Game 27: Blue Jackets 2, Kings 0

The past four days have been an odd palindrome of scheduling, with the Kings playing Columbus, Phoenix, Phoenix and Columbus. And the result was equally bizarre, with two King shutouts, scoring 8 goals in the past four games. They also only allowed three goals in the two losses (I'm not counting the empty-netter last night).

And lookie here: December, which has usually sucked for the franchise historically, found the team still hovering around .500. They lost three games in overtime, and had they finished those games off, they would've split two of those games, they would've been entrenched at the bottom of the playoff brackets.

The pieces are there, with the addition of Jonathon Quick and the resurgence of the Kings penalty kill. L.A. is still near the top of the league in shots against, second only to the Red Wings, and ahead of San Jose (albeit by one shot).

January is the last month for the Kings, with nine home games. But the teams coming in will make it tough: New Jersey, Philadelphia and Chicago. One thing's for sure: if the Kings are still in the thick of the standings by the end of January, things will start getting a little more interesting.

• AP: Blue Jackets blank Kings

    “He’s giving us a chance to win the game every game that he’s played and that’s all you can ask from any goaltender,” Los Angeles coach Terry Murray said. “We have to score some goals for him, he’s played with a lot of energy and a lot of composure and he’s giving us a good look.
    “It’s nice to see that we have good young guys like this in the organization.”

• LA Times: Inconsistency and weak attack lead to Kings' 2-0 loss

    The Kings seemed to have solved one problem -- porous goaltending -- only to lose to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday because of two other failings: a weak attack and curiously inconsistent work ethic.

• Yahoo: Team report

    An underrated part of the Kings’ defensive improvement this season has been the shot-blocking ability of defenseman Matt Greene, who leads the team in blocks in almost every game. Greene has 22 blocked shots in his last 10 games. As Greene talked this week about his shot-blocking ability, he sported a nasty welt on the left side of his face, the result of a puck he recently blocked. “If you’re not scoring goals, you might as well be keeping them out of your net,” Greene said. “It’s a good way to stick around, and I think it helps out a ton. There’s really nothing more frustrating, for myself when I’m at the point, when I get a shot blocked. I think it gives our goalie some help, as long as you’re getting out of the way of the ones he needs to see.”

They said it

    “I don’t think we played hard enough and consistently across the game. We’ve been so close in some of these last couple of games. We really have to start to approach things like its make or break. You can go one direction or another this time of year.”— Patrick O’Sullivan

Looking through purple-hued goggles

• The Royal Half: Too Quick to Love

    I still can't get over the fact that the Kings goaltending coach is Bill Ranford and the assistant GM is Ron Hextall. It's like having our own 1980's Goalie All-Star Team behind the bench and in the front office. And check out this interview with Ron Hextall after he lost the Stanely Cup, but received the MVP award.

• Purple Crushed Velvet: Jon Zeiler: The Great Divide Between Siblings

    Regardless, my complaints about Zeiler in the presence of my hermano falls on deaf ears. When Zeiler finally returned to the lineup after a short stint on the sidelines, during which Peter Harrold, his replacement on the fourth line, proceeded to notch 2 goals in 2 games, he attempted to fight the crazy, lunatic, something wrong in the head, Avery-in-the-making Daniel Carcillo.

From the other side of the ice, the Columbus view

•  The Columbus Dispatch: Mason reins in Kings with shutout

Mason is now a leading candidate for the Calder Memorial Trophy, given to the NHL's top rookie. But why stop there? His play is worthy of All-Star Game consideration. And if he keeps this up, he deserves at least a mention for the Vezina Trophy, given to the NHL's top goaltender.

• Puck-rakers: Game no. 36

D Rostislav Klesla paid a price tonight in the second period. With the Kings on the power play, and the puck in a prime scoring location, Klesla hit the ice in front of a Drew Doughty pass and took the puck right to the face. A pool of blood quickly formed on the ice before Klesla walked off with a towel. He was back for the third.

Kings-related news

• LA Times:  Jonathan Quick could turn into elite goalie for Kings

Peeping the dailies