Kings Rebound Nicely

After an ugly week last week, the Kings have looked much better in their last three games, at Tampa Bay, at Florida and back home last night against Philadelphia, going 2-1-0 while posting two shootout wins in the process. But the news hasn't been all good.

Defenseman Rob Scuderi has missed all three games with a lower body injury, but he is listed as day-to-day. And before last night's 3-2 loss to Philly, the Kings learned they would be without the services of Ryan Smyth for up to a month with what is being described as an upper body injury.

Smyth was off to fantastic start for the Kings, netting nine goals and posting 14 assists. The top line combination of Smyth and Anze Kopitar had made for one of the league's top scoring lines so far in the young season. Kopitar continues to lead the league in overall scoring with 32 points (14 goals and 18 assists).

But with Smyth out for a while, the Kings have opted to move Alex Frolov onto the top line with Kopitar and Justin Williams. Only time will tell if Kopitar can continue to lead the league in scoring with Frolov to his left instead of Smyth.

The Kings, second in the Pacific Division with a 13-8-2 mark for 28 points, are off until a date with Calgary at Staples on Saturday.

Ugly Week for the Kings

After an impressive win against the Stanley Cup Champions last Thursday night, the Kings have suddenly taken a nosedive losing three of its last four in pretty ugly fashion: a 3-1 loss at home last Saturday to a poor Nashville team, a 4-1 loss in Chicago on Monday night, and a 7-0 blowout loss tonight in Atlanta.

In the middle of all that, they managed a solid 5-2 win in Carolina on Wednesday, but that's been the only bright spot for the Kings all week. And with that, Anze Kopitar continues to lead the league in scoring with 30 points.

Fortunately, I was unable to watch the Nashville and Chicago games as the Nashville game wasn't televised and the Chicago game was a Versus exclusive, which wasn't exclusive to me since I don't have access to the network on DirecTV. And I almost wish I didn't waste two and a half hours of my evening tonight to watch that ugly game.

The game was scoreless midway through the second period when the Thrashers rattled off four goals on what seemed like four shots in about five minutes time. Starter Jon Quick was then yanked for Erik Ersberg, who didn't fare much better, when he gave up three more goals.

Definitely not a game to remember. This was one of the ugliest losses I've seen by a Kings team in quite some time.

The Kings still have 24 points, good for second in the division, five points behind San Jose, and fifth in the conference.

Next up: at Tampa Bay tomorrow.

"Lucky" Gets his Ring...

His Hall of Fame ring, that is. Kings legend Luc Robitaille, the all-time leading scorer (1,398 points) and goal-scorer (668 goals) for left wingers, got his ring this morning, then was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame tonight in Toronto, along with Brett Hull, Steve Yzerman, Brian Leetch and New Jersey executive Lou Lamoriello.

Congratulations, Lucky! You're still one of the most humble, down-to-earth and one of the nicest people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.

Thank you for all the great memories!

Kings Slam the Champs!

The Penguins were 7-0 on the road this season heading into tonight's game with the Kings in L.A. They led 2-1 midway through the third period. Then the Kings took over.

The Kings scored four unanswered goals in the latter half of the third period, including Anze Kopitar's second of the night, and ripped the Penguins 5-2. Kopitar now has 13 goals, second most in the league, and 26 points on the season, most in the NHL.

The Kings improved to 10-4-2 on the season for 22 points, good for second in the division behind the Sharks who have 24 points. They're also 6-0-2 in their last games.

Kings Win in the Desert

Final: Kings 5, Coyotes 3.

Anze Kopitar got the scoring going for the Kings with his 11th goal of the season. But down 3-2 heading into the third period, the Kings scored three times to ice the game. Ryan Smyth picked up two more goals to give him eight on the season. Along with Justin Williams, who added a goal of his own, the Kings top line poured in eight points (four goals and four assists).

With the win, the Kings improved to 9-4-2 for 20 points, good for second place in the division, one point behind San Jose. The 20 points tie them with Washington, who are without Alexander Ovechkin for an extended period time with an upper body injury, for fourth most in the league.

Shootouts

The Kings have lost their last two games by identical scores of 2-1. Both "losses" were in shootouts, in San Jose on Wednesday night, and at Staples to Vancouver the following night.

I've never been a big of the shootout, but I'm also not a fan of games ending in ties. Kings head coach Terry Murray doesn't like the shootout either. But losing in a shootout doesn't really constitute as a loss in my book because the losing team actually earned a point in the standings by getting the game into overtime.

So how do we solve that issue of no shootouts without games ending in ties? Some people might not agree with me on this but I think the best solution would be to scrap shootouts altogether, and keep playing five-minute overtime stanzas until someone scores, keeping the overtime format just as it is now: 4-on-4.

I'm still 'OK' with both teams earning a point for getting into overtime, but maybe give the winning team two extra points instead of just one, for winning.

Just an idea.

Anyway, Kings are back in action tomorrow night in the desert as they take on the Coyotes in Phoenix.