Shootout Loss to the Ducks?!

Grrrrr!! I knew this day was going to suck! I knew it immediately when I was walking to my car this morning and the cute neighborhood kitty came running up to me but just before getting to my open hand so that I could ruffle his cute little face, he swerved left and ran underneath a car. Damn you, kitty, thanks for ruining my day!! I won't make you suffer through the rest of my poopy day (that's what a boyfriend is for) and instead I'll go straight to the game.

Finny made me feel like a horrible fan with her text just before (or after?) the puck dropped:

Finny: Why aren't you here?
kms2: Don't know. Just got home, need to turn on the tv!

(Ed. note: I'm horrible at texting so don't be alarmed if it takes me 10 minutes to send a short message)

Which brings me to another point. Why do the Anaheim Ducks insist on having 7pm start times????????????????

As soon as I walked in the door I flipped through the channels and noticed the game was on both FSN channels. I recalled reading something about this on Battle of California but didn't quite understand what RudyKelly was talking about since I hadn't heard about this stupid idea. I watched the game on both channels, flipping back and forth for about 5 minutes, trying to determine which was the lesser evil. RudyKelly's pregame description of what each channel would offer is spot on. Needless to say, both channels sucked pretty badly. FSN Prime Ticket had the normal camera view but with Bryan Hayward and we all know how much I haaaaaaate Hayward. He's completely biased, can't take a joke, can't make a joke, and is just overall unbelievably annoying. FSN West had the "rinkside" camera view.....Ooooooohhhhhh, the "rinkside" view, isn't it fancy guys? It's like you're right up against the glass, it's like you're Pierre McGuire and you have to duck in order to avoid errant pucks, oh my goodness the play is whizzing by me like I'm at a tennis match, oh my what the hell is wrong with the video feed, why is everything way too sharp so that it's actually kinda blurry, what's wrong with the lighting, why are camera angle changes so sharp? why do you keep switching back to the behind-the-glass angle because I can't see what's happening on the other end of the rink, and ohhhhh myyyyyy God, why is it QUIET?!?! No one is talking because really, hockey is just so much more interesting when you watch it in silence, I mean holy hell, why didn't I ever think of that? And what was worse of all? When I was watching FSN Prime Ticket suffering through Bryan Hayward, because I finally decided that listening to Hayzie was better than the trash being shown on FSN West, but then all of a sudden they decided to let us watch the game from the rinkside view....so it didn't matter which damn channel I was on because both were showing the game from the same rinkside view with no play-by-play!! And the idiots at FSN Prime Ticket did this on more than one occasion!!

Since I've had such a poopy day my analysis of the game is only going to focus on the positives. Hopefully my positive thinking will carry over into the remaining days of the week, most notably Thursday.

Frolov played amazingly well tonight and has the points to prove it: an assist on every Kings goal. He was a determined man out there and it was such a pleasure watching him skate around Ducks players left and right, fighting them off, and then dishing the puck off to someone else for the finish. I usually say that Fro needs to shoot more, but if he continues to play like he did tonight, I don't care if he doesn't register another shot on goal for the remainder of the season. He dominated the play whenever he was out on the ice and he made his teammates look damn good tonight.

On the initial rush that led to Moulson's goal, I was cursing up a storm because Moulson fumbled the first play that I thought should have led to a goal. But then Frolov recouped the puck, skated by two Ducks, came face to face with a third Duck, patiently moved around him and passed it to a wide open Moulson who scored his 2nd NHL career goal with an easy tip in. Even though he's probably only in a Kings jersey because Calder is on IR, he's really giving some of the other guys a run for their money. Moulson registered a respectable 13:20 of ice time tonight and played very well with Frolov. It'll be interesting to see if Moulson remains with the team once Calder gets healthy. If this kid keeps up his play I wouldn't be surprised if Moulson stays and Willsie goes...

What I'm about to write is really difficult for me to do, but I am a person who will give credit where it is due. With that said, I just have to point out that even I thought John Zeiler had one heck of a game tonight. The only thing I wish Zeiler hadn't done was turtle after he nailed Getzlaf and had to stand up for himself against one of the Ducks (can't remember which one...). However, in Zeiler's defense, it was a fair check, Getzlaf is 4 inches taller and 18 pounds heavier than Zeiler, and Getzlaf did have his head down until just before he got hit. Regardless, Zeiler definitely irritated the Ducks and despite having played only 8:04 it seemed like he was always on the ice. He had some really good checks, almost scored a goal, and got the Kings going. Check, check, check, he did his job tonight. Zeiler, well done. Keep that up and maybe I'll stop hating on you....much. *sighs and takes big breath* Ok, that was easier than I thought it would be.

Once again the team rallied from behind and almost got the win. It's nice to see that this team won't piss off and die once a goal or two gets past their goalie. When the Kings were down by 2 in the first period, the BF and I were so calm. We kept mentioning to each other how we're not panicking because it's only the first period. We have plenty of time to score 5 goals...ok, ok, I know that those types of comebacks don't happen very often but it's amazing that I even have the confidence in my team to make a strong and valiant effort to win the game.