LA Kings - Five Years Ago Today

Edmonton. Calgary. Vancouver.

The Kings played many classic games against their former Smythe Division rivals back in the 80s and early 90s.

Anaheim. San Jose. Detroit.

Since moving to Staples Center, the team has played some epic contests against those teams as well.

One team that won't be making any such list is the Atlanta Thrashers - with one notable exception...

On January 19, 2006 they visited the Kings and played foil to Luc Robitaille's historic evening.

Entering play that night he had scored 13 hat tricks in a Kings uniform. When the game was over LA had downed the Thrashers 8-6 and Robitaille had become the King of Kings.

In the first period he tied Marcel Dionne for the most goals in franchise history with goal number 550. His game winner in the third period broke the mark and with little time remaining he added an empty net goal for good measure. It wound up being his last hat trick as a King - but, certainly his most memorable.

He scored five more goals before retiring at season's end with 557 as a King. His number was retired 366 days later and he eventually was elected to the Hall of Fame.

A few other notes on Luc...

Kings lead the Atlanta Thrashers

Later tonight, head coach Terry Murray hopes his Kings are leading the Thrashers early and often.

Away from the scoreboard, the Kings have been leading the Thrashers from day one.

In their 11-year existence, Atlanta has had seven captains - including three former Kings.

At the time Kelly Buchberger was named their first captain, he had yet to play in LA.  However, he served as the Oilers captain for the prior four seasons and why they made him available in the expansion draft is a bit of a mystery. Nonetheless, his jersey included the 'C" when the Thrashers began play in 1999 and he rewarded the team by scoring the first goal in franchise history (against Bobby Holik's New Jersey Devils, more on that later).

Just 68 games into his career in hot-lanta he was traded to Los Angeles (along with Nelson Emerson) for Donald Audette and Frantisek Kaberle.

Adding Buchberger was a key piece to the Kings three year stretch of post-season play.  He was allowed to leave as a free agent in the summer of 2002 and until this past April, the Kings hadn't participated in the playoffs since.

Back to the Thrashers...Steve Staios wore the 'C' in Atlanta the following season and then it went to Ray Ferraro.

Lombardi on Kovalchuk

From the PowerPlay on NHL Radio a few hours ago:

Johnathan Davis, our good buddy at Sporting America says to us that he had a chance to sit down with Dean Lombardi recently and asked him why Kovalchuk did not end up as a member of the Los Angeles Kings and was he frustrated in his efforts, was he ever close to a deal? Johnathan heard from Dean Lombardi that he was never close to a deal. In fact, he had only one conversation with Don Waddell.

He told Waddell that if the price were to come down, he should give Dean a call. Lombardi was not prepared to trade any of his top nine forwards or any of his top 6 blueliners as Lombardi said "The locker room has come together." These guys have developed a great bond amongst one another. They truly want to play for each other and the idea of having to break that up, as far as that goes, outweighed what Kovalchuk would bring to the team.

13 Things to Know Before Tonight

Superstitions in sports are as old as the games themselves. Hockey is no exception, where guys tape their sticks a certain way, grow beards in the playoffs and there's the octopi throwing Red Wing fans.

Somebody forgot to tell the NHL schedule maker that playing games on Friday the 13th would probably only increase the weirdness. So - after walking across the street backwards, while rubbing my stomach with my left hand four times, then tugging my ear twice - I give to you, 13 things to mull over while preparing to watch the Kings take on the Thrashers tonight:

* Drew Doughty vs Zach Bogosian - these two will probably be linked throughout their careers. DD was taken #2 in the draft, with Zach going right behind him at #3. Both are considered two of the best - if not THE two best - young defenseman in the league. And to think, neither of them has turned 20 yet. Wow.

* Canada vs USA - both defenseman could make their respective Olympic squads. Come February you could see Zach in red, white and blue; while Drew possibly suits up for host Canada.

* Making his point - Doughty has nine points in the last 10 games (1-8=9).

* He's baaaaackkkk - after some initial confusion, with the GM and coach giving conflicting information, Ilya Kovalchuk made his return to the ice last night in New York. For those wondering, he had a goal and two assists. Some things never change.

* Frolov vs Kovalchuk - While there has been plenty of conjecture in the last year that these two should be traded for each other, it probably doesn't make sense for either side. Kovalchuk is the face of the franchise in Atlanta and resigning him would help solidify a team still searching for an identity. Fro on the other hand, may or may not be part of the long term Kings outlook. LA's bright lights now shine on a guy wearing #11.

* The real main event - the Thrashers homepage says it all "Kovalchuk vs. Kopitar Tonight".

* More on those two - last season when the teams met in LA, take a guess who the two stars were...Kovalchuk and Kopitar each had a pair of goals. Kings lost in a shootout (literally), 7-6.

* Making a point II - Frolov has 10 points in the last 10 games (3-7=10). If you like to pick a guy for first goal, go with Fro tonight.

* Quick vs well...? - the Thrashers are a mess in goal right now. Their main guy, Kari Lehtonen, is out with back problems. He just underwent a second surgery - which doesn't sound good. The two guys filling in have been decent, with NHL veteran Johan Hedberg actually playing pretty well. For the Kings, its back to Quick after letting Ersberg get some playing time on Wednesday.

* Heads Up - LA is 7-1-3 lifetime vs Atlanta. On the road they're 3-1-1. However, the Kings have lost the last two at Atlanta. With the first of those losses all the way back in December '03, the "streak" probably isn't relevant. The two teams just don't play each other enough.

* Back to Back - The Kings had last night off, while the Thrashers played at MSG. Does that give the Kings an advantage? Well, for the month of October the team playing the second night of a B2B had a record of 12-21-0 (just a 36% winning percentage). Hope it helps.

* Useless Trivia - Ten years ago former Kings winger Kelly Buchberger scored the first goal in Thrashers history. It came in the second period of their first ever game, a 4-1 loss to New Jersey.

* The Kings are 1-1 on the current roadtrip and play again tomorrow night in Tampa Bay. Going back to the first point, who was the only player taken ahead of Doughty and Bogosian in the 2008 draft...Steven Stamkos of the Lightning.

Stay away from black cats the rest of the day. Only eat the green M and Ms.  Oh...and if Scott Parse scores in the second period, clap fast three times.

The Mayor
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