Games 34-35: Kings vs Dallas Stars 3:4 OT/Sh., Kings vs Calgary Flames 3:5

Dallas continues their season dominance at Staples with shootout win

Yutaka Fukufuji - will he get a start later on this season?
(Photo courtesy of: www.yahoo.com)

LA goals from: Dustin Brown, Sean Avery, Rob Blake
DAL goals from: Boucher, Barnes, Morrow

Pros: Yutaka Fukufuji, first Japanese ever to don an NHL uniform, was the backup goaltender behind very competent (again!) Barry Brust. Kings come back from a 0-2 deficit, but are just a little unlucky not to hold on to the win.

Cons: You cannot expect the Kings to effectively open home games 0-1 within the first three minutes of the games (seems to be a trend lately) and come back to score points against such teams as Dallas.


Mistakes prevail on and off the ice as Flames burn Kings

Kings were unable to take advantage of no Kiprusoff in Calgary's net
(photo courtesy of: ww.yahoo.com)

LA goals from: Anze Kopitar (2), Dustin Brown
CGY goals from: Amonte, Rich. Regehr, Langkow, Moss, Huselius

Pros: Another display of puck-handling and scoring skills by Kopitar - too bad it was good for nothing, collectively. Staying out of the penalty box, like the Kings did, can only benefit us if we can draw penalties against the opposition (which LA failed to do).

Cons:The Kings have a propensity to give up goals to people who have not previously scored in the league this season to date - they will soon find e-cards from Regehr and Moss in their mailboxes. Anyway, this loss is hugely dependent on off and on the ice decisions of Mark Crawford's starting Dan Cloutier, who was coming off a bruised shoulder. It was ill-advised as Craw should have played the hot hand with Barry Brust who collected 3 0f 4 possible points against San Jose and Dallas.

Key quote from Cloutier:

"It was not a good way to start the game. We had a few crucial mistakes and the puck was at the back of the net. We did a good job battling back, but we made some key mistakes that cost us in the second period."

We? Us? Yeah, right - yourself and Crawford. I'm getting tired of repeating this, but unfortunately it's true more often than not.