Matt Greene

LOS ANGELES AND EL SEGUNDO, CA—With the 2011 National Hockey League All-Star festivities in Raleigh, North Carolina now just a fading memory, players are returning to their teams facing the uphill climb that is otherwise known as the stretch drive to the playoffs.

The Los Angeles Kings have never won a Stanley Cup.

They’ve only won one Conference Championship and one Division Championship in their 43-year history; and yet, they are on the verge of a virtual stranglehold of the very tumultuous Pacific Division.

They have a young team with strong veteran leadership. Their offense combines the strong, scoring power forwards of Dustin Brown and Jarret Stoll with the finesse, accuracy, and experience of Marco Sturm and Michal Handzus. 

The Los Angeles Kings lost to the Phoenix Coyotes 2-0 last night.

The Kings played what may have been one of their best games in a while.

They put plenty of pressure on the Coyotes and spent plenty of time in the Phoenix zone.

The offense and defense both worked hard throughout the contest. Indeed, the Kings outshot the Coyotes 36-15. The 15 shots against are a season low. (The franchise low is 10.)

Defenseman Willie Mitchell even had a number of great opportunities near the start of the game.

LOS ANGELES — Losers of six of their last seven games heading into their January 13 contest at Staples Center in Los Angeles against the St. Louis Blues, the Los Angeles Kings have blown a huge opportunity.

LOS ANGELES — Last season, the Los Angeles Kings tantalized their long-suffering fans with a 101-point regular season and their first playoff appearance since 2002. To top it off, they got off to a blazing hot start in 2010-11, earning a 12-3-0 record in their first 15 games.

But then the wheels fell off the cart in November, with the Kings losing seven out of eight games from November 15 to November 29.

LOS ANGELES AND EL SEGUNDO, CA—To this point in the 2010-11 season, if anything is clear about the Los Angeles Kings, it is that other teams view them as one of the best teams in the NHL, and that is showing up in terms of physical play, as many opponents are going into games against the Kings trying to get them off their game through physical intimidation.

A Kings fan's diary, week of March 22, 2010

Monday, March 22: 4-3 OT Win At Home vs. Colorado Avalanche

7:30pm: Game time. This begins the need for "playoff mode" attitude. No mercy.

9:40pm: Ryan Smyth scores to put the Kings ahead 3-2. Yes. Yes. Yes. Two points here we come.

9:55pm: Kings allow late goal with 10 seconds left to send game into overtime. Words which cannot be displayed on Bleacher Report. Is this really happening? Is the season unraveling before my eyes inside Staples Center?