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PACIFIC WAR ROOM – 3.22.16

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In an effort to keep Los Angeles Kings fans aware of the comings and goings of the other teams in the Smythe Pacific Division… we here at The Royal Half have created the Pacific War Room… a wrap-up of the past week in the Pacific from some of the best and brightest bloggers who cover Pacific Division teams. In order of the Pacific Division standings… we present the Pacific War Room for the week of March 21st, 2016!!

 

LOS ANGELES KINGS
1st PLACE, 44-23-5, 93 POINTS
@TheRoyalHalf from The Royal Half

1st off, my apologies for not having a War Room last week, as I am knee-deep in BARK MADNESS POWERED BY THE ROYAL HALF!

The only hockey related thing that had a worse week than Jeff Carter’s dogs are the Vancouver Canucks.
 

ANAHEIM DUCKS
2nd PLACE, 40-22-9, 89 POINTS
@EarlSleek

After a rough week knocked the Ducks out of their momentary division lead, Anaheim got back on track last week, winning 3 of 4 games and outscoring opponents 15 to 5. The main contributors to that winning were the checking line of Kesler, Cogliano, and Silfverberg – that trio, always given the toughest assignments, combined to score 8 of the 15 goals, and weren’t on the ice for any goals against.

Things are still being sorted on the other scoring lines, though, as various wingers, including newcomers McGinn and Pirri, have been given opportunities on Getzlaf’s wing. The offense from the top lines (except for McGinn), has been a bit slow lately, but between the Kesler line stifling opponents’ top lines and the Ducks’ league-leading penalty kill AND power play, there’s ample time to get that in order.

On Monday, the Ducks beat the Devils soundly 7-1, behind Jakob Silfverberg’s first career hat trick. Keith Kinkaid barely had time to celebrate being among the three stars of the previous week before he was pulled from the game.

On Wednesday, Anaheim dropped a game against the Rangers 2-1, but followed that up with a 4-0 win against the Bruins and then a 3-2 overtime win against the Jets, won once again by Silfverberg.

The Jets game was the first of seven straight that Anaheim will be playing against Canadian clubs – it’s a stretch that may be an opportunity for the Ducks to re-challenge for the division title, or it may just be a bunch of meaningless games waiting for the season to end. While playoff position in the division is still a bit up for grabs, it’s not totally critical. Thanks to the non-California teams in this Pacific, playoffs are assured.

California teams: 125 wins, 270 points. Non-California teams: 118 wins, 268 points. :)

This post has been brought to you by NHL ketchup.


 

SAN JOSE SHARKS
3rd PLACE, 41-25-6, 88 POINTS
@sharkdressedmen

Sharks took out the Bruins and Rangers, chasing King Henrik from the net. However, they split games against the Coyotes and lost a game in the middle of the week on pure, unadulterated bullshit that came in the form of 2 disallowed goals. The first was for an offside that occurred, I shit you not, literally 50 seconds before the goal was scored; the second came from Chris Tierney sliding into the area in front of the net and the puck happened to bounce off of him. In addition, defenseman is still Marc-Edouard Vlasic is day-to-day and forward Matt Nieto is out 3-4 weeks with a broken hand.

Tierney Goal.gif

If that is a no goal, this can be a write up.

Next week the Sharks see the Blues, Oilers, and Stars. They can clinch a playoff spot with one more win or a Coyotes’ loss.
 

ARIZONA COYOTES
4th PLACE, 31-34-7, 69 POINTS
@CataCarryOn

WAITING FOR THE DRAFT LOTTERY
 

CALGARY FLAMES
5th PLACE, 31-36-6, 68 POINTS
@MikeFAIL from Flames Nation

Where did these Calgary Flams come from this past week? I don’t get it at all. Beating the St. Louis Blues 7-4 was impressive in it’s own right. Those putrid stray-dog eating schmucks who jug their own pee had it coming. I mean if Ryan Reaves can get away with a headshot and David Backes, noted expired mayonnaise chugger can throw tantrums then I don’t know what is in the rule book anymore.

It gets better though: they beat those useless Atlanta Thrashers too. So if the Jets end up drafting the pride of Arizona (Auston Matthews) then I think we can safely assume the Flams are getting a thank you letter in the mail. Probably something along the lines of:

Oh hey there, guys! Gord on ya for helpin’ us out dere with that loss back in March. My mum and dad, Gord and Gordette Cheveldayoff can’t thank ya enough eh? The entire Winnipeg Jets franchise is on the up-and-up now because of Auston, eh. We’re performing like that Tim Hortons on the corner of Portage and Main — that one always sold out of the honey crullers. Now that we got dat dere golden boy from America we’re going to beat everyone.

Anyhoo, just figured we’d write you hosers and thank ya again. Come on dere to the rink sometime for a pickup game of shinny against our boys and a few brews, eh? Or we can play a game out on the bonspiel behind me mum and pa’s place. Have a real gord day! – Kevin Cheveldayoff

Besides blowing the two goal lead they had we were likely one prolonged incident away from Mark Giordano fighting Jarome Iginla. Which would have been incredibly amazing to witness except Iggy would have killed him and that would have been disappointing. No one screws with Jarome. No one. But hey, they redeemed their #NeverQuit attitude against the Habs, who are just an amalgamation of all of Quebec’s trash. So, even if things have been rough this season, at least we’re not Montreal.

Good things that happened this past week:

  • Michael Frolik and Mikael Backlund continue to prove that I was right back in July.

That’s really about it. Is it the Draft yet?
 

VANCOUVER CANUCKS
6th PLACE, 27-32-12, 66 POINTS
@JDylanBurke from Canucks Army

WAITING FOR THE DRAFT LOTTERY
 

EDMONTON OILERS
7th PLACE, 29-39-7, 65 POINTS
@JSBMjeanshorts from Oilers Nation

What did we learn this week?

A) Don’t make Darnell Nurse mad.

B) Connor McDavid continues to be a Boy Wonder who excels in the dark arts.

C) The Royal Baby isn’t the ONLY ONE who can predict things with alarming accuracy!

And D) All the good draft picks are coming to Canada this year. DON’T EVEN TRY TO STOP US!
Screen Shot 2016-03-14 at 12.05.12 AM

Connor McDavid has 35 points in 34 games played, still sitting 7th in rookie scoring. This has been your weekly Connor McDavid update.
 

TRH WILD CARD WATCH™

Screen Shot 2016-03-22 at 10.07.20 AM

Trust me, it’s not going to take Calgary losing a game for that to happen.

Thanks to all the amazing Pacific Division Bloggers. Check back next week for another edition of Pacific War Room! You can check out past editions of Pacific War Room here!

The Royal Half has been a Los Angeles Kings fan since 1988 and a Half-Season Ticket Holder since 2002. He has seen the following goaltenders play in person for the Los Angeles Kings… Kelly Hrudey, Grant Fuhr, Byron Dafoe, Jamie Storr, Stephane Fiset, Felix Potvin, Cristobal Huet, Roman Cechmanek, Mathieu Garon, Adam Hauser, Jason LaBarbera, Barry Brust, Sean Burke, Dan Cloutier, Yutaka Fukufuji, Jean-Sebastien Aubin, Erik Ersberg, Jonathan Bernier, Jonathan Quick, Ben Scrivens and Martin Jones. You can follow The Royal Half on Twitter @TheRoyalHalf.
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