Blue Notes

You've heard of trap games? This was a trap period.

The Kings, 0-4-1 in their last five, averaged fewer than two goals a game in their first 13 contests of the season;
Meanwhile, the Rangers are scoring almost four times a game, with Jaromir Jagr, Martin Straka, Michael Nylander and Brendan Shanahan in the league's top 30 in scoring.

The Rangers eschewed their morning skate for a bike ride in Santa Monica "to loosen the legs", said Ryan Hollweg. "It was good." Maybe they should have just kept pedaling towards Mexico.

That's because the KIngs had the legs in the first, outworking and outshooting the penalty-ridden Rangers 21-5, and Brent Sopel scored twice--the first on a deflection off Blair Betts' skate and the second on a bouncer that went under Henrik Lundqvist outstretched left leg---for a 2-0 lead. Five different Rangers took penalties.

The coach was concerned before the game.
"They're in no way as bad as their record (3-8-2) at all....we're very cognizant of that," said Tom Renney. "They have had a little bit of a tough time scoring, but that's not without the appropriate work habits. So I expect a very, very hard game. I don't know if these next three teams (Kings, Ducks and Sharks) will separate themselves by the nature of their work habits and attention to detail."

Among the lowlights:

The Jagr-Straka-Nylander line was on ice for about six minutes and didn't register a shot.

The defense, falling into bad habits, couldn't clear the puck, with the chief culprits being Marek Malik, Michal Rozsival and Darius Kasparaitis.

As on Saturday, the opponent scored first. This time, the Rangers didn't respond quickly.