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Town Crier: Your Kings News Roundup (4/21/12)

Waiting sucks. In the meantime and in-between time, here’s some links to hold you over.

After the jump!

Kings News

  • Helene Elliott talks to a number of different Kings about the challenges of facing the Canucks with Daniel Sedin back in the lineup. Sounds like they’ll be ready for him tomorrow night, all vowing to give him less space and time with the puck. Then again, they said much of the same things going into Game 4 so who knows right? Oh and Darryl Sutter saying he didn’t remember whether or not he had a concussion was kinda funny. He’s got some of that dry western Canadian wit going for him, you gotta give him that. [LA Times]
  • Rich Hammond talked to Sutter & Stoll about the challenge of scoring on Cory Schneider with the way he’s played since replacing Luongo (only allowing 2 goals in 2 games). [Kings Insider]
  • This one’s a little off-topic, but Hammond collected the thoughts of former concussion victim Willie Mitchell on the monster 25-game suspension handed down to Raffi Torres today. Some fascinating words from the always-thoughtful Mitchell. [Kings Insider]
  • Meanwhile, here’s some details on an unusually brief final Canucks practice (only 30 minutes) from the Vancouver Sun. AV says he “thinks they’re ready”. Very confident sounding. [VS]
  • Staying with Vancouver, Canucks Army has an excellent frame-by-frame breakdown of Alex Edler’s Game 4 goal. [CA]

Other NHL News

  • So yeah, Torres was suspended for 25 games today. That’s a lot, huh? Here’s some stories on that from a number of different perspectives. [TSN] [Five for Howling] [Second City Hockey]
  • Earlier today, the Washington Capitals pulled off a huge win in Boston to take a 3-2 lead on the Bruins. They’ll have a chance to finish the Bruins off tomorrow afternoon back at the Verizon Center, which would arguably be just as big an upset as anything else in the playoffs. [Japers’ Rink] [Stanley Cup of Chowder]
  • Last night was the lightest night of the NHL playoffs so far with only two games, but both were equally huge. First there was the Penguins staying alive with their first win on home ice of the series, as the Pens & Flyers finally played something resembling an actual hockey game. If you do believe in momentum (and I don’t really, for the record) you’d have to think the Pens have an awful lot of it right now. They’re still down 3-2 in the series, and Game 6 comes tomorrow at noon on NBC. [Pensburgh] [Broad Street Hockey]
  • So who had the Detroit Red Wings as the first team out in the 2012 NHL Playoffs? No one? Yeah, that’s what I thought. But the Nashville Predators finished off an impressive 4-1 series victory last night with a huge home win. Gotta have a lot of respect for Mike Babcock, who took to the podium after the game and made his thoughts very clear on the series. I’m paraphrasing here, but basically he just said you can say whatever you want about the games being close (and they were- EVERY GAME was a one-goal game), but when you lose the series 4-1, it really wasn’t close. [On the Forecheck] [Winging it in Motown]
  • Tonight: #3 Florida Panthers vs. #6 New Jersey Devils (3:30 pm PST/NHL Network) & #1 New York Rangers vs. #8 Ottawa Senators (4:00 pm PST/NBC Sports Network) are both already underway as I write this, both series tied up 2-2. Meanwhile, about to get underway is the #2 St. Louis Blues vs. #7 San Jose Sharks (4:30 pm PST/CNBC) with the Sharks looking to avoid elimination on the road. Finally, another elimination Game 5 wraps things up with the #3 Phoenix Coyotes vs. the #6 Chicago Blackhawks (7 pm PST/NBC Sports Network). Will we see two more teams join the Predators in the second round of the Western Conference playoffs?

Talking Points