LA Kings center Anze Kopitar scores during the second period against the Dallas Stars on December 12, 2009 at Staples Center.
Photo: Harry How/Getty Images

Alexander Frolov and Anze Kopitar scored goals in regulation for the Kings, while James Neal and Mike Modano scored for the Stars.

Brad Richardson assisted on both Kings’ goals.

Michael Handzus was credited with the shootout game-winner, scoring in the fourth round.

Jonathan Quick was the best player for the Kings, stopping 25 shots, including several spectacular saves.

Right wing Wayne Simmonds, who suffered a knee injury and was not in the lineup, will undergo surgery on Monday to repair the meniscus in his left knee. There was no word on how long he is expected to be out of the lineup.

NOTES

• The Kings now own the top spot in the Western Conference (tied with San Jose in points, but the Kings have more wins).
• The Kings are only one point behind Washington for the best record in the National Hockey League.
• The Kings have won four straight for the third time this season.
• The Kings have their second eight-game point streak this season and are 7-0-1 in their last eight. They were 6-0-2 from October 19 to November 4.
• The Kings are 11-1-3 in one-goal games.
• Seven of their last eight games have been one-goal games (7-0-0).
• The Kings are 9-1-1 against the Pacific Division.
• The Kings are off to their third-best 34-game start in club history.  The 1980-81 club had 47 points (22-9-3) and 1974-75 club had 47 points (18-5-11).
• Nine of the Kings’ last fourteen wins against Dallas have been come-from-behind victories.
• Quick is 7-1-1 with a 2.15 GAA and .925 save percentage in his last nine games and he has stopped 22 of 31 in the shootout this season (.710).
• Williams has seven points in his last seven games (three goals, four assists).

Post-Game Audio Interviews (raw, unedted)

Justin Williams (3:10)

Game Highlights From NHL Video On YouTube:

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Dallas 3, Anaheim 4 (OT)

I’m starting to wonder if the problem isn’t that the players are still getting used to the system, but maybe it’s just not a good system.

There are just too many games where the Stars have a healthy lead, then cough it up at in the last minute after spending the last period in a major panic.

What is going on? Shouldn’t they have learned the system by now? Or maybe it’s constantly watching to make sure you’re not supposed to be covering for a defenseman joining down by the net, or constantly changing before you ever get anything going or just concentrating so much on “attacking” that you never “defend.”

The Stars couldn’t get it out of their zone in the third period and it wasn’t just the defensemen. Morrow handed the puck to various Ducks, for one thing. The other thing I see way too much is the chance to clear the zone cleanly, squandered by a player that tries to hand it to a teammate further back in the defensive zone.

So many passes to the one guy with 3 defenders on him. Or just standing around until somebody catches up to them.

Mike Modano seemed to be the only one that could make a sharp pass. Or even catch a pass. He had several steals to go along with his beautiful goal. That play with Ott coming down the left and passing it straight across to Modano was as obvious as the day is long, yet Modano shot it right past the goalie.

Brad Richards had a pretty good game, getting 2 more goals to add to his huge point total. But he wasn’t immune to the mistakes that were happening in the third.

Another game that looked won after the first half of the game, only to be given away in the second half. The Ducks scored in the last 90 seconds of a period TWICE! That is not a fluke. That is a trend. This isn’t even the first game that that’s happened. It happens all the time.

I’m not impressed with Marc Crawford so far. I’ll just tell you.

Good morning, hockey fans! Last week we explored the brutish and nasty origins of our most barbaric Turkey Day holiday; this week, it’s finally time for Dallas Stars fans to stop whoever it is they’re punching, take a step back and demand results at the Roughly One-Third Mark of the 2009-10 NHL Season.

Thus far, what can we say about the new-look, aggressive north-south charge-the-net Stars? So far, the results have been mixed: after a go-go October that saw plenty of pucks flying past both goalies, the Stars have settled into the more defensive, molasses-based special-teams-heavy game that we’d come to know and loathe under the Tippett regime.

A Cupcheck researcher, hard at work

For November, the Stars’ goals-per-game dropped faster than your Uncle Karl’s trousers in a gas station restroom: from a sterling 3.43 in October to a dismal 2.38 in November. Most of the drop came during the Stars’ early strength –5-on-5 play– as the team scored just 15 goals on non-special teams, a drop from 32 in October. On the other hand, their defensive game and special teams cowboyed up; the result? Pretty much the same won-loss record in both months.

To make sense of this headcase of a team, I’ve researched my notes from Miss Briton’s first grade class and put together a complex, comprehensive statistics-heavy sabermetric analysis that will hopefully be accessible to even the most Eastcoasty of hockey fans (Flyers fans excepted; for your in-depth hockey analysis, continue staring at the pile of frozen vomit on your acid-washed jeans).

Here’s the Dallas Stars at the One-Third Mark, A thru Z.

Alex Auld has starting to round into the form Stars fans expected in the pre-season, when they (correctly) predicted that Auld would routinely outshine Turco in net and cause a Goalie Controversy.

Brad Richards put up 15 points in 13 November games, including an assist-per-game, and continues to prove (most of) the value of his insanely huge contract with 32 points through his first 25 games, good for a 105-point pace over a mythical 82-game season.

Crawford’s embarrassing Lombardi-wanna-be bench blow-ups: Zero. For now.

Deflections of Defensemen still seem to plague the Stars like no other team in hockey, with goals bouncing off our tired d-men and straight past a bewildered Turco nearly every game. Is it finally time we covered the jerseys in hot tar?

Even Strength play, once a source of triumph, has now become a source of shame and defeat. The biggest reason? How about the insane number of odd-man breakaways canceled out by three too-many drop passes?

Fabian = Failure. Jury’s still out, I suppose, but it certainly seems right now that it would behoove the Stars to trade this guy to a gullible Eastern Conference team as soon as possible.

Goaltending has improved tremendously, despite the above-mentioned hard-luck goals. While there have been some tissue-soft back-breakers allowed, the sheer number of them has come down from October’s dizzying heights. Now if they could just score some Goals to go along with their improved defense…

History buffs shall one day look at the first two months of the 2009-10 NHL season, look at the lessons to be learned from the Stars’ inconsistencies and struggles, and promptly forget said lessons.

Ice Girls look a little cold. Maybe they should start wearing more layers?

"You don't say? Never scores or is responsible defensively? Whaddya want for him?"

James Neal and Jamie Benn have trailed off recently, with Neal pointless since his two-game suspension and Benn being shuffled up and down the lineup like an unwanted puck bunny.

Karlis Skrastins has been even more wildly inconsistent than the team as a whole. The guy’s spent his entire career seamlessly blending into the background with solid-but-unspectacular defense; now we’re seeing him on the highlight reel constantly, which is never good for a non-scoring defenseman.

Lehtinen’s been straight-up terrible, finishing the month of November with one point and a -7 in eleven games, third worst on the team behind Skrastins and Ott. While Ralph & Razor still extoll his amazing play, I’m watching the same play with my own two eyes and simply not seeing anything other than a slow, ineffective shell of the Finn that used to be one of my top three favorite Dallas Stars. But at least he’s not playing like…

Mike Modano, who has finally picked up his scoring (on the power play, at least), but continues his decade-long obsession with lazy poke-checks, alligator-armed checking and sloppy defense.

Neal has bee–oh, wait, we already got him. He’s slumping right now, but give ‘im a month and he’ll be back to his early 123-goal form.

Ott has been absolutely abysmal, and he knows it. A -9 with zero points through 13 games, no other Star is more directly responsible for what ails ‘em. Especially after last season’s revelatory campaign, this month has been especially cruel to Ott.

Powerplay is up from 17.7% to 22.7%, and the Penalty kill has gone from a Maple Leafs-esque 74.5% to a more respectably mediocre 83.3%.

Questioning the wisdom of #1 d-man Robidas’ contract extension was the state pastime for Stars fans in September; now, with 10 points in 13 November games and 18 points overall, first the NHL in hits and top-five in goals by a defenseman… it’s time to realize Robidas may not suck as hard as some Stars fans would like to believe.

Jere's iPod seems to have been infiltrated by this guy

Ribeiro seemed to enter a time-warp in November, going back to his maddeningly frustrating Montreal days of cherry-picking, giving up on plays and lazy whiffs at the blueline turning into goals for the other team. No other Star is less suited for Crawford’s style of play, but c’mon, Mike… skate towards the net, take a shot and save the cute stuff for the Ghostbar after the game.

Subtly slipping from ‘superior’ to ‘suck’ has been Grossman’s quiet defense. Like Skrastins, Grossman is at his best when his name dare not be spoken during the course of a game. Unfortunately, poor clearing attempts –once the big Swede’s bread-and-butter– have led to some neck-stompingly ugly goals.

Tom Wandell –Calder-bound? When’s the last time the league –not just the Stars– saw a checking line center play defense with such flair for the dramatic? The guy is a keeper on any line, and seems to be capable of single-handedly turning the momentum of a game around in a single shift.

Ugly goals marred the second Detroit game, but it was the play up front that looked like the unholy offspring of Sarah Jessica Parker and Don Mossi. Clean it up, fellas!

Victory favors the bold. Unfortunately for Dallas’ place in the ultra-competitive Western Conference standings, Stars players have been madly in love with multiple drop passes, perimeter play and relying on the power play to score all their goals for them.

Wandell is amazing, so he gets two entries here. If you don’t like his up-tempo style of play, you probably also howl in pain at the sound of a child’s laughter.

X-rays on this team show a brain far larger than the heart. Which is terrible news for a hockey team.

You’ve got to admit it, after last month: this team was better without Modano and Lehtinen. Hockey is a young man’s game now.

Zubov? Oh, he’s doing fine, thank you very much. Any way we can slip him on the roster later a la Selanne/Forsberg/Niedermayer?

Did I forget any letters? Ah, probably got most of ‘em. Tune in next week when we peek into Hockey Santa’s bag of goodies to see what the Stars will be getting under their tree this Christmas!

Dallas 1, Columbus 4

I guess we all could have predicted the loss last night against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

I wouldn’t have predicted all the fights and the five-minute major plus game misconduct for James Neal, though. I was at the game, so I didn’t get to see anything up close. Therefore, I won’t argue whether or not Neal deserves a suspension for the hit (he’s been suspended two games). At the time, though, I thought the Jackets player was okay at first and didn’t see him fall back down again. The hit didn’t look that vicious to me on the replay that I craned my neck to see on the press box TV. They didn’t show the hit in the arena.

I’m interested in seeing that sequence of events when I watch the game on my TiVo. I’ll also want to see why there were so many fights. I usually assume that if Trevor Daley is in a fight, he’s legitimately angry. When Krys Barch fights, I don’t usually have to break down what led up to it.

I apologize for not having any in-depth analysis. When I’m at the game, I talk a lot more and I hear Razor explaining things 100% less than when I’m on my couch watching it on TV. (Not that I have any in-depth analysis then.)

I was able to ascertain that the Stars weren’t playing as well as they played against the Wings the night before. When their penalty killing bubble burst, it really burst. They coughed up three power play goals to Columbus. The Jackets’ short-handed goal was just icing on the cake.

Granted, two of the power play goals were on a five-minute major, which can be very difficult to kill. But they were down to just a minute and a half or so left to kill when they gave up the first one, then the second one was scored just seconds later. If I were the type to leave hockey games before they were over, I probably would have left right then. I knew they weren’t going to do anything after that.

The one faint bright spot was another shiny goal for Mike Modano. That one-timer to break up the shutout was one of those signature Modano screamers. When he came back into the lineup after that rib injury, he went the first three games with no points but he’s scored at least a point in all four games since.

I don’t know what to say about the fact that they can’t win two in a row. They can’t even lose two in a row. I can’t get a handle on what kind of a team they are. If they were always losing to good teams, I could say they’re mediocre, and even though they’re winning against the good teams, I can’t say they’re good yet, either. And even though they’re losing to bad teams, I can’t say that they’re a bad team.

On the brighter side, I’d like to give a shoutout to the guy and girl working at the Pizza Patrón stand right near section 314. They made a minor error checking me out, but then came and found me in the stands to correct it. I thought that was highly admirable. Thanks again, kids! (Tell your boss I said to give you a raise.)

Dallas 3, Detroit 1

Not bad. Not bad at all. I guess the win-lose-win-lose-win-lose power is stronger than the PLEASE-NO!-NOT DETROIT! power. It was helped, of course, by the lose-to-bad-teams, beat-good-teams thing they’ve got going on, too.

The Stars looked very good the whole game. The Wings had trouble getting past them into the offensive zone. Alex Auld had a fine game tonight and made some pretty good saves. He got a gift from the refs on that one non-goal, but hey, life’s tough.

Modano had another great game, getting an assist on Loui Eriksson’s goal and just being all over the place all night. James Neal got an assist on Loui’s goal, too, with a beautiful pass. That brings Neal’s point streak to ten games. Matt Niskanen got his back that the scorers took away from him in the last game to give to Neal.

Mike Ribeiro had a much better game than he’s had lately. He got a nice, albeit flukey, goal but he worked hard all game. Brenden Morrow had more energetic game tonight, too. I think Brenden and Ribs got a little shot in the arm by being moved to new lines. Brad Richards added two assists to his impressive total for the year.

One of the best things I’ve seen lately is the improvement in the penalty kill. According to Razor, they had killed 17 penalties in a row at that point. They killed all five against Detroit tonight. And they got two power play goals! Everything’s all topsy-turvy.

Myra and I will be at the game tomorrow night. Let’s break the pattern, boys.

Dallas 2, Phoenix 3

They keep saying they’re looking for consistency, but as Ryan Lambert, the Puck Daddy What We Learned guy, points out, win lose win lose win lose win lose is consistent. They need to start winning games when it’s their turn to lose one.

I’m almost expecting them to win against Detroit on Wednesday night. I never assume that, but this win-lose-win-lose thing might be more powerful than the usual pattern against Detroit of lose-lose-lose.

Phoenix is doing a lot better this year, of course, now that they have a decent coach. Yet, they’re not doing so well that the Stars can take them lightly. As we saw.

The habit of spotting every team two goals is getting pretty tiresome. At least the Coyotes only got one before we tied it up the first time. That was a great goal by Modano, by the way. Not many can do what he does with his backhand.

I’m sure Dave Tippett was pretty pleased with the win even though he tried to play it off as just another game. I’m glad he’s having some success in Phoenix, but I don’t want to see them win against the Stars again this season. We couldn’t even beat them last year, when Gretzky was throwing fits on the bench and they were losing everywhere else.

The Stars are playing down to their competition. They had a great game against the Sharks, when there was less of a chance they could win. Then against teams that aren’t that great, they come out flat and seem lazy. That’s not good. The percentages are going to get them because most teams aren’t that great. Those are the games where we need to get points. We’re not going to make the playoffs just winning against the good teams.

Let’s talk about Brenden Morrow and Mike Ribeiro for a minute. Neither one of them is doing very well. Morrow looks frustrated and can’t seem to get anything to work. He’s trying, but passes bounce off his stick, people catch him and steal the puck, he just looks off somehow. I’m sure he’ll pull out of it, but he needs to do it now.

Ribeiro frustrates me no end. I actually really like Ribeiro. I love the crazy dipsy-doodling stuff and the highlight-reel goals and the unbelievable passes. But I do not like the poking along, the standing around, and the refusing to give up the puck to a teammate before he’s forced to give it to the opposition. I can take a little of that if I have more of the good stuff to cling to. But the percentages are way out of whack. Lately, I’m only seeing the stuff I don’t like.

James Neal was awarded the goal originally given to Matt Niskanen (poor Nisky), so that brings his point streak to nine games! Marty Turco had another pretty good game, despite the loss. So the whole thing wasn’t something to hate, just the lack of production from Ribs and Brenden and a general flat start that is way too common.

Unrelatedly, I need to ask Mike Heika about all the 2-day beards the boys are growing. I have been noticing that quite a few of them that usually stay clean-shaven are sporting the look. Brad, Otter, Daley, Ribs, Morrow, Robi, and many more that don’t usually have beards. I would assume it’s the Mo-vember thing where teams are growing mustaches for cancer awareness, but it started at the beginning of the season.

I have a theory that it might be in honor of Mike Modano in what might be his last year. Or maybe in support of his bid for the U.S. Olympics team.

It’s more like that stretch of I-635 between I-35E and the airport. Just kind of wavy.

After that nice win against Vancouver, we lost to the Minnesota Wild after giving up two goals to them in the first, the battling back, only to give up a third. Then Minnesota hung on to win.

Then we went to meet up with the league-leading San Jose Sharks and tried to do the same thing. It was only slightly different, in that we waited until the second period to give up 2 goals, and the third period to fight back to a tie. If we’re going to insist on doing it that way, I think the Sharks game version is better. It gives the opposition less time to go ahead again.

This time, though, we did the impossible and won in the shootout. Marty Turco was brilliant in the shootout, like he used to be in the old days. Crawford kept his promise and picked some new guys for the shootout this time. He kept James Neal, who hit the post for the third time this season. He needs to adjust the sight on his stick, I think.

The genius move, though, was calling on Stéphane Robidas. Robi skated in and just straight-on roofed it. No dekes for him. That won the game for us and got a huge cheer from me.

In Robi’s post-game interview, he was his adorably modest self when Heika asked him about his shootout history.

(I’m paraphrasing a little here.)
Robi: I was in the shootout last year in the preseason… (long pause).
Heika: Well?
Robi: I scored.
Heika: And that was the only time?
Robi: Well, once way back in juniors I had a penalty shot. (long pause)
Heika: Well?!
Robi: Yeah, I scored in that one, too.

It was great to see Mike Modano doing so well in the game, too. He seems to have his legs under him now. That goal of his was pretty impressive. I had to watch the replay twice to see what really happened, it was so fast. I’m sure the Sharks weren’t caught up, either.

James Neal kept his point streak alive with that rainbow reflection to get them on the board. Modano got the assist on that one, too. So far, Neal’s got 10 goals in 16 games. That’s a pretty heady pace.

Don’t forget Trevor Daley’s save, as he slid feet-first along the goal line behind Marty to stop the puck. The defensemen are really getting to be everymen now. Jumping up with the forwards, manning the crease with the goalie, getting slammed by forecheckers. What don’t they do? Defensemen are the best.

Speaking of defensemen that are the best, it appears that Mark Fistric will be playing forward again in tonight’s game against Phoenix. Brian Sutherby has some groin issue, as it seems many of them do, which will make them short a forward. Jeff Woywitka will fill in on defense.

Jere Lehtinen was scratched for the Sharks game and will be out again tonight because of groin issues. I don’t like to be a pessimist, but I put the over/under on consecutive games for Lehtinen at three, and I was right. I’d be willing to bet I can use that same prediction all season. I love Lehts and all, but I think it might be time for him to admit he can’t play any more. He’s fine when he’s in, he’s just never in.

Here are some random thoughts to close out:

–Greg Wyshynski over at the great Puck Daddy had a really nice interview with James Neal. The fact that Neal doesn’t have his earphones in 24 hours a day endears me to him even more. And that’s saying something because I love that guy.

–The GMs had their meetings last week and they decided to leave the trapezoids in. I was really crossing my fingers that they’d abandon that stupid, stupid, stupid rule, but I guess I gave them too much credit for seeing how stupid that rule is. I guess this means I shouldn’t hold my breath that they’ll ever get rid of the stupid over-the-glass penalty.

–We’re going to meet up with our old friend Dave Tippett tonight. He has really done well over in Phoenix. They are much more focused and optimistic about their play and they are winning some games. They’ve tailed off a little lately (and I hope they lose one more game) but I bet they pick it back up again. I miss Tipp, but he claims he’s moved on so I probably should, too. But just promise me, Stars fans, that you’ll give him a nice ovation when he comes to town for the first time. He did a lot for this team.

Notes:

• The three game stars, in order: Iginla, McElhinney, Richards
• Stars were 0-5 on the power play and 3-4 on the penalty kill. Once again, they did not capitalize on a lengthy 5-on-3.
• Dallas gave up their one-goal lead with 50 seconds left in regulation. They then failed to kill off a bad penalty in overtime, resulting in the 3-2 OTL.
• The Stars outshot the Flames 40-23 but were outhit 36-25.
• Tom Wandell led the team in takeaways with 3.
• Stephane Robidas led the team in blocked shots with 5.
• Karlis Skrastins assisted on both of the Dallas goals.
• Conclusion: Stars should have taken advantage of at least one of those five power plays. They should not have allowed the game-tying goal with under a minute to play. As horrible as it was to lose the game on a ridiculous call against Grossman in overtime, they should not have gotten to that point in the first place. Still, they outplayed the Flames for most of the game, which is something to be positive about.

SHR +/-:

Stephane Robidas: one for a solid game; +1
Trevor Daley: two for the assist; +2
Mike Modano: one welcome back! point; +1
James Neal: three for the goal; +3
Loui Eriksson: three for the goal; +3
Jere Lehtinen: one welcome back! point; +1
Karlis Skrastins: two for each assist; +4
Brad Richards: two for the assist; +2

Welcome to the WPF! This week we’re looking at Halloween weekend up until the Flames game last night.

October 30 was Coach Crow’s 1000th NHL game coached, and the Stars honored him before the puck drop.

We finally got Lehts and Mo back November 4th against the Flames.

I’m not sure why Morrow has a black eye when the last time he fought was… last season after Brown nailed Ribs into the boards?

The most exciting new line we have this season – Swedes and Sudsy.

I have a new love of the Ice Girls for getting our Stars to pose with their pompoms. You can see more Stars with poms here.

Let’s see what we’re looking at here.

The defense isn’t half bad. Oooh! The young defense is going to be overmatched! Ooh! We need a free agent d-man everybody’s heard of! That was the cry during the off-season, and it continues now. But we can’t afford a free agent defenseman in his prime and we don’t need one that’s past his prime. I think the defense is already showing that they are learning the system and are the type that can work it.

Fistric is basically a stay-at-home defenseman that can skate like an offensive defenseman. Same with Grossman. Grossman is leading the NHL in plus-minus right now. Fistric played left wing for two games. Trevor Daley can overtake anybody that might take the puck from him. Niskanen can zig-zag through the opposition just like a forward, and is improving his defensive game. Robidas is still the leader he’s been for a couple of years and is basically in his prime. And Skrastins is actually helping out quite a bit. I like a professional shot-blocker like him. He makes some good plays and blocks a lot of shots.

I might be a little Pollyanna about the defense, but I think it’s doing pretty well. Certainly better than the skeptics predicted.

The Richards line was mentioned on Hockey Night in Canada, by Ron MacLean, no less (although I hear he’s a Richards fan in general). Still. To have a forward line in Dallas mentioned on HNiC is saying something, because they usually barely acknowledge the Stars. That line of Richards, Eriksson, and Neal is turning out to be a pretty powerful one.

Brad Richards is really looking good. I mean really looking good. He looks like the kind of player that makes seven million a year. He makes such intellectual plays. Eriksson and Neal have good chemistry with each other, let alone with Richards. I usually don’t follow lines very well –I grew up watching Tippett mix and match them all the time — but even I can see how much they’re accomplishing. The Ribeiro line is kind of the second line right now, and if Ribeiro and Morrow are on the second line, that means the first line is unbelievable.

When Modano comes back to center the third line, I don’t see how things could be bad.

Morrow is almost back to his old self, it seems. He’s tied with Neal for the goal-scoring lead on the team and he doesn’t seem to be afraid of his knee. His injury is notorious for taking a whole season to get back to normal, but Morrow seems to be bucking that trend.

Auld looks good in his backup starts and Turco seems…um…to be improving. He was making me nervous at first, but he seems to be getting better. Hopefully it’s a trend and not a fluke. I’ve got my eye on him, though.

The gist is that I’m surprised that I’m a little happy with the way things are going so far. As a card-carrying pessimist, though, I’m not making any predictions yet. We’ll see after another 10 or 11 games.

The Los Angeles Kings have not played since embarrassing the Dallas Stars in front of their home crowd on Monday.  Tonight they take on the Stars again, this time at home, in an effort to get their second winning streak of the season underway.

The Stars will be playing their 3rd game in 4 nights.  After losing to the Kings, the Stars beat the Anaheim Ducks by a score of 4-2 last night as pain-in-the-ass -winger Steve Ott returned to their lineup.

Marty Turco, too decrepit to play back-to-back games, will sit tonight in favor of backup Alex Auld.  Alexander Frolov will return for the Kings, although Rich Hammond reported this morning that Justin Williams is unlikely to play as he left practice with a “lower-body injury”.  In the tradition of amusing guesses, I’m going with a severe case of chafed thighs.

Though Williams may be out, between Frolov having something to prove (you know, his roster spot), Jonathan Quick on a roll and the bruised, battered and tired Stars (still without Jere Lehtinen and Mike Modano who were placed on IR Tuesday) playing their backup goalie in their 2nd game in as many nights, it will take a collapse of fundamentals for the Kings to lose this game.

It is likely that one of Frolov, Dustin Brown or Teddy Purcell will assume Williams’ right wing spot alongside Anze Kopitar and Ryan Smyth.  Though many will miss the speedy, crafty play Williams has brought to the first line, his absence will be interesting.  Several fans have contended that the 1st line’s dominance has been solely because of the play of Kopitar and Smyth, while Williams has just been on their bandwagon (probably the same wagon on which those who can’t see Williams’ worth are riding).  With someone else on the line, the theory of Williams’ contributions will be put to the ultimate test.

I will be at the game tonight, but in the interest of serving you rabid fans as quickly as possibly, Bobby Scribe will give you the full (and fun) post game report after the Kings have chewed up and spit out the Stars.

Go Kings Go!