Kings open preseason with 5-0 victory

[Dempsey]

Rudiger Wilson
LA Times (AP)

The Kings' preseason got off to a hot start as Los Angeles put five shots past David Aebischer in the teams 5-0 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night.

"You like to win whether it's preseason or regular season" said winger Todd Bertuzzi, who had three assists. "It's a good way to kick things off."

Fans are already wondering how the Blue Jackets goaltending will hold up this year, as Aebischer surrendered the five goals on just fifteen shots. Kevin Weekes entered the game at 12:52 of the third period and faced just one shot in his 7 minutes.

The Kings now travel to Vancouver to face the Canucks tonight.

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[Atlanta GM]

Kewl Picture... American Phsyco is a kick ass movie! Love those business cards!

 

[Hossa]

Rudiger Wilson
LA Times (AP)

The Kings' preseason got off to a hot start as Los Angeles put five shots past David Aebischer in the teams 5-0 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night.

"You like to win whether it's preseason or regular season" said winger Todd Bertuzzi, who had three assists. "It's a good way to kick things off."

Fans are already wondering how the Blue Jackets goaltending will hold up this year, as Aebischer surrendered the five goals on just fifteen shots. Kevin Weekes entered the game at 12:52 of the third period and faced just one shot in his 7 minutes.

The Kings now travel to Vancouver to face the Canucks tonight.

Don't get too cocky. The Canucks gave the Avs a good fight, and Niewendyk and Donovan seem to have developed an instant chemistry. Watch out Big Bert and company.

 

[Dempsey]

Canucks Escape With Tie

Canucks Escape With Tie

Rudiger Wilson
LA Times (AP)

Todd "Big Bert" Bertuzzi could not be contained in Vancouver Sunday night, as the winger posted two goals, six shots and was a +1 in the Kings' 3-3 tie with the Canucks. LA had a whopping 44 shots to Vancouver's 29, but goaltender Robert Esche kept his team in the game.

"A tie against a team like Vancouver wasn't quite what we were expecting, but their goalie came up huge", said winger Glen Murray who had 2 assists. "We're happy with our play tonight."

The Kings will now fly home to face the Calgary Flames on Tuesday evening.

 

[Ohio Jones]

Rudiger Wilson
LA Times (AP)

The Kings' preseason got off to a hot start as Los Angeles put five shots past David Aebischer in the teams 5-0 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night.

"You like to win whether it's preseason or regular season" said winger Todd Bertuzzi, who had three assists. "It's a good way to kick things off."

Fans are already wondering how the Blue Jackets goaltending will hold up this year, as Aebischer surrendered the five goals on just fifteen shots. Kevin Weekes entered the game at 12:52 of the third period and faced just one shot in his 7 minutes.

The Kings now travel to Vancouver to face the Canucks tonight.

To the Jackets' - and Aebischer's - credit, all the goals against were scored against a single line, that of Geoff Sanderson, Henrik Sedin and Mike Leclerc (although Leclerc was in the midst of a line change for one of the goals), with Keith Carney and Patrice Brisebois wearing goats' horns on the blueline (it's a safe bet you won't be seeing those five on the ice at the same time going forward!). The rest of the team did quite well defensively, keeping the Kings' shots low (in fact significantly outshooting them, a rarity for Columbus), but proved unable to register a single point despite 8 man-advantage situations.

Rumours out of Nationwide Arena suggest that Jackets GM Doug Emerson may be close to a deal to bring scoring help to the franchise before the regular season gets underway. No indication who from the Jackets might be involved, but Emerson's got a strong hand to play with two legit starting netminders in Weekes and Aebischer (plus Leighton - a quality young backup) in camp and a plethora of young offensive bluelieners (Pitkanen, Ehrhoff, Malec, Jones and Fast) in the system...