A Tale of Two (SoCal) Cities, Chapter One

OCT 26, 2005 - Capitalizing on the good fortune of playing seven of their first ten games at home, the Kings have flown out of the gate this season, with a 7-3-0 record.  Their Orange County rival, the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, have played just three of their nine contests at home, and after Tuesday night’s loss in LA, sank to 3-5-1.

Each team was missing its star center, with LA’s Jeremy Roenick out for the first time; Anaheim’s Sergei Fedorov missed his sixth contest.

Expectations were high in Anaheim and as yet haven’t been realized.  LA, meanwhile, has been rewarded from the depths of its lineup.

LOS ANGELES:

While Roenick grabs the limelight, and PAVOL DEMITRA has been very productive, LA’s big names have taken a back seat to players further down the lineup card, who have been the key ingredients for the Kings.

Defensemen JOE CORVO and TIM GLEASON represent what’s gone right for the Kings this season.  Gleason was acquired from Ottawa in the Bryan Smolinski deal; Corvo was LA’s fourth round choice in 1997. 

Through the past two injury-plagued seasons, these two saw action as the fourth, fifth or sixth defensemen on the club.  This season, both are top-four defensemen.  Corvo is paired with LUBOMIR VISNOVSKY, Gleason with AARON MILLER.

On the forward ranks, King ’03 draftee DUSTIN BROWN has been productive alongside ’01 draftee MICHAEL CAMILLIERI, both now seeing action on SEAN AVERY’s tenacious line.

Brown, in particular, has sent a clear message to the NHL’s veteran opposition, announcing his full-time arrival in the bigs.  Against Detroit, in a loss, Brown (of Ithaca, NY), steamrolled superstar NICK LIDSTROM; against the Ducks, he did the same, twice in one shift, to RUSLAN SALEI. 

The dramatic upsurge in productivity and quality of play in general has not gone unnoticed amongst the Kings’ more veteran players.

“It's the way that the organization planned it years ago,” says defenseman Aaron Miller. 

“They (the Kings) haven't traded their draft picks, and they've gotten a lot through trades.  The kids are finally developing.  Camallieri, MIKE WEAVER, Gleason and Brown.  They all played last year in Manchester and they played really well so they've got a jump start on everybody this year and they're helping out huge for our team.  We need them to, and they're playing a lot of minutes,” Miller notes.

Health has been a factor for the Kings, as well.  But unlike the past two seasons, where the Kings suffered an astronomical number of man-games lost, the club has been very healthy this season. 

Miller, for example, who missed a good deal of time over the past couple of seasons, noted that with his appearance in all ten King games so far in 2005-06, he’d already seen action in more consecutive games than he had “in the past three years.”

In goal, the Kings have diverged from their practice of using one big-name goaltender (Felix Potvin, Roman Cechmanek) for long stretches of time.  MATHIEU GARON (5GP, 2-3-0, 3.19GAA) and JASON LABARBERA (5GP, 5-0-0) have traded starts in net throughout, and the Kings are happy to let them slug it out.

“It's a challenge for them to show that they can keep it going,” and that they belong in the NHL, according to King coach ANDY MURRAY.

ANAHEIM:

The Ducks made a notable move this summer in landing defenseman SCOTT NIEDERMAYER, who’s been paired with Salei this season.  TEEMU SELANNE was another big name who joined the club (Selanne, for the second time).

As it turns out, a bunch of road games at the start of the season have left a sour taste in the Ducks’ bills (the Ducks dropped three in a row on the road last week, in Detroit, St. Louis and Minnesota).

More than that, star center SERGEI FEDOROV’s injury has exposed a major weakness on the club.  The Ducks are not that strong at the center position after dealing away former captain STEVE RUCCHIN to the Rangers.  With trade rumors swirling around Fedorov, the Ducks are on shaky ground. 

Which leaves the Ducks’ best player so far this season, ANDY MCDONALD, to carry the load. 

No one expected McDonald to be a first-line center in the NHL, but here he is, with two goals, three assists for five points in nine contests.  The numbers don’t explain the whole story.  Both of his goals came on tip-ins of rebounds the McDonald scored on sheer hustle, driving for the net. 

As for the lower rungs of the lineup card, the Ducks have not seen the production from the development guys that the Kings have enjoyed. 

Curiously, COREY PERRY, the Ducks’ number one rookie, has somehow managed to only see the ice for around 13 minutes, while veterans who are less willing to shoot the puck, like SAMUEL PAHLSSON, have seen more time on ice.  Coach Randy Carlyle will have to deal with the situation, as newcomers TRAVIS MOEN and JONATHAN HEDSTROM have not shown a nose for the net, in terms of not only points, but shots on goal and creation of opportunity.

To make matters worse, fewer Ducks than necessary have been willing to pay the price in front of the opposition’s net.

“Something we have to emphasize is getting some action around the front of the net; some shots and rebounds,” noted defenseman KEITH CARNEY, after the loss in LA.

JOFFREY LUPUL, one of the few Duck bright spots this season, remains optimistic, but put it bluntly.

“We’re not panicking...yet.”

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