- Jonathan Quick … um, good game.
- Matt Greene … sounds like a concussion, otherwise why would the doctor not let him back in the game despite feeling good or fine or whatever?
- Drew Doughty, three assists. Let’s take that Babcock hagiograph and recite it before every game.
LA Kings Insider – Doughty’s Detroit Fan Club
BABCOCK: “He’s just better and smarter than everybody else. He’s just been touched by God and been given a gift and he seems to like hockey. What I like about him is, when he creates offense it’s not foolish. He’s not a risk-taker; he’s a game-breaker. He waits for the right times and he can play against the best people defensively, and he can play a ton of minutes. And he’s got a big, heavy [ass? must have said “ass” -(Q)ed.]. Butt, sorry. [laughs] So he can box people out and play the game.”
- Jack Johnson … great game, nice goal, nice hit, too — except Helm got a scoring chance immediately after. Big checks are better when they don’t lead directly to opponents’ scoring chances. (He did go to the Rob Blake School, after all.)
- Alexei Ponikarovsky … another great game for that line. I just love that line.
- People complained about Lombardi’s UFA signings this summer (“yet another example of Lombardi’s inability to blah blah yadda”…), but Willie Mitchell and Ponikarovsky seem like gold now, don’t they?
- Oscar Moller. Watch the highlight replays of the goal in the clip above; especially the slow-motion ones. I see three great things — okay, four — in this play. (1) Moller sees Doughty walk the line and makes a bee-line for the blue paint. (2) Doughty sees this and waits, waits, waits. The TV guys say he’s waiting for a “lane” to open. He’s waiting for Moller to get in Howard’s face. (3) Kyle Clifford is already set up at the hash marks, screening Howard. Doughty lets the shot go when there are two Kings and a couple of Wings blocking Howard’s view; he makes the save but can’t control the rebound. (3.5) Nice tip by Clifford. (4) Moller’s little move to bring the puck back from behind the goal line and stuff it in. A little thing, but kind of important.