Colin Fraser

Jeff Carter turned a dreary, low-scoring game into a cap-tossing celebration for the Kings on Monday night at Staples Center. Carter, the team's most consistent forward throughout this lockout-shortened season, poked through the Nashville Predators' defensive curtain to score during a power play in the second period and added two goals in a span of 19 seconds in the third period, propelling the Kings to an emphatic 5-1 victory over a team that has...

Flawless at home and flawed on the road? Not quite. But the Kings already have lost three times on the road during the playoffs, whereas they dropped only one road game through four rounds on their way to the Stanley Cup last year. "We can't rest and be comfortable with just being a great home team," Kings winger Justin Williams said on Monday. "We need to be killers on the road. " Game 4 is at San Jose on Tuesday night. The Kings, leading the series two games to one, practiced at El Segundo on Monday before flying back to the Bay Area.

The Kings say center Colin Fraser has an unhealed foot fracture and cyst that will require surgery and four months' recovery, facts they contend they were unaware of when they agreed to take him from Edmonton last week in exchange for Ryan Smyth . General Manager Dean Lombardi said Thursday the trade won't be voided and that he and the Oilers are "trying to work it out. " That could mean the Kings get additional or altered compensation or...

SAN JOSE - Dustin Brown could have gone into a long explanation, an overly technical breakdown or simply resorted to a few well-worn hockey clichés. Instead, the Kings' captain opted for one word when asked about necessary mind-set for Game 5 on Thursday in Los Angeles. "Win," he said. That would reverse the Kings' fortunes in a series suddenly gone south. San Jose pulled even in the Western Conference semifinal at two games each with a 2-1 victory on Tuesday night at HP Pavilion.

After contentious negotiations, the Kings on Sunday traded Ryan Smyth to Edmonton for center Colin Fraser and a seventh-round pick in the 2012 entry draft, making the deal only after the Oilers removed oft-injured forward Gilbert Brule from consideration. Fraser, a member of the Chicago Blackhawks' 2010 Stanley Cup team, has a manageable $825,000 cap hit and will get a chance to win a job in training camp. The Kings planned to waive or buy out Brule, who hasn't been procedurally cleared to play after suffering a concussion.

SAN JOSE - Jonathan Quick waved his stick and yelled at both referees as he left the ice after the Kings' 2-1 overtime loss to the Sharks on Saturday night, irate over the third-period penalty calls that put the Kings at a two-man disadvantage and tested their mettle as much as it challenged their penalty killing. Quick is normally the calmest man on the ice, stoic in the face of barrages of shots and of beefy forwards crashing his crease. But even he had his limits, and for his trouble he got a game misconduct for abuse of the officials as the Kings contemplated having their series lead narrowed to 2-1. Was Robyn Regehr's hooking penalty at 19:18 of the third period a legitimate call?

NEWARK, N.J. - The Kings continue to love life on the road. Colin Fraser's goal gave the Kings a 1-0 lead over the New Jersey Devils after one period in the Stanley Cup Final opener at Prudential Center Wednesday. The Kings are 8-0 on the road during the playoffs, but the Devils matched their first-period effort. The scrappy first nine minutes was a exercise in give-and-take, with both teams managing only one shot on goal. That changed when the Kings' Jordan Nolan knocked New Jersey's Andy Greene off the puck behind the Devils' net. Nolan centered to Fraser, whose one-timer beat goaltender Martin Brodeur for a 1-0 lead 9:54 into the game.

They started the proceedings by trading their top offense-minded defenseman (Lubomir Visnovsky) to the New York Islanders for second-round pick in 2013 and looked to the future by selecting a skilled 18-year-old defenseman (Hampus Lindholm) from Sweden. It was the in-between stuff that blindsided the Ducks on Friday at the NHL's Entry Draft in Pittsburgh. The bombshell came when their high-scoring winger Bobby Ryan unleashed his frustration over trade rumors. Ryan said he was taking it all "personally," airing his feelings in an interview with the one of the Philadelphia Flyers' beat writers.

There were no bad breakup scenes, no botched qualifying offers, and the Kings smoothly moved through what can be an often rough, post-Stanley Cup period. They wrapped up the biggest piece of business when goalie Jonathan Quick signed his 10-year, $58-million contract extension Sunday, and previously worked out deals with forwards Jarret Stoll, Colin Fraser and Dustin Penner, keeping the championship team intact. "The key here was each one of those players definitely wanted to stay," Kings President and General Manager Dean Lombardi said Monday.

Dean Lombardi's to-do list shortened … a bit. Still, the Kings president and general manager was sounding tired - even over the phone - after the second day of the NHL's Entry Draft in Pittsburgh. In two days, he re-signed forwards Jarret Stoll and Colin Fraser and the Stanley Cup champion Kings selected six players in the draft, one Friday in the first round and five more in rounds two through seven Saturday. Lombardi is expected to meet with forward Dustin Penner in the next couple of days.

SAN JOSE - Jonathan Quick waved his stick and yelled at both referees as he left the ice after the Kings' 2-1 overtime loss to the Sharks on Saturday night, irate over the third-period penalty calls that put the Kings at a two-man disadvantage and tested their mettle as much as it challenged their penalty killing. Quick is normally the calmest man on the ice, stoic in the face of barrages of shots and of beefy forwards crashing his crease. But even he had his limits, and for his trouble he got a game misconduct for abuse of the officials as the Kings contemplated having their series lead narrowed to 2-1. Was Robyn Regehr's hooking penalty at 19:18 of the third period a legitimate call?

The crowd yelled for Dustin Penner to shoot as the final seconds of the second period ticked off the clock Friday at Staples Center. His teammates yelled for Penner to shoot and the coaches joined the chaotic chorus. Penner, not known for always taking coaches' advice, listened this time. "If you don't try you don't know," he said. Because he tried, and because his long shot glanced off the stick of St. Louis defenseman Roman Polak and changed direction enough to catch goaltender Brian Elliott off guard, the Kings took and held a one-goal lead that launched them into the second round of the playoffs.

The Kings' offense, dormant through the first three games of their opening-round playoff series against the St. Louis Blues, awoke Monday in time to prolong their season and their reign as Stanley Cup champions. Justin Williams completed a two-goal rally in the third period with a deflection that withstood a video review, as the Kings barged past the Blues for a 4-3 victory at Staples Center and evened the series at two games each. "Now it's all tied up and best of three," said center Anze Kopitar, whose first goal in 20 games, off a feed from a hard-digging Dustin Brown, had brought the Kings even at 7 minutes 14 seconds of the third period.

Glendale, ARIZ. - Greetings from Jobing.com Arena, where the Kings held their morning skate in advance of Tuesday's game against the Coyotes. Jonathan Quick was the first goaltender off the ice and is expected to start. Winger Jordan Nolan will return to the lineup in place of Dustin Penner, who sustained a lower-body injury Sunday at Dallas. Nolan was skating alongside Kyle Clifford and Brad Richardson on the fourth line. Newly acquired defenseman Robyn Regehr was not with the team.

Jake Muzzin had only an instant to react when he saw Kings teammate Colin Fraser get leveled by a check from San Jose's Andrew Desjardins in the second period Thursday. The contact looked to be shoulder-to-shoulder and Fraser went down hard. "I thought he was hurt, so I wanted to take action. It happened quick," said Muzzin, the Kings' rookie defenseman. Luckily for the Kings, Fraser was fine. Unfortunately, for Muzzin, he was hit with a double minor for instigating, and instigating with a visor, in addition to the five-minute fighting major and 10-minute misconduct.

Lesson of the day: scoring balance. Heading into Sunday's action, the Chicago Blackhawks had eight players with five or more goals, and the surging Ducks possess even more scoring depth with 11 players with five or more goals. The Kings? They have four players with five or more, including Jeff Carter's 17 goals, tied for second in the league behind Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos. Carter still accounts for 25% of the Kings' goals, but Saturday may have represented a significant turning point as goals were scored by six Kings in their 6-2 win against the Calgary Flames.

When: 5:30 PDT. Where: American Airlines Center. On the air: TV: FS West; Radio: 1150. Records: Kings 5-2-1, Stars 7-2-0. Update: Slowly but surely, Drew Doughty is inching toward a return to the lineup. He practiced with contact Wednesday before the team departed for Dallas, but the defenseman won't be in the lineup against the Stars, according to Dean Lombardi, the Kings' president and general manager. Lombardi is hoping Doughty will play Saturday at Phoenix, which would be two weeks after he injured his right shoulder.

Jeff Carter turned a dreary, low-scoring game into a cap-tossing celebration for the Kings on Monday night at Staples Center. Carter, the team's most consistent forward throughout this lockout-shortened season, poked through the Nashville Predators' defensive curtain to score during a power play in the second period and added two goals in a span of 19 seconds in the third period, propelling the Kings to an emphatic 5-1 victory over a team that has...

EDMONTON, Canada - When finesse won't produce goals - and it hasn't been a reliable tool for the low-scoring Kings this season - there's only one way to go. "We talked about getting ugly ones," center Colin Fraser said. "You've got to get to the net to do it. " Fraser, restored to the lineup after being scratched the previous four games, led the way against the Oilers on Tuesday night by anchoring the fourth line and aggressively going to the net for a goal that was a thing of beauty for the Kings.