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July 29, 2010

Scribe's Report Box Score Game Index October 4, 2001

MURRAY WAKES UP, BUT BURKE SHINES IN GOAL PHOENIX TIES LA, 2-2 IN KINGS' SEASON OPENER LOS ANGELES -- Glen Murray was the target of very pointed criticism by Los Angeles Kings' head coach Andy Murray during training camp because he was not putting in the effort that the Kings expected of him. The Kings' right winger has a reputation of disappearing for weeks at a time during the season, becoming a non-factor on the ice, and during training camp, Glen Murray was exactly that...a non-factor. Andy Murray publically criticized his right winger, going so far as to say that Glen Murray needed to think about whether or not he wanted to stay with the Kings. But after a three-week long pre-season slumber, Glen Murray woke up in time to put in an outstanding performance in front of a standing-room-only crowd of 18,210 at Staples Center on Thursday night, when the Kings and the Phoenix Coyotes tied, 2-2, in the Kings' season opener. Glen Murray, who scored a goal and added an assist, was a force all over the ice. He played a physical game, used his speed to create scoring chances, drove to the front of the net, and made things happen for his linemates on virtually every shift--exactly the kind of play the Kings have been looking for from him. "Tonight, Glen played very well and set a standard," said Andy Murray. "He shouldn't and we shouldn't accept anything less." "We got him the puck and he did the rest," Kings' center Bryan Smolinski said. "Glen looked great tonight." And Glen Murray, who led all players with seven shots on goal, said that he is ready to meet the challenge put forth by the Kings. "I take it in stride, it's good, I like it," said Glen Murray. "Losing Luc Robitaille is definitely a big hole for us to fill." But at the same time, facing such biting criticism is never fun. "It's a little frustrating, but you play the pre-season games to get ready for the season, and this is when it counts," said Glen Murray. "They don't remember the games you played in September." "I wasn't very happy it was said, but we cleared the air," he added. "They're looking for a lot more from me, and I'm taking it on as a challenge. If you can't take criticism, you shouldn't be playing pro sports." To his credit, Glen Murray accepted the criticism, and at least for one game, met the challenge head on. "I thought we were solid," said Andy Murray. "Our work ethic was good. We were persistent and diligent, paid attention to detail, and I thought the line of Smolinski, Heinze and [Glen] Murray was outstanding." Indeed. They were the best line for either team...by a long shot. "We were just looking to keep it simple, and score on our chances," said Glen Murray. "Our line worked well tonight. We kept finding each other out there." Heinze, the newcomer, sure had a big smile on his face after the game. "Those two guys are real fun to play with, Bryan Smolinski and Glen Murray," Heinze said. "They just work real hard, they have great hands, great vision, and great shots, so I'm just trying to fit in, and help out." And this line, albeit with Nelson Emerson on left wing after he recovers from a concussion, is expected to get a lot of ice time this season. "[Andy Murray] told us that we're going to play a ton, and he wants us to help in that role. Hopefully, we can keep doing that all year. But as well as Glen Murray and his linemates played, they were overshadowed a bit by Coyotes' goalie Sean Burke, who was brilliant, and stole a point in the standings for his team. Burke, who stopped thirty-one shots, nearly did it all by himself, as the Coyotes have little offensive depth, and it showed on Thursday night, as they capitalized on a turnover and a fluke goal for their offense. Otherwise, they generated almost nothing else offensively. In fact, it was the Kings who were all over the Coyotes in their own zone for much of the game. "He's outstanding, he really showed what he's capable of and why he's there," Smolinski said about Burke. "When a goaltender's playing like that, there's not much you can do." "We had our chances, but it's not frustrating," Smolinski added. "It's a long year. If we had those chances in the fiftieth game, we might get seven or eight goals. But it's opening night." And both head coaches teamed up to form the "Sean Burke Admiration Society" after the game. "He's an outstanding goalie," said Andy Murray about Burke. "You have to earn everything you get from him." "I can't say enough about him," Phoenix head coach Bob Francis said. "He's such a consummate pro. Early in camp, he didn't have his timing, but there was no need to panic. He worked hard to get it back and in the last two games, he's been sensational." Sensational indeed. So much so, that Burke almost completely stymied the Kings. "They've got a pretty good offense over there, and I expected to get a lot of work tonight," Burke said. "They outplayed us, but we hung in there and made plays when we had to." Francis said that his young team obviously still has a lot of work to do, but he is pleased that his team came back in the game. "Obviously, we're a little rough around the edges, but it's a good start," Francis explained. "There were some positives and some negatives, but with the game on the line, we did what we had to do and that impressed me." Scratches --------- Los Angeles: Adam Deadmarsh (groin strain; on injured reserve), Nelson Emerson (concussion; on injured reserve), Jere Karalahti (healthy), Scott Thomas (healthy) Phoenix: Not Reported Goalies ------- Los Angeles: Felix Potvin Phoenix: Sean Burke Referees: Shane Heyer, Dennis LaRue Linesmen: Lonnie Cameron, Vaughan Rody Kings' Line Combinations ------------------------ Craig Johnson-Jozef Stumpel-Ziggy Palffy Heinze-Smolinski-Glen Murray Kelly Buchberger-Eric Belanger-Ian Laperriere Ken Belanger-Randy Robitaille-Jaroslav Bednar Kings' Defensive Combinations ----------------------------- Aaron Miller-Mattias Norstrom Mathieu Schneider-Philippe Boucher Jaroslav Modry-Lubomir Visnovsky First Period ------------ The Kings came out of the gates pretty fast, taking advantage of the young Phoenix defense. But aside from the Smolinski line, the Kings' forward lines did not do much other than move the puck around the perimeter, or along the boards. They were able to maintain possession in the Phoenix zone for sustained periods, but they were not doing enough offensivel, despite recording eleven shots on goal. But the Kings did draw first blood... 1. LOS ANGELES. Glen Murray 1 (Heinze, Smolinski), 14:25 POWER PLAY Modry got the puck at the top of the slot, and threw the puck towards the net. Smolinski was in front, and tipped the puck wide right. Murray got the rebound in the right corner. Murray dumped the puck behind the net, where Heinze fell down when the puck came to him. The puck slid up the left wing boards, but Smolinski got to it in the left corner, and dumped it back to Heinze, who was just getting to his feet behind the net. Heinze then carried the puck out from behind the left goal post, moved to the bottom of the left circle, and then threw a quick pass to Murray, who was all alone in front, and had an easy re-direction into the wide open right side of the net. "[Heinze] kept his head up when he came around the corner, and I was wide open," Murray said about the goal. "[Glen Murray] got it away quick," said Burke. "I was caught flat-footed." Good puck movement on the power play by the Kings. They moved it from the right side, to the top of the slot, then to the left side, before Murray went to the front of the net. This was a very poor penalty-killing shift by the Coyotes. Phoenix defenseman Ossi Vaananen left the front of the net in an attempt to block Heinze's centering pass. That left Murray all alone in front. With the assist, Heinze recorded his first point with the Kings. Second Period ------------- The Coyotes caught an early break... 2. PHOENIX. Claude Lemieux 1 (unassisted), 2:20 Robitaille had the puck on right wing. At the red line, he tried to pass to either Eric Belanger or Schneider in the middle of the ice, but his pass was picked off by Lemieux, who went in on a breakaway from the red line in. Lemieux used a nifty pull-and-drag move in the low slot to deke Potvin out of position, and then Lemieux slid the puck into the net on his backhand, just inside the left goal post. Not a smart play by Robitaille. He did not have much space to complete his pass. The smarter play would have been to dump the puck deep in the Phoenix zone, and let the forecheck take care of the rest. 3. LOS ANGELES. Smolinski 1 (Heinze, Glen Murray), 8:47 Murray got the puck just outside the Phoenix blue line and carried into the Coyotes' zone, on a two-on-two rush with Heinze on right wing. Murray passed over to Heinze, and then drove to the front of the net. From the top of the right circle, Heinze fired a low, hard wrist shot that was stopped by Burke. The rebound bounced into the low slot, and then over to Heinze, who did a 360-degree spin to free himself. He got off a quick wrist shot, and Burke went down to his knees to make the stick save. But the rebound bounced high to Smolinski in front. He gloved the puck to his stick, and then backhanded it into the net from left crease. Great plays by this line. Murray used his speed, not only to back off the Phoenix defense, but also to create a chance off the rush, and then drive hard to the front of the net, creating traffic in front of Burke. Heinze also drove to the front of the net, and outworked the defense to get the rebound of his own shot, setting up Smolinski for the goal. 4. PHOENIX. Daniel Briere 1 (Shane Doan, Michal Handzus), 16:32 POWER PLAY A tough break for the Kings. They had taken a too many men on the ice penalty, and had pretty much shut down the Phoenix power play, until Doan got the puck at the right hashmark. He got off a little wrist shot, but his stick was hit by Kings' defenseman Aaron Miller. The puck then deflected off Miller's left skate, then off the stick of Kings' defenseman Mattias Norstrom, and finally off of Briere's left skate or ankle. The puck then bounced high, fluttering over Potvin's his left shoulder before he knew where it was. A fluke goal, to be sure. Not much Potvin could do on it. "You ask any good player in this league, and he'll tell you luck has a lot to do with it," Briere said. "Tonight was a perfect example of that, getting a piece of the puck like that. Hopefully, it continues." Third Period ------------ No scoring...the Kings let down a bit in this period, and allowed the Coyotes to mount some sustained pressure in the Kings' zone. But the Coyotes could only manage three shots on goal. Overtime -------- No scoring...the Kings dominated play in overtime, generating a couple of good chances, but they could not beat Burke. Shots on Goal ------------- Los Angeles: 11 10 9 3 - 33 Phoenix: 7 7 3 0 - 17 Power Play Conversions ---------------------- Los Angeles: 1/7; Phoenix: 1/8 Zone Time --------- Los Angeles: 7:07 7:37 7:58 1:22 -- 24:04 Phoenix: 8:24 8:58 8:02 2:29 -- 27:53 Three Stars (official) ---------------------- #3 - Heinze; #2 - Burke; #1 - Smolinski Gann's Three Stars ------------------ #3 - Heinze; #2 - Murray; #1 - Burke A good, opening night game by the Kings. Not a great one, but a good one. They were solid defensively, worked hard, and for the most part, played pretty well. But against better teams, the Kings would not have won. Some key players, including Stumpel, Palffy, Eric Belanger, Craig Johnson, and others did not do much of anything offensively. They were not working hard enough when it came to creating quality scoring chances, or were not playing physical enough to create traffic in front of the net. In fact, the Smolinski line was the only effective line the Kings had. The others were mostly a bust. Andy Murray had rookie forward Jaroslav Bednar lined up with Robitaille and Ken Belanger, and outside of a few hits by Ken Belanger, this line did absolutely nothing. In fact, Bednar only had 4:46 of ice time. Bednar, a skilled forward who can score, is clearly being misused when paired with a guy like Ken Belanger, who is known mostly for skill with his fists, rather than skill with the puck. It would probably be better to put him on a line with Stumpel and Palffy until Deadmarsh returns to the lineup, and move Johnson down to play with Ken Belanger. Although Johnson played well in the pre-season, Bednar needs to play with skilled forwards, or his skills will be wasted and will not develop and improve as they should. If Andy Murray continues to use Bednar as he did on Thursday night, it would seem clear that Bednar is destined for the Manchester Monarchs when Deadmarsh and/or Emerson return to the lineup. The Kings are now undefeated in their last eight season openers, with a 5-0-3 record, the longest active streak in the league. Next Game: On Sunday, the Kings host Andrew Brunette, Marian Gaborik and the Minnesota Wild. Game time: 5:00 PM PDT. Televised in the Los Angeles are on Fox Sport Net West beginning at 4:30 PM PDT with the "Break the Ice" pre-game show.

(C) Copyright 2001-02 by Gann Matsuda. All rights reserved. This report may not be duplicated, copied, printed or distributed in any way without permission.

Scribe's Report Box Score Game Index	October 4, 2001

MURRAY WAKES UP, BUT BURKE SHINES IN GOAL PHOENIX TIES LA, 2-2 IN KINGS' SEASON OPENER LOS ANGELES -- Glen Murray was the target of very pointed criticism by Los Angeles Kings' head coach Andy Murray during training camp because he was not putting in the effort that the Kings expected of him. The Kings' right winger has a reputation of disappearing for weeks at a time during the season, becoming a non-factor on the ice, and during training camp, Glen Murray was exactly that...a non-factor. Andy Murray publically criticized his right winger, going so far as to say that Glen Murray needed to think about whether or not he wanted to stay with the Kings. But after a three-week long pre-season slumber, Glen Murray woke up in time to put in an outstanding performance in front of a standing-room-only crowd of 18,210 at Staples Center on Thursday night, when the Kings and the Phoenix Coyotes tied, 2-2, in the Kings' season opener. Glen Murray, who scored a goal and added an assist, was a force all over the ice. He played a physical game, used his speed to create scoring chances, drove to the front of the net, and made things happen for his linemates on virtually every shift--exactly the kind of play the Kings have been looking for from him. "Tonight, Glen played very well and set a standard," said Andy Murray. "He shouldn't and we shouldn't accept anything less." "We got him the puck and he did the rest," Kings' center Bryan Smolinski said. "Glen looked great tonight." And Glen Murray, who led all players with seven shots on goal, said that he is ready to meet the challenge put forth by the Kings. "I take it in stride, it's good, I like it," said Glen Murray. "Losing Luc Robitaille is definitely a big hole for us to fill." But at the same time, facing such biting criticism is never fun. "It's a little frustrating, but you play the pre-season games to get ready for the season, and this is when it counts," said Glen Murray. "They don't remember the games you played in September." "I wasn't very happy it was said, but we cleared the air," he added. "They're looking for a lot more from me, and I'm taking it on as a challenge. If you can't take criticism, you shouldn't be playing pro sports." To his credit, Glen Murray accepted the criticism, and at least for one game, met the challenge head on. "I thought we were solid," said Andy Murray. "Our work ethic was good. We were persistent and diligent, paid attention to detail, and I thought the line of Smolinski, Heinze and [Glen] Murray was outstanding." Indeed. They were the best line for either team...by a long shot. "We were just looking to keep it simple, and score on our chances," said Glen Murray. "Our line worked well tonight. We kept finding each other out there." Heinze, the newcomer, sure had a big smile on his face after the game. "Those two guys are real fun to play with, Bryan Smolinski and Glen Murray," Heinze said. "They just work real hard, they have great hands, great vision, and great shots, so I'm just trying to fit in, and help out." And this line, albeit with Nelson Emerson on left wing after he recovers from a concussion, is expected to get a lot of ice time this season. "[Andy Murray] told us that we're going to play a ton, and he wants us to help in that role. Hopefully, we can keep doing that all year. But as well as Glen Murray and his linemates played, they were overshadowed a bit by Coyotes' goalie Sean Burke, who was brilliant, and stole a point in the standings for his team. Burke, who stopped thirty-one shots, nearly did it all by himself, as the Coyotes have little offensive depth, and it showed on Thursday night, as they capitalized on a turnover and a fluke goal for their offense. Otherwise, they generated almost nothing else offensively. In fact, it was the Kings who were all over the Coyotes in their own zone for much of the game. "He's outstanding, he really showed what he's capable of and why he's there," Smolinski said about Burke. "When a goaltender's playing like that, there's not much you can do." "We had our chances, but it's not frustrating," Smolinski added. "It's a long year. If we had those chances in the fiftieth game, we might get seven or eight goals. But it's opening night." And both head coaches teamed up to form the "Sean Burke Admiration Society" after the game. "He's an outstanding goalie," said Andy Murray about Burke. "You have to earn everything you get from him." "I can't say enough about him," Phoenix head coach Bob Francis said. "He's such a consummate pro. Early in camp, he didn't have his timing, but there was no need to panic. He worked hard to get it back and in the last two games, he's been sensational." Sensational indeed. So much so, that Burke almost completely stymied the Kings. "They've got a pretty good offense over there, and I expected to get a lot of work tonight," Burke said. "They outplayed us, but we hung in there and made plays when we had to." Francis said that his young team obviously still has a lot of work to do, but he is pleased that his team came back in the game. "Obviously, we're a little rough around the edges, but it's a good start," Francis explained. "There were some positives and some negatives, but with the game on the line, we did what we had to do and that impressed me." Scratches --------- Los Angeles: Adam Deadmarsh (groin strain; on injured reserve), Nelson Emerson (concussion; on injured reserve), Jere Karalahti (healthy), Scott Thomas (healthy) Phoenix: Not Reported Goalies ------- Los Angeles: Felix Potvin Phoenix: Sean Burke Referees: Shane Heyer, Dennis LaRue Linesmen: Lonnie Cameron, Vaughan Rody Kings' Line Combinations ------------------------ Craig Johnson-Jozef Stumpel-Ziggy Palffy Heinze-Smolinski-Glen Murray Kelly Buchberger-Eric Belanger-Ian Laperriere Ken Belanger-Randy Robitaille-Jaroslav Bednar Kings' Defensive Combinations ----------------------------- Aaron Miller-Mattias Norstrom Mathieu Schneider-Philippe Boucher Jaroslav Modry-Lubomir Visnovsky First Period ------------ The Kings came out of the gates pretty fast, taking advantage of the young Phoenix defense. But aside from the Smolinski line, the Kings' forward lines did not do much other than move the puck around the perimeter, or along the boards. They were able to maintain possession in the Phoenix zone for sustained periods, but they were not doing enough offensivel, despite recording eleven shots on goal. But the Kings did draw first blood... 1. LOS ANGELES. Glen Murray 1 (Heinze, Smolinski), 14:25 POWER PLAY Modry got the puck at the top of the slot, and threw the puck towards the net. Smolinski was in front, and tipped the puck wide right. Murray got the rebound in the right corner. Murray dumped the puck behind the net, where Heinze fell down when the puck came to him. The puck slid up the left wing boards, but Smolinski got to it in the left corner, and dumped it back to Heinze, who was just getting to his feet behind the net. Heinze then carried the puck out from behind the left goal post, moved to the bottom of the left circle, and then threw a quick pass to Murray, who was all alone in front, and had an easy re-direction into the wide open right side of the net. "[Heinze] kept his head up when he came around the corner, and I was wide open," Murray said about the goal. "[Glen Murray] got it away quick," said Burke. "I was caught flat-footed." Good puck movement on the power play by the Kings. They moved it from the right side, to the top of the slot, then to the left side, before Murray went to the front of the net. This was a very poor penalty-killing shift by the Coyotes. Phoenix defenseman Ossi Vaananen left the front of the net in an attempt to block Heinze's centering pass. That left Murray all alone in front. With the assist, Heinze recorded his first point with the Kings. Second Period ------------- The Coyotes caught an early break... 2. PHOENIX. Claude Lemieux 1 (unassisted), 2:20 Robitaille had the puck on right wing. At the red line, he tried to pass to either Eric Belanger or Schneider in the middle of the ice, but his pass was picked off by Lemieux, who went in on a breakaway from the red line in. Lemieux used a nifty pull-and-drag move in the low slot to deke Potvin out of position, and then Lemieux slid the puck into the net on his backhand, just inside the left goal post. Not a smart play by Robitaille. He did not have much space to complete his pass. The smarter play would have been to dump the puck deep in the Phoenix zone, and let the forecheck take care of the rest. 3. LOS ANGELES. Smolinski 1 (Heinze, Glen Murray), 8:47 Murray got the puck just outside the Phoenix blue line and carried into the Coyotes' zone, on a two-on-two rush with Heinze on right wing. Murray passed over to Heinze, and then drove to the front of the net. From the top of the right circle, Heinze fired a low, hard wrist shot that was stopped by Burke. The rebound bounced into the low slot, and then over to Heinze, who did a 360-degree spin to free himself. He got off a quick wrist shot, and Burke went down to his knees to make the stick save. But the rebound bounced high to Smolinski in front. He gloved the puck to his stick, and then backhanded it into the net from left crease. Great plays by this line. Murray used his speed, not only to back off the Phoenix defense, but also to create a chance off the rush, and then drive hard to the front of the net, creating traffic in front of Burke. Heinze also drove to the front of the net, and outworked the defense to get the rebound of his own shot, setting up Smolinski for the goal. 4. PHOENIX. Daniel Briere 1 (Shane Doan, Michal Handzus), 16:32 POWER PLAY A tough break for the Kings. They had taken a too many men on the ice penalty, and had pretty much shut down the Phoenix power play, until Doan got the puck at the right hashmark. He got off a little wrist shot, but his stick was hit by Kings' defenseman Aaron Miller. The puck then deflected off Miller's left skate, then off the stick of Kings' defenseman Mattias Norstrom, and finally off of Briere's left skate or ankle. The puck then bounced high, fluttering over Potvin's his left shoulder before he knew where it was. A fluke goal, to be sure. Not much Potvin could do on it. "You ask any good player in this league, and he'll tell you luck has a lot to do with it," Briere said. "Tonight was a perfect example of that, getting a piece of the puck like that. Hopefully, it continues." Third Period ------------ No scoring...the Kings let down a bit in this period, and allowed the Coyotes to mount some sustained pressure in the Kings' zone. But the Coyotes could only manage three shots on goal. Overtime -------- No scoring...the Kings dominated play in overtime, generating a couple of good chances, but they could not beat Burke. Shots on Goal ------------- Los Angeles: 11 10 9 3 - 33 Phoenix: 7 7 3 0 - 17 Power Play Conversions ---------------------- Los Angeles: 1/7; Phoenix: 1/8 Zone Time --------- Los Angeles: 7:07 7:37 7:58 1:22 -- 24:04 Phoenix: 8:24 8:58 8:02 2:29 -- 27:53 Three Stars (official) ---------------------- #3 - Heinze; #2 - Burke; #1 - Smolinski Gann's Three Stars ------------------ #3 - Heinze; #2 - Murray; #1 - Burke A good, opening night game by the Kings. Not a great one, but a good one. They were solid defensively, worked hard, and for the most part, played pretty well. But against better teams, the Kings would not have won. Some key players, including Stumpel, Palffy, Eric Belanger, Craig Johnson, and others did not do much of anything offensively. They were not working hard enough when it came to creating quality scoring chances, or were not playing physical enough to create traffic in front of the net. In fact, the Smolinski line was the only effective line the Kings had. The others were mostly a bust. Andy Murray had rookie forward Jaroslav Bednar lined up with Robitaille and Ken Belanger, and outside of a few hits by Ken Belanger, this line did absolutely nothing. In fact, Bednar only had 4:46 of ice time. Bednar, a skilled forward who can score, is clearly being misused when paired with a guy like Ken Belanger, who is known mostly for skill with his fists, rather than skill with the puck. It would probably be better to put him on a line with Stumpel and Palffy until Deadmarsh returns to the lineup, and move Johnson down to play with Ken Belanger. Although Johnson played well in the pre-season, Bednar needs to play with skilled forwards, or his skills will be wasted and will not develop and improve as they should. If Andy Murray continues to use Bednar as he did on Thursday night, it would seem clear that Bednar is destined for the Manchester Monarchs when Deadmarsh and/or Emerson return to the lineup. The Kings are now undefeated in their last eight season openers, with a 5-0-3 record, the longest active streak in the league. Next Game: On Sunday, the Kings host Andrew Brunette, Marian Gaborik and the Minnesota Wild. Game time: 5:00 PM PDT. Televised in the Los Angeles are on Fox Sport Net West beginning at 4:30 PM PDT with the "Break the Ice" pre-game show.
(C) Copyright 2001-02 by Gann Matsuda. All rights reserved. This report may not be duplicated, copied, printed or distributed in any way without permission.