Kings Not Deterred by Ducks’ Tough Talk

This outrageous squawking by the Mighty Ducks about being “a better team than the Kings, five-on-five” was put to the test Friday night.

Five-on-five, the Kings beat the Ducks, 2-1.

Four-on-four, the Kings won again, 1-0.

Five-on-six, with the Kings playing short-handed, the Kings scored twice and the Ducks scored twice, bringing our final totals for the evening to Kings 5, Ducks 3.

That runs the Ducks’ record to 0-4 against those inferior five-on-fivers.

Playing at even strength, the Ducks have now been outscored in those games, 10-4.

Care to change your story while you have the chance, Todd Ewen?

“No,” said Ewen, the right winger who led the Ducks’ cocky chorus that had scorched the Kings’ ears all week.

“I thought we played a great five-on-five game tonight. We outshot them, we had 49 shots on goal, we worked all four corners, we had them scrambling at the end. It was great to see.

“We may not have the scoring punch yet to put these games away, but we have a lot of untapped talent on this team . . .

“If that’s everything they have to throw at us, if that’s everything they put on the table, we don’t have to back off from anything we’ve said.

“We can get better. And when we do, we can win these games.”

Many of the Ducks felt they won this one, or at least tied it, given that potential goals by Joe Sacco and Shaun Van Allen were disallowed--with only Sacco’s receiving a trial by the video judge.

Van Allen’s attempt to poke the puck past Kelly Hrudey through a scrum in front of the net was most controversial because of the timing (4:36 left in the third period), the circumstance (Ducks down by a goal, 4-3) and the lack of a replay ruling when the play cried out for one.

Troy Loney, stationed alongside the left goalpost, began the flurry with two quick jabs that Hrudey turned away. The puck skittered in between legs through the crease toward Van Allen, who pushed it inside the right goalpost, onto the goal line and, possibly, beyond the line before a lunging Hrudey could cover the puck with his glove.

“Tie game,” Loney declared in the Duck dressing room. “The puck’s in the net.”

Upstairs in the press box, one replay angle appeared to indicate the puck had crossed the goal line, but officials never called for a replay review, which left Duck Coach Ron Wilson as perplexed as he was angry.

“I thought it was a goal,” Wilson said, “but even if it’s not, it was certainly close enough to request a replay. Why have a replay (camera) if you’re not going to use it?”

Loney said an official told him no replay was requested “regardless if it was a goal or not, because we had a guy in the crease.”

Well, yes, there were several guys in the crease, some of them Ducks, some of them Kings.

“Any time you have a goal-mouth scramble,” Loney said, “there’s going to be guys in the crease. That’s a silly assumption.”

Then, the play was whistled dead because referee Richard Trottier lost sight of the puck, which irked Loney even more.

“The puck pops out, I’m three feet in front of the net, I have an open net and the whistle blows,” Loney fumed. “He says ‘I lost sight of it.’ ”

Loney shook his head.

“There were mistakes made by both officials and players tonight,” he said. “That’s the way it goes sometimes--the breaks go the other way.

“Still, after a while, it can get on your nerves.”

Funny, that’s what the Kings were saying about the Ducks down the hall.

Those upstarts with the big mouths down south, after a while, can get on your nerves.

In a hilarious commercial spot plugging ESPN’s coverage of Friday’s game, King defenseman Rob Blake responded to that annoying quacking by holding his hockey stick like a rifle, taking aim toward the heavens, pulling an imaginary trigger and blowing the pest out of the sky.

On the ice, Wayne Gretzky accomplished much the same thing while holding his stick in the customary position. Two goals, three assists, a hand in every goal the Kings produced.

Sacco, just a young kid, shrugged off the Ducks’ bold bulletin-board material as “just hype before a big game.” But Loney, the wizened Duck captain, frowned and said, “I’m sure we helped motivate them with those comments. I’ve been on the other side and when you hear those things, it fires you up.

“I can think it, I can say it to my teammates, but I won’t tell you guys (the media) too often because it seldom works to your favor. Too often, you help the other team.”

The Kings don’t need that kind of help. Five-on-five, up a man, down a man, whatever, they are undefeated against the Ducks. Any other edge they can get is simply piling it on.