Sens at Kings LIVE BLOG

Tonight, the Kings host the Senators of Ottawa for their last interconference matchup of 2009.  Still on the shelf are Ryan Smyth and Rob Scuderi.  Into the lineup is Peter Harrold to take 4th line RW in Brandon Segal’s stead.  Wayne Simmonds is red hot and the center of the secondary scoring that has kept the Kings in good position in the Campbell Conference despite missing the two big-name acquisitions from this past off-season.  While Ottawa has enjoyed very little success in LA in their history, familiar faces in Jonathan Cheechoo and Milan Michalek drop by Staples, where as San Jose Sharks they certainly lit the lamp against the Kings in the past.

I’m going to experiment with posting this blog live and then updating it as the game goes on…

Brian Elliott starts in goal for the Sens while Pascal Leclaire recovers from a broken face.  Jonathan Quick between the pipes for the Kings.

1st Period

0:42 Kings score. Anze Kopitar created a turnover in the defensive zone and Alexander Frolov head-manned the puck to Justin Williams who returned it immediately for Frolov to easily gain the blue line easily.  With Kopitar and Williams driving the net, the top forward trio monopolized the attention of four Ottawa defensemen, and Frolov dropped the puck off for Randy Jones, who had time to stickhandle, get a sandwich, send his mom a text, flash a wink to Heidi Androl, and blast a wrister over Elliott’s glove.  In eleven games as a King, Jones has four goals and nine points.  Last year it was Kyle Quincey, this year, Jones--is there any doubt that Dean Lombardi has made the waiver wire his personal plaything?

3:02 Alfredsson hits a post.  I remember when that  Heatley-Spezza-Alfredsson line had about 700 points and were the top three league-wide in +/- a few years back…and then we signed Tom Preissing as part of the massive free agent barrage (Handzus-Stuart-Nagy-Preissing-Calder) to fill in the age gaps in the organization….Handzus is still a genius and I think the other guys served as reasonable bridges, right?  right?  Bueller?

5:16 Pretty good action so far but the Kings are checking extremely well and Ottawa is really offering nothing when it comes to trying to defend their own blue line.

6:55 Brad Richardson, coming off a two-point night at Anaheim, streaked down the right wing but lost the puck cutting to the net.  Top line back out for LA, this time opting for dump & chase.  Frolov attempted a wrap-around but Elliott smothered the puck with Williams crashing for a potential rebound.

8:50 Jack Johnson dumps Mike Fisher.  A solid Teddy Purcell forecheck leads to a turnover in the Sens’ zone that frees Jarret Stoll for a shot, stopped by Elliott.  The Purcell-Stoll-Dustin Brown line has a solid shift but a collision along the boards in front of the Sens’ bench turns into a tripping minor to Stoll.

10:05 Filip Kuba sets up Mattias Karlsson for a redirection in front but Quick had claimed all the available real estate and denied the bid.  Alex Kovalev worked the puck down low and Mike Fisher sent a shot from the slot wide left.  Decent chance and he probably had more time.

11:13 Ottawa scores as Ryan Shannon sends in a wrister that Fisher tapped down to beat Quick--Shannon did extremely well to wait for Fisher to be in position for the redirection.  Power play goal, 1-1.  Kings have managed only one shot since scoring on their first of the game.

13:10 Ottawa prolongs a shift as Scott Parse fails to clear and generates a scoring chance with a backhand wrap-around before Drew Doughty ices the puck.  Handzus gets ejected from the draw and Simmonds lost--Kings forced to clear again but avoid the icing this time.

14:15 The Kings’ shooting percentage plummets to 33 for the night as Kopitar gets a shot on goal; Sens immediately rush back up ice as Alfredsson is stopped by Quick.

14:25 Kings holiday drive Toys for Tots: lakings.com/community

16:18 Kopitar shoots again but the rebound kicks out to center ice.

16:45 Jason Spezza finds Milan Michalek in the slot for a shot that looked to have Quick screened but there wasn’t space for the puck to get through; Quick covers for a freeze as the Sens are buzzing.

17:24 PENALTY SHOT AWARDED TO WAYNE SIMMONDS: Simmer received a breakout pass and streaked through center ice, doing well to move into the lane and force Kuba to take him down from behind.  Simmer skates in slowly, stickhandles, and beats Elliott five-hole to put the Kings up 2-1 with his 9th goal of the year--and this is a guy that doesn’t usually get to roll in the shootouts, FYI.

18:30 Alex Kovalev is two goals from 400 for his career, and Chris Kelly takes an offensive zone interference penalty while the Senators are cycling.  Weird period so far in terms of charting whether anyone actually has any momentum.  Kings go on their first power play after having fourteen PP shots against the Ducks earlier this week.

19:00 Doughty has a shot from the right circle stopped and Kopitar is leveled by Anton Volchenkov at the blue line trying a re-entry… remember how many shots Volchenkov blocked in the Cup run?  500.  Exactly.

19:20 Kings are about to go up two men as Alfredsson takes a trip while forechecking on the kill.  Sweet.

19:36 Volchenkov catches the puck in mid-air and throws it to center ice for another minor penalty.  Too bad we can’t skate 5v2, because 5v3 this year has been worthless for the Kings.  At this rate the Sens will run out of skaters.

End of the first, Kings up 2-1, evened out the SOG with the late flurry, and will start the 2nd period with 0:41 on the 5v3.  Did we really get to see Wayne Simmonds bury a penalty shot?  Flippin’ sweet.

2nd Period

0:00 Kopitar’s down to 3rd in the league in scoring.  This is a nice opportunity for him to get back on the board.  Volchenkov’s penalty doesn’t even start until Kelly’s ends.  Kings gain the zone easily and the 5v3 looks just as static as it has all year.  More room on the ice should mean more skating, guys.

0:50 Second consecutive 5v3 starts, Doughty and Stoll blast shots wide.  Kopi does well to hold it in along the boards.

1:40 Second 5v3 killed, and the Kings counter after catching Ottawa in a bad change; Frolov and Handzus effectively have a 2v0 but Elliott snares Frolov’s wrister out of the air.  Remember the Kopitar-Brown 2v0 last year?  Yeah, sorry for reminding you.  That was actually the exact moment we were eliminated from the playoffs.  Broken glass with 1:01 to go on the 5v4.  I don’t really want to see Ottawa get this kill and gain momentum.  Huge kudos to Staples Center crew for mitigating that stoppage in play…they changed that pane superquick.

2:32 Puck movement far superior on this 5v4, Johnson takes a rip from the right point but Elliott saves; Sens prevented LA from setting up a screen.  Elliott clears and that’s it for the 5v4.  Pretty disappointing to see all three minors killed but that intermission chopping up a PP again…brutal.

3:51 GOAL KINGS: Jack Johnson leads a breakout to Brad Richardson, who fed Dustin Brown streaking down the right wing.  Brown made a powerful move to cut into the slot and nearly slid the puck between Elliott’s pads; as Elliott tried to cover, Richardson the trailer shoved in the rebound.  Kings up 3-1, gotta feel a lot better about blowing those power plays, and Brownie almost broke his goal drought but is surely stoked to have set one up.

4:35 Ivanans takes a slash to prevent Alfredsson from shooting while all alone in front of Quick.  Good penalty from Ivanans for a change, but not really what you want out of the 4th line after recovering the advantage in flow.

6:05 Ottawa dominated possession and had a couple cracks at Quick before Jones finally cleared and freed the totally hosed penalty killers.  They regained the zone and got the puck on net where Quick withstood a scramble to cover…and a little scrum ensued but nobody ended up getting the gate. Kings kill, two shots for the Sens.  Ivanans out of the box and we learn that Alex Picard jammed his wrist getting hit by Brownie in the first and will not return.

7:51 GOAL OTTAWA: Frolov is tripped by a very borderline hit from Cheechoo coming out of his own zone, no call, Sens take the puck and get a shot and Cheechoo puts in the rebound.  At first glance, looked like a trip, on replay, looked like a dirty trip--Cheechoo stuck a leg out and I guarantee he’s going to get run on his next shift.  3-2 Kings.

8:50 Simmonds is stripped of the puck at the Sens blue line on what would have been a 2-on-1 with Scott Parse.

10:15 Ivanans nearly pokes in a loose puck in front of the net--Kings’ 4th line does well to maintain possession and force a desperation clear from Ottawa.  Harrold gets a blast from the right circle saved by Elliott.

10:50 Fisher returns the favor with a blast on Quick that is turned aside.

11:32 GOAL OTTAWA: Kopitar is leveled behind the Sens net and is slow to get up--the Sens rush the other way and Fisher beats Quick with a wrister to the right side of the net after receiving a pass in the slot.  His second of the night, still waiting for a replay on the Kopitar hit.  Game knotted at 3, Sens up on SOG 18-13.

13:41 Kopitar is still on the bench--at least he didn’t have to go to the dressing room.  Michalek narrowly misses on a tip in the Kings’ slot.  Chris Phillips takes an interference call and puts the Kings back up a man.  Not sure whether this is a good thing.

[I know I'm a couple minutes behind tonight but will catch up soon.  Forwarding through dumb commercials, including one with flying asian people who are speaking Japanese even though the ad seems to be about Taiwan. Will investigate later.]

14:05 Replay on the Kopitar spill shows Chris Phillips hooking him--Kopitar went back-first into the boards and probably had the wind knocked out of him.  At least I hope that’s all.

14:11 GOAL DREW DOUGHTY: Stoll wins a faceoff cleanly to Kopitar at the right point.  Kopitar skates to the middle and drops for Drew Doughty, who uncorks a blast and beats Elliott:  4-3 Kings.  Ottawa nearly ties immediately after a Williams giveaway in the Kings’ slot, but the Kings clear.

15:30 Kings up 10-8 on SOG for the period, game has deteriorated a bit into some neutral ice shenanigans.  Dumps and chases are fruitless for both sides.  Kings go offside and are granted a TV timeout to regroup.  Game’s loose.  I still think the Cheechoo/Frolov hit was dirty but I need to see it again.  Luckily Fro wasn’t hurt.

16:40 Jim Fox describes the game as “shinny.”  No idea what this means.

17:25 Kings nearly go up two again as Frolov sends the rebound of a Doughty shot wide--he had an open net and rushed it.

17:51 Amway commercial.  Really?

19:00 No flow left in this period.  Ottawa actually sustains an offensive shift and forces a save from Quick.  Chris Kelly gets nailed by his own guy and Randy Jones takes a trip on Cheechoo in the corner with thirty seconds to go.  Terrible defensive shift for the Kings, chasing the play.  Sloppy.  Gotta kill the period and be thankful that it’s Ottawa’s turn to have a PP split by the intermission (I have no idea why I’m always on about that).

19:27 Kings win the draw, Sean O’Donnell clears.  Ottawa regroups but can’t generate a shot.  Period ends, Kings still +1.

3rd Period

0:00 Kings will be down for a minute and change to start the third.  They win the opening draw and dump it deep but Ottawa gain the zone immediately afterwards.  Kovalev has a shot blocked and Kuba fires wide.

1:00 Kings struggling to clear, but finally gget it out  and leave the Sens with only a few seconds on the man advantage.

1:30 Kings go back to full strength and Alfredsson takes out some frustration by shoving the net off the moorings--no penalty, none deserved, nothing to see here, move along.

[My interwebs is crapshite tonight, my apologies for lengthy delays between updates, that is, to my one or two readers]

2:26 Sens fire a puck on net and it deflects high into the air--Quick leaps up to snag it while Michalek tries to take it away.  Puck is frozen and Matt Greene invites Michalek to smell his gloves and taste his shaft (of his stick.)   (of his HOCKEY stick.)

3:55 Shannon tries a shot from a sharp angle and Quick squeezes his pads against his left post to deny; Kings clear.  Sens have controlled the flow for the early segment here.  TV timeout would be welcome.

4:21 Quick freezes off of another Sens point shot.

4:56 Spezza has a wrister saved by Quick and Jack Johnson and Milan Michalek are going at it behind the play, they both go off for two.  Staples PA plays Pearl Jam’s “The Fixer” to celebrate.  Easily this year’s best rock single.  I like it when JMFJ puts a little hurt on it.

5:15 Couple minutes of 4v4, perhaps an opportunity for the Kings to get some unadulterated skating in.

6:20 Still pretty adulterated.  Alfredsson shoots, Quick saves, we go to commercial.  FSW shows a graphic--Kings have the second-youngest active roster in the league, older than only Columbus.  Chicago, perhaps the league’s best team, is right behind LA in third, but, we beat them most recently, so there.

6:54 4v4 expires.  Since the Simmonds penalty shot, the Handzus line has been quiet.

8:17 On cue, Simmonds has a quality shift.  Jack Johnson leads a rush and has a wrist shot from the left circle clutched by Elliott--that’s LA’s first SOG in the period; Ottawa has seven.

10:00 Halfway through the third.  Doughty looked to have an opportunity for a point shot but made a responsible defensive choice to retreat instead--had he muffed possession, it would have been a clear breakaway for Ottawa.

10:20 Sens have a flurry and force Quick into a save and scramble but the Kings clear.

12:11 Williams has a backhander squirt through the crease out of anyone’s reach; Kings’ top line has a great cycle that Davis Drewiske and Drew Doughty take turns resetting from the point.

13:35 Great end-to-end action right now as both teams have shortened their benches and are rolling through linse without stoppages in play.

13:43 Scott Parse takes an offensive zone hooking? penalty as his stick was held and lifted.  Rough night for Parse so far; he’s had trouble in his own zone and now cancels what was otherwise a promising shift and puts the Kings down a man trying to protect a one-goal lead.  I’m going to have to pick up the 12/14 issue of THN for the Kopitar cover.

13:43 As it turns out, the refs evened things up with a call on Chris Phillips for unsportsmanlike conduct, which I guess is the equivalent of forcing a guy into a holding the stick call by…holding his stick.  4v4 is better than 4v5.

15:01 Sloppy clear and the Kings are called for icing; Kopitar vs. Spezza on the draw and Kopitar wins to JMFJ, who leads a rush but is popped pretty good by Volchenkov in the Sens’ zone.

15:39 TV timeout after Stoll forces a save from Elliott.  Do the Kings have what it takes to man up again and kill this period?  I think so.

15:45 Kelly wins the draw and both teams are back to full strength.  Richardson is skating with Handzus and Simmonds; I think Harrold and Ivanans might be all done for the night.

16:40 Kings finally clear after a flurry from the Sens; Ottawa regroups and gets another shot on Quick before the puck escapes to center ice.  Kings offering no resistance right now; Sens gaining the zone at will.  Down to 2:40 remaining and Kings are content to repeatedly clear and try to get it in deep without sustaining possession.

16:43 GOAL JUSTIN WILLIAMS — In a matter fitting of such a sloppy game, Ottawa muffs possession as Gartner bounced the puck off his own net while pressured by Alexander Frolov.  Williams picked up the loose puck and chipped it past Elliott for a 5-3 lead.  Definitely not a deserved goal if you believe in the flow of play and rewarding the team with the initiative, but I couldn’t care less.

19:10 Kings, led by Frolov, prevent Ottawa from pulling Elliott with good forechecking; Ottawa can’t sustain possession.

19:45 GOAL KINGS: Elliott still in net, Kings playing keep-away, game is nearly over when Justin Williams scores again after finding the rebound of a Drewiske shot.  6-3 Kings and this one is in the refrigerator, the door is closed, the light is out, the pucks are chilling.  Apologies to the late Chick Hearn.

Wrap-up

Peculiar game.  At very few points did the Kings seem to have any control over the flow of the contest, not really sustaining very many trademark shifts with infinite cycles.  But at the same time, they prevented Ottawa’s potent forwards from enjoying much time or space.

Third star:  Wayne Simmonds

Second star:  Mike Fisher

First star:  Drew Doughty

Another quality two points for the Kings, who have won four of five and are at 17-10-2 for the year.  Even more impressive, they are 11-0 when leading after two periods, and this was the night that just really looked like we were going to see a relapse of the ’08-’09 campaign, when a lot of those late leads just weren’t safe, and the anxiety of protecting that one-goal lead was a self-perpetuating and self-defeating dilemma.  With the next 11 games against WC foes, that’s a lot of what are effectively 4-point contests as we move into the middle third of the schedule.  The Kings, at +7 in the W/L columns after 29 games, are on pace for a +19 finish, which would easily qualify them for the playoffs and may even project to having a round of home-ice advantage, which would be impressive.

What’s really cool about all of this, really, is the emergence of the youth--Kopitar and Frolov and Brown are essentially veterans on this team, and it’s guys like Quick and Doughty and Simmonds that are grabbing the bull by the horns and not depending on more senior guys to blaze the trail (I’m really mixing metaphors tonight, good grief).  Remember this stretch of four wins in five games without a goal from Kopitar or Brown and without Smyth or Scuderi in the lineup.  Much has been made of the extended absences of the two newest veteran Kings, but the continued strong play while they convalesce gives Terry Murray the flexibility to not skate them until they are absolutely 100% ready to go.  Granted, the hiccups to Philly and Calgary after the long road trip were tough losses against strong teams while LA adjusted to the sudden injuries of talisman Smyth and stay-at-home-stalwart Scuderi, but, no team this young could be expected to be this resilient.  This is a testament to both the architectural success from Dean Lombardi and the emerging leadership of Dustin Brown, who has continued to do his job and get shots and hits and not stress about a scoring drought…he was just as stoked to see Richardson poke in the rebound off of his drive as he would have been to get the goal himself, and that’s the attitude that will blur the distinction between primary and secondary scoring in a hurry.

Next up for the Kings, another Saturday matinée vs. the St Louis Blues.  Always good to see Andy Murray.

That commercial:  Flying High, Flying Taiwan.  I guess it’s a tourism thing.  At least some of the dialogue is in Japanese.  I am confused.

More importantly, here’s Pearl Jam’s “The Fixer,” not that you haven’t heard this a bunch already, but I think it’s easily their catchiest single since Dissident.