Game 30: Blues 5, Kings 4 (shootout)

I told my wife on Saturday that she's a lucky woman. Not because she married a great-looking guy (I'm not bad), not because I'm rich (we're not poor), or because I have a great personality (I do, but she already knows all my jokes).

No, she's lucky because I don't like football. On Saturday, we went to the Belmont Shore Christmas Parade (The Daughter was marching for the first time with her Camp Fire Group, the Red Parrots. Go Parrots! SQUAWK!) So, I had to take a pass at the afternoon game between the Kings and Blues.

But we watched it on TV, which she originally bristled at. After I pointed out that she could have it a lot worse, and that I could be sitting on the couch, with a can of Pringles and a sixer or Newcastle watching college ball... every Saturday, she relented. There's not a lot of these 1 p.m. games that I watch, so I was given a pass.

The game itself was a tremendously maddening affair not to see live, as the energy in the building was high. Luc was honored in a pregame ceremony, where he gave thanks once again to the fans. He was awarded for $25,000 by AEG for Echoes of Hope, giving everyone a chance to celebrate No. 20 one more time.

And borrowing that energy, Brad Richardson scored a short-hander early in the first period. Too bad the Kings suffered a power failure later in the period. The Blues successfully shifted momentum and was able to take the lead early in the second.

Midway through the second, something clicked, casuing the Kings started to wake up. They pumped 18 shots at Chris Mason in the  period, and started outplaying the Blues to turn the tables. Scott Parse scored to tie the game. Parse now has five points in six games.

Early in the third, they completed that momentum shift back, when Jarret Stoll scored to give the Kings the lead. Wayne Simmonds got his second assist of the game, to continue his 6-game point streak.

Then, just before L.A. could slide into "protect the lead" mode, Paul Kariya scored to allow St. Louis to tie the game. Then Kariya struck again, this time on the power play, to lift the Blues late in the third. I hate Paul Kariya with the intensity of a thousand suns.

Things sounded bleak to me, as I was now driving toward Second Street in Long Beach to put my chairs down for the evening's parade. I was sporting 5 layers of clothes, topped with my Luc Robitaille jersey. Maybe it was the jersey (doubtful), maybe it was the desire of the crowd (perhaps), but the Kings got a goal from Alexander Frolov with under a minute left to tie the game.

I sat in my car during the entire overtime period, watching as families march past with folding chairs and blankets. "So, I'll be sitting further down the street," I thought "The Kings are gonna win this." The Kings continued their late-game surge, added 6 shots to their game total 40 shots. But no dice.

More families were traipsing past, some with wagons and benches. But there I sat, feeling good as I heard Anze Kopitar, Jack Johnson and Wayne Simmonds were getting the call. But Anze's backhand attempt was halted, and I groaned. He's got to get jumpstarted sometime. Andy McDonald scored and I gritted my teeth. When Johnson's wrister was snapped out of the air, I knew the Kings were going to lose. I immediately slammed the door when Brad Boyes scored, and headed down to the parade.

I didn't feel that bad, though. The Kings showed more of that secondary scoring that was lacking earlier in the season. Plus, I got a ton of compliments from people at the parade on the jersey, along with a lot of head-shaking from fellow fans, frustrated by the loss. It's nice to know there are other Kings fans around.

• AP: Kariya helps Blues beat Kings 5-4 in shootout

    “We need our power play to be good,” Murray said. “If we’re going to have a chance to get points on a regular basis, you need a better power play than the 30th one in the league."

• LA Times: Kings stumble in shootout to Blues, lose 5-4

    The Kings have reached the point of knowing how far they've come while just beginning to grasp how far they still must travel to rank among the NHL's elite.

• LAKings.com: Kings fall in shootout

    The Kings earned at least one point for a fourth consecutive game, but weren’t pleased with an effort that was sloppy overall, nor were they pleased with losing a third-period lead – they were up 3-2 – something that seems to be a trend.

• NHL.com: Blues nip Kings 5-4 in shootout

    "Kopitar ends up with the puck on his stick in the overtime on a breakaway and he loses it, that's not like him," Kings coach Terry Murray said.

They said it

    "We’ve proven that we can play. I don’t think this team questions that we have the ability, and we play as a team as well as anyone on any night, but I think we still have a ways to go as far as learning, me included, as a team"– Sean O'Donnell on the team losing leads

    "I’m concerned. when you go through a dozen games and you haven’t scored a goal, and you’re getting the amount of minutes, special situations that you’re getting, and being quality players, that’s a concern." – Terry Murray, on his concern about the lack of production from Kopitar and Brown

Around the Kingdom

• The Royal Half: Not so Lucky

    The Kings got a point today. That's all you can really say about this game. I don't blame Jon Quick for most of those goals against and he did make some spectacular saves throughout the game. That line of Wayne Simmonds, Michal Handzus and Scott Parse is on fire... and every time they are on the ice you get the feeling they might score. Thankfully they are scoring... because no one else seems to be.

• Mayors Manor: Picking Up Steam

    Saturday's game versus St Louis completed the third 10 game segment. For all that's been made of Ryan Smyth being out of the line-up, the goal slumps of Frolov and Kopitar, the need for secondary scoring, poor penalty killing, etc...one thing that shouldn't be lost on anybody is the fact that this was the best 10 game stretch of the season. The Kings just posted 13 points in the last 10 games. Everybody can stop and breathe for a second. This team is doing just fine.

• Frozen Royalty: Confidence And Maturity Has LA Kings’ Wayne Simmonds Shining Bright

    Simmonds has stepped up offensively, but his stellar play in recent games is not showing up only on the scoresheet. Indeed, he has been a force along the boards and in the corners where he has consistently won physical battles for loose pucks and has been solid in his own zone. In short, Simmonds has been the Kings’ best player over the last eight games.

• HockeyBuzz's Matthew Barry: Kings Still Sing Afternoon Blues 5-4

    Brad Richardson, who recently visited a Wicca and has transmogrified into Alexander Ovechkin not only scored in his 3rd straight game, but he did it shorthanded off a beautiful feed from Jarret Stoll and the Kings took a 1-0 lead into the locker room.

• LAKingsNews.com: Kings takes a heart breaking loss to the Blues in the shootout

    We lost despite playing another “pretty not bad” but not great game.  Last season, we were findings ways to lose. This season we are findings ways to win or get points.

• Inside Hockey: Kings stars slumping

    But (Frolov's) play hasn’t clicked with the others on the top line, and reactions from the press (for what those are worth) run from “maybe he’s just up there on that line to assess his trade value” to “he who has no name in my stories” to “’Frolov?’  That’s Russian for ‘day off,’ isn’t it?  It’s up to readers to figure out who has uttered these sentiments, but neither would most fans disagree with them. 

• Examiner.com: Not even bobbleheads are 'Lucky'

    The Kings don’t have a real home ice advantage in these afternoon contests, and it doesn't seem like the building is overflowing with children as families try to take advantage of the weekend start times, so I say that next year they shouldn't have any of them at all.

From across the aisle, the St. Louis viewpoint

• St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Blues survive late-game letdown

    For the third time in the past six games, a Blues opponent scored inthe final minute of regulation to send the game into overtime, thistime with LA's Alexander Frolov knotting the score with 33 secondsleft. The Blues barely survived those remaining seconds and wereoutshot 6-1 in overtime, but the team saved face in the shootout,claiming a 5-4 victory.

• Note by note: Blues becoming road warriors

    These shootout wins over the Sharks and Kings should be underlined, because they have been two of the top teams in the Western Conference all season.

• St. Louis Game Time: Blues Win; Killer Instinct Still Needed

    The trend of not being able to finish off the end of a game is becoming a problem. The Kings score tonight with 34 seconds left to force OT. The Red Wings score with 57 seconds left to force OT and end up getting the win. The Stars score with 26 seconds left on Nov. 25 to force OT. It's a trend now and it's got to be addressed.

Peeping the dailies



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