April 9, 2000       Kings Go Into Playoffs On A High

The Kings ended the regular season with a bang and a 4-3 OT win over the Ducks who are on their way to the golf course.  The Kings are preparing their trip to Detroit to face the Wings in the first round of the 2000 Stanley Cup Playoffs.  Four Kings scored, but Glen's overtime goal is the one that ultimately counted, and showed Southern Calif that the Ducks DO NOT own the Kings!  "Detroit and Anaheim play a similar type of game with up-tempo forwards, so it was good to play them tonight," Andy Murray said.
Kariya scored first at 7:58 of the first, assisted by Selanne and Rucchin, but Marko tied it at 12:34 of the second period.  The goals went back and forth ... Selanne for Anaheim at 16:58 ... and Anaheim was ahead at the start of the third period.  Bob tied it again at 2:14 of the third and Blakey put the Kings ahead at 3:56 with a power play goal.  But, Selanne tied it again at 8:54 on a power play goal, his second goal of the game.  "It was a tough game for both teams to play," Blakey said. "It was a building game for us. We wanted to go out there and get into our good habits."  The game went to overtime, something the Ducks wanted to avoid, and Glen skated down the right side and lost control of the puck for a second as he reached the faceoff circle.  He wristed a shot between Hebert's pads.  "I was going down the wing and wanted to cut into the middle. I saw I was going to get cut off and I pushed the puck too far ahead of me," Glen said. "I partially fanned and the puck just went through his legs. It was a lucky goal."  And another power play goal!
Luc sat out, resting up for the playoffs, and Ziggy sat as a precautionary measure, to give his shoulder a little more time before the playoffs begin.

April 7, 2000        Kings CAN Beat Dallas ... Twice!

After going 22 games winless over the Dallas Stars, the Kings made it two in row with a 3-2 win.  The game was kind of flat, but the Kings fans enjoyed the win and 'Fan Appreciation Night', and it was somewhat intense when Dallas pulled their goalie with over 2 minutes left in the game.  "We worked for the lead, then both teams kind of shut it down," Glen Murray said.  "It wasn't exactly a playoff-type game."  He had two power play assists.  With tis win, the Kings clinched fifth place in the Western Conference and will face Detroit in the first round.  "The only good thing about that is that at least we know where we'll be
flying," Lucky said.  Modry opened the scoring with a power play goal at 7:06 of the first period.  It's his second power play goal in two games, and the Kings have three power play goals in two games.  Lappy scored at 17:13 of the first with an assist by Luc, giving him two for the night.  "It's really, really important to come out with a big run going into the playoffs, especially the way we've handled ourselves," Luc said. "We've been playing very patient.  We know there's not going to be a lot of goals in the playoffs.  Now that we know who we're going to play, we can get ready for them."  On another power play early in the second, Jere scored making it 3-0.  Kirk Muller scored the two goals for Dallas, and the Kings kept Brett Hull from scoring the goal that will have him passing his father, Bobby, for sole possession of ninth place on the all-time list.
The Kings have 92 points while Phoenix is still at 89 after a 3-1 loss to San Jose.  "When we started the season, our goal was to finish as high as possible," Andy Murray said. "With a win Sunday (in the season finale, at Anaheim) we have a chance to wind up as one of the top teams in the league. That would be pretty good for us."
Jamie stopped 21 of 23 shots.  "He played great, but both of our goaltenders are finally healthy at the same time," Andy said.  "We'll probably stick with one of them in the playoffs. But having both healthy is double your pleasure."

April 5, 2000        Steph Comes Up Big In Tie

The Kings are in the playoffs, but 1 goal a game will not get them to the second round if they play Detroit in the first.  They stole a point, well actually, Steph stole the point for them in a 1-1 tie with the Canucks. Phoenix won their game so we are now 1 point ahead of them for fifth place.
Vancouver outshot the Kings who are without Ziggy, Blakey and Bryan  37-20--24-11 after second and completely dominated the offensive chances.  But Steph kept us in the game with several huge saves.  "You never want to play without those guys," OD said. "But instead of folding, we are taking what we have and making the most of it.  We had a lot of guys playing out of position, but we held our own. hat builds character."
Mark Messier opened the scoring in the second perod, but Mo scored six minutes later with a blast from the point to tie the game.  It was a power play goal, something the kings haven't seen much of lately.  That's what Blakey does best, but he's out with a bruised knee.  "I tried to put the puck on the net and maybe a rebound or a deflection would be out there.  Sometimes you get a little lucky," Modry said.  "It went off a player's skate and went in.  That's a good break for us."
Steph was the story of the night, the player of the game.  He made save after save all night long, using anything he had to.  Blocker, pads, glove, stick, mask, and a post!  "I'm going to have to go out there and talk to (the goalposts).  That's luck," Steph said.  "Sometimes you have the bounce with you and sometimes you don't. Tonight, I had the bounce on my side."   He has given up only four goals in his last four starts, and he stopped Brad May and Todd Bertuzzi, who were not bothered by defense and second-period blasts by Trent Klatt and Peter Schaefer.  Steph saved his best stops for Todd Bertuzzi, who was robbed repeatedly on point-blank shots throughout the game.  "Everybody was talking about the effort he has been giving us," Andy said. "This time of year you need a hot goaltender. Fiset hasbeen great for us."
Kings are 3-1-4 in the last eight games. "Our team showed a determined defensive effort," Los Angeles
coach Andy Murray said.  "Vancouver just kept coming and coming.  But we were battling, chipping pucks out and trying to maximize the resources we did have."

Steve Reinprecht played in his first NHL game.  "I'm nervous and a little sacred," he said.  "I don't want to think about this being a dream come true, but I know it is."  He had a face-off in our end against Messier, and won it.

April 3, 2000        Kings Lose Game and Lose Bryan

With three regular season games left, the Kings are still in fifth place in the Western Conference, but with a 2-1 win over the Kings, the Coyotes have clinched a spot.  Worse than the loss, is the possible loss of Bryan.  With 17 seconds left in the game, we was trampled by Travis Green, and may miss the rest of the season.  He has come back to L A, and will be evaluated today.  Bryan is one of only two Kings players to have played in every game this season, the other being Matty.  But now that's in jeopardy.
The first period was scoreless, and Glen put the Kings on the board when he took a pass from Stumpy on a two-on-one break at 4:16 of the second period. The shot was one of only three the Kings had all of the second.  "When you look at the last two games, we haven't had a lot of shots, and it's tough to score without shots," Glen said.  But Dallas Drake tied it at 10:30 of the second, and Trevor Letowski scored the game winner at 8:54 of the third.
Phoenix had two early power plays, and Jamie stopped seven shots in a 3:27 stretch.  Although he hadn't played in a while, Jamie was solid.  The Kings were without Blakey who was resting a bruised knee, but is expected to be back before the playoffs begin.  Ziggy is also expected back for the playoffs.  Right now it's uncertain whether Bryan can play.  "This really hurts us," said Glen, who generally plays on the line  with Bryan.  "Having Blakie out too, we're going to have to find a way to score."  Now we will just have to wait and see what happens.  "It just means another person has a chance to step forward," Andy Murray said.

April 2, 2000         Kings Sign Another Free Agent

The Kings signed college free agent defenseman Mike Pudlick to a contract for the 2000-2001.  Pudlick, 22, had eight goals and 30 points in 40 games during his sophomore season at St. Cloud (Minn) State.  The 6' 3", 190 pound native of Blaine, Minn will finish classes before reporting to the Kings.

April 1, 2000         Kings Sign Free Agent

The Kings signed college free agent center Steven Reinprecht, who led the nation in scoring with 26 goals and 66 points for wisconsin.  The 6 ft, 190 pound native of Edmonton was a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award.

April 1, 2000         Can You Say Playoffs, Baby?

This ain't no April Fools Day joke!
The Kings beat the Mighty (?) Ducks of Anaheim 2-1 to clinch a playoff spot for only the second time in seven years.  The Ducks are still fighting for a spot.
The Kings first shot on net was at 4:29 of the second period when Kelly put it past Hebert, 62 seconds after Andy called a timeout.  Andy has used his timeouts wisely throughout the season, and tonight was no exception.  "It's harder on the other goalie -- facing no shots," Steph said. "Coming into the second period like that is not easy.  I'd prefer to have to face a lot of shots -- so I think Guy was feeling more pressure at the other end than I was."  Steph played solid and kept the Kings in the game through the first half.  He also made some clutch saves in the second half.  "That means a lot, especially against the Ducks," Steph said. "Why we have problems with them, we don't know.  We played hard tonight and if we keep playing like that, we won't have any more problems with them."  Steph also stopped Teemu Selanne on a 2-on-1 midway through the third period and a Ducks' power play in the final minute with a kick save on Tverdovsky's blast from the right point. "(The 2-on-1) wasn't too hard," Fiset said. "They had a good scoring chance. I was concerned about a rebound shot, but that didn't happen."
But Lappy was the player of the game.  He scored his first game winning goal with 11 minutes left in the game when he won a faceoff back to Blakey and rushed to the net before flipping a rebound over Hebert.  "It's special to score a game-winner that clinches a playoff spot, very special," Lappy said. "Without Stephane Fiset, we wouldn't have won."  Steph has allowed only nine goals during the Kings' five-game unbeaten streak (3-0-2), including one in each of the last three.  "Everything is so tight right now in the standings, so every game has been really important," Fiset said. "With that win tonight, I was so happy. The guys in front of me played such a great game again, so I was just happy."
And so are the fans!