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.

The Kings took their annual team photo Tuesday -- prior to their only morning skate this season at Staples Center, to make use of the Kings logo at center ice in the photo -- and what was interesting about was that, had they taken one at the start of the season instead of the end, it wouldn't have been all that different.
This has not usually been the case.
The 2008-09 season has been marked by an unusual degree of stability -- compared, at least, to most of the years preceding it -- and while that almost certainly won't keep the team's playoff drought from reaching seven seasons, it does reflect a great deal of hope that better things are on the horizon.
"I remember my first couple of years here, you'd take one at the beginning of the year, and one at the end of the year," said Dustin Brown, the 24-year-old five-year veteran and team captain, "and you'd see a lot of new faces at the end of the year. ...
"My first couple of years, the key players on our team were changed over ever year. It's hard to build a team that way. That might gets result on the ice, but from a chemistry standpoint, this is the right way to do it."
How different has it been?
Well, 19 of the 25 players on the roster for Tuesday's game with Dallas were also on the roster for the season opener at San Jose back on Oct. 11. At least 12 and perhaps 13 players will appear in 70 or more games this season, indicating the core of the team has been intact from start to finish. Other than the occasional movement of players between the Kings and their Manchester farm club, the only real changes saw goalie Jason LaBarbera traded to Vancouver and forward Patrick O'Sullivan, shipped to Edmonton in the trade that brought Justin Williams from Carolina. In all, 32 players have appeared in at least one game, including just three goalies.
By way of contrast, the 2007-08 team used 37 players (including seven goalies!), with just 10 appearing in 70 or more games; the 2006-07 team used 42 (with five goalies) with eight players breaking the 70-game mark. Assuming that no one else is introduced to the mix in the remaining six games, it will be the fewest players the Kings have used in a season since 1997-98, when just 31 players saw action (and the team went 38-33-11). To find a season when more players reached the 70-game mark, you have to look back to the last playoff season, 2001-02, when 14 players reached that mark.
This stability reflects a belief the team has most of the pieces it needs to succeed, and now needs to exercise a little patience in achieving that success.
"Consistency," said coach Terry Murray, "is very important in the building process. And that's a decision that the organization made at the start of the year -- to go with youth, get those players in place, let them play and develop. And when you make that kind of commitment to yourself, to the organization, I think it means a whole lot. You learn how to win; you go through difficult times together, but you badger your way through and figure it out, and when you come out the other side, you're a better team for it."
Veteran defenseman Sean O'Donnell recognizes the commitment to development, as well.
"They have a plan now and they have people in place, for the most part, that they want to move forward with," said O'Donnell. "It's a matter of everyone getting more experience and kind of playing together. But those days of wholesale changes and 10 new guys -- I think those days are over.
"They've got the foundation here, and now it's just a matter of growing together and learning game by game."
That growing doesn't just happen on the ice, said Anze Kopitar.
"You get to know each other," he said, "and it's not that big of an age difference. So, especially on the road, we pretty much hang out together all the time. So I think that helps us bonding and getting to know each other."
Having a stable roster also has allowed Murray to get to know his players better, too.
"You know their habits, their tendencies, the areas they need to give a bigger push to," he said. "A lot of times as an athlete, you tend to put a big focus on your strengths and stay away from your weakness. So from the work side, you can put drills in place as a team, for individuals, small groups, that will put a push to the weak side of their game.
"And it's the same for the motivational part of it. ... You have your information you gather over the year on what is best for this guy, what makes him play at a higher level. What motivates him to dig in night after night? And that's the nice thing about the consistency of the L.A. Kings this year."
Now that the team has achieved a degree of consistency, what it needs is some maturity, and O'Donnell believes that will follow.
"I think the first 10 or 15 games, you know, Drew Doughty or Wayne Simmonds or Oscar Moller, those guys were still taking everything in," he said. " 'Who am I playing against tonight? I'm going into a brand new rink for the first time.'
"All those things we all go through when we first start playing, those things are starting to settle away and now it's focusing on the game that night, the practice that day. And I think as that stuff starts to come more and more, we'll be leaning on and expecting more from those guys. And they've been responding."
Inoffensive: Stability may be a good thing for the future, but there are certainly still issues in the present, most significantly the team's inability to score. The Kings entered Tuesday's game 29th in the league in scoring with 191 goals; only the New York Islanders (189) had scored fewer.
"Scoring is a funny thing," said Murray. "You have talented players, and you need to have those players who can take advantage of that one opportunity that pops up to them in a period.
"Those are your special guys, but every player can contribute in the offensive part of the game. The NHL today, with the way teams are structured and the way teams are coached, there's not a lot of great scoring opportunities that are created. ... You've got to be able to do the right things in traffic-ugly areas. You have to stake out your areas, and you have to have a shot mentality, a scoring mentality. And I think that's the one area I keep coming back to with our hockey club."
Murray pointed to Dustin Brown, who is ninth in the league in shots with 278. (In comparison, Alex Ovechkin leads with 482; just three other players are over 300.)
"We have, from there, too many players who are not putting up the shot opportunities or taking the shot opportunities. They're looking for one more better play, one more better position to get to the net, that really is not there. It closes down too quickly. ...
"It's a focus, and it's starting to come. I'm certainly seeing a little bit better in that area, but we still have a ways to go."
Kopitar, incidentally, is the only other Kings player with over 200 shots; he's at 213. Alexander Frolov is third at 163 shot. Those numbers aren't all that unusual, either; just eight teams in the league have more than two players who've taken 200 shots, although those eight often have quite a few more. The Rangers have six such players, and Detroit has five. As a team, the Kings are truly middle of the pack when it comes to shots --15th at 29.4 shots per game. (Detroit leads at 36.4; Minnesota is last at 27.4).

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

(*Updated to fix Atlanta nickname from Flames to Thrashers, thanks to an alert reader. I guess my age is showing.)

It's one of those glass-half-empty or half-full kind of questions: If a team is succeeding when it pulls the goalie for an extra attacker at the end of the game, is it a good thing?
Obviously, it's never bad to score. But having to score late to tie the game is not exactly an ideal situation.
But it's one the Kings had faced in their last two home games, and they did succeed twice. Dustin Brown tipped in a shot with 26 seconds left last Saturday for a 2-2 tie in a game Edmonton eventually won in a shootout, and on Monday, Anze Kopitar scored with five seconds left to create a 6-6 tie with Atlanta; the Thrashers eventually won that one in a shootout, too.
As far as coach Terry Murray is concerned, there's no question the extra-attacker success is a positive.
"It's good news," he said. "That happens a lot in the league. You have to execute and you want to get results, especially on the power play. That's a requirement if you're going to be a team that keeps moving forward I like it."
Kopitar noted both goals came with the Kings also on a power play, so had a two-man advantage that's significant -- "It doesn't matter if it's five-on-three or six-on-four" -- but was a little more qualified in his enthusiasm for the situation.
"It's been working for us, but we don't want to be in that kind of position any more.
"We don't want to be in that kind of position, but if it happens, it happens. I think we were fortunate to get a point out of each game. ...
Points are huge at this time of the year. Of course you want to get two. When you get one, it's not good, but at least you get something out of it."
Whether six-on-five or six-on-four, it's not a situation a team specifically practices, but it's not totally unfamiliar, either.
"It's a power-play look," said Murray. "So you're practicing your power play. Your six-on-four look is not something you practice, but you have a designated area for that player to go to. It ends up with a five-on-four attitude with that kind of rover that's available to either side of the ice."
As for who's going to get sent over the boards when the goalie reaches the bench, "It's going to be one of your top guys," said Murray. "You're looking at your top-six forwards, your more skilled players. You're going to get them out there. You've got some guys that are heavy guys at the net, and then with that look with Kopey the other night, as a rover, you usually want a pretty skilled puck-possession guy who can see the ice and make plays."
The Kings have now scored after pulling the goalie three times in 18 attempts, while allowing seen empty-net goals. Opponents have succeeded three times in 22 attempts, while allowing nine empty-net goals.
Out of the blocks: The other constant in those two games -- and others of late -- is that the Kings have been getting behind early. They trailed 3-0 to Atlanta in the first eight minutes, and were down 2-0 to Edmonton in the first 14 minutes.
"We've come flat and we'll be on our heels," said Kopitar. "All the games we're playing, the first period is not a good one; we fall behind and then we chase the game."
Murray said the problem was one he would be discussing.
"You make it a focal point in your meetings to have good starts and do the right things," he said. "But you go back over the five road games (when the Kings went 4-1) -- we talk about our starts, we talk about setting up and establishing a forecheck and making sure we're doing the right thing with the puck through the middle of the ice.
"So it's not a big change. You might repeat it a few more times."
Penalties, he noted, have also played into those starts. The goal that gave Edmonton a 2-0 lead came on the power play, and Atlanta had two goals with the man advantage in its 3-0 start.
"We talked about that specifically," said Murray. "Those are hard -- when they come early in the game, or you get a power play early in the game like against Calgary, you're not ready for it. So that's a focal point.
"You have to take advantage of those situations -- or at least, if you get a power play, establish some offensive zone time, get that confidence moving it around and get a couple of chances. ... It carries over to your five-on-five."

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."

LOS ANGELES -- The Kings missed out on the first pick in the 2008 NHL draft by the narrowest of margins. They and the Tampa Bay Lightning tied for the fewest points in the league at 71, but the Kings had one more win.
So Tampa had the advantage in the league's weighted draft lottery, ended up with the No. 1 pick, and selected Steve Stamkos. The Kings, picking second, took Drew Doughty.
As the teams met Monday night for the first time since draft day, it's safe to say that based on the early returns, the Kings wouldn't change that sequence of events even if they could.
Stamkos has struggled. A healthy scratch Friday in Anaheim, the 6-foot, 180-pound center's assist Monday against the Kings gave him four goals and 15 points in 41 games.
Doughty, on the other hand, has thrived. The 6-1, 219 defenseman leads NHL rookies in ice time (23 minutes, 57 seconds per game, the only rookie over the 18-minute mark, as well as the highest figure on the KIngs). He's played in every game this season -- a streak that may be in jeopardy after he left Monday's game after a second-period hit by Evgeny Artyukhin. (The initial report is that he suffered a thigh contusion.)
Doughty has regularly seen special-teams action, has three goals and 12 points, and in general is doing a lot more than you'd expect from a 19-year-old playing a position where players are traditionally slower to develop.
"Coming in, I knew I had a chance to make the team," said Doughty. "I knew it was going to be tough, but I did everything I could just to make the spot mine. ... I thought the first couple games I played all right, and as every game's gone on, I think I've just been improving every game."
He never expected to play such a key role.
"I thought I'd be playing maybe 10 or 12 minutes, if that, even," he said. "But now that I'm playing in all situations -- power play, penalty kill and all that -- it's been awesome, and I think the more I play, the better I do. So I think it's been good for me."
Doughty, who developed a friendship with Stamkos through their play on a couple of Canadian age-group national teams and through their media responsibilities with the draft, downplayed the meeting of the two top picks of 2008 -- as did those around him.
"That really doesn't mean too much to me," said Doughty.
Which is as it should be, said coach Terry Murray.
"I hope it's not a measuring stick kind of a situation," said Murray. "He's just a good young player on our team that needs to continue to play his game. ... We're halfway through the year, and I hope because we're playing Tampa Bay with Stamkos on there that he doesn't feel he has anything he has to prove."
The reality is that if Doughty does have anything to prove as a No. 2 pick, he's been proving it since he arrived at training camp in September.
"You look at a player that's young and has those kind of credentials," said Murray, and the first question is "is he going to be physically strong enough to be able to compete against the NHL players, against the men in the game?
"And we saw shortly after, that that ability to play the game was there, that he could compete, that he was so intelligent with his body positioning, when he had forecheck pressure, just to do the right things that veteran players do.
"So he impressed us soon after getting going in the training camp and the exhibition games."
He's impressed a lot of people since.
"Going in, everyone's just wondering if he's going to make the team," said team captain Dustin Brown, "and then he kind of gets settled into his role.
"I don't think, if you asked anybody (at the start if) they thought he'd be playing this much and being involved in every situation, I don't think anybody would have said that.
"But that's just how sometimes it goes and he's proven he's capable of doing it."
Ducks coach Randy Carlyle -- winner of the Norris Trophy in 1981 as the NHL's best defenseman -- said the first thing that jumps out is Doughty's "composure with the puck.
"He has a lot of patience with the puck," Carlyle continued. "He doesn't seem to be ever in a panic situation when he has it. He looks people off, he has a good set of hands, and he's got skills. He's got great hockey sense."
Kings defenseman Matt Greene -- who has taken Doughty in as a roommate to help him through the adjustment to life on his own -- is impressed with the rookie's ability to handle a crucial defensive role.
"The biggest thing is he's playing a top, shut-down role," said Greene. "He's out there most of the time against the other team's top players. So he's taking care of his own end first and then he's jumping."
While Doughty shows occasional flashes of notable offensive ability, and Greene thinks he may eventually provide more in that department, he also says it's not something Doughty really needs to add to his game.
"I'd take what his offense is right now," said Greene, "as long as he keeps playing the same sound defense that he is. I think that's what's really special about him.
"He might not be Paul Coffey going end to end all the time, but I think he's a little more like Ray Bourque, where his own end is always taken care of."
Murray understandably blanched a bit at hearing those two Hall of Famers used to describe Doughty, even in passing.
"He's just Drew Doughty," said the coach. "That's what he is. He's going to be his own player.
"He's going to be a real premier player as he gets to his peak years."
When and if that happens, Murray believes Doughty's current teammates will deserve significant credit. In the same way it takes a village to raise a child, it apparently takes a locker room to help a rookie make the transition to the NHL life.
"That's a part of the game sometimes that young guys struggle with, because the veteran guys don't help out," said Murray. "There's always teams that go through that, and sometimes veterans do not want to relinquish any of their authority on the team, their ice time in playing, and that can really push a young guy backwards quickly.
"And this group has been just the opposite. They've encouraged him, patted him on the back, patted him on the pads, (said) good job. And also, away from the rink ... taking him to dinner and helping him settle get settled into the community and making him feel a part of this team."
If that's a team-wide effort, the three key players have probably been Sean O'Donnell on the ice, and Brown and Greene off it.
The veteran O'Donnell, acquired from Anaheim in trade just before the season opener, has been Doughty's on-ice defense partner, and has helped Doughty's development "a great deal," Murray said, "just from the composure side of games, talking with him on the bench, talking with him in practice, and the little subtle things about cutting the ice and reading the angles, reading off each other.
"(And) the physical support. Sean O'Donnell is a great guy, a big body guy that if somebody comes after him ..., O'Donnell goes right to the player right away and sends a message that it's just not something we're going to allow. That from a young player's point of view is very important, to see that team support."
Brown is Doughty's roommate on the road, and has also played something of a mentoring role, said Murray, by virtue of his own experience as an 18-year-old in the NHL.
" I think Brownie's been great in helping him avoid a lot of those little potholes, I guess, along the way," said Murray.
Brown said he emphasizes the importance of being physically responsible to deal with the transition from junior hockey to the NHL, getting the right amount of rest and eating properly.
"He seems to be adapting well," said Brown, "to that transition of playing 80 games -- 80 games that are a lot harder than the 60 games he played in junior, that's for sure; at least, a lot more physically demanding.
"He's playing upward of 25 minutes a night, so that's a lot of ice time. On the road, trying to take care of your body -- that's one thing I think he's done a pretty good job of."
Certainly, it's a message Doughty has picked up.
"When we get out of the rink, we don't want to think too much about hockey," he says. "... (But) it's kind of impossible not to think about it, because you've got to be resting, you've got to be eating healthy, you've got to be getting your proper sleep in."
Because of that desire to get away from the game, Greene and Brown both say they don't talk too much about the game with Doughty when they're at home or in the hotel. But some discussion is inevitable.
"We talk about certain aspects of it, I guess, or certain plays when we're sitting in bed," said Brown. "We both play on the same power play, so we'll bring up certain scenarios on the power play, or a play that happened in the game that I noticed something, or he was asking about, or something he noticed. ...
"It's not, probably, the No. 1 thing that we talk about, but there's definitely some instances when we discuss certain scenarios."
While Doughty has plenty of experienced teammates to offer some tips, he says the best advice he's received to date is pretty simple.
"Derek Armstrong always says, 'Love the game,' " he says. "And a lot of people have told me, even though the year has been going well, make sure you don't get a big head. ...
"So I think it's really important to stay humble and realize that you're really fortunate to be playing in the NHL."
It's something he could be doing for a long time.
"Where is he on the learning curve?" said Murray. "Well, he's made great strides. I think O'Donnell has a lot to do with that, the veteran player that's complemented him, read off of him, is able to communicate to him a lot of the subtleties of the position. And certainly, his own talent has allowed him to show confidence and play the game also, to develop.
"So where is? He's moving along at the right pace, that's for sure."

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."

For a young team, why not a young captain?
And for the Kings in particular, what better young player to serve as captain than Dustin Brown?
Brown, who celebrates his 24th birthday next week (Nov. 4), was named captain earlier this month, filling the vacancy created when last year's captain, Rob Blake, signed with San Jose. He is the youngest captain in franchise history, joining a fairly impressive list; the last five players to serve as captain are Dave Taylor, Wayne Gretzky, Luc Robitaille, Blake and Mattias Norstrom.
In a sport where the captain's position is both a formal one (the captain carries a C on his jersey, er, sweater to denote the position, since it includes communication with the officials) and one with a distinguished history of leadership, it's clear the title resonates with the native of Ithaca, N.Y.
"I was excited," Brown says, recalling the announcement of his captaincy. "I looked forward to it. Me and Terry (Murray) had meetings this summer about it. I told him I wanted to take on that responsibility, that challenge. ... I'm excited about being here, and being a big part of this team and where we're going. So when that happened, it was obviously a huge honor and a lot of excitement. But at the same time, you're a little bit nervous. I mean, I've been a captain before" -- in youth hockey -- "but it's a little different at this level.
"Very few people get to wear a letter, let alone a C, in this league, so it's an honor."
And, he says, a responsibility -- "making sure people are on time, making sure everyone's prepared. A lot of logistical stuff, the way we dress, making sure everything's ready, how it's supposed to be."
Murray likes Brown as a captain because of what he embodies on and off the ice.
"He certain has got some instinctive leadership, and his heart and gritty play is a great way of showing leadership for me, for this young hockey club. We want to play the style of game that he plays -- hard work, heavy player, he's a physical player, he scores those goals that are hard-work goals.
"And the other side of it, off the ice, he has a great deal of compassion for the young guys, and for this organization. He's been here now for five years, came in as an 18-year-old, and really has a great handle on what it's like as a young player, to come into this game and onto this team, and experience it. So he's passing that along. He's helping young guys out, he's talking to them all the time."
There are certainly plenty of those players around, given a roster that includes 18-year-old Drew Doughty, 19-year-old Oscar Moller, 20-year-old Wayne Simmonds and six other players younger than Brown -- one of them, forward Anze Kopitar, one of the two assistant captains. (Defenseman Matt Greene is the other.)
"We have a lot of young guys here that haven't been in the league that long and might not know exactly how everything works," says Brown. "It's not only me. We have plenty of guys in here who can help out. It's kind of a joint effort, really."
If there's one part of the captaincy that didn't come naturally, it was serving as the on-ice liaison between the team and the referees.
"I'm used to it now," Brown says, "but I remember the first couple games, I kind of forgot I'm the one who has to go over there. Now, it's almost I do it instinctively."
In the process, he's expanding his circle of acquaintances.
"Before, I could probably name four or five referees'," he says. "Now -- I don't know 'em all yet, but I'm starting to get to know them pretty well. So now it's a little different. You kind of know them more personally."
Murray doesn't want him knowing them too well, though.
"The important thing ... is not to go to the referees too often," says the coach. "You just can't get into that kind of a habit because they stop listening after a while.
"But I think as you go through a game and you see as a team you're working hard, you're really trying hard, and you're getting, maybe in your mind, the odd penalty that you don't think you should have had, that it's good for the captain then to skate over to the referee and say, 'Look, we're really trying. We're working hard and really trying and just need a level playing field here.' And that's all he needs to say. I don't want him to get into being, quote, a whiner."
A leader? Well, that's a different thing all together.
"He's saying things in the locker room between periods that's the right stuff," says Murray, "about digging in and doing the right stuff in the system and sticking with it, and working on our game. And I really like everything that he brings to our team.
"He is a good captain, and he's going to be a tremendous captain."

First or second? Monday's 4-3 loss to Detroit was the Kings' first shootout of the year, and as such the first time to see what Murray's philosophy is on the great coaching choice of the tiebreaker: Do you want to shoot first or last?
Murray came down Monday on the side of going first. Dustin Brown and Oscar Moller were stopped, Pavel Datysuk and Henrik Zetterberg scored, and the Red Wings came away with the extra point.
"It is a philosophy," said Murray. "I've seen it go both ways. I like to go first. We have confidence in our players that we can get out and get the lead and put some pressure on teams. It didn't work tonight, but it will in the future."
The odds will be better, of course, when the opponent isn't one quite as talent-laden as the Red Wings.
"They've got some pretty good players they can put out in the shootout," noted forward Patrick O'Sullivan. "Shootouts are fun when you win, but when you lose, it kind of stings a little bit."

Good feelings: The Kings may have lost, but saw much to like in the way they played. For example, there was the basic concept of driving hard to the net, which paid off directly in goals for Moller and Kyle Calder, and indirectly in the Alexander Frolov goal that gave L.A. a 3-2 lead. (As he drove, he tried to making a crossing pass, but it went off a Detroit player and into the net.)
"We're trying to get that mentality solidified," said Murray. "It's starting to come -- get pucks to the net, drive to the net, and look for loose pucks. And two goals ended up being that. ...
"It's starting to come, and we'll keep patting away at it."
In the bigger picture, the team felt good about the way it competed, even though it squandered a lead late in regulation on a fairly egregious giveaway by Denis Gauthier.
"I really believed at the end of the night that we felt we deserved to be on the same ice with that team," said Murray. "They're the Stanley Cup champions and they've been one of the premier teams in the league for the last dozen years. ... In general, we played well. We showed a lot of competitiveness, we worked very hard, we showed intelligence, we found people at the right side on the checking side of the game."
Said forward Patrick O'Sullivan, "I think after the first five, 10 minutes, we settled into our game and saw that we were going to be able to compete with them, and we gave them a pretty good run. ...
"Overall, I think we have to be happy with the game, and we can build on it."

Welcome back.
A little late (thank/blame the Olympics, the Angels, the Dodgers), it's time to restart the online hockey notebook -- hopefully a weekly endeavor, but we'll see how that goes with other time demands, etc. Not sure if it will be an every-Tuesday event or if it's going to float around; for now, I'd suggest checking in on Tuesdays (if nothing else, I'll try to tell you when to come back) and watching for the note in the print edition.
As was the case last year, the focus will be on the Kings and Ducks.
Anyway, here's the first installment.
Stunning, and not in a good way: Never mind the final score. The most significant thing about the Kings' 4-3 loss to Colorado on Monday may have been the crowd. There wasn't one.
Since Staples Center opened on Oct. 17, 1999 with a Bruce Springsteen concert, I'd estimate I've been in the building hundreds of times. I have never seen it emptier than it was for this game.
At a guess, it was less than 40 percent full for the opening face-off, which would put the attendance under 7,250. This being L.A., fans kept trickling in for a while thereafter, but I'd be hard-pressed to believe there were as many as 10,000 people on hand. We'll never know, of course, since the announced attendance of 13,891 is based on tickets distributed, not tickets used. (Even though, you know, the term "attendance" should indicate the number of people who actually attend.)
Yes, the economy is bad. But still, it's jarring to see this few people at a game. Since moving to Staples, the team has averaged better than 16,000 every season, regardless of how good or bad (OK, mediocre or bad) it may have been.
So is it strictly the economy? Is the formerly loyal fan base sending a message that it's been turned off by one too many price increases, and one too many seasons out of the playoffs? Or, more likely, is it some combination of those factors?
And perhaps more to the point, what if anything can the team do about it?
Based on early returns, it appears tracking the Kings' attendance is going to be as significant as tracking the results. So far, those numbers aren't good. After selling out the home opener, they had an announced 14.451 for last week's game with the Ducks, which used to be an automatic sellout. Up next at home (next Monday) is Detroit, another team that historically has been good for a full house.
As for actual hockey ...
Growing pains: An 18-year-old playing in the NHL is going to have some growing pains, but the highs and lows are rarely going to come as dramatically as they did in a six-minute span for Kings rookie defenseman Drew Doughty.
With 3:28 to go in the second period, Doughty was absolutely undressed as part of a highlight-reel goal by Colorado's Ryan Smith (I'm sure it's already up on YouTube) that gave the Avalanche a 4-2 lead.
"It hit my foot first and went back to him," said Doughty, the No. 2 pick overall in this year's draft. "So it was kind of a lucky bounce on his part. But I still have to be taking the man in that position. So it was partly my fault but definitely a lucky bounce for him."
But 2:25 into the third period, Doughty scored his first NHL goal to cut the lead to 4-3.
"It was awesome," said Doughty. "It was so good to finally get that goal just to give me that boost of confidence. After that goal, I was more in the play and rushing the puck a little bit more, and so it was really good.
"Obviously it would have been better to win the game, but it was really good to get that first one."
Murray was pleased with Doughty's resilience.
"After a tough goal against there in the second period, on what ends up being the winning goal, he had no (ill) effect whatsoever," said the coach. "Just a great effort on that goal to show poise and handle the puck and come in off that left-wing side with a great shot."
He wasn't the only Kings player to get his first NHL marker. The first Kings' goal of the night was by rookie center Oscar Moller, who's much, much older than Doughty -- all of 19. He banked his in from a bad angle off Colorado goalie Peter Budaj.
"It was only a matter of time before these young guys were going to get their first goal," said Murray. "And it's great to see it happen so early in the season, quite honestly.
"Moller's goal was a veteran play, throwing the puck to the net. You never know what's going to happen. It's the right play when you make that kind of play. But it's usually an experienced guy who ends up doing it."
Not sure how they're going to celebrate their first goals, but champagne is not going to be part of the plans. Well, not legally, anyway.
Shouldering his burden: The good news for the Kings at Monday's pregame skate was that Jack Johnson was on hand. The bad news was that his left arm was in a sling, and you won't be seeing the defenseman back on the ice any time soon.
Johnson is on the mend after surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder, suffered in the Oct. 12 game with San Jose.
"I knew right away there was a problem," Johnson said. "Like any other stubborn athletes, I said, I'll go out and hopefully it will go away, and kept playing. And I knew it wasn't working for me, so there was no point in pushing it this early in the season, or this early in life, so I packed it in for the night."
And then some. Johnson said the doctors have told him to expect a three-month recovery period.
"Hopefully I'll be back sooner than that," he said. "My foot" -- a fractured right foot that caused him to miss the last seven games last year --
healed quicker than they told me it would heal, so I'm hoping my shoulder will be the same case."
The surgery fixed more than just the torn labrum, he said, calling it a "tune-up ... (I) had stuff repaired that happened to me previous years, in college and juniors, and it turned out to be something that was well needed. And I'll be better for it in the long run, better for it in three months because my shoulder will be pretty much on a clean slate again."
Quincey's case: Johnson's injury led to the acquisition of defenseman Kyle Quincey off waivers from Detroit. The 23-year-old made his debut Friday against Carolina, logging more than 21 minutes and collecting an assist in a 4-3 win. That had him back in the lineup Monday night.
"You know, the game was really good the other night," coach Terry Murray said before the game. "There's some area that he gets a little bit of that pressure-up kind of a look, and it put a little stress on us. I think there was one on the 4-on-4 where he got caught in the offensive zone, trying to make a play, but overall, his composure with the puck, his breakout, his handoffs, his vision on the ice is very good. And he has a bit of an edge to his game on the physical side of it, so I'm going to keep going with him right now."
The 23-year-old Quincey, a fourth-round pick by Detroit in 2003, averaged better than 120 penalty minutes in three seasons with Detroit's Grand Rapids (Mich.) AHL affiliate. He came into the season with 13 career NHL games over three seasons, one goal, four penalty minutes and a plus-minus of minus-3. Monday night, he played 25:47 and was plus-1.