The Phoenix Coyotes brought a collection of former Kings with them to Staples Center last night - including coach Dave Tippett, goalie Jason LaBarbera and forward Patrick O'Sullivan. However, LA outshot them 35-29, out-hit them 28-25, won more faceoffs, killed every Coyotes penalty, chased LaBarbera early in the third period and won the game 4-3.
Afterwards, coach Tippett had this to say about the overall game...
"I thought we hung in there. We wanted to make sure we competed hard and give ourselves the best chance of winning. We were hanging around the whole game right to the end. There were a couple of goals that LaBarbera would like to have back, but those are tough to overcome."
On back-up goalie Curtis McElhinney’s relief effort, Tippet said - "I thought he played very well. He made a couple good saves and then he got lucky on a couple posts so we just took a chance to see if we could change the momentum there. We competed hard tonight and you always want results without a doubt. They had some guys really play well tonight. We have to keep that attitude and try to win a big game at home."
If there was one positive for Phoenix, it had to be the play of Raffi Torres. On his two goal performance, Tipped said - "He made a couple good plays on breakaways to score. With our lineup the way it is we need people to contribute throughout and he gave us a couple good goals tonight."
Showing posts with label O'Sullivan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label O'Sullivan. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Five final thoughts on the Kings vs Avs at Frozen Fury 2011
In front of a sell-out crowd at the MGM Grand on Saturday (announced as 11.478), the Kings lost 4-1 to the Colorado Avalanche. To close the chapter on this year's event, here are five post-game notes...
- The last time the Kings lost a 60-minute game to the Avalanche in Las Vegas was all the way back on September 30, 2000. Peter Forsberg had four points that night (two goals, two assists), including setting up Chris Drury for the game winner with 31 seconds left.
- The only other time the Kings scored a single goal in a Frozen Fury game was 2005. Fresh off the NHL lockout the season before, Dustin Brown scored for LA that night. But, it wasn't enough, as the Kings eventually lost in overtime by a score of 2-1.
- Frozen Fury IX in 2006 saw the Las Vegas debut of Anze Kopitar, and he waited until late in the game to let his full presence be known, setting up Patrick O'Sullivan for the game winning goal with 52 seconds remaining. Since then, he had picked up at least one goal in every game - 2007 (goal and an assist), 2008 (power play goal), 2009 (two goals) and 2010 (goal and an assist). This year, he came away empty handed in the goal department. However, with an assist on Simon Gagne's goal, Kopitar pushed his points streak to six straight games in Las Vegas.
- All three stars of the game were from the Avs - 1. Matt Duchene, 2. Milan Hejduk, 3. Eric Johnson
- Although the event wasn't televised, fan-filmed footage of Gagne's goal can be found here
The Mayor
www.twitter.com/MayorNHL
www.facebook.com/MayorsManor
RELATED ARTICLES:
Richards, Mitchell, Kopitar talk about playing at Frozen Fury 2011
Kopitar in the lead for the 3rd annual Eddie Joyal Award
Frozen Fury 2010: post-skate comments from Drew Doughty
- The last time the Kings lost a 60-minute game to the Avalanche in Las Vegas was all the way back on September 30, 2000. Peter Forsberg had four points that night (two goals, two assists), including setting up Chris Drury for the game winner with 31 seconds left.
- The only other time the Kings scored a single goal in a Frozen Fury game was 2005. Fresh off the NHL lockout the season before, Dustin Brown scored for LA that night. But, it wasn't enough, as the Kings eventually lost in overtime by a score of 2-1.
- Frozen Fury IX in 2006 saw the Las Vegas debut of Anze Kopitar, and he waited until late in the game to let his full presence be known, setting up Patrick O'Sullivan for the game winning goal with 52 seconds remaining. Since then, he had picked up at least one goal in every game - 2007 (goal and an assist), 2008 (power play goal), 2009 (two goals) and 2010 (goal and an assist). This year, he came away empty handed in the goal department. However, with an assist on Simon Gagne's goal, Kopitar pushed his points streak to six straight games in Las Vegas.
- All three stars of the game were from the Avs - 1. Matt Duchene, 2. Milan Hejduk, 3. Eric Johnson
- Although the event wasn't televised, fan-filmed footage of Gagne's goal can be found here
The Mayor
www.twitter.com/MayorNHL
www.facebook.com/MayorsManor
RELATED ARTICLES:
Richards, Mitchell, Kopitar talk about playing at Frozen Fury 2011
Kopitar in the lead for the 3rd annual Eddie Joyal Award
Frozen Fury 2010: post-skate comments from Drew Doughty
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Prospect Report - Kozun, Toffoli, Forbort, etc.
In part, LA could afford to trade defenseman Colten Teubert (a former first round pick) because of the wealth of young talent on the blue line - including Thomas Hickey, Viatcheslav Voynov, Jake Muzzin, Andrew Campbell, Alec Martinez, etc.
And while Brayden Schenn has been stealing most of the spotlight this year among forwards, there's plenty of other news to go around...
* Yesterday afternoon the AHL announced that Brandon Kozun of the Manchester Monarchs had been named February's Rookie of the Month. The speedy right wing, taken in the sixth round of the 2009 NHL Draft, has been playing well all season in Manchester, culminating with eight goals and seven assists last month, for 15 points in 13 games. He also picked up a point in nine of his last 10 games. He is now tied for third among AHL rookies in goals (19) and points (38). After scoring 107 points with Calgary (WHL) last season the big question was could he do it at the next level. Seems so.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Wild Comments on Patrick O'Sullivan
Earlier today we posted a preview of tonight's Kings game with the newest member of the Minnesota Wild, Patrick O'Sullivan.
Below are some comments on O'Sullivan from two other members of the Wild organization - coach Todd Richards and veteran forward Andrew Brunette. Both were asked how he's fitting in...
Richards: Patrick has come in and done a pretty good job for us. I've used him in a lot of different situations, a lot of different positions with a lot of different players. He has the skill. You can see that. The thing for him - because he can help us - he makes us a better team when he's going and he's playing. But, it's getting that consistent effort every night. I would say in the last two games he's played he's done a pretty good job for us. So, that's what we need each and every night, him being able to make those plays. He's a creative player, he makes our power play better and he makes the players around him better. He's a player we can use as long as he's out there working.
[Does any of this sound familiar?]
Brunette: I think he's fit in real well. He has some real good offensive instincts. That's an area we can always use more of, just like every other team. He knows where he's going in the offensive zone. He gets himself in the right place in the right time. So, he's fit in nice so far.
[More comments from Brunette coming up later today, including his thoughts on the Kings]
The Mayor
www.twitter.com/Mayor119
www.facebook.com/MayorsManor
RELATED ARTICLES:
Kings-Wild Game Preview with Patrick O'Sullivan
Game Preview with Jose Theodore - talking Bernier, Staples Center, Ryan Smyth, etc.
Game Preview with Andrew Brunette - talking Smyth, the Kings, Theodore vs. Backstrom, etc.
.
Below are some comments on O'Sullivan from two other members of the Wild organization - coach Todd Richards and veteran forward Andrew Brunette. Both were asked how he's fitting in...
Richards: Patrick has come in and done a pretty good job for us. I've used him in a lot of different situations, a lot of different positions with a lot of different players. He has the skill. You can see that. The thing for him - because he can help us - he makes us a better team when he's going and he's playing. But, it's getting that consistent effort every night. I would say in the last two games he's played he's done a pretty good job for us. So, that's what we need each and every night, him being able to make those plays. He's a creative player, he makes our power play better and he makes the players around him better. He's a player we can use as long as he's out there working.
[Does any of this sound familiar?]
Brunette: I think he's fit in real well. He has some real good offensive instincts. That's an area we can always use more of, just like every other team. He knows where he's going in the offensive zone. He gets himself in the right place in the right time. So, he's fit in nice so far.
[More comments from Brunette coming up later today, including his thoughts on the Kings]
The Mayor
www.twitter.com/Mayor119
www.facebook.com/MayorsManor
RELATED ARTICLES:
Kings-Wild Game Preview with Patrick O'Sullivan
Game Preview with Jose Theodore - talking Bernier, Staples Center, Ryan Smyth, etc.
Game Preview with Andrew Brunette - talking Smyth, the Kings, Theodore vs. Backstrom, etc.
.
Kings-Wild Preview with Patrick O'Sullivan
Soon after Dean Lombardi arrived as GM of the LA Kings in 2006 he made two then-somewhat-unpopular trades. Eric Belanger and Tim Gleason were traded to Carolina for Jack Johnson. And Patrick O'Sullivan was acquired from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for Pavol Demitra.
It's obvious at this point which ended up being the better of the deals.
O'Sullivan has since played for three different teams - including two this year. Prior to tonight's game vs. the Kings, I sat down with him for some exclusive comments about the Kings-Wild match-up...
MM: You've been with Minnesota now for seven games. How are you fitting in?
POS: I think it's been pretty good. I feel pretty comfortable here and I'm starting to get used to how the team plays and the guys I'm playing with. It's been a bit of a struggle for our team lately. But, we had a good game in our last game - got a win against a good team in their rink, so it's something to build on (they beat the Coyotes 3-2 in Phoenix on Thursday). The Kings will be a tough test.
[note: after starting the year with the Carolina Hurricanes he was waived by them in late November]
MM: Going back to last month, did you see the end coming in Carolina or was it a bit of a surprise to you?
It's obvious at this point which ended up being the better of the deals.
O'Sullivan has since played for three different teams - including two this year. Prior to tonight's game vs. the Kings, I sat down with him for some exclusive comments about the Kings-Wild match-up...
MM: You've been with Minnesota now for seven games. How are you fitting in?
POS: I think it's been pretty good. I feel pretty comfortable here and I'm starting to get used to how the team plays and the guys I'm playing with. It's been a bit of a struggle for our team lately. But, we had a good game in our last game - got a win against a good team in their rink, so it's something to build on (they beat the Coyotes 3-2 in Phoenix on Thursday). The Kings will be a tough test.
[note: after starting the year with the Carolina Hurricanes he was waived by them in late November]
MM: Going back to last month, did you see the end coming in Carolina or was it a bit of a surprise to you?
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