Game 66: Kings 3, Canucks 2

Three wins in a row? In March?!? They haven't won three games in a row this late in the season since 2001-2002, the last season the Kings went to the playoffs.

Things are getting right down exciting in Hockeywood, with the Kings flirting with breaking through the hubris of the Western Conference standings and up the charts. With the win on Monday, the Kings are within striking distance of the 7th and 8th seeds. Crazy.

Monday night's game could be tagged as the one that can finally get the team to realize that they are indeed better than the teams ahead of them in the standings, as rookie d-man Drew Doughty said back in February. The Ducks are in free-fall, Dallas has cooled down, and Minnesota and Edmonton are playing .500 puck in the past week. But enough about that, now is the time to focus on the now. Like captain Dustin Brown said after the win:

“It’s about digging in and finding a way to win. And in these three home games, we found a way. We’ve had really good goaltending and good power plays. Now we need to take this momentum on the road, and we really can’t be worrying about what other teams are doing.”

Well said, Dustin.

The Kings scored twice in the first, and were able to stem the tide of a hard-charging Canucks team, the hottest team in the Western Conference coming in Monday. And while the scoring was nice, it was the small things the team did that made the difference.

The puck protection of Frolov, the passing of Purcell and the brass balls of Matt Greene, who laid down in front of a Canuck slapshot, and rung one off his forehead to end the game. Bleeding profusely, Greene skated over and congratulated rookie Jonny Quick on the win. he looked like
the wrestler NecroButcher, who stapled Mickey Rourke in the movie The Wrestler.

It was that play that stood out in coach Murray's mind after the game.

“At the end you have (Matt) Greene lying down to block a shot, then the rebound goes right back and hits him in the head, but he jumped right back up. The guy was a warrior tonight.”

Earlier in the night, I had talked with my podcast partner, Jesse, about why Greene was adorned with an A at the beginning of the season. I knew he was young and was a good pick-up, but couldn't accurately gauge his value to the team on the ice. After seeing him take one for the team, I have to agree with coach Murray. He's an ultimate team warrior, worthy of that letter on his jersey.

Quick two-game roadie before the Kings return to Staples next Monday. Let's hope they can continue what has been working.

• AP: Kings end Canucks' four-game win streak

"At this point of the season, it doesn't matter how we win games - as long as we're winning them," captain Dustin Brown said. "We've got to keep this momentum going and scrape and claw for everything we get. We're on the outside looking in. And with the way the schedule is, teams are flip-flopping left and right, night after night."

• LA Times: Kings show some grit in winning third in a row

But the signature play of their third consecutive victory was made by Greene, a defenseman who laid down on the ice in the final seconds to block a shot and did -- with his forehead.

• Yahoo: Team report

• The Kings are 19-for-66 on the power play in their last 13 games (28.8 percent). They’ve scored a power-play goal in 19 of their last 22 games. The Kings were 2-for-6 on the power play and 4-for-4 on the penalty kill.

• Frozen Royalty: Stoll, Purcell Lead Kings Past Canucks, 3-2

They said it

 “It’s fun. This is fun. This is a wonderful time to be a player here, on this team, to go through this and experience what this is all about. I don’t think it will ever go away, in the league. The parity seems to be getting stronger every year. That’s the fun part about it, is playing at this time of the year in order to figure out how you need to play and how to win and how to battle, and all those cliches we often throw out. You can talk about it as a coach in front of your team, but you really need to get on the ice and feel the excitement of the moment, and go through it and execute. It’s a great, great time. It’s a great race right now.”—Kings coach Terry Murray.

Looking through purple-hued goggles

• The Battle For California: That felt like a playoff game

You know who I love?  Drew Doughty.  I know, I probably say it a lot, but I love that little guy.  I want to lie in bed and talk about my feelings with him, and then we can get up and make chocolate chip pancakes together and he can playfully dab chocolate on my nose and then kiss it off.  You know, just regular thoughts everyone has.

• Examiner.com: Kings make it three in a row

Greene was not only player Murray had praise for. Forwards Oscar Moller and Wayne Simmonds played big minutes down the stretch, and their continued improved play hasn’t gone unnoticed by the coaching staff.
“Moller’s line was good again tonight,” Murray stated, “they matched up against (Kyle) Wellwood’s line all night and right at the end they got caught out there because of the icing, but it was a good experience for two young players.”

• Frozen Royalty: Handzus For LA Kings MVP?

Although it is unlikely that center Michal Handzus will be named as the 2008-09 recipient of the Bill Libby Memorial Award, given each year to the Los Angeles Kings’ most valuable player, Handzus, at the very least, deserves consideration with a little over a month left in the season.

From across the aisle: the Vancouver view

• Vancouver Sun: Canucks win streak dies in L.A.

No discipline, no penalty killing, no power play and no victory for the moms, The Vancouver Canucks regressed Monday to their dog days of January and fell 3-2 to the Los Angeles Kings to end their four-game winning streak.

• CBC.ca: Kings strike down Canucks

"We knew they were going to be a desperate team," head coach Alian Vigneault said. "They're fighting for a playoff spot."

• Crashing the goalie: The heat is on

I felt this going in: this will be a game that tests our resiliency. The work effort seems to be there…but there is still a sense that they do not yet realize that these aren’t the Kings they played three months ago. This is a team with speed and determination. We’ll have to match that or they will bury us…we being hottest team in the league notwithstanding. And a Kings PP adds another worry wrinkle. They are a great face-off team and we cannot clear the puck.

• Nucks Misconduct: Canucks toss one away early

The Kings did show a great defensive effort and a better puck-possession game, but the Canucks made them look good by leaving their emotion in some clothing store with their mothers earlier in the day.

Peeping the dailies



Kevin Westgarth vs. Darcy Hordichuk, courtesy hockeyfights.com