Facts on the Fly: 1/31/2013 Nashville Predators @ Los Angeles Kings
The Kings win over the Canucks on Monday was brought to you by the all new 40 piece McNuggets at your participating McDonalds. Oh, and Carter who for some reason did not warrant even the Third Star of the Game at the end of the game. Carter keep doing what you are doing and you will be the First Star in our hearts for every game. When the puck drops on Thursday night the Kings will be facing the Predators for the first time in this shortened season and I can honestly say it might be time to see Bernier in net; just look at his record against Nashville and you will see what I mean, seriously, go look at his record I’ll wait. I look forward to seeing some of you at the game, it was nice meeting a couple of new faces the past game.
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1/31/2013: Nashville Predators @ Los Angeles Kings
On 12/10/2002; Kings goaltender Felix Potvin recorded his 14th and final shutout as a King, he ranks third all-time on the Kings shutout list. Potvin recorded 19 saves in a 3-0 win in Nashville. The Kings maybe having problems on the special teams but not on that night, all three goals were scored on special teams with Ziggy Palffy and Adam Deadmarsh scoring power-play goals and Eric Belanger adding a short-handed goal.
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Luc Robitaille would record his 13th career hat trick against the Predators in Nashville as the Kings defeated the first-year Predators, 4-3; this happened on 4/12/1999.
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On 11/5/2005; The Kings recorded their first ever shootout game win, 3-2 over Nashville at home. Pavol Demitra (RIP) and Jeremy Roenick scored in the shootout and goalie Jason LaBarbera was the goalie in net to record the win.
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The Predators have a relatively short history as a franchise and I have already done a segment on the Dixie Flyers who were the forerunners of the current team. But in doing a little more digging I came up with another team that one played in Nashville and they actually had some names on the team that many of you will recognize. The team is the Nashville South Stars, and yes, they were an affiliate of the Minnesota North Stars.
The Nashville South Stars were a professional team in the Central Hockey League (CHL) for the 1981-82 season; after that they then played in the Atlantic Coast Hockey League (ACHL) for the 1982-83 season and part of the 1983-84 season they would eventually move the franchise and become the Virginia Lancers.
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One of those names you may have recognized is Bob Suter. He was a defenseman on the U.S. gold-medal team in the 1980 Olympic Winter Games. Ryan Suter, his son, was the first-round draft choice of the Nashville Predators in 2003.
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The South Stars had a right wing by the name of John Tortorella that played for the team in the 1983-84 ACHL season. The very same Tortorella that coached the Tampa Bay Lightning to a Stanley Cup in 2004; and is currently the head coach of the New York Rangers.
(Image of Tortorella)
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The South Stars played at Municipal Auditorium, the seating configuration was such that spectators who were seated more than a row back in the seats that were above and behind the goal lines could not even see the nets.
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The 1971/72 LA Kings team is next on tap for the trip down memory lane.
The 1971/72 LA Kings continued to play subpar hockey, they would finish with a record of 20-49-9; ending up 7th in the West Division. The teams longest win streak of the year was two games.
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http://kings.nhl.com/ext/kings_histo...team_photo.jpg
During the season the team was in trades that involved 16 players, among those trades was one that saw Defenseman Dale Hoganson and goalie Denis DeJordy go to Montreal. All would be good in the end though, the Kings got a guy named Rogatien Vachon.
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Future Kings coach Bob Pulford was on this team, he played in 73 games and ended up with 13 goals and 24 assists.
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On Christmas Day 1971, the Kings and California Golden Seals played what would be the final Christmas Day game in the NHL.
Did you knows for those who want to be in the know.
Did you know that the Kings have had 16 Hall of Famers that have played for the team at one time or another?
Did you know that Willie Mitchell was Captain of the Minnesota Wild from December 2005 to January 2006 as part of the rotating captaincy of the team?
(Image of Mitchell)
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Did you know that the above team gives me reason to talk about one of my favorite Kings of all time, Butch Goring? I know this was after his career was over, but NHL great Mike Bossy stated on a 2010 episode of TSN's Off The Record that more than likely Goring is the originator of the NHL's tradition of growing a beard in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
(Image of Goring)
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_GsRMYpknON...ng%2520cup.jpg
Trivia question for the day is this: I know we make fun of the Coyotes for their lack of attendance, but what was the attendance for that final Christmas Day game between the Kings and Seals?
Sources: LAKINGS.com; NHL.com; TSN.ca; HOCKEY-REFERENCE.com; HOCKEYDB.com; GOOGLE IMAGES
