I am going to be honest with you, dear reader: my memories of this week are fuzzy, at best. We’re well in the midst of the classic winter doldrums (which, as my fellow blogger Sheng Peng pointed out, is a pretty common occurrence for the Kings specifically), and on top of that there has been a lot of controversy and garbage surrounding this team (please pledge to and promote Hockey Fights DV). So everything has kind of been a blur for me for a few weeks now. Hopefully that will change a little bit once we get into the new year; I think pretty much everyone on earth is ready for 2014 to be over. But in the meantime, at least the Kings had a couple of good games to close out the week, and hopefully they’ll finish this awful, awful year strong (for, like, the world at large; obviously 2014 for this team was pretty okay). Let’s get right into it.
This Week in Games
(here’s all the games involving the Pacific Division from this past week. we’ll talk about the LA Kings’ games in great detail, while the rest will mostly just be scores, unless there’s something that really stood out about them. you’ll also get links to Eric’s awesome recaps which will expand on everything I’m saying in much greater detail if you missed any of them.)
Monday, December 15th
It was an all-East schedule in the NHL last Monday. Ho hum.
Tuesday, December 16th
-Toronto Maple Leafs 6, Anaheim Ducks 2: Randy Carlyle’s Revenge!!!
-St. Louis Blues 5, Los Angeles Kings 2: This was the game that had me apoplectic. So the Kings had a 2-0 lead for all of a minute and twenty-nine seconds before the Blues immediately cut it in half. But they still lead going into the 3rd, and got more than eleven minutes through that period with that lead intact. The Blues then proceeded to score three goals in the span of two minutes and thirty seconds- and it must be said, almost all of them were fairly soft goals on Jonathan Quick- to turn a 1-goal deficit into a 3-goal lead, then sealed it with an empty netter. This was basically my breaking point with this team, to the point that I basically gave up on them once they were down 2-0 in the next Kings-Blues team. That one worked out better, but this sure sucked. A fitting end to an awful (1-3-1) road trip, I guess. (recap) (gamethread)
-New York Rangers 5, Calgary Flames 2:This has quickly become a Toronto-style 18-wheeler-off-a-cliff collapse for the Flames. I mean, geez.
–Arizona Coyotes 2, Edmonton Oilers 1 (OT): Usually I kinda root for the Oilers out of pity, but this year I am now 100% against them winning every game they play against the West (except for one team). Why’s that, you ask? I want the season to end with the San Jose Sharks as the only team in the good conference to lose to the Oilers. If that sounds crazy, we’re already almost halfway to it happening! You can do it, other teams! I know you can do it, Oilers! These Coyotes games are probably the scariest ones (except for, I dunno, Avalanche games maybe?), so that’s one more big hurdle cleared! Oh, and the Sharks can of course feel free to lose to the Oilers as many more times as they please, that’s fine.
Wednesday, December 17th
-Dallas Stars 2, Vancouver Canucks 0: Much like the Flames, the Canucks have also been coming back to Earth with the speed of a meteor entering our atmosphere, as this was their fifth straight loss.
Thursday, December 18th
–Anaheim Ducks 2, Montreal Canadiens 1
–Los Angeles Kings 6, St. Louis Blues 4: The Blues started off the back half of this home-and-home right where they left off in the last game, jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the 1st period. But the Kings ultimately carried the play in almost every metric (even taking into account for score effects; they weren’t getting heavily outplayed leading up to going down 3-0, either, but there were wacky deflections and Quick just couldn’t make a save), and they had an ace up their sleeve named Martin Brodeur. The Kings were even able to overcome what should have been a backbreaker- giving up another goal to fall behind 4-3 just 36 seconds after they had rallied back to tie up the game- because they were that good and Brodeur was that bad. Also, Dwight King scored a goal from center ice. So yeah. That was awesome too. (recap) (gamethread)
–San Jose Sharks 4, Edmonton Oilers 3: Damnit Sharks, I said you could lose to the Oilers again!
Friday, December 19th
-Ottawa Senators 6, Anaheim Ducks 2: Jesus, stomped by both bad Ontario teams by identical 6-2 scores? And I thought the Kings have had some bad weeks lately.
-Dallas Stars 2, Calgary Flames 1: This was Calgary’s seventh straight loss. Wait to you see who they were playing on Hockey Night in Canada the following night….
Saturday, December 20th
–Los Angeles Kings 4, Arizona Coyotes 2: This game was like Thursday’s not-quite-as-cool little brother: Kings outplayed their opponents (to an even more absurd degree), fall behind anyway, tie the game, give up another goal to fall behind again soon after (at least it was 4:58 apart this time so you got almost five minutes of celebration!!!), but eventually tied it again and won it in regulation. No Martin Brodeur giving up center ice goals to Dwight King means this was nowhere near as memorable, but hey, 2 points are 2 points. And Trevor Lewis scored his fifth of the season- that’s right, he’s on pace to hit double digits in goals this year holy crap! (recap) (gamethread)
–Vancouver Canucks 3, Calgary Flames 2 (OT): Yes, that’s right folks: live, on Hockey Night in Canada, it was the BATTLE OF THE BAD: SOMEONE HAS TO WIN!!! And in case you had forgotten how bad these two teams were, the broadcasters were more than happy to remind you, repeatedly. The pre-game video package were all highlights of the two teams losing with voiceovers about how bad they’ve been; the studio segment was basically “Well, one of them HAS to win, we think.”; and even as the game was finally getting underway, the play-by-play announcer somehow worked “losers of five straight” and “losers of seven straight” into his call over and over again. It was amazing and I’m sorry for you that you missed it. Anyway, the game didn’t disappoint either, considering the first goal was scored by the Calgary Flames…..into their own empty net. Yep. Really if you don’t count that goal it was a 2-2 tie and no one won, which was the absolute perfect way for this game to end.
–San Jose Sharks 3, St. Louis Blues 2 (OT)
Sunday, December 21st
-Dallas Stars 6, Edmonton Oilers 5 (OT): Thank you Dallas for your devotion to the mission. Your service will not be forgotten.
This Week in Standings
| Team | GP | W | L | OTL | Points | ROW | GF | GA | Diff | Home | Away | Last Week | 5v5 CF% |
| 1. Anaheim | 35 | 22 | 8 | 5 | 49 | 18 | 101 | 96 | +5 | 10-3-3 | 12-5-2 | 1-2-0 | 50.4% |
| 2. San Jose | 34 | 19 | 11 | 4 | 42 | 17 | 97 | 87 | +10 | 10-4-2 | 9-7-2 | 2-0-0 | 52.0% |
| 3. Vancouver | 32 | 19 | 11 | 2 | 40 | 17 | 92 | 90 | +2 | 8-5-1 | 11-6-1 | 1-1-0 | 50.6% |
| 4. Los Angeles | 34 | 17 | 11 | 6 | 40 | 16 | 94 | 84 | +10 | 13-4-1 | 4-7-5 | 2-1-0 | 53.3% |
| 5. Calgary | 35 | 17 | 15 | 3 | 37 | 14 | 100 | 95 | +5 | 8-6-2 | 9-9-1 | 0-2-1 | 44.9% |
| 6. Arizona | 32 | 11 | 17 | 4 | 26 | 9 | 74 | 104 | -30 | 5-8-3 | 6-9-1 | 1-1-0 | 48.8% |
| 7. Edmonton | 34 | 7 | 20 | 7 | 21 | 7 | 74 | 116 | -42 | 5-11-2 | 2-9-5 | 0-1-2 | 50.2% |
The Ducks had their first bad week in quite a while, but still have a pretty strong grip on the top spot in the division. The only movement of the week was the Sharks riding their 2-0-0 record to move up to second, knocking the slumping Canucks down to 3rd. The Kings finally had a good week, and are now tied in points with the Canucks for 3rd (though the Canucks do have one more ROW and two games in hand). Meanwhile, the Flames have lost eight straight and are fading fast, and the Coyotes and the Oilers are both terrible.
This Week in #fancystats
(all stats are total attempts, not percentages. thanks to extra skater war-on-ice. note that they decided to remove the “close” situation as stat nerds everywhere have decided it actually isn’t all that important, but will be adding score-adjusted stats soon, which will be great and I’ll work them into this feature when they do. anyway….)
Blues 5, Kings 2
Corsi: Blues 42-Kings 41 (overall), Blues 32-Kings 28 (5v5), Kings 20-Blues 17 (5v5 tied)
Fenwick: Blues 32-Kings 30 (overall), Blues 23-Kings 22 (5v5), Kings 15-Blues 13 (5v5 tied)
LA Indv. Player Corsi 5v5– Best: Williams (+2), Doughty/Kopitar (tied, +1). Worst: Martinez/Lewis (tied, -5), Muzzin/Clifford (tied, -4)
STL Indv. Player Corsi 5v5– Best: Schwartz (+8), Backes (+7), Stastny (+6). Worst: Reaves/Lapierre (tied, -7), Porter (-5)
Kings 6, Blues 4
Corsi: Kings 71-Blues 59 (overall), Kings 50-Blues 37 (5v5), Kings 17-Blues 9 (5v5 tied)
Fenwick: Kings 57-Blues 46 (overall), Kings 41-Blues 29 (5v5), Kings 16-Blues 6 (5v5 tied)
LA Indv. Player Corsi 5v5– Best: Lewis (+15), Pearson (+11), Toffoli (+10). Worst: Brown (-9), Richards (-8), King (-4)
STL Indv. Player Corsi 5v5– Best: Jaskin (+6), Berglund/Jackman (tied, +4). Worst: Bouwmeester (-12), Oshie/Backes (tied, -10)
Kings 4, Coyotes 2
Corsi: Kings 66-Coyotes 51 (overall), Kings 49-Coyotes 40 (5v5), Kings 26-Coyotes 15 (5v5 tied)
Fenwick: Kings 54-Coyotes 36 (overall), Kings 40-Coyotes 30 (5v5), Kings 24-Coyotes 13 (5v5 tied)
LA Indv. Player Corsi 5v5– Best: Doughty/Gaborik (tied, +9), Muzzin (+8). Worst: Brown (-4), Stoll/Williams (tied, -2)
ARI Indv. Player Corsi 5v5– Best: Chipchura (+8), Schlemko/Yandle (tied, +4). Worst: Rieder/Michalek (tied, -10), Ekman-Larsson (-9)
Next Week in the Pacific
(this is exactly what it sounds like: the next week’s schedule for all 7 Pacific Division teams. all times are pacific because, um, duh.)
| Team | 12/22 | 12/23 | 12/24 | 12/25 | 12/26 | 12/27 | 12/28 |
| LA | vs.CGY (7:30) | – | – | – | – | vs.SJ (7:00) | – |
| ANA | vs.SJ (7:00) | – | – | – | – | @ARI (5:00) | vs.VAN (5:00) |
| SJ | @ANA (7:00) | – | – | – | – | @LA (7:00) | – |
| VAN | vs.ARI (7:00) | – | – | – | – | – | @ANA (5:00) |
| CGY | @LA (7:30) | – | – | – | – | vs.EDM (7:00) | – |
| ARI | @VAN (7:00) | @EDM (5:00) | – | – | – | vs.ANA (5:00) | – |
| EDM | – | vs.ARI (5:00) | – | – | – | @CGY (7:00) | – |
Obviously the schedule is condensed this week due to the end of Hanukkah, the start of Kwanzaa, anticipation for Three Kings Day, and something else I forget.
Anyway, the NHL games we do have are all divisional! That’s pretty cool, I guess. The Kings play the Flames tonight and then a showdown with the Sharks on Saturday. The Oilers need to lose to the Coyotes and the Flames again to keep the dream alive. And, you know, other teams will play games too. I dunno, you can read the grid.
Don’t forget to tune into tonight’s Jewelcast, our special Guerrilla Radio Kings Live edition as this is the first time the Kings are playing on the same night all season! We’ll go live starting at 6 pacific/9 eastern and help you countdown to that Flames-Kings SHOWDOWN~. As for who “we” are, I’m proud to announce the triumphant return of Young Andrew Leafman from college finals exile. Who else? I dunno. We’ll see. Tune in and find out! Check back to the Jewels front page later tonight for your live stream information along with call-in numbers and the like. Until then!