Will the Kings Finally Get Some Respect?
The Los Angeles Kings have two of the top 10 scorers in the NHL this season. Anze Kopitar is 1st with 26 points (13-13) and Ryan Smith is 7th with 20 points (8-12). Like every team, the Kings have had some moments where they haven’t looked that great, but this season they’ve managed to come back from those more times than not and win the game. When the Kings were on the east coast, they had their only losing streak longer than 2 games and their only set of consecutive games without points this season. A lot of people don’t watch late night games the next day or stay up late regularly, so they miss the rest of the Kings games. Beating the Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh P

Déjà Vu All Over Again for Kings Fans
If Kings fans missed the game last night against Vancouver, they might have thought they were seeing things when they read that their team lost 2-1 in a shootout. The only difference in the simple box scores was the game in San Jose taking 3 more rounds of the shootout to end the game. Though he always went on to say that he liked the shootout for the fans and realized that the fans like the shootout and get excited, Terry Murray made it very clear that he hates the shootout. Many of us think it’s a bit ridiculous to decide a game by a team with a skill competition. Yes, penalty shots are exciting and the skills competition of the All Star game is always my favorite part. Ho

Ducks Make Maple Leafs’ First Win a Bit Easier
Brian Burke and Francois Beauchemin had triumphant returns to Honda Center and the Ducks took some careless penalties as they lost to the Maple Leafs at home. Toronto hadn’t won a single game and only had one point in their first 8 games of the season. Only one team had failed to beat the Maple Leafs in regulation, but the Ducks managed to take enough penalties to make the Leafs’ 6-3 win possible with only one even strength goal. The Ducks took a total of 17 penalties for 45 penalty minutes tonight. Anaheim’s first goal was definitely suspect and watching it again at home in HD on FSN after the game, it was easier to see why Ron Wilson took the bench minor for “abuse

It wasn’t Pretty… (but, the Kings beat the Stars)
In spite of Williams’ injury (sustained during practice), the Kings looked good at the beginning of last night’s game. Breaking up the first line that’s combined to score 35 points in the Kings’ 9 games was certainly not something Terry Murray looked forward to doing. After the game, he credited GM Dean Lombardi with the idea of putting Wayne Simmonds on the top line. Clearly, Simmonds’ goal and assist support this decision (even though the goal was scored in a 4 on 4 situation and assisted by Frolov). Alexander Frolov had two assists in the game and looked much better than he did before he sat out as a healthy scratch. Perhaps Fro got the point and will be more dedicated

Rangers Extend Winning Streak to End the Kings’ Streak
One of the teams had to end their winning streak last night when the Rangers hosted the Kings in Madison Square Garden. Unfortunately for Kings fans, the team that extended their streak was the Rangers. The Rangers remain tied for first place in the Atlantic division and the NHL (with the reigning Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins). The Kings remain in first place in the Pacific division, but drop from 2nd to 5th in the Western conference. Definitely not the best game to attend as a Kings fan, but there were up sides to not getting credentials from the Rangers. I got to talk to more fans (Kings and Rangers alike). I also didn’t have to talk to the Kings after the gam