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Facts on the Fly: 2/10/2013 Los Angeles Kings @ Detroit Red Wings 9:30!!!??? In the AM!!!??? On a Sunday!!!??? After a date night with my wife!!!??? Hopefully when the game is over the Kings will have been victorious; thus making the rest of my Sunday a glorious one. I am turning in this edition of Facts early for the simple reason that it is an early game and there is no way I will be able to work on this later tonight. The Kings are heading to Detroit for the first time this season and after the game they had in Nashville, the team needs to do something to get them going; let us hope that the edition of a new defenseman can help to infuse some new energy into the team.
(Image of Missed Greatness)
2/10/2013: Los Angeles Kings @ Detroit Red Wings
On 11/5/1967; Bill "Cowboy" Flett becomes the first King ever to record a hat trick. The Kings beat the Red Wings at Detroit, 6-4. The Kings were down 3-1 at the end of the first and 4-2 after the second. Los Angeles would out shoot the Red Wings 20-8 in the final period.
(Image of Flett)
Marcel Dionne scored four goals at Detroit on 1/13/1979 to help lead the Kings in a 7-3 win in what would be the first game that Dionne, Dave Taylor and Charlie Simmer skated on a line together to form what would become the famous "Triple Crown Line". The losing goalie for the Red Wings was Rogie Vachon. This is the first line in NHL history where each player recorded 100 points or more in the same season, (1980-81).
(Image of Triple Crown Line)
On 3/3/2001; LA King Adam Deadmarsh scores his first goal as a member of the team; the Kings won 6-3 over the Red Wings before a California-record crowd of 18,477.
(Image of Deadmarsh)
I have done many FotF on the Red Wings; going back to the days of the Detroit Cougars and even the Detroit Falcons. I have even done the early days of the Red Wings, but for some reason I have never done anything on Mr. Hockey; Gordie Howe. The Red Wings have had several great players over the years, many ending up in the Hockey Hall of Fame. But before there was Wayne Gretzky there was Howe. When doing this edition I realized there was enough stuff for 20 FotF for Howe alone, here is just a sampling and I will do more the next time the two teams meet.
The New York Rangers may not have had their long drought of not winning a Stanley Cup if they had only given a young hockey player named Gordie Howe another chance. At the age of fifteen he was given a tryout with the Rangers, who promptly cut him. A Red Wing scout saw him a year later and got Howe signed to a Red Wing junior team.
(Image of Howe)
Howe began his NHL career in 1946 at the age of 18, wearing #17 as a rookie. When Red Wing Roy Conacher moved on to the Chicago Black Hawks after the 1946–47 season, Howe was offered Conacher's #9, (although he had not requested the change, Howe accepted it when he was informed that "9" would entitle him to a lower Pullman berth on road trips).
Howe would lead Detroit to four Stanley Cups and to first place in regular season play for seven consecutive years, a feat never equaled in NHL history. During this time Howe and his line, Sid Abel and Ted Lindsay, were known collectively as "The Production Line", both for their scoring and as a reference to Detroit’s auto factories.
(Image of Production Line)
As Howe emerged as one of the game's superstars, he was frequently compared to Maurice "Rocket" Richard of the Canadiens; they were both right wingers; both wore #9, and both were tough players that seemingly always fought for the league scoring title. The first time they played each other was in the Montreal Forum; Howe was a rookie and he knocked Richard out cold with a punch after being shoved.
(Image of Howe and Richard)
The 1975/76 Kings saw the team bring in another key acquisition, one that would help the team for many years to come.
(Image of Team)
The Kings early round playoff upset by Toronto prompted them to make one of the biggest trades in club history. Marcel Dionne was in a contract dispute with the Detroit Red Wings and was available to a team that would meet his salary demands. The Kings in need of offense; traded team captain Terry Harper and forward Dan Maloney along with draft picks to the Red Wings for Dionne and defenseman Bart Crashley. Dionne would receive one of the richest contracts in NHL history at $300,000 per year.
(Image of Dionne)
Dionne scored a club record 40 goals and 94 points, however the team missed Harper's leadership and defense. Another factor was that a number of players missed significant time with injuries, and the team actually scored 6 fewer goals that the year before despite the addition of Dionne. The Kings ended up with a record of 38-33-9, 2nd in the Norris Division and 6th overall in the league.
The Kings made into the postseason, winning their best of three mini series against the Atlanta Flames. In the next round however they were matched up against the powerhouse Boston Bruins; the Kings were given no chance and were expected to get swept in the best of seven series. There are numerous stories that can be told about this series which eventually went seven games; seeing the Bruins win in game seven in Boston. But the one that stands out for me is game 6 when the Kings won in OT and Bob Miller exclaimed, “We’re going back to Boston!!!” several times and Butch Goring, (the player who scored the winner in OT) was carried off of the ice on the shoulders of his teammates after the win.
(Image of Kings v. Flames)
More Did You Know for you to know.
Did you know that former King Larry Robinson had the nickname of Big Bird?
(Image of Robinson)
Did you know that former King Ray Ferraro is former King Tony Granato’s brother-in-law?
Did you know that former King Mattias Norstrom’s full name is Erik Johan Mattias "Notan" Norstrom?
(Image of Norstrom)
Sources: LAKINGS.com; NHL.com; TSN.ca; HOCKEYDB.com; HOCKEY-REFERENCE.com; GOOGLE IMAGES
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Originally Posted by Hockey53 
