Kings vs. Blackhawks: Insanity

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome. It's starting to look like Terry Murray's motto. Same line-up, same system, same outcome. Once again, the Kings spent most of the night chasing the game. Once again, they lost.

If only beating the Blackhawks was this easy....

Despite the 27-27 matched tally for shots on goal by the end of the game, the Kings were badly outmatched by the Blackhawks from top to bottom. The Hawks had better puck possession, better passing, and more speed through the neutral zone. The Kings, on the other hand, have forgotten how to pass and were largely inconsistent in the speed department. Jonathan Quick, our rock so far this season, had a major off night starting with poor positioning on the play that led to the Blackhawks first goal.

Credit the Kings for hanging in there as well as they did and preventing a scoring blowout, but just hanging in doesn't get you 2 points and it certainly doesn't win championships.

One thing that does seem to work for Terry Murray is publicly calling out players to push them to perform better. Jarret Stoll's goal should help him feel a little vindicated after all the bad press he got today (nothing like the coach calling you out publicly to make you want to score).

Perhaps most surprisingly, Ethan Moreau finally played a game without taking a "horseshit penalty." I still think the team would benefit from him watching a game or two from the press box. The Kings could have used Brad Richardson's speed in the line-up tonight.

On the positive side, the Kings notched another sell out -- woo-hoo. Although somehow I think the substantial contingent of Blackhawks fans helped a bit, including these fine gentlemen in my section chanting "Let's go Blackhawks!"

A few other quick hits:

• The Penalty Box at ESPN Zone was a big hit!  Look for photos and a longer story about The Box in an upcoming blog post. It's going to be a great place to commune with your fellow Kings fans this season.

• The Ice Crew has boys shoveling snow now. That's cool.

• As much as I can't wait for Movember to be over, I love Willie Mitchell's mustache more every time I see it.

• I still miss this guy. 

Hey there, Papa OD....

The Kings are back in action Monday at home against the San Jose Sharks. Let's hope we can stop the insanity and win at least one more game before November is over.

GO KINGS GO!