ANAHEIM -- The season's a month old, but finally, this week, I'm getting a chance to see Southern California's hockey teams. The Ducks were up first on Tuesday; the Kings' turn comes Thursday, both against reigning champion Pittsburgh.
Not having seen either team, my main interest in this first look is to see if either team can possibly be what they've shown to date. It's hard to imagine the Ducks are bad enough to enter Tuesday play tied for 14th (and last) in the Western Conference, and equally difficult to believe the Kings are the third-best team in the conference. So ... when in doubt, take a look. One game certainly can't tell the whole story, but it's a start.
In the case of the Ducks, that one game -- Tuesday's extremely entertaining 4-3 loss to the Penguins -- pretty much affirmed the gut feeling: there's no way this team is as bad as its record.
Certainly, it has flaws. The departure of Chris Pronger clearly means this is no longer the defensive juggernaut of the last few seasons. The secondary-scoring question looms large, particularly because Saku Koivu has not been productive. And the goaltending is a bit unsettled; with Jean-Sebastien Giguere currently sidelined, the job is wholly in the hands of Jonas Hiller, and the night-in, night-out observers basically say the same thing: He hasn't been bad, but he hasn't been stealing any games, either.
Tuesday's loss suggested, though, that the Ducks are on the verge of digging out from under some of those problems. Consistent effort, a big issue earlier, was certainly there. And trailing late, they mounted an impressive, if ultimately unsuccessful, push to tie, maintaining a good three-plus minutes of sustained attack.
"We had a pretty good shift, and a last push for the last four minutes," said Corey Perry, who scored twice, including his 100th career goal. "(Sidney) Crosby had to slide across to make a save, and one went off Scotty (Niedermayer) and just wide. There were some good chances. But we have to play well for a full 60 minutes and that's what we're trying to do."

Koivu scored one goal, was robbed by Marc-Andre Fluery on a potential game-tying chance late, and -- with a modest three-game point streak (one goal, two assists), looks like he might be on the verge of finding the score sheet, which would make him a pretty complete contributor. (The general opinion seems to be that he's playing well despite the lack of scoring.)
"At this point, we know we can be more consistent," said Koivu, who left Montreal after 13 seasons and signed with Anaheim as a free agent this summer. "There's a lot of things we have to improve, but at the same time the last couple of games, there've been a lot of positive things we can build on.
"it seems we're better on our defensive game. ... We have to start winning soon, but we can't feel sorry for ourselves and have to dig out."
On this particular night, you'd have to point to goaltending as the difference. Pittsburgh's first goal, by Mike Rupp, went off Hiller and into the net; when a goalie gets as much of the puck as Hiller did in that case, he really should stop the shot. The Penguins' third and fourth goals, midway through the third period, were from far enough out that most goalies would believe they should have been stopped, although Alex Goligoski's was an absolute blast and Pasqual Dupuis' may have been through a screen.
"I think I have to do a better job finding the puck," said Hiller. "I lost it on its way. ... Definitely I have to do a better job finding the puck on those goals."
If the Ducks can carry Tuesday's effort into games with less talented teams than Pittsburgh -- which is most of them -- they'll certainly win. But the other side of that is that they need to start fairly soon, particularly at home. They're now 2-6 on home ice, meaning they've already squandered about 20 percent of their home schedule.
"It's very frustrating for everybody," said coach Randy Carlyle, "and that's what brings everybody down. We've been hanging our heads here for the better part of two weeks, and it's not a lot of fun. And that's where we have to find a way to change our attitude, and go to the rink and have fun ... and build on the positives. As we always talk about, it's as important what you're doing and how you're doing it as the result."
That may be true, and the Ducks do indeed look better than their results so far.
But to prove it, they really need to start getting some results. Especially at home.

*-- Updates with Wisniewski release from hospital.

Through three games, the third period has been white-knuckle time for the Ducks in their playoff series with Detroit.
Even though Anaheim leads the series 2-1, they've been outshot 51-17 in the third period, and outscored 2-0. That includes Detroit's 18-3 advantage in Tuesday's Game 3.
Add in the three overtimes in Game 2, and the Ducks have been outgunned 80-34 after the second intermission.
A couple of different theories were advanced by the Ducks to try to explain this after their team meeting and optional practice on Wednesday at the Honda Center.
"I don't think anybody's happy how we played the third period," said Teemu Selanne. " It seems like every time when we start to play safe and start backing up, we're going to have problems.
"The best defense is offense. You can't really change your style and your game plan there. And I think we changed too much in the third period, and they got momentum."
Forward Todd Marchant thinks desperation on the part of the Red Wings is a factor.
"In two of the games, we've been in the lead, and they've been trying to catch us," he said. "And in one game, it was tied.
"You know, when a team is down or fighting back, you're going to do anything you possibly can. At times, it's very difficult with the team that is in the lead to turn that around and get your opportunities. A lot of times it seems like you're receiving rushes because they are putting pressure on you. And they're taking chances. So it's certainly an area we have to improve that, and hopefully we can do that in Game 4."
It's also been suggested that the Ducks, who are not spreading their minutes around quite as evenly as the Red Wings, might be wearing down as the game progressed, a theory that sent coach Randy Carlyle into full bristling, blustering mode.
"Well, they like to tell everyone they are (wearing Anaheim down)," Carlyle said, referring to the Red Wings. "They're worried about our players. I've got to worry about our players. I'm worried about our players performing to the level they perform to.
"As far as anybody getting tired: It's the playoffs, they're young, they're well-conditioned athletes. We worry about our players and we take the necessary steps that we feel are going to give us the best chance to recover."
Wisniewski update: As of the Ducks' practice, defenseman James Wisniewski had been scheduled to remain at the UCI Medical Center until Thursday morning after being hospitalized with a lung contusion after taking a shot to the chest in Game 3. He's expected to be released from the hospital Thursday morning.
"He'll stay, I think it's a 36-hour time frame, just to watch as a precautionary (measure)," said Carlyle. "He's moving forward, he's healing. He's just in a situation where he'll rest in the hospital."
But later Wednesday afternoon, the Ducks reported Wisniewski had been cleared to go home and released from the hospital.
Carlyle said there is no estimate when or if Wisniewski might return.
"Obviously we have to wait sure there's no more damage being done, or his recovery is fully under way," he said. "It's a unique injury from the standpoint that with all the protection that's out there, you very rarely get a puck in that area."
Brendan Mikkelson, Brett Festerling and Brian Salcido are the candidates to move into the starting lineup. None have seen playoff action so far. Mikkelson played 34 regular-season games with two assists and a plus-minus of zero; Festerling played 40 games and had five assists and was plus-five. Salcido, a 24-year-old born in Hermosa Beach, played two games, had one assist and was plus two; with the Ducks' Iowa farm team, he had 10 goals, 33 assists and 108 penalty minutes, and was minus-22.
"We have to make a decision on one of those three," said Carlyle, "and we'll do that in the next 24 hours. Both Festerling and Mikkelson have played with our hockey club this year, so we feel confident with putting one of those guys in."
Carlyle also referenced Tomas Holmstrom's elbow to Wisniewski after the defenseman had been hit by the puck, as he had after Tuesday's game. So he was asked if he knew if the league was reviewing the hit.
"Don't know that," he said. "Don't know that for sure.
"There were a few incidents last night that I'm sure left the war room" -- the NHL situation room in Toronto, where goals and other plays are reviewed -- "scanning tapes. There was a cross-check in the last flurry, with 10 seconds left, to the head area, on Scotty Niedermayer. There were a few upper blows being delivered in various situations in the series."
Carlyle was asked who cross-checked Niedermayer.
"Do I have to give you everything, for crying out loud?" he responded.
Given a yes in response, he didn't hesitate: "(Johan) Franzen."
Franzen, incidentally, is tied for the Red Wings' scoring lead with four goals and eight points in seven games.
Not letting go: Inevitably, there was still a lot of talk about the tying goal that wasn't, a Detroit score by Marion Hossa with 1:04 remaining that would have made it 2-2, but was disallowed because referee Brad Watson lost sight of the puck and blew his whistle.
"Last night was a situation that probably happens," said Carlyle, "on our hockey club, five or six times a year, where a puck is available, for us or against us. Those things happen all the time. And everybody's saying why did they blow the whistle? Well, because the individual lost sight of the puck. It's all about positioning. He moved to the corner, and fortunately for us, his sight line was blocked.
"We got a break."
Said Selanne, "Yeah, it was lucky. The referee, he didn't see the puck, and makes the whistle. It was our luck."
Selanne was asked if there should be a way to review such plays, but recognized this would be almost impossible because at least some players stop when they hear the whistle.
"It's hard when the referee blows the whistle," he said. "I don't think you can go and have any other option. That's the tough part. ...
"That was a good break for us. It's tough. The refereeing in this league is not easy. Everything happens so quickly and you have to react.
It was a tough break for Detroit, but you know, you have to move on."

Today's chapter of the four-day epic begins at a Starbucks within sight of the Honda Center, where the Ducks are holding an 11:30 a.m. practice. The Red Wings follow at 2 p.m., but by then I'll be on my way to Staples Center, where I'll post a report on the Ducks and grab my spot in the pressroom for Game 2 of the Lakers-Rockets series.
Early arrival is clearly a good idea at Staples. Every seat in the workroom was filled well before Game 1 -- which has at least a little bit to do with the Chinese media contingent. I counted 22 credentials for members of the Chinese media on the Game 1 seating chart, which to Western eyes certainly seems a tad excessive. I mean, think about it: The Dodgers now have one full-time beat reporter (two if you include mlb.com's Ken Gurnick) -- and one very tall guy from China has 22 beat reporters. Maybe I should start working on my Mandarin.
Anyway, blog plans for today are for a Ducks report, a Lakers pregame report and a Lakers postgame report. Plus, of course, the Lakers game column for Thursday's paper.
I'm keeping a word count on just how much I write in this stretch. I'll share it with you at the finish. Let's just say the number is already a bit daunting.

Not surprisingly, a lot of the postgame talk after the Ducks beat Detroit 2-1 on Tuesday night was about the goal that wasn't -- a potential tying goal by Marion Hossa late in the game (with 1:04 left by my memory, 1:09 remaining according to the AP story) that was disallowed because referee Brad Watson lost sight of the puck and blew the whistle, thinking it was under Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller. It wasn't, and Hossa knocked the loose puck in, to no avail.
Not surprisingly, the Red Wings were not happy, while the Ducks basically shrugged and said, that's the way it goes.
"We should be playing obviously right now," said Detroit coach Mike Babcock. "Two teams scored twice tonight, but it just didn't work out that way.
"There's no sense in complaining about the refereeing or anything like that. I think we should have started better."
Said Red Wings forward Dan Cleary, "Early whistle, maybe. In a situation like that, you have to make sure the puck is covered at least."
Which it wasn't, as noted by Henrik Zetterberg, who scored the lone Detroit goal.
"The puck wasn't covered and it was just sliding under him. It was lying on the far post for awhile. Unfortunately, he didn't see that and he blew the whistle."
Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said it was something he'd seen before.
"You have to remember that the official has the ability, if he thinks he should have blown the whistle, the play is dead," said Carlyle. "He lost sight of the puck and he blew the whistle. He thought the puck was dead underneath the goalie and blew the whistle. ...
"We've been the victim of that numerous times this year, where the puck seems to be alive, we've made the play on the puck and he blows the whistle and says, 'Well, I lost sight of the puck.' "
To the Ducks, there was no disputing what had happened, though everyone seemed to recognize a bit of good fortune.
"It was lucky for us," said Hiller, who made 45 saves, "but I always say you have to fight to be lucky and everybody in here fought hard tonight. I was looking at the referee behind and he waived it off right away."
Todd Marchant said Watson "blatantly blew the whistle before it went in. The referee was right there, right behind the net. If he couldn't see it, he's got to blow the whistle. That's his job.
"I'm sure they aren't happy about it."
Wisniewski update: Anaheim defenseman James Winsniewski was taken off the ice on a stretcher after taking a shot to the chest in the second period. A statement from the Ducks reported tests at the UCI Medical Center diagnosed a lung contusion, and that Wisniewski would be held overnight as a precautionary measure.
"He took a pretty good elbow after the fact, too," said Carlyle. "I'd like to mention that. ... The shot to the upper chest was enough, but when you're huddled over and someone gives you a good, stiff elbow to the chin, it's a little bit surprising."

Day Two of the Four Full Days extravaganza begins -- at least from a writing standpoint -- at a Coffee Bean in El Segundo, a couple of blocks from the Lakers' practice facility. Media members have been told to be at the facility by noon, which usually means we'll get to sit in a tiny holding room (cell?) for about an hour before actually being allowed in to talk to players at the end of practice. (Supposedly, there's an NBA rule requiring the media to be admitted for the last 30 minutes of practice. Hah. I doubt you'd see 30 minutes total at Lakers practices over the course of an entire season).
Anyway, from there it will be down to Anaheim for Ducks-Red Wings Game 3. Before that starts at 7:40 -- setting up another challenging night of writing on deadline -- I'll be writing and filing a Lakers practice story for Wednesday's paper (and probably filing some additional material on the blog) and writing a just-in-case column for the Ducks game, the just-in-case being for the eventuality of a multiple-overtime game that blows past the paper's deadlines. In that case, that column would run in the paper, and anything from after the game will just be on the blog.
Also in the just-in-case department, there's an overnight bag in the car tonight. If the game runs long -- or if I just feel particularly tired -- I may get a motel room tonight in Anaheim, rather than driving home and turning right around and coming back for the Ducks' Wednesday morning practice.

The Ducks' primary focus Monday? Getting over Sunday.
And there was plenty to get over, what with the three-overtime win at Detroit, followed by flight home. So it's not surprising that the Ducks kept it light in a physical sense Monday, holding a 12:30 p.m. team meeting, followed by an optional skate.
"I just think they're tired right now," Coach Randy Carlyle said of his players. "It's taxing on the body, mentally and physically.
"The most important thing for the players, the athletes, is to make sure they have the proper nutrition and get as much rest as possible and eat proper foods here today, and then get the proper sleep and make sure we take all the necessary steps to prepare for tomorrow, because it's a very, very huge hockey game for our team and the Detroit Red Wings."
Todd Marchant, who scored the winning goal early in the third overtime, knew which part of the physical/mental equation was tougher.
"Physically, I didn't feel like I was that tired," he said. "Mentally is where you get taxed. You keep saying to yourself, 'It could be this next shift. It could be the one after that. That could be the difference.'
"We just tried to focus on one shift at a time, and whoever was going to go over those boards is going to go out and give it their best effort. Some guys played more than others, obviously, but we relied on everybody. We needed a contribution from everybody on that bench."
With that in mind, he said, the recover day was "huge.
"We talk about it all the time -- rest and nutrition are as important a part of the game as going out on the ice. Today's a day we all come in here -- some guys go on the ice, but it's all about preparing yourself for tomorrow's game. And we know that they're going to be prepared, and we're focused on what we have to do to be successful."
Ryan Getzlaf, who logged an amazing 35:46 of ice time -- more in keeping with a defenseman than a forward -- was another of the many players who did not go on the Honda Center ice Monday.
"Everybody's different," he said. "Some guys go and ride the bike and just stretch and all that stuff. Personally, I do a little of both, actually. I ride the bike and stuff, and we're going to stretch and make sure we're hydrated."
Goalie Jonas Hiller, who made 59 saves in the longest game of his career, felt he'd have no problem in bouncing back.
"Obviously, I've got stuff that I do, like when I play two games in three days," said Hiller. "So I eat well, I drink a lot, and have proper nutrition and everything. I think we did a pretty good job already last night, so I felt pretty good today, and my weight was still there, so I think I'm on the right track."
While he'd never played in a game remotely as long -- in the Swiss League, where he played before coming to Anaheim, playoff games are decided by shootouts after one overtime period -- he didn't feel he was totally in uncharted territory.
"I have some experience, too, so I know how my body's going to react," he said. "For example, we played Spengler Cup" -- a prestigious Swiss tournament -- "where you play like four games in five days. That's even tougher. So I know how I get my body back and my mind back."
And he didn't expect Tuesday's game to be any tougher than any other.
"They played as long as we did, and it's sure easier if you come out of such a game with a win," Hiller said. "But I think everybody's going to be ready tomorrow from the first second."
The message: Carlyle was asked what he told the team going into the third period, and if he'd done anything special in determining if any players were particularly worn down by the marathon.
"What we do is, we basically go in there and just say, hey, we're looking for a hero," he said. "There's a chance in here -- we've got 18 people or 19 people or 20 people that have a chance to be a hero. And a hero might mean blocking a shot. It might be taking a check to make a play. It might be assisting on a goal. It might be driving the middle lane.
"The heroes are not always the guy that puts the puck in the net. It's just as important to prevent a goal as it is to score one in this situation.
"Stay patient, don't go outside the structure, don't play the game on your backhand, make strong plays. That's basically the message, for all three intermissions were the same."
The game, however, tends to change a bit, noted Marchant.
"Well, I think there's little things that you have be aware of," he said. "You have to take shorter shifts. I think once you saw it get later and later, guys were taking one rush up the ice, one rush back and then changing. You don't want to get caught out there too long.
You want to make the right play, the simple play. Don't get too crazy with the puck. And both teams were able to do that. They generated a lot of shots on net, but we generated our chances, too."
And ultimately, the Ducks were very satisfied with the result.
"This is the playoffs," said Marchant. "This is why we play the game. (NBC broadcaster) Darren Pang asked me, 'Are you guys tired?' I'm like, 'Heck no.' Chris Osgood (Detroit's goalie) said it the best: It was a fun game to play. It was.
"You ask anybody in this dressing room. We enjoyed playing that game. Tired as we were, that's what you live for. That's what you train so hard for. So it was a pleasure to be in that game."

These are going to be four full days.
With the Lakers and Ducks both home for playoff games -- the Lakers playing tonight and Wednesday in Games 1 and 2 of their second-round series with Houston, and the Ducks going Tuesday and Thursday in Games 3 and 4 of their second-round series with Detroit -- I'm going to be bouncing between the two series every day. Today, I was in Anaheim for the Ducks' 12:30 p.m. media availability (a few notes from that will follow); now I'm at Staples Center, having just finished transcribing about a half-hour of audio tape from that session, and awaiting the start of Lakers-Rockets.
This will be a tough write because it will start about 7:50 p.m., probably end about 10:20 p.m., and my column will be due at 10:45. Normally, I have a first-edition deadline of 10:30 and a final deadline about an hour later, but with a single edition on Monday, I get only one shot, and am pretty much caught in no-man's land in terms of getting post-game comments; no one is available until about 15 minutes after the game, so I can either get something, come back to the media room and finish the column -- sacrificing all other post game comments -- or go without comments and get some material to follow-up on line. Probably, I'll go with the second option.
Tomorrow, it will be Lakers practice and the Ducks game; Wednesday, Ducks practice and the Lakers game, and Thursday, Lakers practice (assuming they practice before flying to Houston, which is likely) and the Ducks game.
I'm going to try to post blog entries at least a couple of times a day throughout the process, so check back frequently between now and Thursday.

The thing about writing a column from an NHL playoff game is that you always have to be aware that the game will go multiple overtimes and last far beyond even the latest newspaper deadline. So it's usually a good idea to have something in hand you can send to fill the space in the paper if that should occur.
This is the column I had ready to go Thursday, just in case the Ducks and Sharks had played a game that was still going at deadline.

ANAHEIM -- A strange thing happened as I bounced from the NBA playoffs to the NBA postseason: It became hard to tell them apart.
After dropping in on the Ducks' morning skate Thursday, I felt remarkably like I was back at the Lakers' practice facility in El Segundo 24 hours earlier.
No, it's not that all the games start running together. And obviously, the Ducks' locker room has no seven-footers, and the Lakers don't have Canadian accents.
But in listening to the Ducks talk about their preparations for Thursday night's playoff series with San Jose -- the series the Ducks led 2-1 going into Game 4 -- it was hard not to hear echoes of the Lakers talking about Utah.
Consider Ducks forward Corey Perry, talking about the desire to establish early control in Game 4.
"We have to have a strong start," Perry said. "We have to be physical, we have to get on the forecheck and we have to stay out of the penalty box and limit our turnovers."
Later, he added, "Just take them out of their rhythm. If we take them out of their rhythm and be physical, we'll be successful."
Compare that to what Pau Gasol had to say about the challenge the Lakers were going to face in their first road game of the Utah series.
"It's going to be hard," said Gasol, "but I think if we come out of the locker room and jump on them early and try and control the tempo of the game, and don't let them get comfortable and get going in their usual stuff, I think we can be successful there."
In the Ducks' locker room, you had Todd Marchant saying Thursday's game would come down to "execution and effort, basically. Last game, we didn't have quite the same effort and execution we had in Game 2."
In the Lakers' post-practice media session Wednesday, you had Lamar Odom saying, "We're going to come out, play a little harder than we played yesterday, focus, try to do everything right."
In Anaheim, there was Teemu Selanne talking about the fact that Thursday's game was the 10th between the Ducks and Sharks.
"Obviously, we've played them so many times," said Selanne. "So there's no secrets. ... I think it's just battle -- who wants to win more. That's how it works."
In El Segundo, before the first-game of the Lakers-Jazz series, Phil Jackson was saying something similar, since the Lakers finished the regular season against Utah, then had five days to prepare to face the Jazz again.
"I don't think we can say a whole lot more about them other than just to say, go out, you've got all the information, now put it into play," he said. "It's all about reactions now. It's all about instincts and reactions."
You play these teams again and again and again, things are going to begin to look really familiar. Which is, of course, where the coaches start putting their stamp on things. They need to make them less familiar -- and more successful.
And so, with that in mind, you hear this:
"You have to make adjustments continually, and some of them are in-game and some of them are between, day to day. We try to review some of the things we felt we didn't do very well, and we'll try to correct some of those things."
And this:
"We have to anticipate (adjustments). And that's really the key, I think, in the playoffs, anticipating what the other team is going to do."
The first of those comments was from Ducks coach Randy Carlyle. The second was from Phil Jackson. But they could just as easily have been reversed.
All of which suggests more than mere coincidence. The cynically inclined might say it means all athletes work from the same book of clichés, but it's a bit deeper than that.
What this really points to is the degree that there are certain constants in all sports -- the importance of defense, say, or consistent effort. And hockey and basketball, in particular, share more characteristics than the casual onlooker might perceive, even down to certain structural concepts of movement, given that in each, five players are always moving toward a goal. It's just that in hockey, a sixth player guards that goal.
The parallels become even greater at playoff time, when teams in both sports must adjust to playing the same opponent repeatedly is a challenge distinct from that of the regular season. (To quote Jackson: "During the regular season, you want to maintain and sustain an effort. Now you improve.")
And so, as long as the Lakers and Ducks continue in the postseason, you probably shouldn't be surprised if you continue to hear parallel comments from both teams.
Ultimately, they're both in the business of winning and losing. And there are only so many ways to do those things.
-- Contact David Lassen at dlassen@VenturaCountyStar.com.

In a little over three weeks, the Ducks have gone from 12th place into the Western Conference to a playoff spot -- either the seventh or eighth, depending on the outcome of today's St. Louis-Colorado game.
Whichever spot they finish in -- and it could be crucial in terms of a match up -- the Ducks that finish the season are playing at a level that eluded them for most of the year.
What was the key? Well, a single word was very popular when the Ducks tried to explain their turnaround after Friday's 4-3 shootout win over Dallas, the game that clinched their spot in the postseason.
Coach Randy Carlyle said the March 4 trade-deadline day -- when the Ducks engineered four separate deals and remade their roster -- was the turning point for his team, adding, "I think that's where we became more consistent as a group, and our record indicates that.
"I don't know what our record is from the trade deadline" -- it's 11-5-1 after Saturday's regular season finale, the 5-4 shootout loss at Phoenix -- but I think we've won 10 out of 13 games. ... We knew we were going to have to do that, and we went out on the road and did it."
Veteran defenseman Scott Niedermayer also cited "consistency (and) playing the way we need to.
"You only have success when you play as a team. You can win with many different systems, but if you don't play them as a team, you're not going to. So we're just playing harder as a team, together."
Teemu Selanne added another voice to that chorus.
"Well, consistency is the key for our hockey club," he said. "Before, we'd play good games, a couple of good games, and then we'd play really bad ones. In this league, you can't play like that if you're going to have success.
"So obviously, consistency is the key, and when the games got more important, everybody took a lot more pride to make sure that we're going to be ready and going to win some games, and good things happened."
Those good things could mean significant momentum for the Ducks, given the way they finished.
"As we slipped further in the standings," said defenseman Chris Pronger, "it was just a matter of clearing our heads and pushing forward and understanding that it was going to take a win, and one after another after another, to get us back into the race and back into playoff position.
"And we were able to do that by playing well in all three zones, and our specialty teams were excellent. Irregardless of how we did tonight, it was a pretty solid last month for our hockey team, and certainly something we can build off and build on going into the playoffs."
Wrapping up: The Kings also feel like they ended the regular season with something to build on, but the next step in the construction won't come until next season.
Long since eliminated from the playoff race for the seventh straight year, the Kings finished their year at 34-37-11 by beating San Jose 4-3 on Saturday. That total of 79 points is just eight more than a year ago, but it may feel like a bigger step since the team became was generally more competitive, staying in the playoff picture until mid-February by stabilizing its long-running goaltending issues with rookie Jonathan Quick ("Every game, he's given us an opportunity to win," said coach Terry Murray) and second-year Erik Ersberg. And Murray's focus on defense helped the team cut its goals-against by 28 (262 to 234).
"I think we're moving quickly in the right direction," said Murray. "The foundation seems to be coming into place for the start of next year, and that was the priority."
On the other hand, the team slipped offensively, scoring 24 fewer goals and finishing tied for 26th in the league at 207 goals for.
"We want to be better in the offensive part of the game, no question," said Murray. "That's an area that's a concern. I didn't think it would be at the start of the season. We were in pretty good position, pretty good shape, I thought.
"But in the last few weeks, the last month, I liked the attitude in the offensive zone. Better on the puck, cycling better, better five-man rotation. I think our defensemen are getting more involved, and that's the secondary kind of scoring that you have to have."
While the players saw positives, they certainly did not accept the idea of finishing 14th in the 15-team Western Conference.
"We didn't get it done this year," said defenseman Matt Greene. "I think guys are really disappointed. ... Nobody's saying, 'I had a good year individually.' Everybody's disappointed about making it, but hopefully we can learn from this. ...
"But I think the future's bright. You look at the awards tonight -- Drew Doughty's our best defenseman, (Anze) Kopitar's our leading point-getter, and Dustin Brown's our MVP. And they're all at least a couple years younger than me. (Brown is 24, Kopitar 21 and Doughty 19. Greene, for the record, is 25.) That's a sign that things are going the right way, when your young players are your best players."
Now, those players need to work to improve, said Murray.
"I think the off-season is going to tell a lot with the conditioning of these individuals," he said. "They're going to get better following up their season with the off-ice program, pushing themselves, getting to become men with their power, strength and endurance, and going from there."
And given the lack of scoring punch and the team's comfortable situation in relation to the salary cap, there's certainly a chance to improve the team through free agency -- though Murray shied away from calling for that.
"We need to get better with the players that are here," he said. "... The other parts that I think you're referring to, that's in house, and we'll have lots of discussions over the next several weeks."
Winners: By the way, here are those end-of-season awards Greene mentioned, awarded on Saturday:
Selected by the media:
Billy Libby Memorial Award (Most Valuable Player): Dustin Brown.
Mark Bavis Memorial Award (Best Newcomer): Drew Doughty.
Outstanding defenseman: Doughty.
Defensive player: Michal Handzus.
Selected by players:
Ace Bailey Memorial Award (Most Inspirational): Sean O'Donnell.
Unsung Hero: Handzus.
Selected by the Kings Care Foundation:
Community Service: Brown.
Selected by the Kings Booster Club:
Most Popular: Brown.

ANAHEIM -- Wednesday, general manager Bob Murray remade the Anaheim Ducks.
Thursday, the new-look Ducks started the process of seeing how the pieces would all fit together.
On the day of the NHL trade deadline -- the first for the team with Murray in charge -- the Ducks said goodbye to some familiar faces and lightened their burden of free-agents-to-be, all while trying to remain competitive in the battle for the one of the final berths in the Western Conference playoffs.
And so out went checking-line center Samuel Pahlsson, left wing Travis Moen and defensemen Kent Huskins and Steve Montador. Along with last week's trade of left wing Chris Kunitz to Pittsburgh, that means the team has dispatched five players who can become unrestricted free agents this summer.
"We knew going into the year that we had a larger number than normal of guys playing out their options and guys wanting to be come unrestricted free agents," said coach Randy Carlyle. "And the organization can't, and will not, let assets go without some form of return."
Defenseman Chris Pronger, who stayed put despite a flurry of rumors about possible trades, said the team was "a little shocked" by the changes.
"But having said that," he added, "I think guys understand that it's a business and understand the nature of the game. We got rid, essentially, of five unrestricted free agents. And you knew at some point, when you have 13 of them going into the season" -- actually, it was 14 -- "that some of them are going to have to be moved."
Arriving Wednesday were center Erik Christensen (acquired from Atlanta for Eric O'Dell, a second-round pick last year still playing junior hockey), center Petteri Nokelainen from Boston (for Montador) and defenseman James Wisniewski from Chicago (acquired with minor-league center Petri Kontiola for Pahlsson, minor-league defenseman Logan Stephenson and a conditional draft pick). All were at Thursday's practice at the Honda Center, and all are slated to play tonight when the Ducks host Dallas. That will also be the first home game for Ryan Whitney, the defenseman who came from Pittsburgh in exchange for Kunitz.
Moen and Huskins went to San Jose for two prospects, Boston University center Nick Bonino and junior goalie Timo Pielmeier.
Coupled with the latest in the ongoing shuffling of players between Anaheim and its Iowa farm team -- Drew Miller and Brendan Mikkelson went down; Troy Bodie and Brett Festerling came up -- it means a quarter of the roster could have changed between the Ducks' last game and tonight's contest.
"I think you have to prepare yourself in these situations for turnover," said Ducks coach Randy Carlyle. "I can't remember the last time we had that many players, specifically, added to your lineup for the next game. It's somewhat unique, but this is the life of a coach in salary-cap and trade-deadline situations."
To Pronger, too, the extent of the turnover was something new.
"I've never been a part of a team that made five or six trades like this," said Pronger, "so that's a little bit different.
"I think people can look at it any way they want, but at the end of the day, we're professionals and we have to play the game to the best of our abilities. If 15 guys get traded or nobody gets traded, we've got to come with that same mindset."
The 25-year-old Christensen had five goals and 14 assists in 47 games with Atlanta, and was averaging a little over 14 minutes on ice per game. Thursday, he was installed on the Ducks' top line, practicing with Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf.
"We feel that where he played today," said Carlyle, "he can give us offense, and hopefully it's a shot for him to play with Getzlaf and Perry. ... Any player that feels uncomfortable about that, I'd like you to tell me who he is. That's a nice situation to come into."
As it happens, it's not unlike the situation he faced at the start of the season in Atlanta, when he moved over from Pittsburgh and found himself playing with Thrashers star Ilya Kovalchuk.
"I came into Atlanta and they pegged me as a No. 1 center," Christensen said. "And that's sort of the role that I wanted, and was very hard on myself when things didn't go very well -- just kind of got extremely nervous and tense before a game.
"So I ended up working with a sports psychologist throughout the year, and two months, I think I've played the best hockey I have in a year and a half. But then I could never get my job back and be in that role that I thought I could be in."
What's different this time, he says, is that he's taking that role with a much more established team.
"In Atlanta, everybody talks about getting guys in to play with Kovy and taking some pressure off him," Christensen said. "But here, there's a lot of very good hockey players, and they've had success, obviously, with a Stanley Cup banner. So the pressure is definitely lessened here. Everyone knows what they're doing. It's exciting to be a part of it."
Wisniewski, coming back from off-season knee surgery, had played in 31 games, with two goals and 11 assists.
"I probably could have come back even earlier," he said, "but being my third one, we wanted to make sure I was 100 percent, which I was, and everything's been perfect since then."
He was plus-six and averaging just over 19 minutes per game.
"We feel he can step in to play in our top four," said Carlyle, "Yes, we lost Montador, who played hard and gave us a lot, but we feel Wisniewski and the way he plays the game will complement -- now we have the option of playing Wisniewski with Pronger or (Scott) Niedermayer, or putting Whitney with either of them, or putting those two together and putting Pronger and Niedermayer on the ice at the same time. ...
"We feel comfortable with our back end."
Wisniewski is clearly excited to be part of that group.
"It's a great opportunity," he said. "You have two hall-of-fame defensemen you get to learn from, and have an opportunity to play for a great organization, great team, so I was pretty happy."
Still, he said, he was a little shocked by the deal, particularly in light of how he learned about it.
"I was waiting around 2 o'clock, 2:15, 2:20,and didn't hear anything," he said, "so I thought it was over with. And then all of a sudden I got a phone call from a radio station in Toronto asking me how I felt being traded to Anaheim. I was like, 'I don't know. I'm just finding out now.'
"But I think that's the nature of the beast. I think it was a good time for me to part ways with Chicago. They were great to me throughout my whole professional career, and now it's time to flip the page and start a new one here. ...
"I felt like I was not getting quite the quality of minutes I wanted to. Hopefully I can get that here."
Nokelainen had a tough time getting on the ice in Boston, playing less than 10 minutes a game. He played in just 33 games, having been sidelined since Feb. 10 after suffering a scratched cornea in his right eye. The eye is still dilated because of medication and his vision is slightly blurry, he said, although it's improved to the point that he'll be able to play.
The 6-foot-1, 195-pound Nokelainen doubles the Finnish contingent on the Ducks, joining his boyhood idol Teemu Selanne.
"Because Teemu's been here so long, he was the guy I was watching when I was a kid," said Nokelainen, who had a Selanne poster on the wall in his room as a 10-year-old. "So I used to always follow the Anaheim Ducks. So I've been following the team and know the guys and how they play.
He admitted it's a bit odd to now be a teammate of Selanne.
"It's kind of weird when you come in and see the guy right there," he said. "But after a couple of days, it's an old thing. ...
"At that time, when I was 10, 12, he was the biggest star in Finland hockey-wise, and still is one of the biggest stars."
Nokelainen appears ticketed to fill Pahlsson's role as the checking-line center, at least initially.
"We think he can come in and play center and provide us with some size down the middle," Carlyle said. "He's good on the defense side of the puck and is a former first-round draft choice" -- by the Islanders in 2004 -- "that has some offense skills behind him. But right now, we're going to play him in a situation where we think he can provide strength down the middle."
Said Nokelainen, "Probably right now, it's the checking line, and that's fine with me. I had such limited ice time in Boston, and all kinds of injuries. I think it's a really good opportunity for my career, to show I can do a lot better and do a lot more."
So the new faces are on hand. Now it's just a matter of finding how they fit in.
"I think you've got to let five or 10 games go by to see how the new additions do," said Pronger. "They've got to have time to settle in. We've got to have time to get chemistry between the lines and defensive pairings and within the core group itself.
"But I like the makeup of our team. I think we're going to surprise some people."
Contract status: The Ducks now have six unrestricted free agents on the roster after starting with 14. Remaining are Rob Niedermayer, Scott Niedermayer, Francois Beauchemin, Todd Marchant, Bret Hedican and Brad Larson, who has missed the entire season after sports-hernia surgery.
Of the newcomers, Nokelainen is signed through next year, and Whitney has four years remaining on his deal. Christensen and Wisniewski become restricted free agents after this year, meaning the Ducks would have the right to match any other team's contract offer or receive draft picks as

Members of the Ducks wake up this morning with their team holding down fifth place in the battle for one of the eight Western Conference berths in the Stanley Cup playoffs -- a position that is a lot more tenuous than it sounds.
Wednesday's 3-2 overtime win against Calgary came in the Ducks' 57th game of the season -- more than any other team in the conference, and anywhere from two to five games more than the teams behind them in the playoff race.
The Kings, for example, have played five fewer games, meaning they have the potential to make up 10 points -- and at the moment, even though the Kings are in 12th in the West, seven spots behind Anaheim, they trail the Ducks by just six points.
Which is why the three-game homestand that began Wednesday night is hugely critical to Anaheim's playoff prospects, as coach Randy Carlyle noted.
"The points are precious," said Carlyle. "Put an exclamation point on them. The games that we've played -- I guess we're looking at three and four more games than some other teams -- obviously, when you have home games, you're trying to take advantage of your home ice. And we haven't done a good enough job of that this year."
Even with Wednesday's win, the Ducks are just 15-11-3 at home -- 10th in the conference and one point better than the Kings (13-11-6 entering tonight's game with the Flames.)
The games-in-hand situation is such that, if the teams behind Anaheim earned the maximum number of points with those games they have yet to play, Anaheim could fall as far as 12th.
Of course, the math, and more importantly the schedule, doesn't really work that way.
"All those teams that have those games (in hand), they're going to have to play one another," noted Carlyle. That makes it impossible for all of them to get two points every time they're making up a game, but it doesn't mean all of them can't gain ground.
"But with three-point games, there's usually a lot of teams that gain points in games, be it shootouts and overtimes," he said. "And that's why when we're in the situation we're in, we need to win our home games, and we need to win a lot of hockey games against the teams that are around us. And the same goes for all the other teams."
It's why the Ducks knew that extra point they earned against Calgary -- the one they claimed when Scott Niedermayer scored in the first minute of overtime -- was hugely significant.
"They're all big for us, where we are right now," said Niedermayer, who had two goals Wednesday. "We need every point we can get.
"You guys see the standings. We see the standings."
Still, whatever happens in the two games remaining in this homestand -- Sunday against Atlanta and Wednesday against the Kings -- the Ducks will have plenty of chances to cement their current position, or squander it.
There are eight teams trailing the Ducks by eight points or less in the standings, and 15 of the team's 25 remaining games will be against those clubs: three each with Dallas and Phoenix, two with Vancouver, Edmonton and Nashville, and one each with Minnesota, Columbus and the Kings.
From the L.A. perspective, the Kings' 30 remaining games include 16 against the others in that knot of teams battling for the final four playoff spots: three each with Phoenix and Vancouver, two with Edmonton, Minnesota, Dallas and Nashville, and single games with Anaheim and Columbus.
Odd way to start (and finish): The brief overtime -- Niedermayer scored just 55 seconds in -- was unusual because the teams were playing three-on-three.
"Doesn't happen too often," said Niedermayer. "Obviously, there's a lot of room to skate and I tried to take advantage of that. Got a little lucky, obviously, on that goal, but you put it on net, you never know."
Niedermayer broke in with Todd Marchant on the scoring play, flipping the puck toward the net and past Calgary netminder Miikka Kiprusoff, who had been spectacular -- with a little help.
"I was just trying to get it on net," said Niedermayer. "It got deflected, I think."
It's not, as Carlyle noted, a situation you really practice. While there are sometimes three-on-three drills, they're more about conditioning or puck possession or just breaking up the routine, rather than actually working on the situation.
"Usually when you play three-on-three practice," said Carlyle, "it's usually east and west" -- across the width of the ice -- "and you pick teams -- Canadians against Americans ... or old versus young. It's not really any format that you go with.
"We just were fortunate enough that Scotty Niedermayer made a big-time play with Todd Marchant and we got a bounce off of (Dion) Phaneuf's stick."
The overtime was three-on-three, rather than the usual four-on-four, because Anaheim's Chris Kunitz and Calgary's Cory Sarich picked up coincidental roughing minors at the end of regulation.
"It was a little different," said Chris Pronger, who started the overtime for the Ducks with Ryan Getzlaf and Steve Montador. "It's been a while since I've been in three-on-three hockey.
"But it's pretty fun. It's exciting for the fans, and you know somebody's going to be getting some chances somewhere."

ANAHEIM -- Meet Sammy Pahlsson, power-play specialist.
OK, not quite. The Anaheim forward has 52 goals in 534 regular-season games, and his third-period score Tuesday -- the tiebreaker in a 3-1 victory over the Kings that saw the Ducks add a late empty-netter -- was just the fourth on the power play in an NHL career that dates to the 2000-01 season.
"It's fun to get one," said Pahlsson, who couldn't remember his previous power-play score. "That's got to have been a long time ago. I'm usually not out there on the power play. But I've got a couple of chances here, and it's fun."
Those chances are coming with the Ducks shorthanded because of the injury to Teemu Selanne and the four-game suspension to Corey Perry.
Given his history as a defensive specialist -- one of the first called on when the other team has the extra man -- it's an unlikely role. And something of an accidental one, admits coach Randy Carlyle.
"It actually was a fluke," said Carlyle. "(Ryan) Getzlaf got a five-minute major in Vancouver, and we had a four-minute power play. ... Sammy went to the front of the net and took all the offensive zone face-offs on the two goals we scored on the power play, so it wasn't really any rocket science to go back to it." (For the record, Pahlsson was on the ice when Scott Niedermayer scored a power-play goal in that 4-3 loss, but Pahlsson's goal a minute and a half later was actually at even strength.)
It was driving to the net that created Pahlsson's goal Tuesday, as he redirected a perfectly placed pass from the far boards by Scott Niedermayer.
"I tried to get on the far post," said Pahlsson, "and (he) hit my stick, I think. It was in the air, but it went in, and that's all that matters."
It was no accident, though, that the Ducks were making use of Pahlsson's willingness to drive to the high-traffic area in front of the net.
"We had talked a little bit about getting the puck into him," said Niedermayer, "because he was doing a good job in front. You're not going to get that one every time, but we got lucky. ...
"He does a lot of the tough work that isn't all the glory. But now he's out there on the power play. It's nice to see him get rewarded with a goal.
"You know, he's doing a good job. He's a gifted player, good a good wrist shot, a big, strong guy."
It was assistant coach Newell Brown who told Pahlsson he'd get some power-play time. "I told him, 'Finally, I get a chance,' " Pahlsson said.
He's under no illusion he's carving a permanent spot on this side of the special-teams equation.
"It's going to be tough when we get some guys back here," he said. "But I'm trying to help out when I get my chance."
And if he helps out enough, well, who knows? Maybe he can help provide a spark the Ducks have sometimes lacked.
"If he continues to win face-offs and goes to the front of the net" said Carlyle, "and we execute to that level, he's going to be hard to move out of that position."
The kids were all right: The Kings had four players in the World Junior Championships, and all four left the tournament in Ottawa with medals:
Thomas Hickey and Colten Teubert winning gold with Canada, Oscar Moller taking silver with Sweden, and Viacheslav Voynov claiming a bronze with Russia.
Moller -- the one player who is part of the Kings' present, rather than their future -- had a goal, three assists and was minus-two as Sweden's team captain. Kings coach Terry Murray has no doubts he'll benefit from that experience.
"It should have a real positive effect on him from the leadership side of things, I think," said Murray. "He was the captain of the team, an impact player for that team that was one of the favorites to win, and they did get to the final. So I think the overall effect on his view of the game and his leadership skills, it's gonna definitely be a positive for him. ...
"Obviously, when you go to the final you did a good job. I'm sure it's something he'll look back on and something he'll continue to grow with, with his country."
Moller, who has six goals and seven assists in 30 games with the Kings, could rejoin the team for Thursday's game with the Ducks.
"He's a young guy and I know he's going to say he feels OK," said Murray. "But we'll just decide."
Hickey and Teubert played together as the shut-down defensive pair for Canada -- meaning they were sent against the other team's top forwards -- which might have something to do with why Hickey was minus-four and Teubert was minus-three on a team that outscored opponents 45-12. Hickey had three assists in Canada's six games, and was named the player of the game in the Dec. 29 game with Germany, while Teubert had no points in the six games.
Murray, understandably more concerned with the present than the future, didn't see much of the junior tournament.
"I watched a couple of games, sporadically," he said. "A period, two periods.
"I know they were important players for the team, Teubert and Hickey. I was watching TSN" -- Canada's version of ESPN -- "one morning and they had a segment on those two players in particular and the importance they were going to play for that hockey club, in shutting down top lines on the opposing team. This was in the middle of the tournament. So I know they were key players.
"Hickey's the captain of the Canadian team, and Teubert's a big strong guy that's gonna play hard and did play hard in the games I saw. His matchups were almost overwhelming at times in the battles along the boards. It was a great experience for those kids."
The fourth Kings property, Voynov, finished with a goal and three assists in seven game and was plus-one.

ANAHEIM -- The most atypical thing about the start to the Ducks' season is that the home-ice advantage hasn't been one.
"This has been our happy place the last three or four years," noted forward Teemu Selanne. "Our home record this year has been really different."
Even with Monday's 4-1 win over Colorado, the Ducks are just 6-6-2 at the Honda Center, where they've been 80-25-18 (a .724 percentage) over the last three seasons.
If they were similarly mediocre on the road, this might not be that noteworthy. But away from home, they're 6-2-1, and have an active streak of seven straight road games in which they've earned points (6-0-1).
And so, entering Monday's game, there was a growing sense of urgency for the Ducks to correct their home-ice deficiency.
"Time for us to step up and make an impression in our home building," said Ducks coach Randy Carlyle. "We haven't started that well, and you can't have a successful record if you don't start well at home."
The Ducks haven't started well whether you're looking at the overall schedule, or individual games. Before Monday, they'd been outscored 14-13 in the first period at home, and had given up the first goal in six of the 13 games, going 1-5 on those games. (On the road, they've allowed the first goal just twice.)
"At home, a few games we're getting behind the eight ball early and on our heels quick," said forward Corey Perry, "and we're trying to play catch-up the rest of the night.
"Maybe we're just playing our style of game on the road, and when we come home, we have to bring that back and play our grinding style of game."
Agrees Selanne, "I think this year, on the road, we have been more focused on urgency and good starts. At home, we have been a little too loose."
Selanne also offers the theory that the Ducks may have been hurt by, oddly enough, having too many home games, or at least too many at one time.
"I personally believe that if you play more than four games in a row at home, then it's going to be tough," he says. "Because home games, you should get so excited. And you get so many in a row, you get a little flat."
should be you get so excited, and you get so many in a row, you get a little flat."
Anaheim recently concluded a six-game homestand, part of a stretch in which nine of 10 games were at home -- and the other one was in Los Angeles. The Ducks began those nine home games by going 3-0-1, then were 1-3-1.
You'll often hear players say it's easier to concentrate on the task at hand on the road, but Selanne doesn't really think that explains the disparity.
"Yeah, there's no distractions," he said. "But same hand" -- that's not a typo, but a classic Selanne-ism -- "if you look at the record last year, we are .750 at home and .500 on the road. It doesn't sound like there's distractions here."
Beyond that, the Ducks are aware of the issue, but have a hard time saying why it has developed.
"I don't know," said Carlyle. "Obviously, it's our job as coaches to take some responsibility for that. As simple as that. Whatever we choose to do to motivate our players has not been something that has been working on our behalf. We'll have to change it."
The focus entering Monday's game was to change the result by changing the start, and to change that start by building on a series of small goal.
"That's something we were focusing on going in," said Chris Kunitz, "starting with everything first (that is) good -- first hit, first shot, first save, draw the first penalty and all that kind of stuff. That's one of the reasons we kept going the whole game."
The Ducks may not have exactly followed that plan. With Nathan McIver and Colorado's Cody McLeod earning fighting majors just seven seconds into the game, it's hard to say who had the first hit, and while the Ducks had the first power play, it was hard to say they "drew" it, since Colorado was called for too many men on the ice.
But in general, they were the better team from the start, and they certainly were in the way that mattered most, taking a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Selanne and Kunitz just 3:20 apart.
Since Colorado had scored just 17 goals in its previous 11 games, that figured to be enough. And it was, particularly since the Ducks sustained the effort, and even improved on it in a second period that saw the control the play and outshoot the Avs 8-4.
"We know the potential we have in this dressing room," said goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere, "but I don't think we've reached our potential since the beginning of the year. I don't think there's one game where we can say we played a full 60 minutes that was flawless.
"There's no games that are flawless, but tonight was as close as we could be. The second period, I thought, was our best all year. We controlled the play, spent most of the period in their zone, and when you do that, things are going to go your way."

It is, of course, too early to say the Ducks have solved their home-ice problems. That would take sustained success, which has been elusive so far; the team has won consecutive home games just once.
But if nothing else, Monday's game reinforced their knowledge of the formula for success.
"That's the attitude we have to get to," said Selanne, "to get a good first period. Tied or better after the first, you have a good chance."
Said Carlyle, "It's more of that type of intensity, more of that type of overall play that we're looking for, especially in our building, because we've been able to do that historically here with this group."