Shutout King

On Saturday night, October 22nd, history was made for the Los Angeles Kings. Goalie Jonathan Quick recorded his third consecutive shutout victory for the Kings in a 1-0 triumph over division rival Dallas. His steak of 188 minutes and ten seconds without allowing a goal is the longest in team history, eclipsing Rogie Vachon’s previous record of 184minutes and 55 seconds established in 1975. Quick also becomes the first NHL goalie to earn 3 straight shutouts since Columbus’ Steve Mason in 2008.

Quick’s streak began on October 18th in Los Angeles, the Kings’ home opener against the St. Louis Blues in which Quick stopped 26 en route to a 5-0 win. Two nights later in Phoenix, Quick stopped 28 in a 2-0 victory over the Coyotes, a tight checking affair where some big saves, particularly late in the game, were the difference. Saturday’s 1-0 victory over Dallas was a goaltending duel between Quick and Stars’ goalie Andrew Raycroft, a game in which Dallas outshot the Kings and Quick made Jack Johnson’s lone goal with 4:58 remaining hold up.

Time to End the European Experiment

For the past five years, the NHL has hosted regular season games with 17 teams (and the Ducks, Kings and Rangers a second time) taking part.  Host cities have included Berlin, London, Helsinki (three times), Prague (twice), Stockholm (four times).  The past three Stanley Cup champions have started their season overseas.  The NHL is going global, with an increasing number of players coming from the other side of the world.

The Kings and Rangers tangle in Stockholm.

So why is it a bad idea?

The team’s fans get screwed.  Okay, so the NHL gets exposure to overseas fans, but each team that goes over loses a home game.  The Kings will actually lose two home games this year, as they “host” both the Rangers and Sabres in Europe.  So for any Los Angeles season ticket holders, they go from seeing their team 41 times to 39.  With some teams struggling in their own markets, it seems odd to try and promote teams with only ties to (maybe) a couple players of the participating teams.

Welcome to Wayne’s World

This guest post was written by John Russo, of the blog Team to Beat.

A wrecking ball, a playmaker, a game changer.

When I think of the Flyers newly acquired winger Wayne Simmonds, I keep repeating those phrases in my head.

As soon as I read that Mike Richards was being shopped, my heart sank. There goes a guy who provides a spark offensively and defensively who can also tally 30 goals. But after reading the return, “… for C Brayden Schenn, LW Wayne Simmonds, 3rd round pick…,” I nearly fell out of my chair. Wayne Simmonds. The Flyers not only managed to pry away a top prospect from the Kings for Richards but also Wayne Simmonds? This city is going to fall in love with him!

Okay, enough of the ecstatic recount of my obvious fandom towards Simmonds. Though Schenn, Ilya Bryzgalov (signed) and Jakub Voracek (acquired from Columbus for Jeff Carter) are three of the most glittery moves made this off season by the Flyers, the biggest impact player may come from the guy now wearing the #17 jersey.

I swear for 60 minutes in the Flyers first preseason game that Simmonds never left the ice. All I heard and saw was Simmonds flying around the ice, hitting people and trying to make things happen. By playing on the third line, Simmonds can give the Flyers 15 hard minutes a game as well as play on the penalty kill. His defense is the best aspect of his game and that will give head coach Peter Laviolette even more reasons to keep Simmonds out on the ice.

2011-2012 Preview: The Los Angeles Kings

Review of 2010-2011: 46-30-6, 98 Points, 7th In Western Conference, Lost In Western Conference Quarter-finals 4-2 Vs. San Jose

Key additions via free agency: Ethan Moreau, Simon Gagne

Key additions via trade: Mike Richards, Colin Fraser

Key losses: Alexei Ponikarovsky, Michal Handzus, Wayne Simmonds, Brayden Schenn Ryan Smyth

Simon Gagne (Photo: Getty Images)

Offense: Talk about a team looking to make an bigger impact this season, Los Angeles is going all in. Despite giving up the highly touted Brayden Schenn, bringing in Mike Richards was a huge move for The Kings this year. This gives Los Angeles top centers on their top three lines, and hey, judging by last years stats, their top 3 centers could all hit the 50+ point mark this year, there aren’t too many teams that can say that. Richards also brings his powerplay skill to The Kings, who need the help. (They were 21st in the league in powerplay percentage.)  New acquisition Ethan Moreau looks to replace Ryan Smyth, who was traded this offseason. While Moreau getting near the 47 points Smyth had last year doesn’t look doable, He should still be useful to the team.  A player of interest to watch this year, is also a new acquisition, Simon Gagne. Gagne has struggled with concussion and injury issues in the past, but finally seems to be back to 100% and should provide some more firpower to an already loaded Los Angeles team.

The 5 Best Games I’ve Been To

This is part two of my two part summer doldrums games package.  Part one (the worst games) can be found here.

5. Flyers 7, Kings 4 (12/30/10)
Part one of my three game SoCal adventure (part two is in the “worst games” post). Both sides can agree the officiating was awful on this night, but the scoring came in bunches. Both the Flyers’ Mike Richards and Kings’ Ryan Smyth had two goal nights, Richards also added two assists. Claude Giroux chipped in three assists. The Flyers powerplay actually worked for once, scoring two goals! It was fun being one of the few people in my section standing up and cheering seven times in one game, high fiving a guy a few seats down while the natives gave me dirty looks.

4. Flyers 5, Devils 2 (10/3/09)
The invasion of “The Rock” was successful. It was Jersey’s home opener and we ruined the party. Ray Emery, who’d shutout Carolina the night before, was great in net for the Flyers. The Flyers jumped out to a 4-0 lead sometime in the 3rd before New Jersey scored two goals, sandwiched around a 5th Flyers goal. They may have been chanting “hey…you suck” to the Flyers and our fans, but we surely didn’t suck on that night. Best part of the night may have been an upset Devils fan asking our group (who was being a bit raucous), “When’s the last time you guys won anything?” I blurted out, “About ten minutes ago, did you see the scoreboard?” He muttered and stuttered, “that’s not what I meant”, and we just laughed at him.

3.

CS Hockey Tournament: Starting the 2nd Half

The Battle of Pennsylvania Part II took place in Philly this time.  The Flyers’ Eric Desjardins started the scoring midway through the first, but the Penguins’ Jeff Taffe tied it up with an unassisted goal 17 seconds later.  In the first minute of the second period, Mario Lemieux gave Pittsburgh its’ first lead of the game at 2-1.  Three minutes later, the Flyers’ young star James van Riemsdyk knotted the game at two apiece.  Lemieux scored his second of the game late in the period to put the Penguins up 3-2 heading into the third period.  But that lead wouldn’t last one minute into the third, as Rod Brind’Amour knotted the game at 3.  Brind’Amour scored again five minutes later to give the Flyers a lead.  Eric Lindros scored on a late powerplay (thanks to a Jordan Staal high sticking double minor), putting the Flyers up 5-3 and giving Philly the win.  

CS Hockey Tournament: End of 1st Half

Rob’s Jackets finished the first half in Boston, taking on Andy’s Bruins. Tim Thomas and Steve Mason dueled in the first period, but in the second, Martin Lapointe solved Mason. At 11:40 in the second, Rick Nash took a holding penalty and Ray Bourque made the Jackets pay, scoring on the powerplay to put Boston up 2-0. But the Jackets wouldn’t go away easy. In the third, Andrew Cassels cut the Boston lead to one. Boston’s Dennis Wideman was penalized for holding later in the period and Nikolai Zherdev cashed in to tie it up at 2. Unfortunately for Columbus, two minutes later Lapointe scored again to give Boston another lead. Patrice Bergeron added a goal less than a minute later to seal Boston’s 4-2 win.  

CS Hockey Tournament: Part IV

The first game of the night had Rob’s Blue Jackets headed to Philadelphia to take on Dan’s Flyers. Simon Gagne got the party started with an early goal, and the Flyers held the lead through the first period. In the second, Eric Desjardins took a holding penalty, sending Columbus to the powerplay. Rick Nash tied the game towards the end of the man advantage. Kevyn Adams added a goal later in the second to put the Jackets up 2-1. It didn’t last long; early in the third, David Vyborny was called for unsportsmanlike conduct, and Eric Lindros knotted the game back up on the powerplay. Two minutes later, Rod Brind’Amour broke the tie, and it looked like the Flyers were going to win. Until Rick Nash, once again tied it up with 2:12 remaining. The game went into overtime, where Rod Brind’Amour once again broke a tie, and won the game for the Flyers.

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Jeremy’s Kings hosted Andy’s Bruins.  The first period was pretty uneventful, but the fun started in the second.  Nathan Horton opened scoring at 3:25 to put Boston up 1-0.  But the Kings struck back thanks to a Nelson Emerson goal, sending the game into the third period tied at 1.  Both teams peppered the opposing goalies with shots (Kings 42, Bruins 34), but both Tim Thomas and Jon Quick refused to budge.  Wayne Gretzky solved Thomas midway through the third to put the Kings up.  Late in the third, the Bruins pulled Thomas for the extra attacker, but Ian Laperriere added an empty netter to give Los Angeles a 3-1 win.  

The 5 Worst Games I’ve Been To

Through the summer doldrums, I decided to share some of the games I’ve been at.  And before you call me bad luck, my Flyers winning percentage is over .700, so these five games are just a small sample.

This is only part one of two.  Sometime later in the summer I’ll chronicle five awesome games I was at.

5. Kings 1, Flyers 0 (2/13/11)
The highlight of this game was a monster pre-game tailgate we had. And we needed it.  Drew Doughty scored the only goal of the game very early in the second period. During the second intermission, @MikePatota didn’t even realize the Kings had scored (since it was so early in the period). Our frustrations boiled over when Jarret Stoll boarded Chris Pronger and no penalty on Stoll was called, this the day after the Islanders-Penguins brawl.  Jon Quick had 40 saves to earn the shutout and sent all of us home unhappy.

4. Devils 3, Flyers 1 (1/22/11)
You guys know when you play the Devils it’ll either be 1) fun if you’re scoring or 2) painful to watch. This game was in the second group.  I honestly couldn’t tell you who scored but my guess would be Patrik Elias, the Flyer killer. (Checking the boxscore showed he had two goals).  I do remember that it was Johan Hedberg, not Marty Brodeur, who shut the Flyers down.  Johan Hedberg of all goalies!

3.

CS Hockey Tournament: Part III

In the first game of part three, Joey’s Penguins traveled to Columbus to take on Rob’s Jackets. The game was pretty uneventful for most of the first period, until Ed Olczyk took a kneeing penalty. 26 seconds later, Ulf Samuelsson was given a major penalty and a game misconduct for checking from behind. On the ensuing five on three advantage, Fedor Tyutin scored to head into the first intermission with the Jackets leading 1-0. The Penguins killed off the remainder of the powerplay in the second period and at 7:17, Kevin Miller tied the game. About a minute later, Ray Whitney gave Columbus back its’ one goal lead. Early in the third, Kevin Miller once again tied the game. Two minutes later, Darius Kasparaitis gave Pittsburgh its’ first lead of the game. Ed Olczyk added a goal to give the Penguins some cushion and a 4-2 win.