Kings 3; Sucks 2 (F-SO)

Another night of Mr. Magoo meant another night of worn out paths to the penalty box. Although this game wasn't as penalty riddled as others, it had enough to kill a fair amount of the flow, and as a result, the game seemed disjointed at times. Alexander Frolov returned to the lineup for the Kings and made his presence felt with a second period short handed goal, which I believe gives the Kings 10 for the season. They've needed them, because they can't stop anyone on the power play, and last night was no exception, as the Ducks got the goal right back shortly thereafter, still on the double minor.

Undaunted, the Kings fought back to tie the score in the third period. Lubomir Visnovsky, just recently back in the lineup himself, made a great play to shrug off a check at the right point, got the puck to Derek Armstong who wheeled around to the right wing and fired a pass to Luc Robitaille, who had been charging right down the slot. Robitaille scored a classis Luc goal, re-directing home a perfect pass from Armstrong right from the door-step. Most of his best work has been at a range of about two feet.

The Kings wasted a power play opportunity at the beginning of the overtime, and from that point on, the teams seemed content to take it to the shoot out. After Garon stopped Chris Kunitz, Alexander Frolov rifled one through J.S. Giguere to put the Kings up one. Andy McDonald responded with a backhander to even it up, before Robitaille ripped one over Giguere's shoulder to retake the lead. Teemu Selanne evened it up yet again, while Michael Cammalleri fired one wide to send the shootout to extra rounds. Garon would come up with saves on Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf, with Giguere shutting down Craig Conroy before Joe Corvo stepped up. 14 stickhandles later, Corvo slid the puck past the prove Giguere, and the Kings beat the Ducks in a shootout for the second time this season.

That's three points in the first two games of this very important stretch of seven which continues with San Jose tonight, and includes games with Phoenix, Edmonton, and two more with Anaheim. If they could come up with ten of a possible fourteen points, that would be a nice way to go into the soft spot (Minnesota, Columbus, and Chicago) of the schedule before matching up with Dallas right before the Olympic break.