Thread: Facts on the Fly: 2/11/2013 Los Angeles Kings @ St. Louis Blues

I would love to know what some of you think about the last game played in Detroit, were the Kings the victims of a goaltender that was awesome? Or were the Kings themselves to blame? Personally it got frustrating seeing the puck in the Red Wing zone for what seemed most of the game and seeing Howard come up with save after save. It was an extremely entertaining game that had ups and downs aplenty and if the Kings can play like they did on Sunday, I like the team’s chances. Now, I am cheating a bit for this edition of Facts; I have been doing a paper for school for the greater part of the day and when I am done posting this I will be going back to that project. So, with that being said I will be using some of my previous material from the Blues. I picked the best because even the second time around it is fascinating.
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2/11/2013: Los Angeles Kings @ St. Louis Blues

Luc Robitaille plays in his 1000th NHL game on 1/4/00 against the St. Louis Blues in a 2-2 tie in which Robitaille also nets one goal.
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On 1/11/86, Marcel Dionne becomes the first player in NHL history to score at least 20 goals in each of his first 15 seasons in a 4-4 tie against the Blues; Dionne recorded 2 goals and an assist in the game.

Byron Dafoe recorded his first shutout as a King, 1-0 on 11/7/1995, over the Blues in St. Louis. Dafoe made 33 stops, including 15 in the third period as he was filling in for the injured Kelly Hrudey.
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There was a time two seasons ago when I wrote about the Blues and told all of you about the original team to play in St. Louis, the Eagles; back in the 1934/35 season. I also mentioned that they were once the Ottawa Senators, but before the Senators were the Senators, they were the Silver Sevens.
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The first "dynasty" of the Ottawa Hockey Club was from 1903 until 1906, when the team was known as the "Silver Seven". The era started with the arrival of Frank McGee for the 1903 season and ended with his retirement after the 1906 season, (he retired at the age of 23). Having lost an eye in local amateur hockey, he was persuaded, despite the threat of permanent blindness, to join the team.
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In the 1903, Ottawa and the Montreal Victorias both finished in first place with 6–2 records. The two teams faced off in a two-game; total goals series to decide the league championship and Stanley Cup. The first game was played in Montreal on slushy ice that made it difficult to score, the game ended 1–1. When they returned to Ottawa the game would be witnessed by three thousand fans, the ice was coated with an inch of water, but the Silver Sevens won anyways, 8-0.
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After winning the Stanley Cup, each of the players was given a silver nugget by team executive Bob Shillington. He gave them nuggets instead of money since the players were still technically amateurs and to give them money would have meant being disqualified from the league. In a 1957 interview, a Silver Seven player recalled the silver nuggets, one of the players said, “We ought to call ourselves the Silver Seven, and the name caught on right there." (At the time, hockey teams played with seven men; a goaltender, three forwards, two defensemen and a rover).

The Silver Seven were well known for the number of injuries that they inflicted on other teams. In a Stanley Cup challenge game in 1904, the Silver Sevens injured seven of the nine Winnipeg players, and the Winnipeg Free Press called it the "bloodiest game in Ottawa."
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1976/77 is the next Kings team to come off of the bench and have a small portion of their season highlighted.
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The 1976-77 was almost a duplicate of the previous season in that Dionne was still the leader on offense and the defense was solid but unspectacular. The Kings needed toughness so they added Dave “The Hammer” Schultz , but it would take nearly all season for the roster to jell. Goalie Rogie Vachon would be overworked that season as backup Gary Edwards struggled and was eventually traded for Gary Simmons. The Kings however won 5 of their last 6 games to finish 6th overall; the same as the previous year but with 2 fewer points.
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In the opening round of the playoffs that year the Kings faced the Atlanta Flames again in a best of three series. This year though the series would go three games as the Flames would take game two and force a third game in LA. The game would be a close one until the very end when the Kings got an empty net goal for a 4-2 win.

Also for the second straight year in a row the Kings faced the Boston Bruins in the quarter finals and were heavy underdogs. Boston destroyed the Kings in the first two games in Boston, but when the series returned to LA the offense woke up and the Kings still lost 7-6 to fall behind 3 games to none. The Kings were having trouble with the size of the Bruins but they still managed to beat Boston in a 7-4 game 4 win, but it seemed a formality to go back to Boston for game 5. Vachon would play one of the great games in playoff history as the Kings were badly outshot. The Kings won the game 3-1; clinching the game with an empty netter, forcing a game 6 in Los Angeles. The Kings fell behind 3-0 but came back to tie the game in the 3rd period at 3, it was shortly after they tied the game that Kings defenseman Dave Hutchison went to clear the puck on a Boston power play, his stick broke, resulting in a turnover; Boston scored to win the game 4-3 and the series 4 games to 2.
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I see in the Kings near future a penalty shot, so with that prediction I have for you some random facts on Kings penalty shots.

The first penalty shot taken in the history of the franchise was by Eddie Joyal against the Rangers on Halloween of 1967, it was missed.
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The first penalty shot made by the Kings was on 2/13/72 and was scored by Butch Goring against the Rangers.

The first penalty shot taken against the Kings was by Norm Ullman of the North Stars on 1/22/70 and it was a miss as well.

Opposing teams would get 11 chances before scoring a penalty shot goal against the Kings, and it would not happen until 12/4/1986 when Maple Leaf Rick Vaive scored on Darren Eliot.
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On 3/28/1987; Joe Mullen of the Calgary Flames scored against Kings goalie Al Jensen but the goal was waived off when it was found that he was using an illegal stick.
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Sources: LAKINGS.com; NHL.com; TSN.ca; HOCKEYDB.com; HOCKEY-REFERENCE.com; GOOGLE IMAGES

Again Rawley,you went above all odds to post another great FOTF. Now if the Kings can do the same thing.

Really enjoyed the fact that one of the Wings tripped Martinez (and, of course, wasn't called even though it was patently obvious) before the game winning shot. We should have had a power play in overtime.

Great info in the post; thanks for making time in your busy day to give us our collective fix. Best of luck with your paper!

the detroit game was a mixture of mental lapses, bad bounces and great goaltending by howard. i thought they played a little better but the last few seconds was a killer. i liked the richards line tho' for the most part #10 was just "there". i didn't get why they didn't put the body on the wings and nobody really parks in front of the net. but hey tomorrow is another day, another game.

great job rawley!

Frank McGee = Bad Ass

Butch Goring vs. Gilles Villemure @ NY Rangers 2/13/72

I remember watching this on a lousy little black and white TV. I guess it was channel 5. Goring made it look really easy.

Originally Posted by mugs

Frank McGee = Bad Ass

He was a bad ass, read on.

Though blind in one eye, McGee was a legendary player of his era. He once scored 14 goals in one Stanley Cup game, and five or more goals in a game eight other times. He may have played only 45 games over four seasons but he led the Silver Seven in its reign as Stanley Cup champions for four seasons (1903–06). During World War I, he enlisted in the Canadian Army and died in battle in France. When the Hockey Hall of Fame was founded in 1945, McGee was one of the original nine inductees.

Another outstanding FOTF. Thanks Rawley.
I was sad to see Lord Byron leave the Kings.

Geoff Courtnall still sucks!!