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HEAD COACH
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Larry Robinson
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ROSTER
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C - Jozef Stumpel, Olli Jokinen, Ian Laperriere, Ray
Ferraro, Yanic Perreault. LW - Eric Lacroix, Steve McKenna,
Vladimir Tsyplakov, Luc Robitaille, Craig Johnson, Josh Green.
RW - Russ Courtnall, Nathan LaFayette, Glen Murray, Sandy Moger,
Daniel Audette, Pavel Rosa. D - Garry Galley, Rob Blake, Sean
O'Donnell, Doug Bodger, Mattias Norstrom, Steve Duchesne, Philippe
Boucher. G - Stephane Fiset, Jamie Storr, Manny Legace.
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INJURIES
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Steve McKenna, lw (abdominal strain, day-to-day). Sandy
Moger, rw (back strain, day-to-day); Geoff Courtnall, rw (broken
ankle, 2-4 weeks); Eric Lacroix, lw (broken clavicle, a while);
Stephane Fiset, g (pulled groin, day-to-day).
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TRANSACTIONS
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Acquired Donald Audette, rw, from Buffalo in exchange
for a second-round draft pick; recalled Pavel Rosa, rw, from Long
Beach (IHL); recalled Manny Legace, g, from Long Beach.
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GAME RESULTS
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12/09 Washington W 2-1
12/12 Vancouver W 3-0
12/13 at Anaheim L 3-0
12/17 Islanders L 5-4
12/19 at St. Louis L 5-2
12/20 at Chicago W 4-1
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STANDINGS
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Pacific Division GP W L T PTS GF GA
Dallas 30 19 5 6 44 89 62
Phoenix 27 18 5 4 40 78 49
Anaheim 31 12 12 7 31 75 73
San Jose 30 8 15 7 23 62 71
Los Angeles 32 9 20 3 21 70 91
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TEAM NEWS
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by Matt Moore, Los Angeles Correspondent
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So when is going .500 good? When you are the Kings it is. Coming
off a horrendous losing stretch where they fell to having the
second worst record in the league and wins are good wins. But no
matter how good they play, the Kings must find a way to make it
tough to be a fan.
Take Rob Blake. He comes back from a broken foot to play in the
Canucks game. He can't even finish the game because he decided to
slash Harry York. A major and a game misconduct followed as York
went down like he had been shot. But what followed pissed off
every Kings fan. Colin Campbell decided to treat it like a murder
and suspended Blake for three games, two of which were losses. Now
I could understand such punishment if Blake had gone up there and
done a two-handed baseball swing and broken York's arm. But Blake
had only done a little one-handed slash that bruised York's arm.
York even played before Blake did. What is really frustrating
about this was that Campbell made Blake look like he had killed JFK
but didn't do anything about all the cheap shots that Yanic
Perreault took from the Canucks. The guy couldn't move without
getting punched in the back of the head.
There were two newcomers to the Kings this past week. Pavel Rosa
finally made his King debut, coming up from Long Beach. He quickly
showed the scorer's touch that the Kings need, scoring two goals in
his first game. And he had some pretty good chances to get that
hat trick. The scary thing about him is that he plays like a young
Luc Robitaille. He's not the greatest skater, but he somehow finds
a way to get his stick on the puck near the net.
Also playing for the Kings this week was the recently acquired
Donald Audette, who came over from the Buffalo Sabres in exchange
for a second-round draft pick. The Kings then signed him to a
two-year deal. He paid off in his first game as a King, scoring a
goal. Admittedly it was a fluke goal, but hey, beggars can't be
choosers.
Luc Robitaille is rapidly approaching his 500th goal with 494 as I
write this. He is having his best season in several years, having
gone on a recent goal-scoring streak, and has been most of the
Kings offense this season. Plus he seems to be a natural fit with
Pavel Rosa, so expect both players to have good seasons as a
result.
Goaltender Stephane Fiset injured his groin again. This is starting
to turn into a lost season for Fiset, and I wonder if he will be able
to avoid injury for the rest of the season. Jamie Storr is filling
in and causing anxiety as a result. Storr has looked pretty shaky in
most of his recent games, allowing in some pretty weak goals, since I
was always taught that if the goaltender touches it, the he should
have saved it. Three of the goals against the Islanders were pretty
sad and that turned out to be the difference in the game.
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