INSIDE HOCKEY

The code is too complicated, and the league won't police cheap shots. So it needs to be simple: teams need to take things into their own fists to keep guys like Matt Cooke from working their evil.

Montreal seems to be doing all it can to destroy Carey Price's confidence.  His teammates gave him no support by way of defense or backchecking against Anaheim Sunday.  The result?  He got yanked after a period.  The Habs won anyway, with Price likely wondering why nobody woke up until after he'd been replaced.

Team USA goaltender Ryan Miller did it all but give his team a gold medal.  But Canada's goalie, Roberto Luongo, proved nothing by his performance. Though in the end he and the rest of Team Canada came away with the gold medal

Who woulda’ thunk back in October that the Kings and Avs, facing each other for the first time in far-off February, would be knotted at 76 points, fifth in the Western conference?  Coming into Saturday night, hopes were high on both sides not just for the playoffs, but maybe even for home ice advantage in the first round.

The Anaheim Ducks are rolling at home with a club record 11 straight wins at the Honda Center.  And behind it all just might be one man's magic necktie. Brian Kennedy has more on the Ducks good luck charm...

The Kings looked like they had lost their resolve starting out against Detroit Saturday afternoon.  But they found themselves as the game went on and set a club record for consecutive wins, notching their ninth in a row.

Jason Blake has a fresh start in Anaheim, but it's not like he really needed one.  His career has been more steady than people seem to think it has.  Still, with the right situation, the Ducks would take 40 goals from him, if he could reprise his best season in 2006-07.

The Kings are starting to show the teamwork it takes to win. When one guy falls down (sometimes literally), the others help.  It's why they deserve their current seventh-place standing in the West.

The Ducks and Kings came in on opposite paths, with the Anaheim team rising while their LA counterparts fell.  Thursday's game changed that, as the Kings came out with the 4-0 victory in a rough contest.

The Kings threw 52 shots at Jimmy Howard in the Detroit net Thursday night.  Good ones, too, from all angles, and in close.  Just one made its way behind the goalie, and that was neutralized by a goal scored with 17.4 seconds remaining to give Detroit a 2-1 road win.

The Los Angeles Kings keep it rolling, with wins on Wednesday night against the San Jose Sharks in Silicon Valley, and against the Phoenix Coyotes last night in SoCal.

The Ducks have tweaked their lineup, including adding a recent first-round draft choice they picked up on the cheap.  Still, they're on the losing end of two shootouts in a row.

San Jose beat the Ottawa Senators 5-2 Tuesday, and the Kings defeated them 6-3 Thursday.  Their issues in the first game: dealing with the Heatley history and surviving poor goaltending, were not in view in LA.  The visitors just couldn't close out after coming back from a 3-1 deficit to tie the game at 3-3.

The LA Kings had an interesting week, including a rarely seen call-up deal for their first-round draft pick this past spring.  Saturday, they capped it with a shootout win against the speedy Chicago Blackhawks, with goaltender Jonathan Quick delivering a stellar performance.