The Red Wings’ record at home is a sparkling 18-2-1. If only they can only bring that on the road.

Pavel Datsyuk put on another clinic tonight with three assists; Todd Bertuzzi scored a goal and had two assists; and Jimmy Howard stopped all 26 shots for his fifth shutout of the season, stretching his league-leading wins total to 27.

After the first 20 minutes of play, the Red Wings jumped out to a 3-0 lead with goals from Henrik Zetterberg, Johan Franzen and Nicklas Lidstrom.  The shots were even at 11-11. The Red Wings took advantage of the Sabres’ mistakes and capitalized on them. Even though they didn’t take full control of possessing the puck, the Red Wings were in ahead in the scoreboard.

Bertuzzi made it 4-0 at 4:19 of the second period and by doing a Denis Savard impression. He spun around the Sabres’ goal and hit a backhand shot to beat Ryan Miller.  Thirteen seconds later, Darren Helm extended the lead to 5-0 and chased out the Sabres’ netminder,  ending Miller’s nightmare. He was replaced by Jhonas Enroth.

The Sabres played uninspired hockey and the only thing missing was their head coach Lindy Ruff pulling a Roger Neilson (circa 1982 Stanley Cup Finals) by waving a white flag. They looked totally flat tonight.

Give this round of “Miller Time” to the Red Wings’ Drew Miller.  He had an assist to Helm’s goal to make it 5-0 and helped chase his older brother, Ryan, out of the net. The billboards in the southeast Detroit area advertised this game as a battle of the Millers, but the way it turned it out, it was like a UFC Main Event that lasted 90 seconds.

With his three-assist night, Datsyuk notched his 15th mulit-point game this season. Also, Datsyuk became the eighth player in team history to reach 700 points and did so his 706th NHL game. He has a decent chance to pass Ted Lindsay (728 career points) for seventh all time by the end of the season.

By scoring the first goal of the game, Zetterberg ended a 14-game scoring drought for his ninth goal of the season, but has contributed with 10 assists during that span. Not counting his game-winning goal in the shootout last Thursday, his last goal was December 17 against the Los Angeles Kings. This should be a confidence-builder for “Z.”

Jimmy Howard is proving he is worthy of being an All-Star. Out of his 38 starts this season, Howard has given up two goals or less in 26 of those starts.  He is on pace for a 40 plus-win season and should be nominated for the Vezina Trophy.  He’ll be in some tough company though—other netminders like Tim Thomas, Henrik Lundqvist and Jonathan Quick are having Vezina-worthy seasons.

During the Red Wings’ home dominance, they have outscored their opponents 67-21.  They did play an injury-depleted Sabres team who have lost their last nine games away from home to acheive the home record. The Red Wings have a chance to make it 16 straight wins this Saturday against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

But first, the Red Wings have to focus on the first game of their two-game road trip.  Tomorrow night, they head back to Dallas and do battle with the Stars.  Their previous encounter was on January 3rd when the Red Wings won 5-4.

Pavel Datsyuk scored the game-tying goal midway through the third period and 56 seconds later, Niklas Kronwall scored the game-winner to send the Red Wings (23-12-1) to their second straight win and their 11th straight on home ice.  Jimmy Howard was once again sensational in net by making 29 saves for his league-leading 22nd win.

The Blues started the scoring at 6:51 of the first period as Kevin Shattenkirk rifled a shot from the point, which was deflected in front of the net by Matt D’Agostini for the 1-0 lead.  The Red Wings had their opportunities to tie the game up in the first period, but couldn’t capitalize on their chances.

The Blues extended the lead to 2-0 at 13:08 of the second period thanks to an alert Alex Steen; Howard came out of the crease to stop a shot by Jason Arnott—but the refs didn’t blow the as the puck was still in play. The puck creeped by Howard, and Steen took advantage of the play and tapped the puck in the net to extend the Blues’ lead.

Steen’s goal seemed to be the smelling salts for the Red Wings prompting them to press even harder to get on the scoreboard. The Red Wings cut the deficit to 2-1 with 63 seconds left in the second period when Nicklas Lidstrom shot a laser from the left point and the goal pumped up the crowd at the JLA.

The home team threw everything at the Blues, including the kitchen sink, and it paid off with Datsyuk’s goal that tied the game at 2-2. Datsyuk tipped-in an Ian White shot and it was redirected past Blues’ goalie Brian Elliott to tie the game.  Less than a minute later, Kronwall scored the game-clincher with a wrist shot from the left point, helping the Red Wings to their first win against the Blues this season.

This was a classic battle reminiscent of an old-school Norris Division battle. This game brought out the best in both teams and was perfect for a national audience. The Red Wings and Blues will face each other once again this Saturday at the JLA so expect the same effort from both teams.

Tomas Holmstrom will be out of the lineup for up to two weeks with a groin injury. In his place, Joakim Andersson was called up this morning from Grand Rapids and made his NHL debut against the Blues and played 5:10 of total ice time.  Defenseman Mike Commodore was once again in the lineup in place of Jakub Kindl.

Jimmy Howard was sensational once again for the Red Wings.  It should be time to talk about Howard’s status among the top goalies in the NHL.  Despite the Red Wings being knocked out by the San Jose Sharks in the playoffs last spring, Howard stood out as he kept the Red Wings in the series.

This season he has taken the next step so is he a top-tier NHL goalie, just yet? Not yet, because that’s a designation reserved for Tim Thomas, Henrik Lundqvist, Roberto Luongo (who found his groove over the last few weeks) and Marc-Andre Fleury.  I would put Howard in fifth right now ahead of guys like Jonathan Quick, Carey Price, and Pekka Rinne. Where would you rank Howard among the NHL netminders?

Howard has been the difference maker in some of his team’s wins this season and is getting better each season.  Once again, fans here in Detroit determine a goalie’s fate in the playoffs, but Howard has the mental toughness to make it.  The only concern for him right now is workload so hopefully he doesn’t burn out in the spring.

The Red Wings have another old-school Norris Division game this Friday as they head to Chicago for a date with the Blackhawks at the United Center.

Pavel Datsyuk currently leads the team in scoring with 10 goals and 23 assists, while Johan Franzen is now in second with 14 goals and 16 assists.   Valtteri Filppula is third (10 g, 25 a) and Henrik Zetterberg is climbing the ladder as he is now in fourth(8 g, 14 a).

Nicklas Lidstrom leads the team’s defense corp in team scoring with seven goals and 14 assists, while Ian White (4 g, 11 a) leads the team with a plus/minus rating of +21.

Jimmy Howard’s play in goal has slipped “just a little bit,” to quote Robert DeNiro, with a 1.91 goals against average and a .929 saver percentage, but he still leads the NHL with 19 wins.  All kidding aside, this is his breakout year, folks, and don’t be surprised if he’s nomintated for the Vezina Trophy this season.

Game 29:  Detroit Red Wings 4  Pittsburgh Penguins 1

Pavel Datsyuk led the offensive charge with a goal and an assist, while Jimmy Howard stopped 25 shots as the Red Wings invaded the Consol Energy Center with a 4-1 win.  Danny Cleary scored twice in the third to help put the game away for the Red Wings.  Johan Franzen scored the game-winning goal as he shot a rocket from the left circle past Marc-Andre Fleury early in the third period.

Game 30:  Detroit Red Wings 3  Nashville Predators 4

The Red Wings let one slip away in the Music City as they took a two-goal lead in the third period, but Shea Weber scored the game-tying goal on the power-play and scored the winner late in the third period.  Pekka Rinne was brilliant in goal as he stopped 37 shots and outdueled his counterpart Jimmy Howard, but his hooking call in the third period led to Weber’s game-tying goal.  A couple of the bright spots for the Red Wings was that they went a perfect two-for-two on the power play.  One of them was scored by Tomas Holmstrom and he passed Sergei Fedorov for fourth in team history with 118 goals with the man-advantage.

Game 31:  Los Angeles Kings 2  Detroit Red Wings 8

Cory Emmerton and Drew Miller led the team with two tallies each leading the Red Wings to an 8-2 drubbing of the Los Angeles Kings  at the Joe Louis Arena.  Out of the 18 skaters that suited up, 14 of them got at least a point.  Jimmy Howard stopped 27 shots to stretch his NHL-leading wins total to 19.  It was their third straight home game that they chased a starting goalie out of the net in the opening period as starting goalie Jonathan Quick didn’t escape the first half of the opening period.

Red Wings Three Stars of the Week

Pavel Datsyuk-two goals, three assists, +4

Danny Cleary-two goals, three assists, +5

Cory Emmerton-two goals, one assist, +2

Team Transactions:

December 15: F Chris Conner placed on short-term injured reserve, F Tomas Tatar called up from Grand Rapids (AHL)

December 16: F Tomas Tatar reassigned to Grand Rapids

This week’s games:

The Red Wings go back on the road to start a four-game road trip and will kick it off with a stop at Rexall Place for a date with the Edmonton Oilers.  After that, they will have back-to-back games on Wednesday and Thursday with stops in Vancouver and Calgary respectively and will take a few days off for Christmas.  They go back on the road next Monday for a rematch with the Nashville Predators at the Bridgestone Arena.

The Red Wings snapped their first one-game losing streak of the season as they blow out the Los Angeles Kings 8-2 on home ice.  Drew Miller and Cory Emmerton led the way with two goals apiece and Jimmy Howard stopped 27 shots for his NHL-leading 19th win of the season.

Out of the 18 skaters that suited up for the Red Wings, 14 of them had at least one point.  Not bad for a balanced attack, especially from the third and fourth lines.

Thanks to goals from Niklas Kronwall and Brad Stuart, the Red Wings now have a league leading 24 tallies from their own blueline.

The Red Wings started out like gangbusters by scoring two goals in a 15-second span early in the first period.  Miller got things going at 1:45 as he was in front of the net and scored off the rebound to make it 1-0; 15 seconds later, Emmerton tipped-in a Jonathan Ericsson shot past Kings’ goalie Jonathan Quick (four saves on seven shots) and things were quickly going (no-pun intended) the Red Wings way.

After Kronwall ripped a rocket of a slap shot from the right circle that made it 3-0, Quick was given the hook and was replaced by Jonathon Bernier.  Bernier didn’t fare any better as he stopped 15 of 20 shots.  The rest of the first period saw goals being exchanged by the Kings’ Davis Drewiske and Emmerton, who got his second of the game.

Jarret Stoll cut the Red Wings lead to 4-2 midway through the second period, but that was all the Kings could get past Howard.

The Euro-Twins activated their goal-scoring binge as Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk each lit the lamp as the Red Wings took a 6-2 lead after 40 minutes.  Both goals were in the form of wicked backhands.

It was “Miller-Time” as Miller made it 7-2 with a snap shot that went past Bernier’s glove side and Stuart turned off the red lamp as he scored the team’s final goal midway through the third period.

The Red Wings rebounded nicely from their heart-breaking loss in Nashville on Thursday night.  They took out their frustrations out on a hapless Kings team who have 3-7-0 in their last 10 games and have averaged an NHL worst 2.16 goals a game.

Even though he was chased out of the net early in the first, Jonathan Quick has been one of the few bright spots for the Kings this season. If it weren’t for his team’s play in front of him and playing on a team in the east coast, he’d be ranked among the league’s elite netminders.  Quick and Howard are two of the best american-born goalies in the NHL and they could be the front-runners to represent Team USA in the upcoming 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

Props to the Red Wings’ third and fourth lines.  The third line combination of Drew Miller (two goals), Darren Helm (two assists) and Danny Cleary (three assists) and the fourth line of Cory Emmerton (2 g, 1 a), Tomas Holmstrom (2 a) and Justin Abdelkader (1 a) were a huge reason tonight’s win.  The line of Emmerton, Holmstrom and Abdelkader played that well, they were rewarded with some time on the power-play.

After the Kings scored their first goal of the game, it didn’t sit well with Red Wings’ head coach Mike Babcock as he gave it to them before the ensuing face-off.  He pressed the right buttons and his team responded rather quickly.

The Red Wings go back on the road to begin a four-game road trip and their first stop will be at the Rexall Place as they face the Edmonton Oilers Monday Night.

Tonight’s Line-Up (Subject To Change):

FORWARDS

Marchand–Bergeron–Seguin

Lucic–Krejci–Horton

Pouliot–Kelly–Peverley

Caron–Hamill–Thornton

DEFENSE

Seidenberg–Boychuk

Kampfer–Corvo

Ference–McQuaid

GOALTENDER

Rask

Thomas

Scratches– ….. Chara (Leg–OUT), Paille (Concussion — GTD), Campbell (Lower Body–OUT)

– Tonight’s game can be seen on NESN (Edwards, Brickley) and heard on 98.5 The Sports Hub (Goucher, Beers), the flagship radio station of the Boston Bruins.

NEWS & NOTES

– In net for Boston tonight will be their 24-year-old Finn Tuukka Rask, who steeped in o relieve Tim Thomas who allowed 3 goals in two periods in Columbus on Saturday. B’s head coach Claude Julien noted this morning that Thomas will be in net tomorrow night when the Black and Gold visit the Ottawa Senators at ScotiaBank Place. On the other side of the ice is Kings’ netminder Jonathan Quick. The UMass-Amherst product has been an absolute workhorse for the Crowns this season, starting 23 of his team’s 29 games.

– One day after firing head coach Terry Murray, the Kings will be playing their first game under the direction of interim bench boss John Stevens. Stevens takes the reigns amid rampant speculation that Kings’ GM and Ludlow, MA native Dean Lombardi has eyed former Flames’ coach Darryl Sutter for a possible hiring. Tonight’s game could very well be both the first and the last game for John Stevens as head coach of the Los Angeles Kings.

– Bruins’ agitator and beloved sports figure in the city of Boston Brad Marchand was today fined $2,500 by the NHL’s discipline committee on the heels of his slew footing of Penguins’ defenseman Matt Niskanen last Monday night in Pittsburgh. Coach Claude Julien denounced such actions, stating  “I want him to be a good brat, not a bad brat”.

– Former Philadelphia Flyers’ captain Mike Richards will be making his first appearance in the Hub since being dealt to Los Angeles this past June, in a deal that sent Wayne Simmonds, and top prospect Brayden Schenn back to Broad Street. Skating on the Kings’ second line this season, the 5’11″ native of Kenora, Ontario has posted 11-9-20 splits in 25 games of action.

From The Room:

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B’s Captain Chara Speaks For The First Time Since Being Injured

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After his two-goal performance against the L.A. Kings, Pavel Datsyuk is all smiles. Photo by Dan 4th.

The gorilla is now off of Pavel Datsyuk’s back as his 12-game scoring drought is over. Datsyuk’s two goals and Jimmy Howard’s 23 saves led the Detroit Red Wings to a 4-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings at the Staples Center.

The win also snaps the five-game losing streak on the road for the Red Wings (10-7-1), which was their longest since 1987.

At first, it looked as if the Red Wings’ play would lapse over from Thursday in San Jose as they trailed 1-0 as Mike Richards (not Jerry’s Seinfeld’s pal Kramer) scored a shorthanded goal early in the first period.  Jiri Hudler missed the pass that was won on the face-off by Henrik Zetterberg and Richards beat Hudler for the puck and went in alone to beat Howard with a backhand.

The lead was all of 37 seconds as the Red Wings continued the attack on the power play when Datsyuk scored to end his 12-game scoring drought.  Nicklas Lidstrom ripped a shot from the point that was tipped-in by Tomas Holmstrom as it was stopped by Kings’ goalie Jonathan Quick, but Datsyuk put in the rebound to tie the game.

The Red Wings got a 2-1 lead on the power play as Tomas Holmstrom, who was behind the Kings’ cage, found an open Niklas Kronwall, who was in the slot with Kings’ players between him and beat Quick with a tip-in.  Kronwall’s goal was also the eventual game clincher.

The deciding moment of the game came when Anze Kopitar went in on Howard, but Brad Stuart dove to poke the puck away giving the officials’ a (or no) reason to award Kopitar a penalty shot.  Puck met the Glove as Howard stopped Kopitar, keeping the game 2-1.  There was a big “Whew” after the save on Kopitar.

Justin Abdelkader scored the insurance goal for the Red Wings on a wrist shot.  Brendan Smith joined in on a 2-on-1 and tipped the puck over to Abdelkader, beating Quick on a wrist-shot.  Datsyuk scored the final goal with 4:54 left in the game as he put in a snap-shot.

This game was a must-win for the Red Wings, who were in a funk for the past two games.  Howard recovered from Thursday’s game in San Jose as he played great and made some great saves.  The save on Kopitar’s penalty shot also charged up the team who played relentlessly.

A big plus for the Red Wings was that they solved Jonathan Quick, who’s arguably one of the top goalies in the NHL.  Quick owned the Red Wings last season with a 3-1 record with a .932 save percentage, including a 51-save shutout at T”he Joe”.

Congratulations to Brendan Smith as he got his first NHL point on an assist to Justin Abdelkader’s goal in the third period.  Smith played a lot more relaxed and showed why he was the Red Wings’ first round pick in 2007.  Smith has so much upside to his game, he has the potential to be a bigger version of Kronwall.

Pavel Datsyuk has to have a boost of confidence tonight after his two-goal performance.  It’s now Henrik Zetterberg’s turn to find a way to light the lamp as he had found the net once in his last 10 games.

Todd Bertuzzi was off the injured reserve list and inserted into today’s lineup after missing the last six games with sinus infection and swelling on his ear. In his place, defenseman  Ian White was placed on the injured-reserve from the injury to his right cheekbone last Saturday against Dallas.

The Red Wings play their final game of their four-game road trip tomorrow night against a familiar team in the Anaheim Ducks at the Honda Center.  On November 5th, the Red Wings ended their six-game losing streak against the Ducks with a 5-0 win at the Joe Louis Arena.  The Ducks are on a three-game losing streak and are sitting in last place in the Pacific Division.

The Ducks are led by another ageless European star in Teemu Selanne.  He currently leads the team in scoring with six goals and 12 assists in 18 games.  Even though Selanne’s found the fountain of youth, the team’s other stars are suffering from scoring slumps as Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf and Bobby Ryan have netted a combined 16 goals this season.

It’s a perfect opportunity for the Red Wings to press the foot on the accelerator.

Considering how the last series went against a team from southern California, there should be no lack of flare and maybe this brings the rivalry between the teams to the next level as it did with the Sharks and Ducks two years ago. There’s a rivalry between the teams but it never seemed to hit its stride because both teams have rarely been good at the same time.

There was no “easy” match-ups in the Western Conference and though people will point to the Kings missing leading scorer Anze Kopitar this will be far from a cake-walk for the Sharks. If you look at the way the Kings are built, they may be one of the teams that are well-suited for taking on this kind of disadvantage.

Jonathan Quick has had a terrific season in net and the defense in front of him from top to bottom is one of the best in the entire league. As valuable as Kopitar is to the Kings, would it have the same impact as the Sharks losing someone like Joe Thornton or Patrick Marleau for a series? Probably not.

The Kings play lock-down defense so they’re somewhat prepared to compensate for losing a leading scorer and if anything it may make their defense stingier because they know what they do well and they’ll focus on it even more now.

Here’s a look at some interesting things to keep an eye on:

Antti Niemi vs. Jonathan Quick: The goal-tending battles have been cause of the Sharks demise many years running. Many people believe that Evgeni Nabokov got the Sharks as far as they were going to go with him in net because he was consistently outplayed in series by the opponents goaltenders even if the Sharks won the series (eg. Craig Anderson with Colorado last season). Both goalies had awesome regular seasons but Niemi has the long playoff run experience, it will be interesting to see if he has the capability to take this team where he took Chicago last season.

Secondary scoring: The Kings will rely on depth scoring with Kopitar out and Justin Williams getting his first action just off an injury. There’s plenty of guys on the team who can score, its just a matter of who will. The verdict is still out on how whether this group of defensemen is good enough to win a cup. There is depth, Kent Huskins is injured, but the defense still goes a good seven deep with Dan Boyle, Douglas Murray, Jason Demers, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Ian White, Niclas Wallin and Justin Braun although Braun and White have never played in the playoffs.

The more intriguing situation is the Sharks forwards vs. the Kings defense. In the past they have been one-line ponies. Stop one line, stop the Sharks offense. This season the stars are spread out and the Sharks have three lines that can score and over the last month, the Sharks supposed “third line” of Joe Pavelski, Torrey Mitchell and Kyle Wellwood has been its best. But last season the Sharks ran into arguably the best assembled group of defensemen in the playoffs for the Blackhawks. The Kings’ Drew Doughty, Jack Johnson, Rob Scuderi, Willie Mitchell, Matt Greene and Alec Martinez provide just about everything you’d want from a group of six on the back end.

Adversity theory: The Sharks are perennial playoff contenders and Stanley Cup favorites. They always disappoint after stellar regular seasons. This year didn’t get off to the same start but who’s to say that’s a bad thing. They had to fight in a semi-desperation mode ever since the end of January and maybe that’s a good thing. There’s no lulling into the playoffs this year and no easy tests along the way being in a division that could have had all five teams make the playoffs. Despite finishing second in the conference they still flew somewhat under-the-radar thanks to the dominance of the Vancouver Canucks.

The Sharks once again have the opportunity to prove the doubters wrong. It’ll always be about the playoffs for this team regardless of how the regular season goes. To get where they want they have to go through at least one cross-state rival and then we’ll see where that leaves the team. Here’s to a great all-California series!

Extras

Nice to see all three teams from California make the playoffs as well. It’s another step in building up the sport in a state where it still isn’t necessarily recognized as much. Maybe seeing one of these teams succeed helps make hockey an option for kids growing up in the state.

All three teams have great teams and organizations and are set up to be good for the foreseeable future based on the young talent on each team. The Sharks have become models of consistency in the regular season, the Kings are past the up-and-coming label and belong in the playoffs and the Ducks have been to a pair of Stanley Cups – winning one – in the last decade.

There is no “I” in “Team”, but there is a “me”. Meaning it takes individuals knowing their job and executing plays within their role. Not taking on the opponent like a counter productive one man show. Last night’s 2-1 St. Louis Blues victory over the Los Angeles Kings is a perfect demonstration of said axiom.

There is no coincidence that the TJ Oshie return to the lineup sparked such a performance. From the first puck drop Oshie was as contagious as ever. Spreading energy and effort like the flu bug out in California.

A tangible positive vibe flowed through Scottrade Center. A presence not felt in St. Louis since October. Picking up the spirits of another capacity crowd.

Those in blue sweaters fed off the battery labeled #74 as well.

Brad Winchester, Alex Steen, David Backes, Erik Johnson and others stepping up their individual effort to turn a play, a possession, a shift, a period or even the game in the Blues favor.

The kind of play Davis Payne continues to call “St. Louis Blues hockey”. Getting pucks quickly out of their end and attacking the opposite side of the rink. Utilizing mental and physical resolve to win battles on the second and third efforts. Five skaters working as a unit in all three zones.

This style of play doesn’t require an extensive amount of skill. It just requires adherence to the program. Work like a Marine. Get in, do your job and get out. The score doesn’t matter so long as the Blues have one more tally than the opposition.

As simple as it sounds, multiple stretches of absentminded play show how difficult maintaining that level is.

Think Oshie doesn’t make a big difference? Think it’s only one game, so don’t get too excited? Fair enough. Guessing folks with that point of view haven’t seen the Blues play much to notice the difference.

Quick Hits vs. LA

- Patrik Berglund scored his 9th of the season on a deceptively Delicious backdoor play on the man advantage. Berglund slipped behind the defense on the weak side when Matt D’Agostini’s saucer pass went from the left wing faceoff circle to the right wing post. Nice to be caring up someone elses penalty kill rather than seeing the same happen to the Blues.

- From the “tell me if you’ve heard this one” department… LA picks up the pace in the second, cycles the puck well, point shot gets through for a deflection in. Kyle Clifford with the deflection for his 4th.

- Alex Steen outworked and out thought Drew Doughty twice in one shift late in the third. Kept the play alive on the boards to maintain possession during line changes. Puck works back to him by the Kings bench. Sold Doughty on a dump in fake and the cross ice pass ends up on Johnson’s stick. He flips it on net and the puck squeaks through Jonthan Quick as Backes crashes the net. EJ’s 5th of the season put the Blues up for good 2-1.

Johnson took a puck to his right hand blocking a shot on a penalty kill. He left for a brief time but finished the game. Appears to be just fine.

- Carlo Colaiacovo took another puck to the face. Deflecting a shot straight up his stick and hitting him around the eye. Reports as of Wednesday suggest he will miss a week or two. Ian Cole has been recalled from Peoria to take Carlo’s spot.

- Jaroslalv Halak broken in some new pads last night. Not the norm, but it worked well. Using solid rebound control and timely saves to keep LA to only one goal. Stopped 26 of 27 shots. Halak is now a perfect 4-0 against LA.

- Jonathan Quick picked up where he left off in LA. Didn’t look like he ever settled in to the game. Stopped 24 of 26 shots.

- LA won 33 of 58 draws. Backes needs to improve on the draw. For the foreseeable future he is the Blues top center and needs to take winning face-offs seriously. Winning 7 of 17 is not acceptable for a competing team’s go to man in the middle.

- Drew Doughty, feast or famine with his play. At least he had more of the latter than in last week’s meeting.

Bluenotes

- David Perron was in attendance last night. Sitting upstairs with the healthy scratches. Hoping his appearance means he is getting close to symptom free.

- Word is Andy McDonald skated prior to today’s practice. Word is that is true. Great (potential) news. Skating means he has passed his baseline tests.

- Speaking of healthy scratches, Chris Porter was put on waivers. He will be Peoria bound, assuming he clears. With the Blues luck…

On Trade Rumors & Speculation

Much has been made of the Blues potential to be a buyer or seller at the fast approaching trade deadline. There are a few variables to keep in mind.

- The return of Perron and Andy McDonald factor HEAVILY in to any trade possibilities. If in two or three weeks both have passed their baseline tests the “holes” for Doug Armstrong to fill are very different than if both are out.

- Position in the standings is a large factor. If they are 6 or so points out in 9th or 14 points out in 12th, Armstrong will be looking for different types of offers.

- New injuries. Heaven forbid something else happens, but it’s certainly possible. Using Colaiacovo for example. Should his eye not heal quickly or there be further complications, the need may be for an experienced defenseman more so than a forward.

- Earth shattering trades and/or team building trades do not (normally) happen at the deadline. Don’t expect to see a big name change hands and end up wearing a Bluenote. Yes, this means Eric Brewer, Barret Jackman and Brad Boyes.

- What should be expected? Dealing surplus for experienced depth. Someone who can center a checking/energy/grinding line would be nice. Marty Reasoner from Florida comes to mind. That said, if a rental with some scoring ability is available and doesn’t require an overpayment of assets, the Blues will be interested.

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As always, you are invited to follow @618_STLBlues and @BlueNoteZone on Twitter and on the BlueNoteZone Facebook Fan Page for in game updates and Blues news. Please also check out the St. Louis Blues Blogs Facebook Fan Page for links to Blues blogs all over the Internet.

Who knew there would be such a high demand for NHL castoffs who become KHL castoffs?

First Marek Svatos packed up his game and crossed the Atlantic to play for the St. Louis Blues. He didn’t survive the waiver wire as the Nashville Predators claimed the former 30 goal scorer. With the San Jose Sharks claiming Kyle Wellwood the Blues are now 0-for-2 bringing in support for their injury depleted roster.

While Wellwood is far from the Blues saving grace, the loss still stings.

Over $6 million in payroll is sitting on IR due to concussions instead of on the ice scoring goals. The need is great and all options are worth exploring. Wellwood’s abilities in the circle and potential to bolster a sluggish power play could have been effective gap filling production.

Instead Doug Armstrong is left continuing his season long searching for offensive assistance.

Hopefully the waiver rules get a healthy review and update in the next CBA. The consequences of the current cap system stifling the trade market for “haves” and “have nots” alike appears to be adversely affecting the waiver system.

Welcome Back TJ Oshie

One SMALL bit of good news today was that TJ Oshie has been activated from IR and will play tonight against the LA Kings. Since fracturing his ankle in a scrum against Columbus on November 10th he has missed 31 games.

Virtually the undisputed spark plug of the lineup, Oshie has been sorely missed. His ability to come out of traffic with the puck in tow and make a play is the main catalyst missing from the Blues attack. He may be a bit rusty in his first game back, but his compete level will be contagious.

Look for Oshie to play right wing on a line with Vladimir Sobotka and Patrik Berglund.

Quick Hits vs LA

Blues Lines should will likely look like very similar with a few tweaks.

Alex Steen – David Backes – Matt D’Agostini
Vladimir Sobotka – Patrik Berglund – T.J. Oshie
Brad Winchester – Jay McClement- Ryan Reaves
B.J. Crombeen – Phi McRae – Brad Boyes

Barret Jackman – Roman Polak
Eric Brewer – Erik Johnson
Carlo Colaiacovo – Alex Pietrangelo

Jaroslav Halak will start in net.

- Look for the Jackman – Polak pairing to see a lot of Anze Kopitar. He leads the Kings with 16 goals and 47 points in 43 games.

- One area of game play to keep an eye on, crashing the crease. Can the Blues keep the Kings out and can they get inside on the Kings?

- Jonathan Quick will go for the Kings. He did not have a solid game against the Blues last Thursday in LA. Allowing three goals on 21 shots. Halak bested the US Olympian by stopping 24 of 25 shots.

- Blues beat writer Lou Korac also had some insight in to LA’s lines in his Gameday blog.

Ryan Smyth – Anze Kopitar – Justin Williams
Marco Sturm – Jarret Stoll – Dustin Brown
Kyle Clifford – Brad Richardson – Trevor Lewis
Alexei Ponikarovsky – Michal Handzus – Kevin Westgarth

Rob Scuderi – Drew Doughty
Jack Johnson – Willie Mitchell
Alec Martinez – Matt Greene

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The 7-4 loss to the Ducks was a perpetuation of the same trends miring the Blues below the waterline. Great stretches of play where little playing was to be found. Far too many passengers on the highway to h-e-double hockey sticks. As in the previous four failures, the difference of one period’s play made the difference.

As stern payback by the (Mighty) Ducks for the walloping they were given back in October. Then the Blues took a page out of Anaheim’s playbook. The game may have been “lost” but they wouldn’t be pushed around. Between the 13:47 and 17:22 mark of the third four fights erupted. Ending up in 62 PIMs in less than 5 minutes time and a 78 total for the game.

Better late than never to receive the message?

The hot tempered actions didn’t boil over to Thursday’s affair in LA. Instead the energy carried over in to controlled emotion and renewed confidence. Aside from the first quarter of the second period, confidence snowballed in to execution. Those in white sweaters looked to be on strings attached to the fingers of Davis Payne. Whatever the course of action taken, it was generally the decision Payne’s system calls for. As it has before, adherence to the code of play defined by the bench boss as “St. Louis Blues hockey”, produced results.

Will this third hard lesson be the one that sinks in? Won’t know till Saturday in San Jose.

Back to Back Quick Hits

- Ty Conklin stopped 17 of 24 shots against Anaheim. The 5th time in 9 starts, 6th time overall, Conks has allowed 4 goals or more in a game this season. Jonas Hiller stopped 30 of 34 Blues shots.

- Jaroslav Halak was rock solid against LA. Facing 25 shots and turning away 24. Kudos to Halak for taking his beatings. The Kings were in his crease several times causing trouble. There was one instance where around 8 or 9 skaters were in the crease and the officals refused to blow the play dead. Protect the goaltender? Jonathan Quick was far from solid. He looked uncomfortable handling the puck all night and allowed 3 goals on 21 shots.

- Once again David Backes was the top performer for the Blues. Netting 2 goals and registering 8 shots in the two tilts. Worth noting that after another slow start he is pacing for a 27 goal campaign and has a legitimate shot at 30 goals and 70 points

- The Peoria Line, comprised of Chris Porter, Phil McRae and Ryan Reaves, formed a respectable trio. Reaves scored once in each game and McRae picked up his first NHL point assisting on Reaves game winning goal in LA.

- The pairings were shuffled against LA, reuniting Barret Jackman and Roman Polak. Those two, as well as Eric Brewer and Erik Johnson, did a good job of matching up against the Anze Kopitar line. Kopitar ended with 5 shots and 10 attempts, but was denied time and space to rev up his engine. Backes’ deserves some credit there as well.

- Totals on the draw: 58 won – 57 lost. Jay McClement was a solid 16 for 28. McRae was 10 for 11.

- Alex Pietrangelo keeps getting better. The rust from his shoulder injury seems to have been brushed off as he posted 2 assists and a Plus-3 for the set. He was Even against the Ducks. Erik Johnson is also improving. Picking up an assist in each game as well and a Plus-3 rating. He was a Plus-2 in the 3 goal differential loss to Anaheim. Against LA one several offensive zone draws Payne put both EJ and Petro on the ice. That combination lead to two goals.

- Brad Winchester continued his solid play. He is one of a few who have grabbed ahold of opportunity recently. As has Matt D’Agostini.

- Brad Boyes and Alex Steen pursued the puck and worked the corner boards very well to set up the third goal Thursday. That type of play hasn’t been seen much since David Perron and TJ Oshie went out. Those two are masters of attacking the puck carrier, working down low to create space to come out and get pucks to the net. Boyes has points in 4 straight with Thursday’s assist on Steen’s goal.

Bluenotes

The Blues AHL affiliate, the Peoria Rivermen fell to the Oklahoma City Barons 7-2. While it ended their winning streak at five, they have a chance at redemption as the two square off again Friday night. The Rivermen are 25-11-2-1 in 39 games. Leading the AHL’s Western Conference with 53 points. There is a feeling that this club can make a legitimate run at a Calder Cup. Such a playoff run would be a big boost to the relatively inexperience prospects composing much of the roster.

Credit first year coach Jared Bednar with the success. He has really mixed youth with veteran additions like captain Dean Arsene, Nathan Oystrick, Graham Mink and David Spina. Credit also goes to the Blues top goalending prospects, Jake Allen and Ben Bishop, who are backstopping the Rivermen. Allen is 15-4-0-5 with a 2.04 GAA and .937 save percentage. Bishop’s record is 10-9-1-2 with a 2.44 GAA and .917 save percentage.

Reports are true that as many as 16 scouts were at the last Rivermen game. While the rumor mill loves to spin and will surely land on the section marked “trades are coming”, don’t put much in to it. So many were in attendance because it was a Thursday game. The scouts will likely move on to Rockford, Chicago, Milwaukee, “near by” teams, for the weekend. It’s a logistics issue. Don’t get carried away.

Per Andy Strickland, Defenseman Ian Cole has been recalled from Peoria. He will join the team in San Jose and likely play Saturday against the Sharks. Meaning either Tyson Strachan or Eric Brewer is out.

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Message received, challenge accepted and plan executed.

The Los Angeles Kings came to town well rested. Ready to throw a physical brand of hockey and a hot goalie at a battered Blues club struggling to keep pace.

Instead of the road team sticking it to the home side, the tables were turned. St. Louis matched the physical play and brought more. Out hitting the visitors 28 to 19. When LA forced penalties (with some help from the officials) and netted the opening goal on an Ryan Smith 5 on 3 PPG, Jay McClement and his line crash the blue paint and put in a knotting score less than three minutes later.

Terry Murray’s crew was not with a little resiliency of their own. Taknig a 2-1 lead in the second on Anze Kopitar’s 14th of the season. Forcing additional penalties and offensive zone time.

The see-saw battle continued when Vladimir Sobokta, Brad Winchester and Eric Brewer added three goals in 10 minutes. St. Louis up 4-2. Just 46 seconds after Brewer’s tally Wayne Simmonds made it 4-3 and 1:27 after him was Dustin Brown’s 11th. At the end of two it was 4-4.

What Payne said in the locker room is between him and his crew. My guess is that it included some reinforcement of his second effort mantra because the Blues came out ready to go in the third.

At a time when fatigue should set in and fresh legs tilt the ice, the opposite occurred. Forechecking picked up and held the home side in the game. Renewed efforts leading to Alex Steen’s sniping of Jonathan Quick on a poke checked puck off McClement’s stick no King defender could clear. Giving St. Louis a 5-4 lead. David Backes’ empty netter sent the fans home with a 6-4 victory.

Particulars

1st Period:
LA 16:59 Smyth (9) (Power Play)  | Assists: Johnson, Brown
STL 18:45 McClement (5)  | Assists: Winchester, Crombeen

2nd Period:
LA 2:00  Kopitar (14) (Power Play) | Assists: Doughty, Johnson
STL 5:07  Sobotka (3) | Assists: Backes, Colaiacovo
STL 9:46  Winchester (4) (Power Play) | Assists: Colaiacovo, Sobotka
STL 15:07 Brewer (5)  | Assists: Sobotka, Backes
LA 15:53  Simmonds (6)  | Assists: Clifford, Handzus
LA 17:20  Brown (11) | Assists: Scuderi, Kopitar

3rd Period:
STL 17:07  Steen (9) | Assists: McClement, Crombeen
STL 19:01  Backes (6) (Power Play) (Empty Net) | Assists: Boyes, Colaiacovo

Goaltenders:

LA: Jonathan Quick 25 saves on 30 shots against, .833 save percentage

STL Ty Conklin 25 saves on 29 shots against, .862 save percentage 

Game Notes

- Anyone else like the little (no pun intended) battle between Sobotka and Drew Doughty. Drew is a very skilled player, but still has room to improve. For those Blues fans wanting to compare DD to EJ as a reason to be concerned with Johnson’s development, here is some proof that good players take time to grow and can have set backs. Also see Myers, Tyler.

- Sobotka is quickly becoming a fan favorite. Reminds me much of Bo Hart and the Cardinals. Good thing Vlad he doesn’t have to worry about hitting a curve ball. On the ice he is a blend of Steen and TJ Oshie. No doubt that’s why he and Backes have been outstanding together.

- Two bits to comment on from yesterdays Detroit Recap/LA preview:

1. Ian Cole affirmed my statements about taking an “Alex Pietrangelo type step” in development. Safe to say Brewer has done for #23 what Barret Jackman did for Petro
2. I jumped on Patrik Berglund, Backes and Brad Boyes for their level of play/decision making. They appropriately came back with much better games. Boyes was less invisible where the other two made sizable impacts on the game.

- Dustin Brown can complain about the hit Cole put on him along the benches, but let’s be real a second. That play was not true interference. It was a hockey play. The NHL’s nu-era rules make that interference. Please, keep that hit in the game.

- Jonathan Quick never looked comfortable in net. Not as bad as Conkline looked in Chicago a few weeks ago, but something wasn’t right.

- Nikita Nikitin looked a little more comfortable in his return to St. Louis. Erik Johnson’s injury precipitated Nikitin’s second stint with the big club.

Pugilists Do Battle

Tyson Strachan vs. Kyle Clifford

Click here to view the embedded video.

Who wins this one? Vote at Hockeyfights.com.

Blues News

- Johnson was evaluated Thursday and is day to day with a knee strain. Concerns were high that it was a serious injury. Especially after the team built unnecessary drama by announcing they would wait till later in the evening to announce the prognosis.

- EJ as well as Pietrangelo and Roman Polak all participated at the optional skate Friday morning. As reported by Lou Korac EJ was not “tip-toeing” around the ice at the Mills. Polak was participating in drills and Petro was apparently fine. Some good news for once.

- Adam Cracknell was returned to the Peoria Rivermen. Another warm body who came up from the AHL, did his job well enough and was sent back down for fiscal concerns. Given the revolving door between the two teams, Cracknell will likely be back. His play in Detroit did nothing to say he shouldn’t.

Next Up

San Jose comes to town in the first meeting between the two since Sharks captain delivered a blindside head shot to David Perron. Perron has missed every game since and has no time table for a return.

Will there be bad blood? Doubtful. Most of the anger has been directed at Jamie Baker and Bobby Holik/NHL on the Fly for their insinuation that Perron was faking/diving.

I will be in Peoria to catch the Rivermen take on the Grand Rapids Griffens. Thank you DVR technology!
 
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When It Rains, It Pours

The list of wounded Blues just keeps growing. Erik Johnson was added last night after colliding with Pavel Datsyuk. As EJ stepped up to hold his position around the center red line Datsyuk attempted to maneuver back towards open ice. A red left leg met a blue left and Johnson ends up on the ice. Johnson didn’t return and was seen by the Red Wings team doctor. Typically, a negative sign. He traveled back to St. Louis with the team for evaluation. More is expected to be known later Thursday afternoon.

Vladimir Sobotka might be joining the other 12 players who have missed a game so far this season. The top six fill in left winger went down to block a shot and took it straight on his knee. His status is unknown after not returning to action last night.

By Chris Kerber’s count, the Blues are up to 110 man games lost to injury to date. An average of 3.79 man games lost per game this season. A pace of 311 total. A number far below the 465 lost in 2008-09.

A Bad Call & A Bad Decision

David Backes has become the heir apparent to Eric Brewer’s captaincy, at least according to many fans around St. Louis. The primary reason cited has been #42′s fire and intensity on the ice. A stark contrast, the anti-#4 crowd says, to Brewer’s bath water warm demeanor.

If anything has been proven this season it’s that a healthy Eric Brewer is a physical and effective Eric Brewer. No shortage of passion from his play (when called for). The big guy has not been healthy for quite some time and is using this opportunity to counter his doubters (and increase his market value). Conversely, Backes didn’t do anything to further “Team Backes” groupies calls to supplant the established leader last night. Taking two bad penalties that lead to Detroit taking over the game.

The first was a poor call on the officials part. Complain about calls amounts to whining most of the time, but this call was different. On a play in front of Halak, Datsyuk goes down to the ice trying to make a play. Backes gives a little cross-check nudge to the downed Russian. A little “payback” for a similar love tap by Datsyuk down by Jimmy Howard just a few seconds before. Instead of letting the players tit for tat and police themselves, the officials interject themselves.

While the winged wheels didn’t score on the first power play complements of Backes, they did on the second.

As Tomas Holmstrom was skating in to the Blues zone, Backes was exiting to the back bench door. He stopped along the way to give the Swede a cross-check nudge. Holstrom collapses like a ton of bricks. Draw praises from the Acadamy for his performance in a comedy. Daniel Cleary found his newly certified “Blues Killer” membership card and banged in a Lidstrom rebound. Putting Detroit up by two, 3-1.

Detroit has a slight reputation for embellishing hits. Perhaps more pronounced among division rivals, but it’s there. On the road with the Wings surging, Backes cannot take a mental nap and let his machismo take over. Go to the bench and live to fight another shift. Don’t give them the opportunity to pile more on. Don’t force the team in to that position.

He isn’t a kid anymore, but he still has some growing to do to earn an upgrade to the letter on his sweater.

Invisible Forwards

Brad Boyes knows all about adversity and how to overcome it. He was the driving offensive force in the push for the last playoff appearance. Why then has he been more Casper than Brad lately? If not for his out of character goal scoring binge in mid November, Boyes would be on a pace for less than 20 goals. Yes, the same right winger who scored 86 goals between 2007-08 and 2008-09.

If he isn’t apathetic towards his craft, he is fooling everyone else in to thinking so. Watching his listless, gliding play has become very difficult. Not sure because he is a well compensated skilled forward, but because half the time his impact is no where to be found on the ice. You just can’t see him. His one noticeable play Wednesday night? A poor pass back to the blue line on an early power play that cleared the zone.

Matt D’Agostini fits in to a similar mold. A medium sized right winger with a slick shot and nose for scoring goals. Yet, D’Ags finds a way to be involved in every play in his reach. His feet stop moving far less frequently than Boyes. Allowing Matt to be more effective on the backcheck and create scoring chances. It’s hard to dangle in to open space when the skates aren’t working hard enough.

Patrik Berglund has the most to gain from the injury epidemic. With three top forwards out of the lineup Berglund can force his way in to more playing time above those who have figured out the NHL game faster. The intensity and confidence to want the puck on his stick and attack the net is fleeting. It comes and goes from game to game and shift to shift. When he’s on, the influence of Scott Mellanby is noticeable and making a difference. When he’s off, Andy Murray may as well be behind the bench.

Like so many Blackhawks writers have said over and over regarding their clubs struggles, a team’s best playrs must be their best players to win. Right now Boyes and Berglund are far from the team’s best players.

Quick Hits: @ DET

- Halak’s numbers look bad, 4 goals on 36 shots, but his play doesn’t match those figures.

- Howard was solid. Another game against St. Louis and another big late period save to preserve Detroit’s momentum.

- Backes and Berglund were a combined 11 for 16 on draws. Detroit is a very good in the circle, but the consistent failures on face-offs are not helping matters.

- Adam Cracknell made his NHL debut and did pretty well in 5:54 TOI. Blocked a shot, broke up a clearing pass and slung it off the post. The fourth line performed well overall in its short assignment.

- Ian Cole looks to be making the next step in his development much the same way Alex Pietrangelo did earlier this season. Second only to Brewer in minutes played at 24:56. If Johnson misses significant time, his opportunity only grows.

- Will there be a “nontroversy” over Datsyuk’s cheeky little partial breakaway move? Putting the puck between his legs as well as his stick to flip the puck on the forehand instead of the backhand. Not likely.

Taking On The Kings

The LA Kings come to Scottrade for the first time this season. After struggling a bit as well, they’ve won four of their last five. Sitting on two full days of reset likely means an aggressive group of forward pounding away at the Blues battered defense.

- In typical Terry Murray style, the Kings have the 3rd best GAA (2.32) and Penalty Killing (86%) in the league.

- Anze Kopitar leads the team with 13 goals and 29 points in 28 games.

- According to DailyFaceoff.com, Jonathan Quick is starting for LA. It will be his eight consecutive.

 - According to Lou Korac: Ty Conklin is starting for St. Louis. Both Pietrangelo and Johnson are out.Norm Sanders also reported that Petro and Roman Polak were on the ice shooting. Progress for Polak and good news on Petro.

- Nikita Nikitin was recalled from the Blues AHL affiliate, the Peoria Rivermen. They also placed Andy McDonald on IR retroactive to December 4th. No doubt a procedural matter for McDonald to allow Nikitin to make the 3 hour drive down from Peoria.

First, let’s have a look at the back to back schedule for each team:
Source: Daily Faceoff

We can that teams like Buffalo (Miller), Carolina (Ward), New Jersey (Brodeur) and NYIslanders (Dipietro) have all at least 20 B2Bs during the season, which means over 40 games played on consecutive nights, while teams like Dallas, Edmonton and Vancouver (Luongo) play only 12 or less B2Bs.

You might want to temper the number of expected starts of Ryan Miller, Cam Ward and Martin Brodeur as a result of these B2Bs, especially for Brodeur since he’s not getting any younger and the Devils now have a quality backup in Johan Hedberg. At the opposite end of the chart, we have Roberto Luongo who should benefit from this trend and the fact he abandoned the Canucks’ captaincy.

We also have to consider are the band-aid (injury-prone) goaltenders are as they have a tendency to miss a chunk of games even if they are the clear number 1 tender on their respective team.

Rick Dipietro (NYI), Kari Lehtonen (DAL) and Pascal Leclaire (OTT) all have a bad tendency to miss extended periods of time. Lehtonen only played more than 50 games once in his NHL career, while Dipietro has only started twelve games in the past two seasons. As for Leclaire, he only had one good NHL season in 2008-07 when he recorded 24 wins in 54 games. He has been mediocre at best during his other NHL campaigns. Avoid these three goaltenders at all cost.

Goaltending battles:
Atlanta Thrashers -> Chris Mason vs Ondrej Pavelec
Edmonton Oilers -> Nikolai Khabibulin vs Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers vs Devan Dubnyk
Ottawa Senators -> Brian Elliott vs Pascal Leclaire
Philadelphia Flyers -> Micheal Leighton (injured) vs Brian Boucher
San Jose Sharks -> Antero Niittymaki vs Antti Niemi
Tampa Bay Lightning -> Mike Smith vs Dan Ellis
Toronto Maple Leafs -> Jonas Gustavsson vs J-S Giguere
Washington Capitals -> Semyon Varlamov vs Michael Neuvirth

The above battles mean there is no clear number 1 goaltender on these teams, which will likely limit the starts of each goaltender, this limiting their fantasy value in rotisserie or head-to-head formats.

Top 20 goaltenders to draft this season:
1. Roberto Luongo VAN 70 GP, 43 wins, 5 SO = 101 points
2. Martin Brodeur NJ 72 GP, 41 wins, 6 SO = 99 points
3. Jaroslav Halak STL 68 GP, 39 wins, 7 SO = 99 points
4. Pekka Rinne NAS 73 GP, 38 wins, 7 SO = 97 points
5. Ilya Bryzgalov PHX 72 GP, 36 wins, 8 SO = 96 points
6. Ryan Miller BUF 71 GP, 37 wins, 7 SO = 95 points
7. Jimmy Howard DET 70 GP, 38 wins, 6 SO = 94 points
8. Henrik Lundqvist NYR 69 GP, 36 wins, 7 SO = 93 points
9. Marc-Andre Fleury PIT 69 GP, 39 wins, 4 SO = 90 points
10. Craig Anderson COL 72 GP, 36 wins, 6 SO = 90 points
11. Cam Ward CAR 68 GP, 37 wins, 4 SO = 86 points
12. Mikka Kiprusoff CGY 70 GP, 36 wins, 4 SO = 84 points
13. Marty Turco CHI 67 GP, 37 wins, 3 SO = 83 points
14. Jonathan Quick LA 65 GP, 35 wins, 4 SO = 82 points
15. Jonas Hiller ANA 70 GP, 36 wins, 3 SO = 81 points
16. Carey Price MTL 68 GP, 35 wins, 3 SO = 79 points
17. Tuukka Rask BOS 64 GP, 33 wins, 4 SO = 78 points
18. Tomas Vokoun FLA 66 GP, 30 wins, 6 SO = 78 points
19. Steve Mason CBS 68 GP, 31 wins, 5 SO = 77 points
20. Niklas Backstrom MIN 66 GP, 32 wins, 3 SO = 73 points

The goaltender who manages to hang on the starting job for the most part of the season for the San Jose Sharks, the Washington Capitals and the Philadelphia Flyers could easily slide into the Top 20 goaltenders to draft this season, but at the moment, there is no clear number 1 on these teams. In deep fantasy drafts, it would be a good idea to pick both goaltenders in order to maximize the number of victories you can get.

Oshie was the state scoring champion his senior year and was selected to the AP All-State first team.

Born Timothy Oshie Jr., TJ Oshie is developing into a big time playmaker for the Saint Louis Blues.

Drafted 24^th overall by the Blues in 2005, Oshie played his high school hockey in Warroad, Minnesota. During his senior season at Warroad High School, the 23-year-old forward lead his team to an undefeated season and a Class A state title. That season Oshie put up 37 goals and 62 assists, en route to earning the title of state scoring champion and a spot on the AP All-State first team.

After high school, Oshie spent a short time in the USHL with the Sioux Falls Stampede before enrolling in the University of North Dakota.

Prior to his first year of college, Oshie was selected in the 1^st round, 24^th overall in the 2005 NHL Draft by the Blues. That ’05 draft was loaded with big name NHL players including Sidney Crosby, Bobby Ryan, Jack Johnson, and Jonathan Quick.

Despite being drafted into the NHL, Oshie decided to stay in school and went on to score 24 goals, the most of any first year player in the entire NCAA. That same year he was also selected to Team USA for the World Junior Championships (that team lost to Finland in the Bronze medal game).

The then-Blues prospect went on to play two more seasons at North Dakota putting up 52 points his second season and a team-high 45 points in his third and final season. During his final year with the Fighting Sioux, Oshie was a Top 10 Hobey Baker Award finalist and earned all-tournament honors at the WCHA Final Five and NCAA Midwest Region Championship. He was also selected to the American Hockey Coaches Association first team West All-American and the All-Western Collegiate Hockey Association first team.

Oshie played a pivotal role in the Blues’ 2008-09 playoff run putting up 39 points (14 goals, 25 assists). His goal against the Vancouver Canucks on March 25 earned him the NHL’s 2008-09 Goal of the Year honors and his hits against Rick Nash late in the season energized both his teammates and fans and earned him a spot in Urban Dictionary.

Last season, the young Blues forward showed improvement from his rookie year putting up more goals, assists, and points.

While he may not become a big-time scorer, Oshie does posses the ability to create plays and score goals in the clutch.

“Is he ever going to be a 35 goal scorer? He hasn’t shown any signs to make you think that he will be, but it’s going to be real interesting,” said HockeyBuzz writer Andy Strickland. “He’s a hard player to figure out. There’s so much value to his game outside of his offensive production. He kills penalties, relentless worker, responsible in all 3 zones, creative offensively, he can score, he’s an all-around player.”

If he continues to contribute timely goals and create plays, Oshie has the potential to be the driving force behind the Blues young offensive attack. His creativity on the ice and ability to put the puck in the back of the net forces opposing players to pay more attention to him, opening up space for his teammates.

Gagne, a Quebec City-native, is the longest-tenured Flyer, having played his whole career in Philadelphia. In 664 games with the Flyers, Gagne has scored 259 goals and 265 assists for 524 points. Gagne was selected by the Flyers 22nd overall in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft.

The Los Angeles Kings, which are rumored to be in the running for Ilya Kovalchuk, are reportedly interest in acquiring Gagne in the event that they are unable to come to an agreement with the Russian sniper. The New York Islanders and the New Jersey Devils are also interested in signing Kovalchuk.

Simon Gagne has agreed to lift his no-trade clause

And there is no mention of the Kings swapping goaltenders Jonathan Quick or Jonathan Bernier to the Flyers in exchange for the injury-prone Gagne. The Flyers would likely ask for prospects and/or draft picks for Gagne’s services. That’s why Turco makes the most sense, as the Flyers already contacted his agent before July 1st to talk about the possibility of bringing the former Dallas Star to Philadelphia.

Turco would likely seek a two-year deal worth $2.5-3 million/year and would allow the Flyers to develop their young goaltenders, such as Johan Backlund, in the meantime.

Flyers fan, would you rather keep Gagne and start Leighton, or have Turco as your starter?

Lots of speculation in recent days has centered on Philadelphia Flyers forward Jeff Carter, whose name has been a frequent fixture in the rumor mill over the last couple of years as the Flyers continue to live dangerously close to the NHL salary cap ceiling.

Chuck Gormley of the Cherry Hill Courier-Post was among the pundits musing over the possibility Carter might be shopped this summer as the Flyers wrestle with finding enough cap space to re-sign Dan Hamhuis and Braydon Coburn, perhaps land an experienced starting goalie and fill out the remainder of their lineup for next season.

http://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20100625/SPORTS04/6250336/1017/sports04/Trade-rumors-find-Carter-once-again

In his attempt to envision some possible trade scenarios however the usually sensible Gormley opted instead for flights of fancy:

“If the Flyers trade for a goaltender, they likely will turn to the Los Angeles Kings , who have no room for prospect Jonathan Bernier, a promising 21-year-old stuck behind Jonathan Quick. If the Flyers include Carter in the deal they might also land Wayne Simmonds, a hard-hitting 21-year-old right wing who scored 16 goals last season.

Or, the Flyers could get really creative and send Carter to the Maple Leafs for defenseman Tomas Kaberle and a first-round pick, then send Coburn to the Coyotes for 33-year-old right wing Shane Doan.”

I cringed reading that because I’ve followed Gormley’s work for some time and he doesn’t as a rule dream up trades which seem more suited for fantasy hockey leagues than the real world.

It’s possible – unlikely, but possible – the Kings might (emphasis on “might”) consider peddling Bernier but everything I’ve heard so far suggests otherwise. He’s a promising goalie, a future starter, infinitely better than current backup Erik Ersberg, and it wouldn’t surprise anyone if Bernier beats out Ersberg for the role of Quick’s understudy this coming season.

As for Simmonds, he was the deal breaker when the Atlanta Thrashers tried shopping Ilya Kovalchuk to the Kings. Anyone who followed the Kings this past season, especially in their first round series against Vancouver, understands Simmonds value to the Kings going forward.

Besides, if the Kings were unwilling to part with Simmonds for Kovalchuk, why in heaven’s name would they part with him for a lesser player in Carter?

Gormley also overlooked the fact the Toronto Maple Leafs don’t have a first round pick in this year’s or next year’s drafts when he proposed revisiting the Carter-for-Kaberle deal, so bang goes that proposal.

Finally, no way the Phoenix Coyotes part with team captain Shane Doan for Braydon Coburn. Coyotes management are trying to build upon last season’s surprising success and won’t do it by trading away the most recognizable Coyotes star in Phoenix.

Lyle Richardson
SpectorsHockey.net
twitter.com/spectorshockey

A season of success in Hockeywood, LA. Whether you care to debate that statement or not is entirely on you for that is not sarcasm from my end.

The young Los Angeles Kings were able to establish themselves as one of the NHL’s teams on the rise.

Prior to the trade deadline, the Kings did not have a whole lot of “experience” on their roster.  Think about it, Michal Handzus, Ryan Smyth, Sean O’Donnell, Rob Scuderi, and Jarret Stoll. Those were the names on the Kings roster who have appeared in the NHL playoffs throughout their careers.

The rest of the team, almost entirely, were young and inexperienced yet they were able to manage a playoff birth.

Considering their starting goaltender is a mere 24 years of age, Jonathan Quick proved a lot to the Kings brass by winning 39 games and setting a single season franchise record.

Even though Terry Murray pretty much already has given the nod to quick for next seasons starter role, do not be surprised to see AHL standout Jonathan Bernier attempt to steal that role.  He and Erik Ersberg will be battling it out for the back up job.

Earlier this morning, news leaked from the twitter account of Puck Daddy’s Dimitry Chesenkov that Unrestricted Free Agent Alexander Frolov has been made an offer from KHL President Medvedevs club SKA St. Petersbergh. For what it’s worth, they also made an offer to superstar sniper Ilya Kovalchuk.

Kovalchuk, who is likely to be targeted by Los Angeles, has a big decision to make. Will he stay in New Jersey with the Devils, walk as a free agent to a team that offers him a boat load of money, sign in LA to play with a young team that has tons of potential, or bolt to his native Russia to play in the KHL?

Those are questions that remain to be answered still, however, speculation has it that the offer from the KHL is a three year deal worth $30 million tax free dollars.

That is the equivalent to what Kovalchuk would be looking for in his next contract. Considering he turned down a career long offer from the Atlanta Thrashers prior to the trade that sent him to the Devils, it is anyone’s guess as to what Kovalchuk’s next move will be.

But, let’s get back to the Kings.

We all know that Frolov was likely to depart this summer but is the KHL going to truly be his next destination?  Jiri Hudler of the Detroit Red Wings and Nikita Filatov of the Columbus Blue Jackets are two players we will use here as examples when talking about the KHL vs NHL topic.

Both players jumped shipped last season and went overseas, quickly to return to the NHL, as reports have it.

However, SKA St. Petersburg has offered something in the range of $5m per season to Frolov.  So, let’s keep our eyes on that.

Does that not make a statement on its own? Yes it absolutely does.

So I would not fear the KHL ship jumping Kings fans, as Kovalchuk has stated his desire to remain within the NHL.  However, if he is signed by the Kings remains to be seen.

There is some work to be done in LA, as Dean Lombardi has stated they would like to obtain a better option for their second line center position to play behind Kopitar.

Of course, Patrick Marleau is a name that comes up but rumor has it that he prefers to stay in San Jose. However, we know the Sharks have a lot to figure out in terms of salary cap, free agents and contract extensions.

It’s going to be a fun off-season, especially for the Kings.

As it comes my way, it will go from my ears to your eyes.

Enjoy the cup finals.

And speaking of the cup finals, be sure to tune into The Hockey Guys this Saturday at 11:30 a.m. EST as we will go live with our Stanley Cup Preview radio broadcast with special guests Lyle Richardson of spectorshockey.net and Jeff Marek of CBC Sports Canada.

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However, I feel it is time to take a deeper look at what next season’s Kings roster can potentially look like, some UFA’s that might be targeted, whether it is to solidify the top six or bottom six as pluggers, and the pure needs for this team from my perspective.

Also, we take a look at what some of the core combined with the kids can mean for this club heading into next season.

The Kings had plenty to celebrate this season.

The Los Angeles Kings had quite the exciting season, making the playoffs for the first time in six NHL seasons and seven years overall.

Unfortunately for the Kings, though, it was a short-lived postseason as they ran into one of the top three offenses in the NHL. The Vancouver Canucks eliminated them in six games, but not without the Kings acquiring something they did not have prior: playoff experience.

Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown, Drew Doughty, Wayne Simmonds, Scott Parse, Alexander Frolov, Jack Johnson and Jonathan Quick all skated on playoff ice and obtained their NHL ‘playoff badge’. A vital piece to this Kings future, which looks very bright.

With 15 players signed on through next season and only minor raises needed to keep the restricted free agents on board, the over $15 million in cap space the Kings have will play a key role in their off-season.

A look at the roster breakdown for free agents and salaries. Hat tip to Rich Hammond over at LAKingsInsider.com for having this posted on his site.

UNDER CONTRACT
(with next season’s cap hit)
Dustin Brown (through 2013-14) — $3.175 million
Drew Doughty (through 2010-11) — $3.475 million
Davis Drewiske (through 2012-13) — $616,666
Erik Ersberg (through 2010-11) — $750,000
Matt Greene (through 2013-14) — $2.95 million
Michal Handzus (through 2010-11) — $4 million
Peter Harrold (through 2010-11) — $583,333
Jack Johnson (through 1010-11) — $1.425 million
Anze Kopitar (through 2015-16) — $6.8 million
Jonathan Quick (through 2012-13) — $1.8 million
Rob Scuderi (through 2012-13) — $3.4 million
Wayne Simmonds (through 2010-11) — $821,667
Ryan Smyth (through 2011-12) — $6.25 million
Jarret Stoll (through 2011-12) — $3.6 million
Justin Williams (through 2010-11) — $3.5 million

BUYOUT
Alyn McCauley (through 2010-11) — $666,667

RESTRICTED FREE AGENTS
(with this year’s cap hit)
Rich Clune ($625,000)
Scott Parse ($550,000)
Brad Richardson ($587,500)

UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENTS
(with this year’s cap hit)
Alexander Frolov ($2.9 million)
Jeff Halpern ($2 million)
Raitis Ivanans ($600,000)
Randy Jones ($2.75 million)
Fredrik Modin ($3.25 million)
Sean O’Donnell ($1.25 million)

PROSPECTS UNDER CONTRACT
(with next year’s cap hit)
Justin Azevedo ($553,333)
Jonathan Bernier ($843,333)
Andrew Campbell ($580,000)
Kyle Clifford ($900,000)
Thomas Hickey ($1,316,666)
Bud Holloway ($650,000)
Martin Jones ($526,667)
Ray Kaunisto ($900,000)
Dwight King ($591,666)
Brandon Kozun ($575,000)
Andrei Loktionov ($845,833)
Alec Martinez ($875,000)
David Meckler ($561,666)
Juraj Mikus ($562,500)
Oscar Moller ($875,000)
Patrick Mullen ($875,000)
Jake Muzzin ($900,000)
Brayden Schenn ($3.14 million)
Colten Teubert ($945,833)
Viatcheslav Voynov ($845,833)
Kevin Westgarth ($525,000)
Jeff Zatkoff ($850,000)
John Zeiler ($558,333)

That is the entire roster for the Los Angeles Kings for those who were signed, are signed and those who have question marks as to whether or not they will return. As for unsigned and free agent prospects, you can find the list at the end of this writing.

Starting with the blue line.

What can be said about Doughty?! In only his second full season in the league he ended as a Norris finalist, won an Olympic gold medal as an integral figure to his country’s lineup, and earned his role as the team’s number one defenseman and power play quarterback.

Johnson also took strides with his game, bringing his level of play up a notch as well. He tallied career-highs in goals, assists, and points.

With veterans Rob Scuderi and Matt Greene signed on through next season, the blue line has four key contributors already locked in with these two, along with Doughty and Johnson.

Rounding out the defensemen who are locked in for next year, youngsters Davis Drewiske and Alec Martinez along with Peter Harrold could also take that next step to becoming regulars on the Kings blue line.

That leaves the Kings with seven NHL-ready defensemen and question marks to surround the future of Sean O’Donnell, who played a key role in the developments of both Johnson and Doughty.

Other prospects on the rise — Thomas Hickey, Viatcheslav Voynov and Colten Teubert — all will be part of training camp giving their best in order to impress the coaching staff and earn a roster spot of their own.

With the Kings AHL Affiliate, the Manchester Monarchs, Martinez earned 30 points with a plus-12 rating and Voynov 29 points and were the top offensive defensemen for the mini-Kings.

The new wave of NHL defensemen all seem to have a very well developed two-way game and we are starting to notice a trend where the “shut down” defenseman is becoming somewhat obsolete.

Look around the NHL and you will notice that even shut down type players such as Marc Staal and Braydon Coburn, to name a few, have an offensive touch to their games even if they are known to play more of a shut down role.

Up front for L.A., the core for these Kings remains in tact and brings a very positive outlook.

Returning are the aforementioned Brown, Kopitar, Simmonds, along with veterans Ryan Smyth, Michal Handzus, and Jarret Stoll. Without panicking, restricted free agents that are likely to be re-signed are Scott Parse, Brad Richardson and Richard Clune.

Andrei Lokitonov and Oscar Moeller, two youngsters who both have limited NHL-time, remain positives to make the club next season.

Moeller appeared in 43 games for the Monarchs this season earning 33 points (15g, 18a). He was a plus-six for the team. An injury limited his time, but currently has appeared in eight Calder Cup playoff games notching six points (2g, 4a). A player the Kings will need to have elevate his game to the NHL standards when looking ahead to the future.

Lokitonov, who also missed a chunk of time due to an injury, has five assists in eight playoff games in the AHL. Only appearing in 29 regular season games for the Monarchs, Lokitonov earned himself 24 points (9g, 15a) and has taken strides since returning from injury.  Another bright spot for the future here in Hockeywood, LA.

Also, it still seems to be a long shot, but Brayden Schenn who was this past seasons first round draft choice for the Kings will be given every opportunity to show what he has learned over the course of a full season in the WHL.

In 59 regular season games and 15 playoff games, Schenn earned 118 points. Something the Kings should take their time with is the development of Schenn and not rush him to Southern California.

Quick and his single-season record-breaking year has provided the Kings with quite the competition heading into training camp next season.

After their six-game elimination at the hands of the Canucks, Terry Murray made a bold statement in naming Quick the number one goaltender for next season. Of course, a bit premature, but his statement could possibly have been made to really challenge the man considered to be the future between the pipes, Jonathan Bernier.

Bernier appeared in three games for the Kings going 3-0 with a 1.30 goals against average and a .957 save percentage. Of his three wins, one came by way of a shutout.

The future looks outstanding for this Kings club. In what many experts feel, as well as myself, they are only one or two pieces away from completing the puzzle and becoming a pure Stanley Cup contender.

Let’s take a break down of the free agents and discuss who we feel should return and who is likely to walk.

UFAs:

Alexander Frolov ($2.9 million)
Jeff Halpern ($2 million)
Raitis Ivanans ($600,000)
Randy Jones ($2.75 million)
Fredrik Modin ($3.25 million)
Sean O’Donnell ($1.25 million)

RFAs:

Rich Clune ($625,000)
Scott Parse ($550,000)
Brad Richardson ($587,500)

Although many might disagree, I personally feel Frolov should be given an offer by GM Dean Lombardi. Of course, nothing near the same $4 million price tag which he earned this season, especially if both parties can find a balanced middle ground. Bringing Frolov back for another two years is something Lombardi should consider.

However, due to the unlikely scenario presented above, Frolov along with Randy Jones and Jeff Halpern are all likely candidates to test the free agent waters and find new homes.

I feel Freddy Modin, who had a strong close out to the year with LA, should be considered to stay with this club.  You can never underestimate the value of a veteran presence on a club filled with youth.  Handzus and Stoll, along with Scuderi can carry the leadership roles however, Modin can contribute just as well both on and off the ice.

Of course, his value from his original price tag has dropped.  If Lombardi is smart, a $2 million per year deal at two years brings stability to this roster when thinking ahead to next year.

Speaking of Dean Lombardi, he is neither disappointed nor frustrated with the season his Kings had.  The steps have been taken, with a few short cuts. He felt he had a competitive club but knew there were still some adjustments needed before they could be considered a true cup contender.

The entire team gained many things, that would likely be too long to list here, by making the post-season. A team many feel is one piece away from being a true threat within the wild, wild Western Conference.

The final piece to the puzzle:

One piece, who could be the absolute missing link, is Ilya Kovalchuk. Uncertain over his future with the New Jersey Devils leaves the Kings with an opportunity to throw close to the max in Kovalchuk’s direction.

If you are questioning why Lombardi did not make an attempt to acquire Kovalchuk at the trade deadline, I will explain it to you.  Why throw away pieces of your future for an uncertainty?  Or better yet, why take away from your foundation for a player that you can obtain without it costing your organization anything significant other than payroll?  Dean Lombardi answered both of those questions in a very simple matter.  You do not.

There was no reason for the Kings to over pay for a player that was not a guarantee to sign an extension with the club he was traded to.  That is proven to us as Kovalchuk has not re-signed with the Devils and with the coaching carousel that the Devils organization goes through, he likely will not return.

If he truly wants to keep to his word about playing on a championship caliber team, as well as earning a long term contract, playing for the Kings would make perfect sense.

They are a young team with plenty of talent and the  focus from the organizations brass remains to build this club from the core out to develop a dominant force out on the left coast.

An opportunity to gel and grow with an organization whose core are all players 25 years of age and younger. Surrounding Kovlachuk with the young talent of this Kings team would be a win/win for both.  Kovalchuk would not be relied upon to be “the man” and would have a solid group of playmakers dishing pucks in his direction.

Less pressure makes for a valiant performance on the ice.  In LA, Kovalchuk will be provided with less pressure and would likely provide the team, from the non-pressure cooker type atmosphere, with a valiant effort.

There is plenty of cap room, and minimal roster space. For the Kings, these are all positives in moving forward from an already stellar season. A few patches into the line up an we could very well have ourselves a force to reckon with.

Yes, Los Angeles, the future is very bright!

Quick hits:

The list of Restricted, Unrestricted and Unsigned prospects.

RESTRICTED FREE AGENT PROSPECTS
Marc-Andre Cliche ($850,000)
Vladimir Dravecky
Corey Elkins ($803,100)
Trevor Lewis ($855,000)
Brady Murray
Daniel Taylor

UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENT PROSPECTS
Drew Bagnall ($605,000)
Gabe Gauthier ($525,000)
Joe Piskula ($650,000)

UNSIGNED PROSPECTS
Niclas Andersen
Jean-Francois Berube
Constantin Braun
Robert Czarnik
Nicolas Deslauriers
Nic Dowd
Johan Fransson
David Kolomatis
Mikhail Lyubushin
Jan Marek
Igor Melyakov
Jordan Nolan
Martin Nolet
Michael Pelech
Garrett Roe
Andrei Shefer
Joshua Turnbull
Linden Vey
Geordie Wudrick

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Congratulations to the Vancouver Canucks who truly stepped their game up when they realized how for real this Kings team was. The veteran leadership and experience played a huge factor throughout this entire series. The Kings gave a valiant effort from the second the puck dropped in game one to the final buzzer after sixty minutes Sunday night.

A lot can be said for the cardiac boys from Hockeywood, LA.  A lot of positive words pointing to many bright spots in moving forward.

A list of players who earned some valuable experience in moving forward for the Kings are:

Drew Doughty, Jack Johnson, Jonathan Quick, Anze Kopitar, Wayne Simmonds, Scott Parse, and Alexander Frolov.

Next season has some question marks, of course.

GM Dean Lombardi knows his troops will rebound well.  As does head coach Terry Murray.

From Rich Hammond at LAKingsInsider.com here is what Terry Murray had to say post-game:

A quote to note: “So I think the team has taken big strides in the right direction here. Our best players are the young guys, the kids that are 20, 21, 22 years old. That’s a great nucleus to continue to work with. The organization seems to be in pretty good shape, with the depth that it has in the minors and in junior.”

Of all the words that fell from Terry Murray’s lips to Rich Hammonds ears, to me that quote stands out above all. In my opinion, Murray is absolutely correct in saying that his best players are the kids. The nucleus that has been developed in Los Angeles is one that will have the Kings competitive for as long as they can hold onto the stars of the team who are currently 25 years of age and younger.

Congratulations to the Los Angeles Kings on a very successful season.  Next year holds great potential.

In my next feature, we will take a look at the roster, the salary cap, those under contract and what (who), in my opinion, is needed for this team to climb even higher next season.

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The Canucks are who we thought they were, it may have taken a couple games but the Canucks seemed to simultaneously hit their stride on Friday night, finding the desperation and emotion necessary to win in the playoffs on way their way to beating the Kings 7-2 in one of the most overall dominating performances of the year, by far their best against the stingy Kings.

Steve Bernier surely was excited after scoring the first goal of the game Friday night; however after the Canucks’ opening goal the happiest man in the building may have been Kyle Wellwood. With a golden opportunity to open the scoring, Wellwood blew a shot past the net bouncing the puck off the end boards to Steve Bernier, who demonstrated to his line mate how to properly burry a scoring chance at 8:50 of the 1^st.

Minutes later, the Canuck’s penalty troubles would again come back to hurt them. After a solid opening 90 seconds for Canuck penalty killers, Michal Handzus was able to bank the puck off of the skate of Roberto Luongo from behind the net, tying the game 1-1.

Handzus’ power play goal may add to the already horrific Canucks penalty killing record this series, however the Canuck PK unit couldn’t have looked much better in their first effort of the game if not for the unlucky bank shot that victimized Luongo. The game was tied, however the goal failed to swing the momentum.

After Ryan Kesler worked the puck loose down low to feed Alex Edler, the Swedish defenseman attacked the net and fired the puck short side past Jonathan Quick to regain the lead for the Canucks, a huge goal that sparked the Canucks’ confidence heading into the second period.

In the middle frame, the Canucks fed off of the energy of their 1^st period success and took advantage of the King’s 4^th line after they had iced the puck as Henrik and Daniel Sedin again worked their magic off of the offensive zone face off allowing Daniel to wrap around the net and work the puck past Jonathan Quick. Minutes later, the top line of the Canucks switched positions on the score sheet; Mikael Samuelsson’s rocket from the top of the circle was enough to chase Jonathan Quick from the net as Terry Murray elected to give Quick the hook in favour of backup Erik Ersberg.

Later in the second, Kevin Bieksa and Christian Ehrhoff minor penalties gave the Kings their best opportunity to claw back into the game; however the struggling Canucks penalty kill was able to dig deep and kill off both penalties, again keeping the momentum with the Canucks heading into the intermission.

In the 3^rd, struggling forward Pavol Demitra got capped off a solid performance with another rocket of a shot, blowing the puck by Kings’ backup Erik Ersberg. While it may not have had much impact on the game, Demitra’s goal should help improve the confidence of the Slovakian winger who recently spoke of his demotion to the 4^th line earlier in the season.  “It pissed me off, big time” Demitra admitted.

After Fredrik Modin brought the Kings back to within three a half minute after Demitra’s tally, Mikael Samuelsson and Steve Bernier both continued their solid performances each with their second goal of the game, finishing off an impressive offensive performance from the Canucks.

Fight Club

Tied 2-2 with something to prove, both teams brought an especially emotional and aggressive game on Friday night. However once the game became out of reach, the doors were open for the trash talk to escalate an already emotional series. After his aggressive” extracurricular” activities between the whistles in game four, it is no surprise Shane O’Brien was ready to drop the gloves against Wayne Simmonds late in the 3^rd.

Click here to view the embedded video.

It was a solid fight for O’Brien who was able to manhandle Simmonds without throwing any bombs. O’Brien may have heard CBC commentator‘s worrying over the fragility of the Canucks defence, however that is the brilliance of Shane O’Brien. He not only won the fight but fuelled the fans at GM Place “shooting off” a salute to the crowd which didn’t sit well with the Kings bench. Terry Murray’s review of O’Brien post-fight salute: “You don’t need to rub it in at the end of a fight, skating around with your hands in the air acting like the clown that he is”. O’Brien and Murray have since both apologized for their respective actions “hey, if he (O’Brien) apologizes then I apologize for calling him a clown?” said Murray, who I’m beginning to admire as a coach; even if I am obligated to dislike him for now.

While Terry Murray may have wanted to talk about the O’Brien vs. Simmonds fight from game five, Canucks fans have been buzzing over the playoff debut of the NHL’s unofficial pound for pound champion fighting champion, who was more than welcome to teach Rich Clune a thing or two.

Click here to view the embedded video.

After Rich Clune hooked at Rypien to get his attention, the Canuck’s tough guy quickly turned around furiously attacked Clune with his patented lefts, sending him to the ice. After Clune was able to get back to his feat, Rypien demonstrated his tremendous fighting technique combining two left and right hand jabs to knock Clune to the ice for the last time. Notice the difference between the two Canuck fighters, Rypien’s dominating victory needed no celebration.

Elimination

Given the possibility of their season ending tonight, expect the Kings to come flying out of the gate tonight at the Staples Center. They surely can’t be pleased with their performance in game 5 and will determined to get the crowd into the game early. The Canucks should be brimming with confidence after game five; however the will must be stronger than the skill in order for the Canucks to be successful. After chasing Jonathan Quick out of the game on Friday, an early one on Quick tonight would play havoc with the young backstop’s confidence. Speaking of confident young men, the Canucks need to keep Drew Doughty off of his game again tonight; Vancouver should continue to wear away at Drew Doughty with the same special treatment he received on Friday (on both sides of the whistle) in order to keep the Norris nominee off his game, even if Rick Bowness doesn’t approve.

Injuries, News and Notes

• Notice how I haven’t mentioned Drew Doughty all article? The Canucks did a great job of keeping him from becoming a big factor on Friday; Doughty was a -1 with 4 shots.
• Pro Canuck: Pierre Lebrun on Alain Vigneault and his calm confidence in the Canucks while weathering the storm down 2-1 earlier in the series. I seem to like both Lebrun and Vigneault the more I come across the two, good times.
• Contra Canuck: Darren Pang’s comments about Henrik and Daniel Sedin, referring to them as “Twinkies”. The Province reaction was quite strong, however if media members like Pang expect players to be accountable for their words and actions, so should Panger.
• Michael Grabner is out tonight in favour of the bigger, tougher Tanner Glass tonight. Grabner has shown flashes of scoring talent this series; however his finish is not quite consistent enough to keep him in lineup. It’s not a big surprise that Vigneault is preparing for war tonight with the not-so-fragile Glass.
• After injuring his shoulder Friday night in his fight against Rick Rypien, the King’s depth chart suggests Rich Clune will be out of the lineup tonight in favour of Raitis Ivanans.
• Game time is 6PM Pacific on CBC, which means an hour less to wait until game time! Enjoy.  

Ed Note: The Stanley Cup Playoffs are intense, unfortunately so are final exams. I’m busy studying when I’m not watching hockey, forgive me for the light article today. Tomorrow ends my semester; I’ll be back to my regular output after this weekend. Here is the need to know for Game 5.

• Game 4 Recap/Box Score
• Rick Bowness is really good at getting Shane O’Brien fired up; in fact sometimes he can’t control his own talent, seems Bowness was a little too good at his job during game four.
• Round Two: While “Bones”  and Shane O’Brien may have had their differences over Shane’s trash talk, however I’m with Don Cherry on this one, O’Brien has to do something to get the Canucks going – Unless Shane crosses the line verbally, going after Doughty is perfect. Everyone on the bench saw O’Brien going after the Kings best player and that can be contagious. Keep it up, Shane.

Click here to view the embedded video.

• “Different Look” for the Kings tonight, Terry Murray will insert Justin Williams onto the checking line with Michal Handzus and Fredrik Modin.
• Andrew “A-minor” Alberts is back in the lineup tonight replacing Nolan Baumgartner on the cursed “6^th man” spot for the Canucks, Baumgartner is day-to-day from an injury suffered late in game four.
• Jordan Schroeder is killing it for the Moose in the AHL playoffs, leaving us a summer to fantasize over a third line featuring Schroeder, Hodgson and Shirokov.
• Momentum is one of the most fragile and powerful forces at work during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, a split-second play can drastically change the momentum of a game. Roberto Luongo’s breakaway save on Alex Frolov was one of those plays. That is the second save of the series that has kept the Canucks in the game, both of which came during Canuck victories. No surprise Luongo will have to be one of the Canucks’ best every night in order to be successful.

Click here to view the embedded video.

• Alain Vigneault has some line shuffling of his own for game five against the Kings; Mikael Samuelsson will get another shot with the Sedins on the top line sliding Burrows down to the second line with Raymond and Kesler. After being moved around in game four, Pavol Demitra will again skate on the third line with Kyle Wellwood and Steve Bernier. Flying V approved Rick “The Pit Bull” Rypien gets back into the series tonight on the Canucks 4^th line centering Jannik Hansen and Michael Grabner.

• Biggest surprise of the playoffs so far? Flames fans don’t really think the Canucks suck….as much as they think the ‘Sens and ‘Habs do.

• Drew Doughty has been nominated for the Norris trophy. The Canucks vs. Kings series is turning into a battle of the award nominees, Kesler (Selke) and H. Sedin (Hart) vs. Doughty (Norris).

• From Twitter via @VanCanucks comes a sweet photo from inside GM Place as the White Towels are being placed on seats in prep for tonight’s game.

• Canucks vs. Kings 7PM tonight from GM Place, get your game face on. Until then, enjoy game 4 highlights.

Click here to view the embedded video.

For the Los Angeles Kings, it is something that hey have already accomplished during the early stages of the 2010 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Facing off against a team that presents a challenge to beat them at home was be no easy task for the Kings last night, regardless of already taking one game on the road in this series.

The Canucks, during the regular season at GM Place, posted a record of 30-8-3 and are now 2-1 at home for these playoffs.

Last night, the Canucks were simply the better team knowing they could not go down 3-2 playing at home. It is not something they wanted to have happen; being on the brink of elimination.

Now the tides have turned.  Los Angeles returns home with adversity staring them in the face. Oh yea, elimination is as well.

Jonathan Quick looked like his head was in the clouds last night. The young netminder surrendered 5 goals on 26 shots.  He was pulled in favor of Erik Ersberg who, was then pulled after giving up two goals on four shots. Re-enter Quick yet the Canucks just kept on coming.

Last night’s final score, in case you  missed it, 7-2 in favor of the Canucks.

Mikael Samuelsson, my vote for the best signing from the off-season, had a three point night with an assist on the game winning goal as well as adding two goals of his own.

For the Kings, they must regroup and forget about this loss. They travel home for tomorrow nights game, a game which is now a must win.

It’s do or die time for the Kings. Which team will show up?  One thing is for sure, all of Hockeywood, LA will be in “cardiac” mode.

Ryan Kesler’s pass to Mason Raymond two minutes into the game allowed the speedy Raymond to roof his first of the playoffs and shock the LA Kings and the hometown crowd. While the Canucks took the early momentum, it was only a matter of time until the first Kings power play was awarded, and the game immediately took a turn for the worst for the Canucks who are seemingly hopeless when down a skater.

Drew Doughty scored just after the Canucks only first period penalty and Michal Handzus took advantage of the Canucks’ next two minor penalties of the game, swinging the momentum and the lead to the Kings. Just when the Canuck’s night couldn’t be going any worse, Kyle Wellwood’s attempt to stick handle out of the defensive zone and resulting pass to Aarom Rome was horrific, leaving forechecker Brad Richardson to muscle the puck off the unsuspecting Rome and spin around with a weak wrist shot that caught even more unsuspecting Roberto Luongo with the five hole open.

With no other option, Alain Vigneault was forced to pull Roberto Luongo and find some sort of spark in his team. Less than two minutes later, Mikael Samuelsson continued his hot post season play with his 4^th of the series and the Canucks were within two. Heading into the 3^rd period, the Canucks had their work cut out for them.

Four minutes into the 3^rd, the Canucks got to work. Just after an icing call, Alex Burrows fought for the puck behind the Kings net and threw the puck out front to Daniel Sedin, the puck bounced off of Daniel’s skate and through the legs of Jonathan Quick. Down one, the Canucks were in prime position to finish the comeback and even the game with the Kings.

Then video replay reared its ugly head. The goal was put under review because the puck bounced off Daniel Sedin’s skate, an understandable precaution. When the review took more than a minute, I began to worry. After six minutes of obvious review in which both announcers and the majority of intelligent hockey fans surely came to realize that Daniel Sedin did not kick the puck in with a distinct kicking motion. NHL V.P. of Hockey Operations Mike Murphy didn’t come to quite the same conclusion, claiming that Daniel Sedin changed the angle of his skate in order to score the goal, a move that according to a new addendum in NHL rules constitutes a disallowed goal, or at least it does when the man running the War room in Toronto that night is a former LA King that thinks it would be “neat” for the Kings to win the cup (Thanks to PuckDaddy for the interview find). See the goal, and hear the explanation from Murphy for yourself.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Conspiracy or not, the Canucks were forced to play on without a goal they had rightfully scored. The Canucks came out from the video replay break firing on all cylinders, and within a minute had restored the goal they rightfully deserved. Daniel Sedin rotated up to the point while the Canucks had the Kings hemmed in their own zone, his point shot found its way through traffic and into the back of the net behind Jonathan Quick. All of a sudden the Canucks looked like they were destined to complete the comeback. However, thanks to Ryan Smyth, the comeback would remain a dream. Smyth flew down the left wing and took a slap shot from just inside the blue line using Christian Ehrhoff as a screen and deflector, floating the puck over the glove of Andrew Raycroft and virtually ending the chance of a Canuck comeback.

Give credit to the Canucks for battling back in the game, if the first Daniel Sedin goal is counted as it should have been who knows how this one would have ended? While it’s easy to blame the referees for this one, the Canucks have to be better, regardless of whatever the War Room in Toronto will ever have to say. The penalty kill has to do something to improve, the Canucks simply cannot survive this series while allowing the Kings to score at will while on the man advantage.

Make No Mistake…

The Canucks played with discipline in game three. The Canucks as a team kept their penalty minutes down to a measly six, a far cry from the 14 minutes spent in the box in game two. However when the penalty kill gives up as many goals as the team had penalties, even one trip to the box is too many. The absence of Ryan Johnson and Willie Mitchell is killing the Canucks, the two veteran penalty kill specialists have been the heart of the Canucks’ special teams for the last few seasons, however with Mitchell MIA and Johnson in the press box, the Canucks need to join together and do what it takes to stay out of the box and kill the necessary penalties.

Not all of goals in the series have been Roberto Luongo’s fault, and he isn’t necessarily having a bad series at all, however he must be better in order for the Canucks to win. The Canucks defensive struggles will always end with Luongo, who is arguable the Canucks’ best player but needs to begin to play that way. The best way for the penalty kill to improve starts with Roberto Luongo, while most of the goals on the PK have not been the captain’s fault, Luongo’s ability to take steal a goal is crucial and most desperately needed by the Canucks, specifically on the penalty kill.

The Canucks were robbed by officials on Monday night, there is no question about it. If there was an addendum that addressed the rules in regards to kicking the puck, then let those rules be stated in the rulebook for all to see. I’m not done talking about this call, or the officiating for that matter in the series, however for now let’s just put it in the past, I’m hoping the Canucks can make it all for nothing when it is all said and done with the Kings.

Whether he is the captain of the team or not, Roberto Luongo simply isn’t playing his best hockey right now, Darren Pang agrees. Grapes’ theory about having a captain stuck on the bench for half a game does make some good points though.

Injuries, News and Notes

• Nolan Baumgartner will draw into the lineup tonight for Aarom Rome who left the game during the 3^rd period Monday night and is considered day-to-day.
• With all the media personalities above chiming in on the Canucks, it’s no surprise Damien Cox decided to get in on it, claiming tonight’s game is do or die. “When is the drought going to end” – Cox doesn’t seem to have much faith in the Canucks as a Stanley Cup Winner.
• Frightening stat from The Province’s Ed Willes: “If you were to take a quick look at the stats’ sheet from this series, you’d think the Canucks would be in the driver’s seat. They just have four minus-players: Steve Bernier, Kyle Wellwood, Jannik Hansen and Michael Grabner. The Kings have but three plus-players: Wayne Simmonds, Ryan Smyth and Jeff Halpern. Then you look at special teams and that kind of explains everything.” I want to be sick.
• Ryan Kesler has been nominated for the Selke Trophy along with Jordan Staal and Pavel Datsyuk. Can’t spell “Selke Winner” without Kesler!
• Video replay sucks, until next time.
• Game  - Canucks vs. Kings 7PM tonight, enjoy the game.

So Daniel Sedin kicked a goal in and all of Vancouver is in a tyrant over it.

Look at game three and tell me that it would of made a difference?  Even though the Canucks scored again after the “disallowed” goal, you have to understand that the game would have changed if the disallowed goal was actually counted.  The Canucks might not have had the same match ups on the ice at the time, or they might not have had the puck bounce the same way it did off the face off.  A lot of changes and things would have gone differently and the game might not have been 4-4.

With that being said, let’s take a look at the real reason behind the Kings victory in game three.

Drew Doughty, Michal Handzus and the Los Angeles Kings power paly.

The Kings went three for three on the power play against Vancouver in game three to take a two games to one lead over the Canucks.

Throughout their first round playoff series so far, the Kings are seven for twelve on the power play.  Discipline is a key element, especially in the playoffs, when it comes to wining and losing games.

As a result, the Canucks have the worst penalty-killing of any playoff team this year: 18.2%.

The Kings, during the regular season, had a power play that ranked seventh in the league with a 20.8%.

And let’s not leave out Jonathan Quick and his 25 save performance. Not the best game of his short post-season career but good enough for the victory.

Quick has stood tall between the pipes, including numerous game saving stops. Aside from the veteran players who hold experience, especially in the NHL playoffs, Quick will continue to be the key to success for the Kings.

Luongo was on record stating:

“It’s all about (the fourth game) right now. If we win, we take back home-ice advantage. That’s what my focus is on.”

The key word in that sentence, “if”.

Here is another “if” for you Bobby Lu, if your team can not play disciplined hockey and stay out of the box, you are going to lose.

Proving many of the doubters wrong are these Los Angeles Kings. Tonight, they have an opportunity to put a serious strangle hold on the Canucks and the series.

Quick hits:

Join me and my panel with The Hockey Guys tonight as we are joined by Al Cimaglia in our one hour special radio broadcast beginning at 9:30 p.m. EST.

After Ryan Kesler and Mikael Samuelsson were key players for the Canucks in game one, both players continued to be the story for the Canucks in game two. After a poor performance in game one, Ryan Kesler responded in game two delivering a solid performance with two assists, the first of which was directly responsible for the Canucks first goal; Kesler’s one timer on the Canucks opening power play rang off the post behind Jonathan Quick, laying all alone for Steve Bernier who was in perfect position to hammer home an easy one, his first of the playoffs.

Two minutes later at 9:49 of the first, Mikael Samuelsson continued his strong playoffs with a sneaky low wrist shot that skipped slightly in front of Jonathan Quick, enough to throw off the King’s netminders and give the Canucks a 2-0 lead in the first. The shaky goal for Samuelsson and the Canucks should have been a bit of a back breaker for the Kings who had gone down a game and two goals on the road, however Terry Murray managed to rally the Kings immediately after Samuelsson’s third of the playoffs.

After Shane O’Brien’s roughing penalty put the Canucks a man down at 9:13 of the second, a sloppy penalty kill by the Canucks caused a scramble in front of Luongo allowing Fredrik Modin to jump on the loose puck and fire home his second of the post season. Immediately following the Canucks opening goal, the Canucks responded with an aggressive offensive shift that came within inches of restoring the two goal lead, however after the puck came loose to Anze Kopitar a three on one in the Canucks end gave Wayne Simmonds enough space to allow Kopitar to slide him the puck and put the puck home behind Luongo. Just like that, the Canucks had lost an encouraging two goal lead in just 35 seconds.

After a cagey and nervous third period, the Canucks and Kings were destined to decide the game in overtime; unfortunately for the Canucks the Kings were able to take advantage of the power play once again, a power play that has been the Kings’ key to success so far in the series.

In OT, a brutal Canucks line change ended up leaving seven skaters on the ice at one time, after the puck was thrown into the bench area and struck a Canucks skater referees were forced to make the call and put the Canucks down a man for two minutes or less.

Thanks to Anze Kopitar, it would be less. After working the puck around on the man advantage, Kopitar blasted a shot that was ferociously blocked by Ryan Kesler, unfortunately for the pain stricken Canucks’ penalty killer Kopitar was able to then pick up his own rebound and fire another shot on net that made its way through a maze of bodies into the net. A camera shot of an injured Ryan Kesler skating gingerly to the Canucks bench said it all, the Canucks gave a full effort but came up short paying for their overtime mistake.

Going Back To Cali

As the two teams head south to Los Angeles, both the Canucks and Kings head back to Cali with things to work on in preparation for game three, Vancouver’s game plan is simple, discipline. The Canucks penalty kill has come under fire throughout the series in Vancouver, without Ryan Johnson the previously stingy Canucks’ penalty kill unit has become the Achilles heel of the Canucks allowing 4/5 of the Canucks goals in the series. The Canucks need to focus on team discipline on both sides of the whistle in order to keep out of the penalty box and force the Kings to beat them five on five. With only one goal allowed at even strength, the Canucks are fully capable of taking the Kings head on. The Canucks will have to follow a disciplined game plan and avoid the penalty box in order to really take control of games and finish the Kings when up multiple goals, as I said earlier in the week an inability to burry teams can be deadly in the playoffs.

Andrew Alberts has been the source of a couple bad penalties this series against the Kings, with 23 penalty minutes this series, 13 of which have put the Canucks at a disadvantage Alain Vigneault had no choice but to sit the tough defenseman recently dubbed “A-Minor” in favour of the more steady and recently healthy Aaron Rome.

The Canucks will also be replacing pound for pound fighting champ Rick Rypien with Tanner Glass, who will play in his first ever NHL playoff game. Pavol Demitra will also find himself demoted possibly all the way to the fourth line, although Alain Vigneault wouldn’t confirm what line Demitra would find himself on.

Injuries, News and Notes

• As mentioned above, Aaron Rome has overcome his injuries and should be healthy enough to take the place of Andrew Alberts on the Canucks’ blue line.
• It’s no surprise that there is a lot of trash talking going back and forth in any series featuring Alex Burrows and Ryan Kesler, but apparently rookie trash talker Rich Clune crossed the line on Saturday night. Doesn’t he know sloppy seconds jokes are off limits?
• Speaking of Alex Burrows’ trash talk, Drew Doughty seems to be starting to enjoy the frenglish verbal barbs of Burrows and is apparently flattered by the attention all the same.
• The Canucks “Behind the Lens” segment, Day One in Los Angeles.
• The ice conditions in LA for the morning skate “wasn’t good at all” said Ryan Kesler this morning, another unnecessary distraction for both teams to be honest, just win guys.
• With both teams “Going Back To Cali” why not get your gameface on with some West Coast rap. Warning: Not Safe For Work lyrics, listen with caution. Canucks vs. Kings, 7PM from the Staples Center, get your game face on.

Click here to view the embedded video.