Month: November 2006

Two wins in a row. Finally. Against good teams. This is only the second time the Kings have won two in a row. They have been play well lately. It looks everyone is buying into Crawford’s system. The biggest change might be that Garon has played 3 games in a row while Cloutier is riding the pine. Why oh Why did the Kings give Cloutier a two year extension without seeing him play a regular season game.

The past 8 days have been interesting for the Kings. They got beat badly by both San Jose and Dallas(6-3 and 5-3). Dallas was harder to take since the Kings trailed 4-3 going into the last minutes of the third. It should’ve been tied 4-4 but a quick whistle cost the Kings a goal. The fifth goal was an empty netter.

The Flames game on Saturday was nice. The Kings got off to a bumpy start with a soft goal. The Flames had a 2 on 4 rush and somehow, the Kings managed to let a goal in. Usually, when the defense out numbers the offense, there is no goal. Kopitar finally scored at home on a nice pass from Brown. Frolov and Cammy scored “work ethic” goals.

Annette is slightly flummoxed by “work ethic” goals and the use of the phrase. Basically, I tell her that a good work ethic produces goals that are ugly. In the past few years, the Kings never had a mucker who stood in front of the goal and made a nuisance of themselves. Now, I would count Avery, Blake, Brown, and Frolov as the Kings muckers. Maybe throw in Thorton, too.

Overall, a good game. One of the nice things about the game is that we found a free parking spot on the street and saved $15. It is going towards paying off the credit cards from the Black Friday sales.

I’m not sure how this happens but it seems that time always slips away from me. Almost 3 weeks since my last post.

The Kings have played well and pathetic at the same time. They’ve played well for 50 minutes of a game only to lose it in the other 10 minutes. A prime example is the Philly game. In a span of 3 minutes the Kings gave up 3 goals and lost the game 4-3. This is after Frolov had two goals and the Kings played well. The next game against the Coyotes was interesting. In addition to almost losing the game after having a 3-0 lead (they won 5-3), Roenick was booed every time he touched the puck. I guess the fans are holding a grudge since he played like crap last year and now says he purposely showed up out of shape. Maybe he should give back some of his salary. Yeah, like that will happen.

So, we went to the Penguins game last night. It was nice that the Kings had a sell-out crowd last night although there were empty seats. The Kings have this knack of playing well but still losing. Last night, the game was lost in OT.

The good: scoring

The bad: Cloutier

Why the heck is Garon sitting? His GAA is less than 2 and the Kings win when he is in goal. I’m still puzzled why Cloutier received a contract extension prior to playing one regular season game. Right now, the opinion on Kings talk is to let Garon play. Of course, this probably won’t happen.

Finally, it was cold last night. Ok, it wasn’t cold last night but I was able to wear my sweater (jersey for you non-hockey types) and my sweatshirt at the game. Of course, I was boiling on the subway on the way to the game.

So, I didn’t mention Kopitar in the last blog too much. After 14 games, he has 13 points. Looks like the Kings have a Calder Trophy contender.

We are off to the Penguins game tonight so we’ll see Kopitar’s competition, Staal and Malkin, and last year’s runner-up, Crosby. Too bad I was sick for Ovekchin’s visit last year.