Wings Remind Kings
that Talk is Cheap

PLUS: HOT AND COLD
and INSIDE THE NUMBERS: Western Conf Lags in Scoring Race

BY JOSH BREWSTER

Tuesday, November 29, 2005 – LOS ANGELES, CA -- They haven't lost two in a row yet this season. Their 33 points in 25 games played is good enough for second place in the Western conference.

In first, their nemesis, the Detroit Red Wings. You might think that Monday night in Los Angeles would have been a great chance to give their best effort against the league's elite. After all, you have to beat the bully before you become the bully, right?

King Jeremy Roenick was blunt.

"We (expletive deleted) the bed all over the place and it goes right down the line…starting with myself," Roenick said in disgust.

The Kings haven't beaten Detroit since Oct. 12, 2001. Monday night in LA, they looked like the injury-plagued Kings of the 2002-04: Running around, poor communication, clumsy passes.

The Wings, on the other hand, were like a well-oiled machine, their trademark passing game taut as a drum. Each time a King went for the puck, he could bet that at least one, if not two Detroiters, were on the scene to win yet another in a long line of battles. The Kings won few battles on this night, and sank to the Wings, 5-2.

"They're a first-class team, don't get me wrong," said Roenick. "They move the puck extremely well. When you're chasing their puckhandling around, their playmaking, it gets a little bit helter skelter out there and that's where they kill you."

As for the Wings, they could sense that the Kings, who came out of the gate—inexplicably—a step slower, had perhaps read or heard too many glowing reviews of their excellent start this season.

"We know what the standings were. We listen to their TV show," confided Detroit Coach Mike Babcock. "They were saying that they used to measure themselves against the Wings and now they think they're as good or better," Babcock continued, and trailed off, with a shrug.

Babcock is allowed to have a smug moment. His Wings are 2-0-1 against the West's second best club.

"We got six points in the series and they got one," Babcock noted.

The Kings meet the Wings again Thursday, March 9, 2006, in the clubs' last meeting of the season.

A barometer of a club's effort is the traffic that they are able to generate in front of the opposition's net. On Monday against the Wings, the Kings intimidated no one. What's worse, they failed to get enough shots through the Detroit defense on Jimmy Howard, former Maine Black Bear and current AHL goalie with Grand Rapids. It was Howard's NHL debut, and the Wings saw to it that he didn't see too many rebounds.

"The guys played tremendously in front of me," said Howard, drafted by the Wings in 2003. "They cleared out a lot of second and third chances and when they do that, it makes the goaltenders life really easy back there."

As for Roenick, there's no excuse.

"I don't think we got pucks to the net to take advantage," he explained. "We've got to get the puck to the net and have guys taking a beating in front of the net to score goals. We haven't done that the way we should lately."

HOCKEYTALK QUICK SHOTS HOT AND COLD:

HOT

ALES KOTALIK (BUF) (25GP/13-5-18/80 SOG). Max Afinogenov is ice cold of late. Kotalik (Drafted by Buffalo in 1998 (6th round/164 overall)) stepped up with some big goals through November. Thirteen goals in 26 games so far; helps considering Buffalo's DANIEL BRIERE ( ) is out with an abdominal muscle pull, which everyone in the world of hockey knows can put a player out of the lineup anywhere from a day to a day after forever.*

*Note to Buffalo: The Ducks are offering PETR SYKORA to the NHL as trade bait. Now would be a perfect time to unload a goalie (Noronen or Biron will be gone when Ryan Miller returns) and pick up a guy who can generate the offense of which Sykora is capable. Sabres way under the cap, should move for Sykora. Played in defense-heavy New Jersey and still produced. Buffalo needs to beat Dallas and/or the NY Rangers to the punch on this one.


COLD

MICHAEL PECA (EDM) (22GP/2-5-7) scored for just the second time this season on Tuesday night (Nov. 29) vs. Colorado. As analyst Jim Kelley noted on the Rogers Sportsnet telecast, "once a month isn't gonna do it." What's more, 30 SOG in 22 GP isn't gonna do it in the AHL, let alone the NHL. Nice guy, but he needs to wake up.

DAN HAMUIS (NSH) and JOCELYN THIBAULT (PIT)

Hard to believe that Jocelyn Thibault couldn't find any takers, but that's the new NHL for ya. $1.5 Million can scare any club when it's just a backup goaltender. As for Hamhuis, $901,740 is too high for him to be a late addition.

We'll see whether Hamhuis' Predators or Thibault's Penguins will risk sending them to the minors. If they are sent to the minors (Thibeault has already refused this) and subsequently recalled, they must clear re-entry waivers and, if claimed on re-entry, their original teams must pay half their salary and have it count against the salary cap.

December 1 (Thursday) is the deadline for signing Group II Restricted Free Agents.
 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

NOV 30 2005 -- NHL QUICK SHOTS

HAVE YOU NOTICED THAT THE WESTERN CONFERENCE IS LAGGING IN THE SCORING RACE?

AS OF NOV. 30 2PM PACIFIC TIME

EASTERN CONFERENCE     369 GP = 1225 GOALS

WESTERN CONFERENCE     363 GP = 1080 GOALS

Total Points - Scoring leaders NHL

Only 1 of top 10 from Western Conference

Only 4 of top 20 from Western Conference

GOAL SCORING LEADERS

Only 2 of top 10 NHL goal scoring leaders from West;
none in top 5.

The NUMBERS don't lie: The Western Conference is lagging in scoring a bit so far this season:

 POWER PLAY GOAL LEADERS

Only 1 of 10 from Western Conference

Top

Home

2010 Western Hockey Network