Brad Richardson

Brad Richardson, Wayne Simmonds and Kyle Clifford sat side by side by side in the locker room at the Kings' El Segundo practice facility before they were united on the ice, so they perfected the timing of their passes only after they had polished their comedic timing. After weeks of idle chat before and after practices, they came up with roles and nicknames for themselves. "You know those old Westerns? Richie's like the cell guard," Clifford said. "He's always leaning back in the chair guarding the prisoners.

Darryl Sutter didn't yell during his first practice as Kings coach, but fear not. He hasn't gone soft. After a week as the coach-in-waiting, Sutter scraped the manure off his work boots, left Canada on Tuesday and was on the ice Wednesday at the Toyota Sports Center. He led drills, talked a lot with interim Coach John Stevens and put names to faces while checking them against the impressions he gained while scrutinizing their recent games on TV. "I'm not a person that sat and waited for another job, or one of those guys who hoped there'd be change somewhere," he said.

Once, Kings defensemen Matt Greene and Rob Scuderi and Buffalo Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller were just like the young hockey players they skated with Thursday night in El Segundo. Well, maybe not Greene. “These guys are good. A lot better than we were,” Greene said while the Junior Kings peewee double-A2 team went through drills. “I don't know about Millsie. He was pretty good when he was younger.” Miller, who is married to actress Noureen DeWulf and spends his summers in California, and the two Kings made good use of their time during the lockout by going on the ice for about an hour to offer advice and hockey tips to kids on each of the three rinks.

The identity the Kings had sweated and strained to build over six grueling months was shattered this week in two playoff losses to the San Jose Sharks, defeats that left the Kings at the brink of elimination and shoved them backward in their apparently never-ending rebuilding process. Unable to stifle the Sharks' potent offense for the second straight game, the Kings gave up three goals on four shots in the third period and fell, 6-3, before a sellout crowd at what might be their last game at Staples Center this season.

GLENDALE, Ariz. - The Kings were outshooting and outworking the Phoenix Coyotes in the opener of the Western Conference finals, beating them along the boards, in the faceoff circle and by almost every imaginable measure. But through two periods the score was tied, the only numbers that mattered. "There have been some times in games where we haven't been very good, but we've managed to hang around," Coyotes Coach Dave Tippett said. "A bend, don't break kind of thing. " The Kings were doing all they could to break the Coyotes' resolve but were getting nowhere.

DALLAS -- Greetings from Dallas, where the Kings are to face the Stars on Tuesday night at American Airlines Center. The Kings are in a position to do themselves some good and also help the Ducks: A loss of any kind by Dallas on Tuesday would allow the Ducks to clinch a playoff berth. "Bittersweet," said Kings winger Dustin Penner, who played on the Ducks' 2007 Stanley Cup championship team before picking up another ring with the Kings last season. If it feels like the Kings were just in Dallas ... well, they were.

VANCOUVER, Canada - The Kings will make one lineup change Friday night for Game 2 of their first-round playoff series against the Vancouver Canucks, who will make one change up front and one on defense. The Kings will deploy forward Andrei Loktionov on their fourth line in place of Kyle Clifford, who apparently suffered a head injury when he was hit by Vancouver's Byron Bitz in the Kings' 4-2 series-opening victory. Bitz was suspended two games for the infraction and will be replaced by former Duck Andrew Ebbett.

Kings' playoff chronicles: Leading scorer Anze Kopitar has gone from playing Vancouver … all the way to Vancouver again. This is progress? It is if you haven't been in a playoff game in nearly two years, an eon for a hockey player. When the Kings take the ice for Game 1 in Vancouver on Wednesday, it will be two weeks shy of two years since Kopitar's last postseason action, a first-round loss to the Canucks. Kopitar suffered a broken right ankle against Colorado in late March last season, requiring surgery, and it forced him to miss the playoffs against the Sharks.

Viewed from one angle, all the pressure now is on the Kings, who have missed two chances to win the Stanley Cup and will get a third try Monday at Staples Center before their adoring but increasingly nervous fans. Have enough doubts crept into players' heads and their game that they'll let this slip away and subject themselves to a Game 7 in New Jersey? No, they said Sunday in El Segundo after holding a team meeting to discuss the 2-1 loss that sent the series back to Los Angeles. "The mood's good," team captain Dustin Brown said.

The Kings will be starting the playoffs without forward Brad Richardson, who on Monday required an emergency appendectomy. They recalled Andrei Loktionovfrom their minor league affiliate in Manchester, N.H., and the forward will meet them in Vancouver, Canada. Game 1 of the Kings-Canucks first-round playoff series is on Wednesday night at Rogers Arena. Kings Coach Darryl Sutter said they would not have Richardson "for a while. " Sutter was asked when Richardson started feeling symptoms.