Jonathan Quick not getting much support, even on off day

While Canadians proudly proclaim hockey is their sport, few things are as American as the Super Bowl. Whether you're gathering with friends today to watch the game, the commercials or just eat a bunch of food, the game has nearly turned into a national holiday. Football fan or not, it's hard to escape the hype surrounding the biggest sporting event of the year. So, who are the Kings favoring today...

Jonathan Quick - "27-24 Giants!"

Drew Doughty - "I want the Pats to win. I kind of have a few things going with some of the guys on the team. Quickie is a big Giants fan. So, I have to make sure I'm able to rub that in."

Jack Johnson - "Patriots. I think Eli (Manning) is great, I like him. Yet, when push comes to shove, I have a hard time betting against Tom Brady. I hope it's not a low scoring game though. I'd like to see a little bit of a shootout, that makes things more interesting."

Matt Greene - "Patriots. The total points in the game will be 67."

Rob Scuderi thinks it going to be a high scoring game too - "I'll take the Patriots. I don't care about the score, as long as it ends up to 57 (total points) or over."

So, three guys from one of the stingiest defenses in the National Hockey League are looking for an offensive explosion in the Super Bowl?

Fine, how about the forwards - what do they think?

VIDEO: Jack Johnson scores, talks about doing The Tebow

Goal celebrations may be on the decline in the NFL, yet the LA Kings sure seem to be getting into the act. Fresh on the heels of Drew Doughty and Jarret Stoll doing the 'love tap' celebration a few weeks ago in Chicago, defenseman Jack Johnson posed for a quick 'Tebow' after he found the back of the net tonight vs. Washington...

After the game, Johnson explained it this way - "Have some fun while you’re scoring. I was watching the Broncos game with some buddies that flew in from Michigan and they said that if you score, you have to ‘Tebow’. I said, ‘You’re on!’"

He also said that it was a one time thing and don't look for him to do it again in the future.

As for the overall game, Johnson went on to say "It’s a great feeling to give our goalie some breathing room finally. They’ve been playing out of this world all year. It’s nice to kind of give them a break here finally."

The game was also filled with plenty of intensity, something Johnson welcomed - "It’s fun, it’s refreshing to play a team like that. Everyone wants to see new teams and I thought it was a fun hockey game."

What about that Ovechkin guy? "It’s fun to play against guys like that," said Johnson. "It’s just as much fun for us to play against him as it is for fans to watch him. He’s a great player and it’s fun to play a team we don’t see very much."

For a different look at Johnson's 'Tebow' - here's video from the Washington feed. See what the Capitals announcers had to say as it all unfolded.

More notes and quotes up later.

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Jarret Stoll and Drew Doughty talk about the 'love tap' celebration - includes video

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LA Kings vs Flyers - what to watch for... with Ian Laperriere

Talk show host Jim Rome likes to joke that if you're fortunate enough to spend 15 minutes with quarterback Tim Tebow, your life is better for it. Earlier this week, I tweeted an update to that expression...'If you're lucky enough to spend five minutes with Ian Laperriere, your life is better for it.'

There's probably nobody in hockey I'd rather speak with. He offers zero cliches and no b.s., just raw emotion and straight ahead honesty.

Sure, several players, both past and present, are universally liked. However, if you look hard enough, you can usually find a small pool of people who dislike certain guys - for whatever reason, logical or not.

Lappy is different. And he has been since he first arrived in Los Angeles in 1996. You show me one person who has EVER had a bad thing to say about him and that will be the first.

The guy is as real as they come.

He's been on MayorsManor a number of times, including his still popular guest spot on the podcast last November and again earlier this summer - when he stopped by to set the record straight about Mike Richards, in the days following the big LA-Philadelphia trade.

With the Flyers hosting the Kings tonight, who could possibly be better to kick off our 'what to watch for' segment today?

Here he is, the one and only...

MM: Philadelphia is known for being a great sports town. Yet, the fans can be tough. What type of reaction do you expect them to give Richards when he comes out of the locker room for the first time?

RECAP: Kings GM Dean Lombardi on NHL Live

Los Angeles Kings General Manager Dean Lombardi was a guest on NHL Live this morning.

Below is a recap of what was discussed (as always, these are near exact quotes, with selected paraphrasing for brevity)...

* [topic: Kings have been good on the road lately] True. However, I think a lot of that is when you're a young team it's easier to keep your players focused. I think there is a lot more structure in their day when they're on the road. I also don't think there are a lot of buildings anymore that are intimidating to play in.

* [What was the hot topic at the GM meetings today?] We spent a lot of time on the shootout, defining when the spin-o-rama crosses the line between being a good play and going backwards. I think the biggest issue is we just have to define it. We just want to know what the rule is and there is a bit of grey area right now. I dread the thought of that Flyers-Rangers game (last regular season game of last season), where a season is determined by that play. They'll get on it though. It came to the forefront and we realize the importance of getting some structure in there.

* [Concussions and the Drew Doughty situation earlier this season] That's the problem, 'Should your decisions be based on the identity of the player?' We all know the reality is if it's a top player, it comes to the forefront more. I thought the league did a tremendous job the first two days here of getting all the facts out there. I'm pretty proud of the fact that people are saying we're ahead of the NFL right now. We were the first ones to have a protocol. The amount of data that went into analyzing where these concussions come from, the science of it, what's causing them, etc. I thought the background information was fabulous. There are two things involved here. It's not only what you do, it's how you do things. I thought procedurally the league was excellent. This does not lend itself to an easy sound-bite answer. I love the fact that we took the time to look at the science and have data to back up our thinking. There's no doubt we're ahead of the NFL here and as a league we can be proud of that.

Agent Pat Brisson on NHLPA Meeting w/ Donald Fehr

Some may call him the agent to the stars.

Pat Brisson represents some of the biggest names in hockey - past, present and future. Just a small list of clients he's worked with includes Luc Robitaille, Mario Lemieux, Sidney Crosby, Patrick Kane, Matt Duchene and Anze Kopitar.

Although he was was a pretty good junior hockey player himself as well (even reaching the Memorial Cup Finals), he's best known as a forward-thinking agent who has been helping shape the business side of the game for more than two decades now.

He was also one of about 20 agents at the meeting in Los Angeles Thursday hosted by the NHLPA's new Executive Director, Donald Fehr.

Immediately following the all day session we heard from Fehr (article here). And yesterday Dustin Brown's agent, Scott Norton, commented on what was learned and discussed by the group (article here).

Now, here are some exclusive comments from Brisson...

MM: At a high level, what did you think of the meeting and what did you learn?

PB: It was good. Overall, we were getting to know Don (Fehr), his message and what he does. Of course, we know what he does - but, a small group session was a good idea. We got to express ourselves a little bit more and it's much easier to deliver a message that way. Overall, it was enjoyable.

MM: Donald Fehr been a rather public figure for the last 30+ years on the baseball side of things. Have you learned anything new about him yet or has he been as-advertised?