LA Kings fall to the Calgary Flames as halfway mark approaches this season (12/19/06)

 Approaching the halfway mark in the season, the Kings dreadful woes continued in a
5-3 loss to the Calgary Flames, one of the teams they are trying to catch. The Kings
were coming off a tough overtime loss to Dallas while the Flames played the night
before losing to the Ducks 4-1.  Despite #1 goalie Mikka Kiprusoff taking the night
off and some other injuries to Alex Tanguay and Jeff Friesen, the Flames started out
fast and rookies David Moss, Richie Regehr and Dustin Boyd played well to help them
to victory.  Veteran Tony Amonte started the scoring with a long shot from near the
blue line that beat King's goalie Dan Cloutier- who has been average at best since
coming over from Vancouver in the off season. There were also defensive breakdowns
which didn't help and lack of scoring besides rookie sensation Anze Kopitar, who had
2 goals and was the #2 star of the game.  Jarome Iginla assisted on goals by Tony
Amonte and Daymond Langkow to earn the 3rd star of the game while Langkow received
the #1 star with a goal and assist. Jamie MClennan earned his first victory of the
season in 3 starts as he started in goal.  

     The Kings are in desperate need of more offense with only left wing Alexander
Frolov, the teams leading scorer and center Michael Cammalleri doing their share of
points besides Kopitar.  Kopitar was all over the ice and is looking like a future
star of this league.  He is second only to Pittsburgh's Malkin Evgeni in rookie
scoring.  The Kings are falling further and further behind the playoff race as the
top 8 teams make it after the season ends.  It is looking like a rebuilding team at
the moment unless a trade or miracle happens this year.