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10-31-2010, 02:07 AM #1
Kings prevail 3-1 over Kovalchuk, Devils
LOS ANGELES -- If Ilya Kovalchuk wanted a welcome fit for a king from the fans at Staples Center on Saturday night, he probably should've made a different career decision during the offseason.
Kovalchuk was playing in his first game in Los Angeles since choosing the New Jersey Devils over the Kings in free agency this summer. Fans serenaded him with boos when he came over the boards for his first shift and continued every time he touched the puck.
Those boos became cheers at the final horn as the Kings earned a 3-1 victory to improve to an NHL-best 8-3-0 and 4-0-0 at home. The loss dropped the Devils to 3-8-1 and left them in last place in the League.
The Kings received goals from Justin Williams, by far the prettiest of the game, Michal Handzus and Jarret Stoll. Devils defenseman Matt Taormina scored his third of the season, tying him for the team lead.
http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010020155
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10-31-2010, 02:23 AM #2
Kings prevail but CSSports loses to Pheebs888 in fantasy hockey hehehe ;)
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10-31-2010, 02:30 AM #3
OK - So I just got back from the game......A couple notes and Observations
Before the game started - PLENTY of signs during pre-game warm-up but the best one was
OUR #17 IS BETTER THAN YOUR #17
NJ #17 - 10 games - 3 Goals - 3 Assists - (-3) - 9PIM
LA #17 - 10 games - 3 Goals - 3 Asissts - +3 - 20PIM
Pre-game
Kings honored Mattias Norstrom tonight in a pre-game ceremony - was very nice - He was a Warrior for the Kings - He was an example of a player who put the team first.....and a Good Captain. Some players who came in to be part were Jaime Storr, Nelson Emerson, Derek Armstrong, Rob Blake, Ian Laparriere, Luc Robitaille, Matheiu Schneider and Glen Murray
Gametime
Kovy was BOOed everytime he touched the puck - EVERYTIME.....Anyone wearing a Kovy Jersey - was BOOed all night long....
Williams started the scoring with a nifty move and put it past Brodeur - nice little highlight -
Handzus got the Kings their PP goal with a nice bat out of the air after Brodeur made a stop but the puck went up in the air
Taormina scored fromt he pouint on a shot that Quick did not even see....shows why you should always shoot on net - from anywhere - never know what will happen...
Stoll scored the last goal of the night - the initail shot fromt he point brought Brodeur out to the right of the crease - puck bounced off the boards and stoll backhanded it in.....
Overall - very entertaining game to watch (especially for a Kings fan) - but the focus was on Kovy most of the night - Kings D were not going to let Kovy run free and they did a pretty good job of it...Kovy is quick and he knows how to get open.....tonight, the Kings held him to 2 shots in 20+min of ice time......and watching him in person...its fun to watch and you get nervous when he has the puck r see him wide open on the PP but he is a pure cherry-picker - He was a only -1 but he hung out at the Blue line everytime the kings were in deep....He hung out at the Kings blueline when the play was still in the Devils zone....
Quick stopped 39 shots for the win
Here is a small insert from the Daily Breeze (local paper) on what he feels is the Problem in New Jersey Hockey.....
For his part, Kovalchuk believes the answer to the Devils' woes can come from within.
"Just play as a team, work hard and we'll be OK," he said. "We've got a lot of talent in this group and we just need to work and score some goals.
"Because when you score one or two goals, you're not going to win a lot of games."
http://www.dailybreeze.com/sports/ci_16474432
I remember NJ actually winning games scoring 1-2 goals.....Last edited by CSSports; 10-31-2010 at 02:33 AM.
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10-31-2010, 02:32 AM #4
OUCH!!! Thats two weeks in a row I have lost that bad....
Good thing my players are getting it out of their system early - better be ready for the home stretch....
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10-31-2010, 03:18 AM #5
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10-31-2010, 03:21 AM #6
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10-31-2010, 03:22 AM #7
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10-31-2010, 03:23 AM #8
Are NJ fans worried yet?
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10-31-2010, 04:39 AM #9
that was a very satisfying game to watch. DL made the right decision and it's not even close. Mitchell has meant everything to this defense and Poni is an upgrade over Frolov on that third line. i really like his game.
Kings are 8-3 w/o Doughty for most of the season
Devils are 3-8-1
enough said...thank you DL
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10-31-2010, 01:07 PM #10
And how exactly did you see him just step onto the ice before the goal? He was on the ice when they started the rush....if you look at replays I am sure you will find him skating slowly down the middle of the ice...not coming off the bench
During the same game did you see the many times he stepped OFF the ice during a Kings rush? If you see the pics on the first page...Kopi on a rush and you can see Kovy (not) skating hard to get back to play defense.....
He did not play much defense in this game - I have not seen all of the Devils games this season...only a few from Directv free preview, but he was cherry picking the whole game.....
You were right that the Kings were not going to let him do much this game.....as I would figure any team would try and do against a good player....
As for BOOing a player....I would love to hear about an arena where no fan has ever BOOed a player....It happens and it happens everywhere....its a reponse to someone who fans feel have disrespected their team (either through Kovy's situation or leaving a team for more money or whatever)
And you may be right about not BOOing him.....Maybe we should be THANKING him.....
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Originally Posted by Pheebs888 
