LA Kings: Drew Doughty, Jack Johnson Prove To Be Vancouver Canucks’ Biggest Problems

LOS ANGELES AND EL SEGUNDO, CA — With Game 4 of their Western Conference Quarterfinal playoff series against the Vancouver Canucks coming up tonight (April 21, 7:00 PM PDT at Staples Center), much of the focus has been on the Canucks’ inept penalty-killing, which has allowed seven power play goals on just twelve chances after three games.

The result: the Canucks are looking up at a 2-1 series deficit with a huge challenge ahead of them…fixing their penalty-killing woes.

But the problem for the Canucks is not just their penalty-killing. More to the point, their problem is two-fold and they go by the names Drew Doughty and Jack Johnson, the young studs on the Kings’ blue line.

Indeed, the twenty-year-old Doughty and the 23-year-old Johnson are still very young, relatively inexperienced defensemen. But in the three games played in this series they have totally outclassed the Vancouver blue line corps, contributed huge minutes in situations where they were called upon to shut down the Canucks’ top forwards, and they have been unstoppable on the power play. Read more of this post

LA Kings Shake Off Jitters, Earn Split In Vancouver With 3-2 OT Win on NHL Video

Anze Kopitar scored on the power play at 7:28 of overtime to lead the Los Angeles Kings to a 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks in front of a disappointed sell-out crowd of 18,810 fans at General Motors Place in Vancouver on April 17. Read more of this post

LA Kings Turnover A Win In Game One Against Vancouver on NHL Video

Mikael Samuelsson scored two goals, including the game-winner at 8:52 of overtime, to lead the Vancouver Canucks to a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on April 15 at General Motors Place in Vancouver. Read more of this post

Los Angeles Kings Make The Playoffs: But Are They Hungry For More?

<pLOS ANGELES — Here in the Los Angeles area, if you listened carefully, one could probably hear sporadic cheers, glasses clinking, maybe even a few car horns honking in celebration…and, oh yeah…even the Earth moved. Read more of this post

Butch Goring Was The LA Kings’ First Star, Fan Favorite

Butch Goring
Photo: LA Kings

LOS ANGELES — Long before Anze Kopitar’s skates hit the ice at Staples Center, years before superstar Hall of Famers Wayne Gretzky and Marcel Dionne lit up opponents on the ice at the Forum in Inglewood, California, and even before superstar and should-be Hall Of Fame goaltender Rogie Vachon often won games single-handedly at the Forum, center Robert Thomas “Butch” Goring thrilled fans with his speed, scoring ability and hard work for eleven seasons after being selected by the Kings in the fifth round (51st overall) of the 1969 National Hockey League Amateur Draft.

In the 1969-70 season, his first with the Kings, Goring scored thirteen goals and added 23 assists for 36 points in 59 games. But he wound up splitting time between the Kings’ primary minor league affiliate, the Springfield Kings of the American Hockey League and the big club the following season, playing in just nineteen games at the NHL level.

It was not until the 1971-72 season that Kings fans became enamored with the speed and scoring ability of the St. Boniface, Manitoba native, but Goring quickly became the Kings’ first star and fan favorite. Read more of this post

Living The Hockey Dream Captures The Magic Of The Game

Photo: Folklore Publishing

MONTEREY PARK, CA — Whether you played the game at any level or are just a spectator, if you truck the kids to hockey practice very early in the morning or just lie on the living room couch and watch games on television, just about everyone touched by the game has a hockey dream or two.

In Living The Hockey Dream, author Brian Kennedy, Ph.D., a native of Montreal, an Associate Professor of English at Pasadena City College and a freelance hockey writer who covers the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks for Inside Hockey, explores the hockey dreams—realized or not—of people involved with the game at all levels and all walks of life.

To be sure, this is not a book focusing on National Hockey League superstars and their glory days in the NHL—if that’s what you are looking for, prepare to be disappointed. Read more of this post

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