Biography
Helene Elliott has been a member of the Los Angeles Times' sports department since 1989. She was hired as a baseball writer and covered the ...
The keys to their Kingdom
May 24, 2012
The Kings were five points out of a playoff spot and stood a wobbly 11th in the Western Conference on Dec. 22, the day Darryl Sutter made his debut as their coach.
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Watching Los Angeles Kings' run has been really great for Wayne Gretzky
May 23, 2012
The voice on the phone was animated, a Kings fan talking about the team's run to the Stanley Cup Final with the passion typical of their loyal, long-suffering audience.
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Los Angeles Kings never lost magic touch on road to Cup finals
May 22, 2012
GLENDALE, Ariz. — The Clarence Campbell bowl, awarded to the champion of the NHL's Western Conference, is not what the Kings dreamed of lifting or kissing or winning this season.
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Los Angeles Kings succeeding despite failings of power play
May 22, 2012
Special-teams play is considered crucial to playoff success, but the Boston Bruins won the Stanley Cup a year ago with a so-so power play and the Kings reached the Western Conference finals this spring without getting significant production with a man advantage.
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Los Angeles Kings aren't good enough to get job done in Game 4
May 20, 2012
If success had dulled the Kings' memory of what it felt like to lose, if eliminating the Vancouver Canucks in five games, sweeping the St. Louis Blues and taking the first three games of the Western Conference finals against the Phoenix Coyotes had made them forget how deeply a defeat can sting, it all came back to them Sunday afternoon.
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Kings are not used to this company
May 19, 2012
The Kings have substantially rewritten their postseason record book this spring. Now, they're poised to put a serious dent in the NHL's record book.
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Starting with Dwight King, Darryl Sutter plays to Kings' strength
May 17, 2012
The Kings had already disposed of the No. 1-seeded Vancouver Canucks when Coach Darryl Sutter flipped two of his left wings and turned a good team into a juggernaut that has trampled the best the Western Conference has to offer while moving within a victory of earning a berth in the Stanley Cup finals.
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What a short, strange trip it has been for the Kings
May 16, 2012
By the time the Kings came home to face the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 3 of the 1993 Campbell Conference finals, they had played 14 games and had traveled to Calgary twice, Vancouver twice, and Toronto for the first of three visits.
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Coyotes might have lost more than Game 2
May 15, 2012
GLENDALE, Ariz. — As the sun and the Phoenix Coyotes sank slowly in the West, the key question after the Kings' 4-0 conference finals victory Tuesday was whether the NHL, which has operated the Coyotes franchise for three years, will suspend one or more of its players for the frustration-driven fouls they committed.
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Los Angeles Kings' determination was key in Game 1 against Phoenix
May 15, 2012
GLENDALE, Ariz. — The Kings were outshooting and outworking the Phoenix Coyotes in the opener of the Western Conference finals, beating them along the boards, in the faceoff circle and by almost every imaginable measure. But through two periods the score was tied, the only numbers that mattered.
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Los Angeles Kings' Jonathan Quick remains good despite bad goal
May 13, 2012
GLENDALE, Ariz. — It was a knife to the gut for every Kings fan who was sure Jonathan Quick had ended their goaltending nightmares and freed them from screaming aloud at the mention of names like Roman Cechmanek, Dan Cloutier and Robb Stauber.
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Kings and Coyotes have overcome a checkered past
May 12, 2012
— In 2009, the Kings finished 14th in the Western Conference, one season removed from the sharp-tongued impatience of former coach Marc Crawford and slowly assembling the defensive foundation that would launch them back toward respectability.
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Los Angeles Kings' foursome knows what it takes to win Stanley Cup
May 9, 2012
Justin Williams, Dustin Penner, Rob Scuderi and Colin Fraser have traveled this path before, feeling their confidence grow faster than their playoff beards as their respective teams marched to the Stanley Cup championship.
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Kings know they'll face a Phoenix team much like themselves
May 8, 2012
Time off hasn't dulled Jonathan Quick's reflexes.
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Good times roll for Los Angeles Kings' Dustin Brown, Anze Kopitar
May 6, 2012
As the longest-serving current Kings, forwards Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar have been through the worst of hockey times.
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Los Angeles Kings have a chance to make history
May 5, 2012
What if the Kings had chosen a certain center from Flin Flon of the Western Hockey League with the 16th pick of the 1969 NHL draft instead of a defenseman from Estevan of the same league?
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Kings' Game 3 victory over Blues rewards fans
May 3, 2012
To generations of Kings fans conditioned to expect playoff misfortunes, this was a sweet and gratifying moment, their every hope realized and their every fear quashed, the old playoff ghosts put to rest.
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After down season, things are looking up for Kings' Dustin Penner
May 2, 2012
Kings left wing Dustin Penner is an enigma. He's a skillful player in the muscular body of an enforcer, a proven scorer who produced only seven goals this season, a bright thinker in a game that's too fast to ponder much of anything.
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Suddenly, the Kings can't be stopped
April 30, 2012
ST. LOUIS — The team that ranked next to last in scoring this season, the same players who generated four goals in a game only twice in a dark December that began and ended with different coaches behind their bench, shredded the NHL's best defensive team Monday and drove the league's stingiest goaltender to slam his stick against the post in frustration.
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It's plodder's day for Kings' Matt Greene
April 28, 2012
ST. LOUIS — Kings defenseman Matt Greene dashed up the right side
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Kings and Blues can't help but like each other
April 26, 2012
ST. LOUIS — The Kings and the Blues have been so civil toward each other while preparing for the opener of their second-round playoff series Saturday in St. Louis, it's almost unnerving.
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Kings 'needed' Coach Darryl Sutter, Tim Leiweke says
April 24, 2012
Ownership was "involved" in dismissing Terry Murray as the Kings' coach, but the season-saving decision to hire Darryl Sutter was made solely by General Manager Dean Lombardi, Tim Leiweke, the chief executive of parent company AEG, said Tuesday.
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Kings follow rules of playoff success, chapter and verse
April 24, 2012
The gospel of successful playoff hockey, according to Kings Coach Darryl Sutter, is indisputable.
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Kings complete stunning upset of Canucks with overtime win
April 22, 2012
VANCOUVER, Canada — Dustin Brown had long imagined what it would feel like to be on the winning side of the traditional playoff handshake ceremony in which foes who bash each other for weeks exchange congratulations instead of elbows to the chops.
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Daniel Sedin's return to Canucks complicates challenge for Kings
April 20, 2012
Daniel Sedin's return to the Vancouver Canucks had a doubly detrimental effect for the Kings, denying them a first-round playoff sweep and creating a new threat they must defuse when the series resumes Sunday in Vancouver.
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There's NHL playoff mettle — and then there's the mayhem
April 19, 2012
The enduring impression of the Stanley Cup playoffs should be the skill and endurance required to succeed during two months of fierce competition, not of Chicago's Marian Hossa being strapped to a stretcher after he took a vicious hit to the head from Phoenix forward Raffi Torres.
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Canucks need stops, so Cory Schneider tends to it
April 18, 2012
You had to know it couldn't be that easy.
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Kings almost have series zip-locked down
April 15, 2012
Dustin Brown's leadership abilities were doubted outside the Kings' locker room but not by those who sit beside him. His teammates' faith was justified. So, apparently, is his staunch belief the Kings were better than they showed while sliding to eighth in the West this season.
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Kings take 2-0 series lead over Canucks
April 13, 2012
VANCOUVER, Canada — Dustin Brown is not the type of captain who screams. He's not fiery by nature, and maybe that fueled speculation the struggling Kings would trade him before the deadline in order to turn around a disappointing season and get a better shot at a playoff spot.
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Inspired Kings bounce Canucks, 4-2, in playoff opener
April 11, 2012
VANCOUVER, Canada -- According to Mike Richards, the go-ahead goal he engineered to lead the Kings to a stunning, playoff-opening 4-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday was the product of lucky breaks.
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Kings' chances at success start and stop with goalie Jonathan Quick
April 10, 2012
VANCOUVER, Canada — As the last line of defense for a team with the NHL's second-worst offense, Jonathan Quick had no safety net while guarding the Kings' net so ferociously and without complaint.
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Playoff results will be the ultimate judgment on Kings' season
April 8, 2012
In mid-December, with the Kings foundering and scraping to score goals, General Manager Dean Lombardi reluctantly fired coach Terry Murray and hired Darryl Sutter. Lombardi's explanation was illuminating.
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No win, but the Kings are in playoffs
April 5, 2012
Nothing has come easily for the Kings this season, and their battle will continue to Saturday's season finale.
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Kings have possibilities within grasp
April 4, 2012
The Kings' journey shouldn't have been so difficult, shouldn't have been a constant struggle to score goals, win at home and stay in the top eight in the preposterously tight Western Conference standings.
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Looking at key games in final week of NHL season
April 2, 2012
Several playoff berths and positions will be decided as the season winds down. Saturday's league finale, featuring the Kings at San Jose, might determine who wins the Pacific Division and who goes home.
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There's no rest for the Lakers' weary Kobe Bryant
April 1, 2012
Kobe Bryant said he doesn't fret over bad shooting nights, and he has had more than a few occasions to worry recently. His three-for-21 performance on Saturday against New Orleans was his 15th sub-.500 shooting game in 16, but he didn't lose any sleep over it.
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USC defense has been picking on Matt Barkley
March 29, 2012
USC quarterback Matt Barkley threw his seventh interception of spring practice on Thursday and, as Coach Lane Kiffin noted, it wasn't the end of the world. It wasn't the end of Barkley's Heisman Trophy chances, either.
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This deal starts a Dodgers winning streak
March 28, 2012
For now, we can dream.
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Bruins quietly prep for another run at Cup
March 26, 2012
The New York Rangers' success has been the big story in the East, and rightfully so. The Philadelphia Flyers draw attention thanks to quirky goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov, who can be riveting or terrifying. And most hockey observers have narrowed the most-valuable-player contenders to Flyers winger Claude Giroux, Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist and Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin.
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Lakers bench steps up in win
December 14, 2007
Tim Duncan and Tony Parker were missing from the San Antonio Spurs' lineup Thursday, each resting a sprained ankle and unable to play against the Lakers.
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L.A. for less than the price of sunblock. 
