Los Angeles Kings Silencing Critics with Back-To-Back Wins

It's been an incredible interesting season in Los Angeles for the Kings this season. After coming out of the gate with a blazing start, the Kings came back down to earth losing seven of eight games to end November.

Many critics were calling for Dean Lombardi to pull the plug on Terry Murray's reign in Los Angeles. Anyone who has followed Lombardi closely throughout his career knows that it's not in his nature to make rash decisions based on a tiny losing streak.

The Kings have a good roster; there is no doubting that. Terry Murray proved that his system works when he took this young team into the playoffs for the first time in what seemed like an eternity. It would be incredibly unfair to him and everything he's built to cut him loose the second the team sees any adversity.

After losing to teams like the Sabres, Senators and Blackhawks, the Kings looked like something was seriously wrong. It wasn't just that the team was losing, it was the way the team was losing. There was no consistency in the players' performances. One night the team would lose 2-1 and the next it would be a 6-3 blowout. That was the most concerning thing.

Although November was an incredibly rough month, the Kings seemed to have checked all of their bad fortunes at the door to start December. With back to back wins to start the month against the lowly Florida Panthers and the high flying Detroit Red Wings, the Kings look as though they are finally getting back to good old Los Angeles Kings hockey.

Beating the Florida Panthers isn't exactly something to write home about. To be honest, it should be expected. However, beating the Detroit Red Wings is an incredibly impressive feat. Not only have the Wings been the best team in the Western Conference, they have been the most consistent team.

Despite the win against Florida, very few people thought that the Kings would be able to rally enough energy to beat the Wings. It was a daunting task, but once more your Los Angeles Kings came through. That win seemed to silence many of the critics that were harping on the players, coaches and management staff.

That being said, this question must be asked. Now that the Kings have won two games in a row, are the glaring issues gone?

The answer is no.

This team is still in some serious need of help. The injuries to Willie Mitchell and Alexei Ponikarovsky really hurt the on-ice performance of this team. People don't appreciate the true value that these two guys have. Finally, with the team getting healthy, Terry Murray will be able to ice a full team with a great chance at returning to the post season and perhaps a chance at the Pacific Division crown.

The Los Angeles Kings are a good team. Terry Murray has taken some time to watch what has happened over the last little while and he has made some decisions. Word has come out that he is going to be more open to riding Jon Quick as he has been playing lights out hockey while Jon Bernier has struggled. It's unfortunate to see such a highly touted prospect struggle, but it's reality.

It's clear that this team still needs a scoring winger.

With the rumored Marco Sturm trade, the day when we see Kopitar playing with a talented guy on his left may not be far away. Until that time, the Kings have some issues they need to deal with. Where has Drew Doughty gone? Will Jack Johnson play better defensive hockey? Can Murray spark the bottom six fowards?

December is going to be a very interesting month for the Los Angeles Kings. We'll just have to see what happens.

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