So Much For That...

Just as quickly as the Kings seemed to have rebounded from their recent struggles, they fall right back into it. They've lost their last three games, and look to rebound yet once again tonight in Minnesota and tomorrow in Nashville.

The offense is sputtering once again, and the defense and goal-tending haven't been much better. After their 4-3 shootout loss in Denver on Wednesday, the Kings scored just one goal in their last two games against St. Louis and Dallas.

They get Matt Greene back on defense tonight, replacing Randy Jones, and Jonathan Bernier has been recalled to replace Erik Ersberg, who's out with an injury, as Jon Quick's backup.

One thing I've noticed in the past few weeks aside from the fact they seem to be playing in a panic mode is there seems to be a lack of a sense of urgency. Some guys are playing with that sense of urgency, but some guys are playing like it's just another game, and now's not the time to act as if these final nine or ten games are just that. There have been a lot of mistakes that have led to goals that should have never happened, and when you get into the playoffs, it's nearly impossible to recover quickly from such mistakes.

It's time to buckle down. The time is now!

Big Win for Kings

They got what they set out to do tonight: get two points. It wasn't pretty at the end of regulation, but they got the two points.

Drew Doughty netted a blast on the power play in overtime for the 4-3 win over Colorado, salvaging what almost became a disastrous night. With the Kings trailing 1-0, Ryan Smyth tied the game midway through the first period, and Wayne Simmonds gave them a 2-1 lead late in the second. The Avs tied it again early in the third, but Smyth gave the Kings the lead back midway through the period. Then with 10 seconds left in regulation, Colorado tied it again after pulling their goalie for the extra attacker.

It was definitely an exciting game to watch. The Kings played with a sense of urgency and they proved with this game that they're ready to compete in the post-season.

Now the two teams head to Colorado and square off again in Denver on Wednesday night.

Certainly, another very important game as all their remaining 11 games are. The Kings need all the points they can get to give themselves some breathing room in the standings.

Kings Struggles

Well, as expected from such a young team, the Kings have been struggling since their win at Dallas back on March 2nd. They're 3-5 since with wins against Columbus, Dallas again, and the Islanders last night. But despite two of those wins being shutouts, including a dominating 6-0 performance against the Jackets, the Kings haven't played well since the Olympic break.

There's no question the effort has been there for the most part. But they've looked sloppy, slow and tired. They're making mistakes defensively, and it's costing them games. And to make matters worse, the offense has been virtually non-existent in the last five or six games.

One has to wonder if desperation or panic is beginning to set in. There is a difference between the two. From my vantage point, it seems more like panic than desperation, although the panic is a result of desperation. To me, desperation is okay because, as Head Coach Tom Murray noted yesterday, it gets the players adrenaline going and they become more focused. But when there's a reluctance to make plays out of fear of making a mistake, then the panic sets in and they try to do too much.

The Kings are certainly playing with some desperation but when they lose focus for fear of making a mistake, they begin to panic, and this is where I think the Kings are right now.

The Kings have 12 games left, starting with a home-and-home series Monday against Colorado. They're still in great shape to make the playoffs. They've got 87 points after their big win last night, and sit in fifth place in the conference, but they need to keep pushing forward.

They fought through adversity once during the season when they had a two-week lull in December. They rebounded nicely and have been playing solid hockey since, until recently. There's still enough time for the Kings to get some momentum going into the playoffs. A nice, long winning streak would be good right about now.

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I don't know if anyone else has taken notice, but the Phoenix Coyotes are just one point behind San Jose for the division lead, and just two points behind Chicago for the top seed in the West. While San Jose has been reeling of late with a five-game skid, the 'Yotes have been rolling with an impressive eight-game winning streak. Former Kings assistant Dave Tippett has done a fantastic job in his first season as Phoenix's head coach.

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Also, just wanted to welcome back Bob Miller to broadcast booth. Miller missed a couple of weeks while battling a case of the shingles. Radio guy Nick Nickson filled in nicely on television in Miller's absence.

Welcome back, Bob!

Kings Add Two

The Kings picked up two players before today's trade deadline.

In separate deals, the Kings picked up center Jeff Halpern from Tampa Bay in exchange for Teddy Purcell and a 3rd round pick, and they picked up left-winger Fredrik Modin from Columbus for a conditional draft pick. Both players are expected to be in uniform for tomorrow night's game in Nashville.

Kings Pick Up Right Where They Left Off

And it really wasn't even that close of a game.

In their first game since the break, the Kings ripped the Stars here in Dallas tonight, 5-1.

There had been some talk about whether or not the layoff would hurt Jonathan Quick. Quick was a member of the U.S. Olympic team but never once suited up. He was the third string goaltender behind starter Ryan Miller, and Tim Thomas. So Quick simply sat and watched.

Well, obviously it didn't affect him too much. Quick looked very sharp, and the Kings as a team simply outplayed Dallas all night, and it showed in the score. The Kings got goals from Jarrett Stoll, Alexander Frolov, who also had two assists, Brad Richardson, Ryan Smyth and Anze Kopitar with his team-leading 29th goal of the season. Olympic Gold Medalist Drew Doughty also picked up three assists on the night.

The Kings now sit in fourth place in the West at 80 points, fourth most points in the league. Jon Quick continues to rack up wins, adding to his single-season franchise record with his 36th win, which is also tops in the league.

So, next up for the Kings is Nashville on Thursday, with the trade deadline tomorrow afternoon. I don't expect the Kings to be very active, and if they are, I don't expect much more than a role player or two. And don't expect Frolov to be moved either.

An Olympic Review

I must say in all my years of watching Olympic hockey, and hockey in general, the past two weeks in Vancouver were arguably the best two weeks of hockey I've ever seen. What we saw was a display of twelve countries showcasing the best players it has to offer, and none of them disappointed. It also didn't hurt that NHL represented about 60% of all the players in the tournament, including the entire rosters for the U.S. and Canada.

And speaking of which...

Yesterday's Gold Medal game between the U.S. and Canada was arguably one the greatest hockey games ever played. And to think the U.S. almost pulled off a miraculous upset against arguably the best team in the tournament in which no one gave the U.S. much of a chance to medal, let alone play for the Gold Medal. Many felt the U.S. was probably, at best, the fifth best team in the Olympics behind powerhouses such as Canada, Russia, Sweden, Finland, and perhaps even the Czechs and Slovaks.

But instead, the U.S. held its own throughout the tournament, and behind Ryan Miller's spectacular goal-tending, earned a well-earn chance at the gold medal.

Down 2-0, the U.S. got a late second period goal from Ryan Kesler, who tipped in a shot from Patrick Kane to make it a game again. With the same 2-1 score late in regulation, the U.S. pulled Miller for the extra attacker. It paid off. With just a little over 24 seconds left on the clock, Zach Parise netted a rebound past an outstretched Roberto Luongo for the equalizer, sending it into a sudden death overtime.

It wasn't until the overtime, when the teams were forced to play four-on-four, that we really saw how much of an advantage the Canadians really had over the U.S. And with about 13-plus minutes left in the overtime, Sidney Crosby netted a give-and-go from Jerome Iginla to give Canada the win, and the Gold Medal.

Still, the U.S. has nothing to hang their heads about. They saved their best game for last, and nearly beat the odds. And in a sense, they did beat the odds because they weren't expected to even medal in Vancouver, and came away with a Silver Medal.

Sadly, though, yesterday's Gold Medal game was getting many unfair comparisons to the "Miracle on Ice" in which a team of U.S. amateurs upset a powerful Soviet Union team during the 1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid, New York. To an extent, the comparisons are valid because this year's U.S. team, albeit a team full of NHL players just like Canada, was a far younger team than the group of veterans the Canadians put together. But in all actuality, the circumstances of the two games were far different.

Anyway you slice it, though, the game (and the tournament) didn't disappoint. For the U.S., Miller was at his best in goal as he had been throughout the entire tournament. Despite giving up the three goals that would help give Canada the Gold Medal yesterday, Miller was named the tournament's MVP, and deservedly so.

Miller played out of his mind throughout the Olympics, and was the sole reason the U.S. beat Canada last week to earn the top seed heading into the medal round, despite the fact the U.S. managed to score five times on Marty Brodeur.

Four of the five Kings players who participated in the Games also received medals. Drew Doughty picked up a Gold Medal for Canada while Dustin Brown, Jack Johnson and Jonathan Quick earned well-deserved Silver Medals for the U.S. Only Michal Handzus of Slovakia returned empty-handed after his Slovakian team lost to Finland in the Bronze Medal Game.

I was really pulling for the Slovakians to medal for other reasons than Michal Handzus. The Kings also had four former players on the Slovakian team (Ziggy Palffy, Josef Stumpel, Lubomir Visnovsky and Pavol Demitra), as well as one additional player they currently own the rights to (Lubos Bartecko).

But looking back on the entire tournament, especially after yesterday's Gold Medal game, you can't help but think the sport might have won over many new fans, and perhaps even a handful of fans who gave up on the sport after the 2004 NHL lockout, especially here in the U.S.

Think about it. This game was originally going to be aired on a tape-delay here in the States. Instead, the entire country got it live - yes, including the West Coast, who was getting most of these games on a three-hour delay, anyway - and it turned out to be the most watched hockey game in the U.S. since the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" game, which wasn't even broadcasted live.

NBC earned a solid 15.2 share overnight. That equates to approximately 26.7 million viewers, up 45.5% over the 2002 Salt Lake City Gold Medal game between the same two countries.

And in Canada, the game shattered records country-wide. The game there, aired on nine different networks and in eight different languages, was the most watched television broadcast ever. Roughly half of the nation's population watched yesterday's game.

When all is said and done, the real hockey Gold Medal winner of these Olympics was the sport itself.

That said, the Kings are back in action tomorrow night in Dallas.