due to Covid concerns, but with me or without me, the Ducks rocked the Senators, ending up winning...
Worse and worser. Things were like that for the LA Kings versus Toronto in Los Angeles on Wednesday night. To start, Andreas Athanasiou was on the Covid protocol list and thus not playing. He was replaced by Lias Andersson. Also out was Kale Clague. Sean Durzi took...
The Kings would be off a bit had they read their game versus Arizona as a must-win. More like a got-to-have. Sounds the same, but at this point in the season, less is at stake, despite two points counting the same no matter what time of the year they’re gained. But...
The Kings faced a test on Saturday afternoon which the Ducks failed a couple of nights ago: needing to beat the Carolina Hurricanes. By measure of the score, the Kings failed the test, just as the Ducks had. But by the eye test, LA was way, way stronger than the Ducks...
Now this is a test. The Carolina Hurricanes stormed out of the gate, winning nine games in a row. Coming into Anaheim on Thursday, they were 12-2-0. The Ducks, after limping out of the gate, are 8-0-2 in their last 10 games. They had a league-leading eight-game win...
A month ago, Los Angeles losing to the Washington Capitals in a tight 2-goal game (the second of which was an empty netter) would have provoked a mild reaction. “Oh, that’s too bad, but, you know, the Kings . . . .” As the voice trailed off, it would signal the...
Would he or wouldn’t he—get his thousandth point? Would they or wouldn’t they—get their thousandth win? Yes, he would, and yes, they would. And it didn’t take long to deal with the first of those “would he’s?”. With under five minutes gone, Getzlaf spotted a breaking...
The Trevor Zegras show continues. He buried two goals and added an assist as the Ducks defeated the Vancouver Canucks 5-1 in a 5pm start on Sunday in Anaheim. The first one was a one-timer that Zegras buried on the power play. The chance came nearly at the end of a...
Things went so well for the Anaheim Ducks to start the season. For one game. Then so poorly for two entire weeks. And now, the situation is bright again. The Ducks defeated the Blues at Honda Center on Sunday in the early evening, their 4-1 victory completing a...
Ryan Getzlaf was bound to become the single highest point-getter in Anaheim Ducks history eventually, but he made it quick as he gained seven points—all assists—to start the year. He has played in all of the team’s ten games. The crucial seventh of those was...
If ever a team needed a win, it was the LA Kings on Saturday afternoon. The Montreal Canadiens, their opponent, could have said the same for themselves, but they had just defeated the San Jose Sharks Thursday night after a big 5-1 loss to Seattle to start their...
Jack Eichol. There, I said it. You wouldn’t expect a story about the Buffalo Sabres without that, would you? But there’s nothing new to report. Nothing except that the Sabres are actually comporting themselves pretty well this year. They started out 4-1-1. They ...
The Anaheim Ducks were up by six goals from last year through their first six games of the year. They looked to push this advantage playing their third game of the year against the Winnipeg Jets in Anaheim on Tuesday night. It would be the first of two games at...
Maybe you tried to tune your TV to watch the Anaheim Ducks’ game tonight and got the same nasty surprise that I did. You started out hopeful. “This is so great, all this new hockey on TV. Let’s see. It’s on Bally Sports SoCal, right? "Nope. "Gee. ESPN?" Football....
Small sample size. Keep in mind that this is a small sample size. That’s got to be what SoCal hockey fans are telling themselves in the light of the hot starts their two NHL teams have had. The Ducks defeated the Jets Wednesday night, 4-1. They got scoring from their...
Well, well, what do we have here? The whole world has the Anaheim Ducks losing more games than they’ll win this season. Nobody believed they would open their season well, with Winnipeg in town on Wednesday night. But look hard—they won, convincingly. And they did...
What exactly have the Anaheim Ducks done in their very lengthy off-season? Adding players has not been on that list. Firing their AHL coach and replacing him with a new one is one thing. Is this a strategy to scare the old-old San Diego Gulls’ coach, who now happens...
