Game 33: Kings 3, Coyotes 2 (8 rounds of the shootout)

If this season is a dream, I don't think many Kings fans want to wake up.

The Kings continue to plow through the December to Dismember like turpentine through a kitten. One point separates the Kings from league leaders San Jose and Washington. And while I think the President's Cup is a little too far away, it's still interesting to mention.

Undefeated in regulation for the past seven games, Los Angeles continues their assault on the Pacific with a win against the Phoenix Coyotes. Sure, it took eight round of the shootout to decide the outcome, but a win is a win is a win.

The Coyotes were riding a five-game winning streak, but hadn't scored a power play goal. It was remarkable to Shane Doan, who told The Arizona Republic's Paola Boivin as much:

"That's what's most exciting," Shane Doan said. "We've won five in a row and we haven't scored a goal on the power play? Our offense hasn't done anything. It's only a matter of time."

The Kings are now 8-1-1 against the Pacific Division, the most dominant performance of a team against it's own division in the NHL so far this season. Here's another stat that I thought was cool: of the last 33 games, the Kings scored first in 22 of them.

Wayne Simmonds got things started off in the first period, potting a quick goal to put L.A. up 1-0. Later in the period, the Kings got another goal, this time from Jack Johnson, giving him two 2-point games in a row. The Kings then choked one back up, when Scottie Upshaw scored to make it 2-1.

The second period saw a lot of action, but no scoring between either team. Then in the third, Phoenix locked it all up with a Radim Vrbata power play goal. The Scuderi penalty may have allowed the Coyotes to make a game of it, but I hardly blame him. Or any of the Kings. The effort they put forth the past two days was tremendous. Yesterday's overtime match against the Sharks was a horse race, and Thursday's game was just as frenetic.

I knew as soon as Vrbata scored, the game would head into the shootout. The Kings hadn't put that much pressure on the 'Yotes since the first period, and they looked a step slow. The shootout, which was the longest in Kings history, saw goals by Jack Johnson (!), Michal Handzus, Drew Doughty and the eventual game-winner going to Justin Williams.

The first star of the game was Jack Johnson, and afterwards he spoke to practically everyone: Got the on-ice interview with Heidi, then the radio interview with Daryl Evans, then answered the crush of reporters in the locker room. He spoke about the fatigue that was apparent in the game, via Hammond:

    “After a certain point, you don’t think about it," Johnson said. "You’re just playing. Particularly in overtime, 4 on 4, that’s really pretty fun hockey and an exciting pace and a time to be real creative. At that point, you’re not really thinking about it. It hits you more after the game.”

If I may channel KLAC's Vic the Brick: The Kings have started to live by the Warrior Creed: Live through death, show no fear, ultimate self-sacrifice. With the loss of Ryan Smyth, they have mimicked the qualities of the bamboo: they bend but do not break. Feeling you, Warrior Kings of the Frozen Battleground!

Wow, now I feel a little weird now. Is that... hope? Time to take a walk in the cleansing rain of what could be the last StormWatch of the decade.

• AP: Kings beat Coyotes in 8-round shootout

    “It was a big two points. They are right there in our division, so it’s good to beat them and get that extra point,” Quick said after the Kings’ sixth victory in seven games and third straight against Phoenix. “We have been winning some games of late, so we just have to keep things going and continue the momentum.”

• L.A. Times: Kings win in their longest shootout

    The Kings are now 14-0-0 in games they've led after two periods, but this wasn't easy. They couldn't hold leads of 2-0 in the first and 2-1 after the second, as the Coyotes pulled even on a jammed-in power-play goal by Radim Vrbata at 3:12 of the third.

• LAKings.com: Kings outlast Coyotes

The Kings have 43 points in 33 games, one point behind San Jose – the Sharks have one game in hand over the Kings -- and two points ahead of division leaders Calgary and Chicago, although both of those teams have a couple games in hand.

• NHL.com:  Kings edge Coyotes 3-2 in eight-round shootout

Johnson made it 2-0 at 13:37 when he got the rebound after his first shot hit the crossbar and knocked the puck into the net. "I gave myself a nice pass off the crossbar," Johnson joked in an on-ice interview after the game.

• Fanhouse: Balanced Kings coming on strong

    "People probably considered us a one-line team," Kings forward Wayne Simmonds said with a chuckle. "But we went through a little spell where they weren't scoring and the team responded with a lot of secondary scoring."

They said it

    “We’re getting better. If you’re going to win in the National Hockey League, you’ve got to start to believe in yourself. You’ve got to have the right attitude, and you’ve got to be able to win close games, one-goal games. That, in itself, tells me that this team is starting to come together, starting to believe in each other, growing, and we’re heading in the right direction.”– Terry Murray, on winning games in the division

    "It’s huge. We’ve got to win our Western Conference games, and particularly in our division, and try to keep the gap going between us and everyone else in our division." – Jack Johnson, on winning another division game

Around the Kingdom

• LAKingsNews.com: Kings come home and kick the dogs

    Wayne Simmonds started the scoring by taking control of the puck (and the shift) and making a beautiful pass from the “office” to Oscar Moller who leaned his stick back and roofed the puck over Bryzgalov. Simmonds continues to show a maturity and game breaking ability that is so far beyond his years.

• Press Box Perspective's Kat Stein: Kings hang on to win longest shootout in Kings history

    Before the season started when people asked me if I thought the Kings would make the playoffs, they thought I was giving them too much credit when I said I thought they’d sneak in (6-8th place in the conference). Now it seems that I may have been underestimating the team. The games might not all be pretty and the Kings definitely make their fans nervous a lot. However, the Kings are getting the job done and somehow and finding ways to win. (Ed. note: Nice to have you back, Kat)

• HockeyBuzz's Matthew Barry: Kings luck continues with 3-2 SO win

    But the player of the night was Jonathan Quick, who has often been chided about his paltry save percentage and penchant for giving up a soft goal. Tonight, as he was Monday, he was superb. With the game tied, he stopped sure goals by King killer Shane Doan and Jim Vandermeer to send the game into overtime... again.

•  Anthony's Arena Analysts: Reasons To Endure' Kings Vs Coyotes

    A awesome game indeed and tons of fun to be at. As the guest exited the building they were greeted by the showers of L.A that only come but once every so often. Its always funny to see how over-dramatic we Californians are to rain, Its like a epic event to us.

• LAKingsInsider's Rich Hammond: Learning to win

    There are (at least) two ways to look at the Kings’ last two victories. They got four points out of a tough, tough situation — a game in San Jose, followed by a game, the next night, against a red-hot team — but they also gave up two-goal leads in each game and had to battle back to win in overtime/shootout.

From across the aisle, the Phoenix viewpoint

• Five For Howling: Remember When We Owned the Kings?

Oh how I pine for the days of yesteryear. When the Kings couldn't buy agoal. When the purple defense was laughably porous. When no matter whothey put in goal it wasn't enough to keep us from beating them. Thosedays have passed it seems, but not all is lost.

• Hipchecks:  I'll keep you my dirty little secret (Puck Bunny blog. Consider yourself warned)

    The Kings have so many players we need to watch out for it, it's almost impossible to keep track. This is a team to watch and watch out for. I try to stress that to the boys and it looks like the message may have finally sunk in.

Message board meltdown

• HFBoards: GDT: Coyotes @ Kings

    DouXer4ouR: Kings got lucky. ****...we had that. so pissed.
    ArizonaPride: I feel like breaking my tv right now! Coyotes deserve to lose in the Shootout when you get too many ****ing chances to put it away.
    GagneFan924: Vandermeer had the whole net and couldnt roof it....now thats sad. I am startin to think the ice is in really bad condition.
    hao chi: Tippett needs to get Doan's daughter on the bench now so she can reward him with hugs.

• Five For Howling: Gamethread - Witty Title!

OdinMercer: We’re not very far behind you and you know you hate facing us in games… :D
    ang6666 (a Sharks fan): yeah yeah …  your good luck can’t last forever… and we sorta like staying on top of the Pacific … such a nice viewfrom here … :)
         CP2Devil: Enjoy the President’s trophy…the most worthless trophy in all of sports.

OdinMercer: THat’s okay. Still a point…. I HATE YOU KINGS!

Peeping the dailies




And here's some interviews from KingsVision. Aaron and the guys do a great job on these, and I'm gonna use them more