Game 28: Kings 2, Flyers 1 (shootout)

Ladies and gentlemen, the Kings are for real.

That was a hugely satisfying win against the best team in the Atlantic Division. I think we can point to the game as one of the benchmark team-building games of the season, one that will draw the team closer together.

The game-changing moment was when Johnny Quick turned away a Scott Hartnell penalty shot in the first period. Even though Hartnell exacted his revenge by scoring in the second, the Kings remained stoic and battled hard on defense. The Kings tied it up later in the second, and took the Flyers to overtime, then the shootout.

The Flyers had the league's second-best power play, but that didn't matter to the Kings, sixth in the league on the PK. Defense remains the catchword when describing the Kings, and now that they have a serviceable goaltender in Quick, they will only get stouter on the blue line. They have killed 25 of the last power plays they have faced.

Next up is a home-and-home with those dreaded Ducks, amnd their three All-Star starters. Gee, way to stuff the e-ballot box, kids. Three Ducks and no Red Wings? Puh-leeze.

• AP: Kings beat Flyers 2-1 in shootout

    Jonathan Quick made 31 saves for the Kings. Quick has a 0.79 goals-against average in five starts since giving up five goals at Detroit on Dec. 20, and has stopped all but four of 132 shots during that stretch, which included two shutouts.

• LA Times: Kings' Jonathan Quick keeps the Flyers at bay

    All the diagrams coaches draw on dry-erase boards to illustrate their game plans, all the hours they spend analyzing opponents' breakout patterns and penalty-killing schemes -- all of them can be a complete waste of ink and breath.
    Sometimes what it takes to win is guts, guile, and a goaltender whose assurance is growing as rapidly as his save percentage.

• Daily News: Quick solid in goal as Kings beat Flyers

If Quick doesn't look rattled, it's because he's not. "I started to get over (nerves) when I was about 10," Quick said.

• Yahoo: Team report

The Kings on Saturday went back to a first line of Anze Kopitar centering Patrick O’Sullivan and Dustin Brown. It’s at least the third time this season that coach Terry Murray has tried that line, but each previous time, Murray quickly became unhappy with the line’s performance and broke it up. Kopitar, Brown and O’Sullivan are good off-ice friends and had great success playing together last season as each player had a career year. Kopitar has been a first-line staple all season, but Brown recently got moved down to the second line and O’Sullivan has skated on three different lines this season.

Looking through purple-hued goggles

• The Royal Half: It's always sunny in Philadelphia

Welcome to the NHL Wayne Simmonds. Sure you've been playing for the Kings all year, but if there was any game that you've "arrived" in, it was this one. Simmonds has looked very strong the last few games and tonight, during the 2nd period, he was rewarded with some 1st line time with Anze Kopitar and Patrick O'Sullivan.

• Press Box Perspective: Quick Leads Kings to Victory Over Flyers

From the other side of the ice, the Philadelphia view

• Philly.com: Flyers lose, but fall into first place

• The700Level.com: Fan Report: Flyers at the Staples Center in LA

Kings-related news

• Yahoo: Kings rookie RW Moller injured in World Juniors

• The Bleacher Report: Five Predictions for the 2009 Portion of the 08-09 NHL Season

    5) The Los Angeles Kings will make the playoffs.

    As I wrote before the start of this season, this statement sounds like pure lunacy. However, the Kings have continually surprised me with intelligent decision-making this year.

• USA Today: Midseason report card

    Kings: B- Better grasp of key concepts: Although the Kings aren't likely to make the playoffs, they are again starting to look like a competitive NHL team. Their young talent base is among the league's best, and they now have a look of a team on the rise. That was not true a season ago.

• Edmonton Sun: Kings ransom too much?

Because as good as Lubomir Visnovsky has been in Edmonton -- and he has been very, very good -- the trade that brought him here is beginning to look like a terrible mistake.

Peeping the dailies