Wild def Kings 4-2, quotes from the Minnesota locker room

Although the Kings out-shot the Wild 44-24 and out-hit them 46-22, they gave up a season-high four goals (for the third time) and that was too much for an offense that's unable to score more than two goals right now. Final score 4-2, and here's what they were saying in the Minnesota locker room after the game...

Coach Mike Yeo on the overall game - "It was nice to have a good start. It was nice not to have to sit here and talk about another attempt or a great job coming from behind and I thought we were sharp right from the get-go. We expected them to have a push. Certainly it was tough losing (Brodziak) tonight and I thought our guys really rose to the challenge."

Yeo on losing Kyle Brodziak - "Obviously it increased a lot of ice time for (Koivu), (Cullen), and for the lines. We started to roll those lines real frequently but also with Cody Almond. I thought not only did he step into that situation and play key minutes for us, but that was a big goal he scored. They had some good momentum going at that time and you could tell that took a lot of life out of them."

Rookie goaltender Matt Hackett on making his first NHL start - "I can’t even explain it. It’s been crazy. Best 72 hours of my life so far. Like I said, we got to keep it going and I’m just living the dream right now. Just got to jump in there and do the best you can. Today I had time to think about the game, usually I have a pre-game map, but I was so excited I didn’t really get to sleep. I was just focusing on what I was supposed to do and I felt like it went pretty well tonight."

Perfect for the New Year

Two games for the Kings since the calendar flipped to 2010, two victories. Easy enough, right? Not exactly.

On Saturday LA hosted the greatest player in the game, Alexander Ovechkin and his Washington Capitals. A team that has scored more goals this year than any other club in the NHL. The Kings held him scoreless and his team to just just one goal.

Tonight the Kings faced the second most prolific offensive team in hockey this year, the San Jose Sharks. Their big line of Thornton-Marleau-Heatley have all been top-20 points producers since 2002-03. Marleau was the only one of the trio to score tonight.

Two amazing games. And Jonathan Quick is the Kings number one star of the moment, no doubt about it.

The Kings 6-2 victory over the Sharks was a strange one. It's a game in which they were out shot 47-20 (that's not a typo).

How do you score six goals on your first 17 shots? They were playing the Sharks, not some weather-named team like the Lightning or the Hurricanes.

It was a game of streaks too.

The Sharks ended their eight game win streak and the Kings now have a modest three game stretch of their own.

Ryan Smith scored in this third straight game. Michal Handzus scored, giving him five points in three straight.

Oh yeah, then there's that little issue about Kopitar's funk. Anze had a goal and an assist in the victory. That's back to games with points for Kopi, only the third time he's done that since mid-November. More importantly, it was his first multi point night in 24 games (since Nov. 11 vs. Carolina).

In other player news Scott Parse scored his third goal in just five games since being recalled from Manchester. Drew Doughty had a career night with four assists. He now has eight points in the last five games. And perhaps the most underrated player on this year's team, Jarret Stoll, made his return to the line-up, picking up an assist.

As a team, the Kings scored four power-play goals for the first time since 2/16/09 vs. Atlanta.

With the win the Kings evened their record to 47-47-14 all time vs. the Sharks, a ledger they'll get the chance to add to soon enough.

In the first 20 games of 2010 - coincidentally, the 20 games until the Olympic break also - the Kings schedule sees them playing the Sharks three times, Anaheim three times and Detroit three times. Forget parity in the league, that's familiarity.

The first of those against the Red Wings will be Thursday night, opening up a 7 game home stand for the Kings. It's been two straight sellouts at Staples Center. Will they get a hat trick?

The Mayor
www.twitter.com/Mayor119

Interview w/ ESPN's John Buccigross

Hockey seemed to finally arrive on the national scene in the late 90s when ESPN launched their nightly 30 minute show NHL2Night. Hosting the show was a self proclaimed music nut, John Buccigross, whose love for the sport spilled out through the screen. He wasn't just reading lines off the teleprompter, this guy had the fever that so many of us share. Fast forward a decade or so and he's been caught in the cross hairs of Kings fans recently. First retracting his prediction of the Kings making the playoffs this year and later proclaiming to the world that Frolov had indeed been traded. What's going on?

MayorsManor had a chance to catch up with Buccigross and get some answers...and some other hockey insight...

Let's get right to it - earlier this summer while hosting the Kings HockeyFest in downtown, you said this was the year the Kings would return to the playoffs. Then, more recently, in your ESPN.com article Breaking Down the Western Conference you said "after studying things a little more, I have them outside the top eight." Why the change of heart?

I simply think there are 8 teams who are better and question they will prevent enough goals to be a playoff team. Unless they make a big trade, I don't think they are quite ready yet.

Kings fans are obviously excited about the young players on the team, guys like Anze Kopitar. There is also a feeling of an east coast bias in the media when guys like Drew Doughty hardly get noticed for Calder consideration. In your opinion, who is the most underrated player in the league today?

Niklas Kronwall of the Red Wings is real good. A #1 defenceman on most teams. He's physical and good on the power play.

Although you grew up playing basketball, golf and baseball in high school, you've obviously been following hockey for a long time. What is the greatest game you've ever seen?
Ray Bourque's Game 7 Stanley Cup clincher was a memorable one.

NOTE: Funny Bourque follow-up story, in a 2006 column Buccigross said he "once played golf with Ray Bourque and tried to intentionally three putt from 30 feet so I could say I shot a 77 playing golf with Ray Bourque. Instead, the slippery downhill putt went in and I shot a 75 not playing golf with Brett Lindros."

Over the last decade of so many of the older, traditional buildings have given way to new arenas. Of the 30 buildings currently hosting NHL games, do you have a favorite place to watch hockey?

Well...it would be hard to pick just one. Columbus, Minnesota and Toronto are the best I've been to.

During the lockout year a few rule changes were put in place to improve the game. As a fan, if you could change one rule in hockey, what would it be?

I'd implement a ten minute 4 on 4 overtime.

Interesting. I'm not sure if making the games longer is something the league would go for, yet I'm all for more puck! How about the jerseys. One of the few areas where hockey gets credit over the other big sports is on the fashion front. There are certainly some great jerseys in the league, but a few of them are embarrassing. If you could change one team's jersey, which team would you target?

Columbus' is terrible. A simple "C" would be cool at home. Maybe a diagonal Columbus on the roadies.

Probably not the team I would have gone after. However, given that you went to college in Ohio, I can see you working it. Let's move on. How about some word association? We haven't done that yet on MayorsManor. You want to give it a go?

Sure

OK, how about the teams in the Western Conference:

Anaheim Ducks - Ryan Getzlaf's hands
Calgary Flames - Jay Bouwmeester's feet
Chicago Blackhawks - Patrick Kane's feet and hands
Colorado Avalanche - Matt Duchene is for real, yo
Columbus Blue Jackets - Playoffs?!?!?! You bet.
Dallas Stars - In transition
Detroit Red Wings - Their Central Division streak ends
Edmonton Oilers - Fast but still disjointed
Los Angeles Kings - Coming together. Should be in the hunt.
Minnesota Wild - New look Wild now are a little run and gun.
Nashville Predators - Barry Trotz might coach this team for 50 years.
Phoenix Coyotes - Boring, defensive
San Jose Sharks - Heatley will score 60
St Louis Blues - Very high expectations. Simmer.
Vancouver Canucks - They will be fine.

Still working the Columbus angle, huh? No, seriously - thanks for stopping by John. We appreciate your time.

In the future we'll try and get into some of his musical favorites, like R.E.M. and Run DMC. Once upon a time, in a different interview, he said "Music has always been a big part of my life, maybe even bigger than sports, because music has never let me down."

Although they've done it plenty of times in the last 20 years, Kings fans are counting on the team to not let them down this year. LA needs to make the playoffs and remind Buccigross you should always go with your first instincts.

Its like that...and thats the way it is.

The Mayor
www.twitter.com/Mayor119
www.facebook.com/MayorsManor


RELATED ARTICLES

High / Low with John Buccigross of ESPN - get his takes on the opening of the 2009-10 season

Interview with Kelly Hrudey - former Kings goalie, now a commentator on TSN

Interview with Luc Robitaille - sit down with #20 a few days before his Hall of Fame induction

Interview with Mike Modano - arguably the greatest American born hockey player of all-time

Interview with Bob Miller - legendary voice of the Kings talks favorite players, games, moments, etc.

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photo courtesy of ESPN.com