btw, I love the fact that it has gotten cold in LA. Ok, maybe not cold but cold enough that I need t turn on the furnace. This is in sharp contrast to the 5 degree weather that Edmonton had a few weeks ago for the Ducks game. I Love LA!

They look good and then they don’t. The Kings still don’t have their act together. We went to the Sharks game on Tuesday and saw the Kings eaten alive. Ok, maybe not that bad, but a bad bounce, two PP goals, and a lackluster performance provide the grist for another loss.

In Kings related news, last year’s lacklust performer, Roenick, is in some hot water with the ‘Yotes. From cbc.ca:

Roenick ignited a mini-controversy Tuesday night when he left GM Place in Vancouver after Gretzky made him a healthy scratch for the Coyotes game against the Canucks. Reports surfaced Thursday suggesting Roenick’s days with the Coyotes were numbered. But Roenick says the situation was blown out of proportion.

Nice. Get scratched and leave. Avery after getting booted from the Kings-Avs game stuck around until after the game. In fact, he gave props to Conroy for the game winner after Conroy gave Aves props for starting a fight with Lappy that turned the game around in a post game radio interview. It was about time for the Lappy-Aves fight since Lappy has been itching to fight Aves since Aves said French-Canadian players were visor wearing wussies.

Oh, well, let’s hope tonight is the night for a Kings win. Go Kings Go!

…..to get you excited about your team.

Annette and I went to the Kings-Avs game on Saturday. After the first period, the Kings were losing 2-0, tied it in the second, gave up a goal, tied it at 3, gave up a goal, tied it at 4 and finally potted the game winner for a 5-4 win. Conroy got the game winner on an ugly goal that was the result of plain hard word in front of the net.

The bad that happened would be the Predators game. The Kings lost 4-1 and it wasn’t even that close. I’m not sure if the Kings will play well enough to string some wins together. We are going again on Tuesday and it should be interesting to see if the Kings can beat the Sharks.

More up and down. The Kings lost to Phoenix and then the Ducks but managed to hand the Ducks their 3rd loss in regulation.

The good: Frolov, Kopitar, Avery are still performing well

The bad: Cloutier

Cloutier seems to have more holes than….swiss cheese, a bicycle tire, etc. Against the Ducks he did well but the Phoenix game was a nightmare. He let in 3 goals on 5 shots and it should been 4 goals. A quick whistle saved him from the 5th goal. Garon is gone with a groin pull so the Kings are stuck with Cloutier for awhile.

In stupid waiver rules, LaBarbera wasn’t called up for Garon because the Kings would probably lose him in a waiver claim and then be on the hook for 50% of his salary. Stupid. Even though he is tearing up the AHL the Kings are stuck with his backup who had 4 starts prior to his call up.

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.

So, last night the Kings beat the Rangers, a team on a roll and a playoff team last year, fairly easily. Might’ve been a fluke but it seems that “playing hard” is more than just the lame slogan this year but might actually work as a team philosophy. I haven’t watched the game yet (tivo’ed it last night) but I’m going to tonight.

Next up, the Penguins, which, after the Ducks, might be the sorriest name for a hockey (or another sport) team.