Canucks send Kings into a Thanksgiving coma (Life in Hockeywood)

[Mateo]

Game 26: Canucks 4, Kings 1

Less than 24 hours after their win over Edmonton, the Kings travelled more than 700 miles through Canada to face off against a healthy Vancouver squad. On Thanksgiving. Myself? I had to travel 26 miles north to West Covina to work. On Thanksgiving.

As I was sitting at my desk, waiting for the turkey dinner we were getting from the company, I came across the news that the Kings had signed their first round pick, Brayden Schenn to a one-day contract to fill the hole left by the injured Andrei Loktionov. Needless to say, I blurted it out to the desk, a little surprised that he got the call.

I flipped over to NHL.com, and there was a huge image with the words "A New Schenn-sation." I was as excited as a kid on Christmas morning, being able to see (well, actually listen) to the highly-touted rookie's first NHL game. If NHL.com makes the story the lead item, it must be a big deal, right?

Here's where having a seasoned reporter embedded on the tea, is a good idea. Rich Hammond quickly had quotes from Dean Lombardi and Terry Murray, and nabbed an interview with Brayden, all before he stepped on the ice.

"Last night after the game, I was kind of visiting with some people and my agent told me that there was a possibility of me going to Vancouver and playing with the Kings," said Schenn. "I was pretty excited."

Lombardi sounded really high on the kid. "In the way he plays the game, there’s a little bit of Ryan Smyth in him," said Deano. He showed that he could make some high-end plays. He showed how good he could be in traffic and in critical situations, with puck protection, going to the net. He showed you some toughness. He can play any way you want to play him at this stage.”

Terry Murray instantly inked him on the line with Brown and Parse. “We’re going to play Schenn a lot of minutes here tonight," said Murray. "I’m going to put him in a situation where he’s going to play with a couple veteran players, and let him play.”

Schenn played decent, but the Kings did not. Wayne Simmonds scored for L.A., and was the only King to light the lamp for L.A. on this mini-road trip. Jonathon Quick had some tremendous saves, but just couldn't get any help from the defense. And Brayden's first game as a King was a solid "meh." Then again, he really only skated with L.A. at full strength. He did lose the faceoff that resulted in Henrik Sedin's goal in the third, though I don't think you can fault him for that.

Schenn is going to be a great player, but he's simply too young and inexperienced for the NHL just yet. Oscar Moller, who I thought would get the call, was over 2,500 miles away with the Manchester Monarchs. Schenn was only 600 miles away, playing with the Brandon Wheat Kings against the Swift Current Broncos in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. Schenn was simply closer. The Kings basically saw what they saw in training camp, that he's going to be a good player. But just not ready for the NHL.

As for the rest of the club, they played a decent second quarter, but ran into a hot goaltender in Robert Luongo. he halted a streaking Parse, as he left the penalty box and tried to deke around Luongo. Purcell almost got his game rolling, but was stopped in his tracks by No. 1. In the words of one Canucks fan, he was "god-like." And quite frankly, what else needs to be said?

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