LA Kings defeat rival San Jose 2-0 as goalie Quick is the top star (12/11)

December 13, 2011 Written by Todd Elliot/Photos by Dennis David

The LA Kings took on their up north rival San Jose Sharks at the Staples Center on November 28^th. The home team has been playing ok with expectations much higher after back to back playoff appearances the last 2 years. Plus getting newcomers Mike Richards and Simon Gagne who actually teamed up for the team’s second goal on a great pass from Gagne to Richards for his team leading 11^th goal of the season.

Ethan Moreau scored his first goal of the season to net the first goal and that was the final score of 2-0. San Jose lacked their usual fire-power and high scoring Dany Heatly has been missed after getting traded to Minnesota. The Sharks got Martin Havlat in that deal but he has only one goal this season. Former King of the last few years Michal Handzus was scratched for the first time this year due to illness. They upgraded in goal getting Anti Niemi and still have captain Joe Thornton, assistant captain Patrick Marleau and sniper Joe Pavelski leading the way.

The defense led my second star Willie Mitchell was spectacular and Jonathon Quick has been superb in goal earning his league-leading 4^th shutout. Quick told me ” Our team played an overall good game but we need to keep improving. We also got some luck in this game as the Sharks hit 4 goal posts.” LA killed off two short-handed situations late in the second period that stymied the Sharks and they were never able to recover. Dustin Brown had a short-handed taken away after video review showed he scored on a kicking motion. Dustin said, I need to pick up some scoring slack for the team to improve on our record.” I asked Coach Terry Murray about the call and he said” I was not happy with that reverse call as the official on the ice called it a good goal and video replay by the goal judge was inconclusive.” Nevertheless, the Kings earned an important win. They Kings will stay in Southern California for their next 5 games including 4 at home and one in Anaheim. More stats, schedule and tickets at www.kings.nhl.com