head coach: Larry Robinson

roster: C - Ray Ferraro, Olli Jokinen, Ian Laperriere, Donald MacLean, Yanic Perreault, Jozef Stumpel, Roman Vopat. LW - Craig Johnson, Matt Johnson, Luc Robitaille, Vladimir Tsyplakov, Steve McKenna, Dan Bylsma. RW - Sandy Moger, Glenn Murray, Brad Smyth. D - Aki Berg, Rob Blake, Phillippe Boucher, Garry Galley, Mattias Norstrom, Sean O'Donnell, Doug Zmolek. G - Frederic Chabot, Stephane Fiset.

injuries: Ray Ferraro, c (knee, dunno); Jamie Storr, g (groin, whenever).

transactions: Assigned Jamie Storr, g, to the Long Beach Ice Dogs for a rehabilitation assignment.

standings:

Western Conference - Pacific Division
Team         GP   W   L   T   PTS   GF   GA   
Colorado     15   7   2   6    20   49   38
Anaheim      14   5   5   4    14   32   35
Los Angeles  15   5   6   4    14   48   44
Edmonton     14   5   7   2    12   29   43
Calgary      15   3   9   3     9   39   50
San Jose     14   4  10   0     8   34   46
Vancouver    15   3  10   2     8   36   55

game results:

10/21 Islanders     W 3-2
10/23 Detroit       L 4-1
10/26 at Tampa Bay  W 3-1
10/28 at Florida    T 2-2
10/31 at Detroit    W 5-1
11/01 at Islanders  L 4-2

team news:

by Matt Moore, Los Angeles Correspondent

Jamie Storr may be close to making his season debut once he finishes his rehabilitation assignment with the Long Beach Ice Dogs. That is if he can survive playing for a team with one of the cheesiest names in all of professional sports. But the return of Storr to the fray would be a Godsend to the Kings. Stephane Fiset has been solid if not spectacular, but it would be doubtful if he could maintain his level of play without getting more time off.

The Kings did play and win their biggest game of the year so far, defeating Detroit 5-1 in Detroit. How did they do this? Well, two words: hustle and shooting.

One of the problems that the Kings had going into the Detroit game was the inability to get the puck in on net. Against the Panthers they did not get a shot until just shy of 30 minutes into the game. The good news was that, unlike the Kings of old, they actually kept on playing good defense during this power outage, so the game was still in reach at the end. But still, you do have to wonder about a team that can go for so long with so few shots, like maybe they weren't playing hard or if some lines just don't have the chemistry needed to succeed.

But back to the Detroit game. This game was the Perreault/Tsyplakov show, with Perreault getting a hat trick (and the team lead in goals) and Tsyplakov getting his first three-assist game of his career. Hopefully, this will be the breakout game for Perreault, who missed most of last season due to kidney surgery. Considering that this is only the Wings' second loss of the entire season, and that the Kings won IN Detroit, this has to be a major morale booster for the entire organization, what with the previous loss to the Red Wings where the Kings played them even until the third period. Now if only they kept on playing like that every night.

A bit of sad news: Olli Jokinen is supposedly going to go back to Finland to play in an elite league there. He has been riding the bench for most of the past three weeks after a rather lackluster debut in the NHL. The Kings hope that he will continue to develop, but he just isn't cutting it here now.

The mighty King/Pen bet continues. For those of you who don't know, I have a bet with the Sunshine of LCS, Michael Dell, and the possible serial killer, Zippy, that the Kings will finish with more points than the Pens this season. Delly is in for three bucks, Zippy one dollar, and unless I was on a paint thinner high at the time and hallucinated the deal, I think I also have a bet with Dell for $1 that the Kings will finish with more points than the San Jose Sharks. This bet really shows the folly of Dell, since who the hell won't finish with more points than the Sharks? But that is another debate. So here are the standings through the morning of November 3rd:

 
Team            GP   W   L   T  PTS 
Pittsburgh      16   8   6   2   18 
Los Angeles     15   5   6   4   14 
San Jose        14   4  10   0    8 

So, yee-haw, I think the Kings are in pretty good shape, particularly since Pittsburgh will soon realize that Mario Lemieux isn't there and Kevin Constantine couldn't cut it in San Jose, why would he do any better there? By the way Delly, how is Morozov?

One last thing: Will someone please beat some common sense into the head on the NHL schedulers? It would be one thing if the Kings played back-to-back road games in New York or in Tampa Bay/Florida, but it just seems to be rather cruel, inhumane, and just plain crappy to have them play in Detroit one night and in New York the next. But I guess this is the price to pay in a league dominated by northeasterners...

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