Nearly every Kings home game this season could be described as solid goaltending, strong on the penalty kill and needing more offense.
For Saturday’s game, just add in the opponent – Vancouver.
In addition to the video highlights below, here are the other key notes:
* PennerMania was officially underway at 5:28 of the first period when Dustin Penner notched his first goal as a King. The assists came from his newest linemate (Justin Williams) and the guy who filled in on the top line for a few games until Penner arrived (Brad Richardson).
* It was the only goal of the night for LA. Simplified – it’s this, need more offense, need more shots. Getting 22 shots on goal probably doesn’t qualify for coach Terry Murray’s ‘shoot first’ club.
* Case in point, Anze Kopitar’s one shot on goal in the last six periods of play. Really?
* Speaking of the coach though, when Murray is upset about something, you know the train has come off the tracks in a big way. He invented calm, cool and collected. Nonetheless, he didn’t have much to say after the game due to some poor officiating late in the third.
* As noted above, the Kings penalty kill usually does their job at home. In this case, they held the Canucks’ top ranked power play scoreless in six chances.
* Remember when Andy Murray was coaching the Kings? It seemed like whenever the team was down a goal late, he’d just pull the goaltender and – BOOM! – guaranteed goal. Not this year. It hasn’t worked once all season and it didn’t work with the team trailing 2-1 in the final minutes of the game.
* On this homestand the MUST WIN games were the two division games – last Thursday versus Phoenix and this coming Monday versus Dallas. They beat the Coyotes 1-0. If the can down the Stars too, this loss won’t have the same sting.
Video highlights…
The Mayor
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LA Kings Player of the Month (February 2011)
PennerMania By The Numbers (and video)
Chirping with Dustin Penner – interview from his first practice with Kings
Cruising the Mall with Simmonds and Doughty
Welcome to LA – 10 Tidbits on Dustin Penner
About John Hoven
