All Good Things Must...

Homers: These Two Make My Ears Bleed

What happened to the line combos tonight?  What happened to the combos that got us the nine-game win streak?

The Kings looked lethargic all night.  A step slow to the loose pucks.  No effort along the boards.  And their lack of effort turned into penalties.

And did I see Raitis Ivanans taking a regular shift out there?  Raitis.  Drop the gloves.  Your team is losing.  Mix it up.  It's your JOB.  I know Petey would do anything to get in the lineup.

Jonathan Quick looked spectacular at moments.  And absolutely terrible the next.  The Ducks willingness to go hard to Quick's crease and interfere obviously rattled him at times tonight.  Corey Perry did the same thing to Quick that Holmstrom did to him on Saturday.  Quick needs to push back and the defense needs to body up.  Lastly, I'm not sure if Bill Ranford is working on Quick's puckhandling skills but he seems to be getting worse at handling the puck or maybe just more daring? 

The loss is frustrating because we've seen the Kings do so many things right during this streak and to see them do so many things wrong tonight makes it hurt that much more.

I thought when the Ducks lost Getzlaf; the Kings had a shot.  But it didn't matter.  The Kings got beat by a hungry Ducks team with something to prove.  Hammer's Game Recap.

All things considered,  this nine-game win streak has been amazing and catapulted the Kings into contention for home-ice in the playoffs.  I'm already feeling a bit bad for the Oilers because Lord knows Terry Murray will have the boys prepared for Thursday.  I'm predicting a 6-1 Kings victory.

Ryan Getzlaf left the game with an injury that looked worse that just a twisted ankle.  If he can't go next week in Vancouver, does Ryan Smyth get the call?  Probably not but it'd be cool if he did!  My prediction would be a Tampa Bay Lightning: Vincent Lecavalier, Steven Stamkos or Martin St. Louis.

P.S.- The Blues looked terrible tonight.  Paul Kariya to the Kings.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

BROADCAST RANT: I've watched alot of NHL hockey on DirecTV.  I've probably caught portions of every broadcast team in the NHL.  Being forced to watch tonight's Ducks broadcast makes me appreciate the job that Jim Fox does that much more more.  I don't want to get into how bad Brian Hayward is at his job because he's had fifteen years to show us.

I thought I'd also take this time to call out the worst color guys in the game today.  Mickey Redmond (DET) and Glenn Harsch a.k.a. "Chico" (NJ) are tied for the worst simply because they don't know any player's names on the opposing teams.  Bob Errey (PIT) and Hayward are battling it out for the podium just because they come across as the two biggest homers of any I've seen.