Two Magical Goals

Kyle Clifford in a cowboy hat. That’s what greeted fans on the LA Kings website Saturday, along with the announcement that it was “country Music Day.” Anything to sell tickets, I guess, but to whom? Honestly...

Not Tonight, He’s Not

“Nobody comes to the rink to stay close or to have moral victories.” That was Todd McLellan’s pronouncement after the Kings won Tuesday night, and a good one. But that leaves a question: What’s a bad hockey tea...

Price Ties Plante, Weal Good!

Let’s not get weepy, but I’m gonna say this: had I been able to look ahead from my Montreal childhood and see myself in an NHL press box covering the game on a nightly basis, I would have thought it a dream. If...

Do My Simple Job

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. S...

Shake Up the Happiness

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 nigh...

Why Not Every Night?

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 c...

The Only Goal

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 wo...

CopyCat Friday Night

The Kings came out to play Friday night. They almost never play on Fridays. They’ll be back at it on Sunday evening. That’s unusual, too. What wasn’t out of character was their performance. They could get two g...

Kings Inch Closer

In the ongoing saga of who wants and who does not want to get into the NHL playoffs from the Western Conference, the Avs blew a point and squeaked a point on Sunday (Anaheim beat them in OT), then headed up the...

Confessing to the Crime

It was a sad night in SoCal Saturday. Sad, and a little bit pathetic. The two NHL teams, like Casey at the bat, struck out. For no good reason, because each of them was playing a team either below them or signi...