Just when you think there’s nothing much to see at the LA Kings’ game, pow! They pop two power play goals in the first four-plus minutes against Chicago. Chicago. One of the reasons fans braved the weather and turned up (OK, it’s not a blizzard, but the rain does tend...
It never really hit me how much hockey has changed until seeing the Golden Knights, and their fans, at Honda Center in Anaheim for a Friday night contest. Now, don’t mistake this: I’ve been to Vegas to see a game. It was a spectacle. Frankly, a ridiculous one. Perhaps...
Everyone in the southern part of the state knew he was going to do it. Sunday night, and then again Monday. Who? What? Ovechkin, whose one-timer from the left dot on the power play simply can’t be stopped. Sunday in Anaheim, he blasted one that literally went through...
The real story of Sunday night in Anaheim had nothing to do with the future Hall of Famer on the ice, playing with Washington, and everything to do with a four-time Cup winner on defense whose #27 was being retired by the Ducks. Scott Niedermayer’s sweater will now...
The LA Kings held in tough against the Boston Bruins on Saturday night as the Kings celebrated Chinese Heritage Night. The guys from Beantown were fresh off a win against the Ducks a day prior. The Kings had faced Vancouver on Thursday and salvaged a point for a...
Boston doesn’t do warmups like most clubs. Two features stood out before their game against the Ducks Friday night: Brad Marchand, at one point, directed traffic as to who could shoot and when. At another point, the Bruins lined up on either side of the zone and...
A shakeup never hurts, right? (Unless it’s the Northridge Quake. Oh, that was bad. But I’m talking about hockey here in LA. The Kings, in particular.) With Vancouver coming in off a 1-0 loss to the Ducks a night ago, the Kings, who last lost to Washington but played...
The Vancouver Canucks came into Anaheim Wednesday night with not-unreasonable hopes for the playoffs. They were two points behind Minnesota in the wildcard race, though they were a mediocre 4-4-2 in their last ten contests. They had also lost their prior game, 7-2 to...
The last time the masses assembled in Anaheim for an NHL game, the Ducks stunk up the arena with a 13-shot debacle which was the second game of a seven-game losing streak extending to the present. What? You’ve heard that they’re lost something like 20 games, right?...
Bob Murray is in deep, and he knows it. The tone—hesitant—and the answers—inconsistent—of his conference call Sunday afternoon said as much. Here’s a sample of some of his answers, offered as a mix of transcribed quotes and paraphrases. The main themes seemed to be...
Having survived an almost epic losing streak, a run so bad that the GM had to publically say that the coach would not be fired as a result, the Ducks picked up a couple of victories before losing one to the Islanders on the weekend. But they were a chastened bunch, a...
The Kings have to win twenty-five more games to wind up with 94 points. They have only thirty-two games to do that in. That’s the math. Now, you probably don’t want to hear about that for one of two reasons. First, you’re from away and don’t care how this team is...
Back-to-back. You’re supposed to be tired, especially if your arms are weak from raising them on seven goal celebrations. But the Penguins were anything but that way in the early going on Saturday night. They came out in Los Angeles pretty much as they’d left Anaheim...
This was going to be a happy story. It was going to start out this way: “The Ducks were never as bad as their recent record showed,” and then go on to talk about how a big win against the Penguins changed everything for the team, who can now go on the road with...
Exactly the same lineup, save for one defenseman. Even the same goalie. How cheeky is that of Ottawa coming off the first half of a back-to-back? Maybe they figured what worked down the road in Anaheim would work in downtown LA. Maybe they were making a comment on...
Eight games dropped in a row. That’s gotta change if the Ducks want to make the playoffs, and hosting Ottawa, the worst team in the league if standings points is your measurement, is a good way to start the transformation. One thing the Senators don’t have:...
Ken Hitchcock ripped his team in the most direct, least subtle post-game presser I’ve seen in my 600-plus game career covering the NHL after the Oilers lost 4-0 in LA on Saturday. In short, he began by saying that only one person even showed up for the game (Darnell...
Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who noticed how poorly the Edmonton Oilers played in LA Saturday night on the way to a 4-0 loss. When their coach, Ken Hitchcock, was asked about his team after the game, he said, “The start? Come on. We had one player show up and...
Slowly, the tide in LA is turning. This is in part because the Kings have added some new players recently and forgotten to tell them to play a slow, boring, no-offense game. Whoever’s job that is: thanks for failing! Because Brendan Leipsic and Nikita Scherbak are...
The Ducks are doing alright despite setbacks that might have derailed some clubs. They have their best defenseman, Cam Fowler, out with facial fractures. Their big third-liner, Patrick Eaves, is out again, having come back for just a handful of games after missing...
Is this how it’s going to go in the slow march towards the milestones of the hockey season—Christmas, All-Star, 427 outdoor games, trade deadline, golf—for the LA Kings? They win a spectacular outing on Sunday night, with Jonathan Quick playing out of his head for a...
Like it or not, the game LA played against visiting Carolina on Sunday night IS Kings hockey. Low scoring. Intense. Featuring great goaltending. It's like it's the 1950s again. A spectacular save at the end of period one made for something to talk about at...
Sometimes, you just don’t get the bounce. Or you get the wrong one—a puck hits a skate, or a leg, and goes wide. That was the Ducks’ fate versus the Maple Leafs on Friday night in Anaheim. Rickard Rakell was one of those who didn’t get the right break. Ondrej Kase...
The Toronto Maple Leafs play all three California teams in four days, and they don’t even get to take a bus from LA to Anaheim to ease the road trip. They have to fly to San Jose in between playing the Kings and Ducks. Perhaps that’s why they decided to get out to a...
Goal scoring. That’s the answer. The short answer to the question that has been answered with more answers than answers have answers. They don’t score goals. Who’s they? How about we get to the question? The question, of course, is “Why can’t the Kings win any hockey...
Self-effacing as always, here’s what Cam Fowler of the Ducks said after his hat trick goal, the last one in OT, which snapped a seven-game winless streak for Anaheim: “[After the goal] I couldn’t see anything. I was getting bombarded. I was getting punched in the...
Two sweaters now hang in the rafters at Honda Center in Anaheim. One belongs to a beloved son who scored 457 goals with the team and leads them in most meaningful statistical categories. The other one belongs to a prodigal who has recently returned and who never quite...
After the Kings’ 5-1 loss to Buffalo on Saturday afternoon, they kept us out of the locker room for a long, long time. So much so that the PHWA chapter, of which I am glad to be a member, planned to let the league know that the Kings had violated league rules. When...
Twenty-five years ago, a movie that had been a really bad idea came to life in the form of a hockey team when the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim were born. On October 8th, 1993, they played their first game, and their first home game. It was versus the Detroit Red Wings. The...
LA defeated the visiting Red Wings Sunday night in a game which saw them start their former backup netminder, Jack Campbell. Former? Yup, Peter Budaj is now backing up. What’s missing? Quick. No, I don’t mean, be quick with your answer. I mean Quick’s missing, down...
