New contender in town

After several years as an afterthought in the sports world, the Los Angeles Kings have just won their franchise-record 9th game in a row. They did it the hard way this afternoon, falling behind 3-0 to an older, more talented team — the Detroit Red Wings — but came back to win 4-3 and send another sell-out crowd out onto the streets of Downtown raucous and happy. The Kings have their best record at this point in the NHL season in decades, which makes coming to work more fun for Rich Hammond, the ex-Daily News reporter the team hired to cover the Kings. He blogs:

This falls under the category of “obvious,” but it’s still worth pointing out. The level of fun around the Kings, whether it’s on the ice in practice or in the locker room after practice, has increased significantly this season. There’s more joking around, more chatter, more guys hanging around the facility, and just a general better feeling.

Noted: Hammond missed today's game due to a death in his family. The Kings also held a moment of silence before the game for Brendan Burke, the 21-year-old son of Brian Burke, the former general manager of the Anaheim Ducks and GM of the U.S. Olympic hockey team. The younger Burke died in a car accident in Indiana.

Photo: LAKings.com