Smyth Plays And Scores In His 1000th NHL Game To Help The Kings Win

Added on Nov 07, 2010 by J Merrill in

NHL

Ryan Smyth was played in his 1000^th game of his NHL career, and although he doesn’t score a lot, he was able to put in the back of the net for the Kings 4-1 win over the Predators. Smyth helped the Kings won their fourth consecutive game, improved to 10-3-0 this season, kept their early hold on first place in the Western Conference and have the most points in the NHL. The Kings also improved to 6-0-0 at home.

Smyth had a memorable day all said and done. His teammates took the ice at the morning skate wearing mullet wigs in honor of his infamous hair choice. Also, he was able to celebrate in front of more then 40 friends and Family members who came out to support him.

It was successful day for Smyth, one that started when teammates took the ice for the morning skate wearing mullet wigs in tribute to Smyth and his famously free-flowing hair. Smyth had more than 40 friends and family in attendance, and made them happy with a goal and an all-around solid performance. Smyth said of the memorable day “It’s an honor, it’s overwhelming. I obviously still remember the first game, but it’s been 1,000 games. You look back and there’s some great times, there’s some tough times, and there’s sad times. You go through so many different emotions throughout every hockey game, and obviously I can’t remember them all, but I’m just honored to play in the NHL.’’

Kings coach Terry Murray said “It was a big day for him, starting with the morning skate, He had a great game. It’s really a statement to who he’s been throughout his whole career, to come out and play a solid game like this. The line was real good. He scores a goal. The eye of the L.A. Kings hockey-fan world is on him, and he responded the right way. So I was real happy for the end result for him tonight.’’

Although the Kings number 1 net minder was healthy, Kings Coach Murray gave Bernier the start as he had planned to. This was a good call, as Bernier faced little sustained pressure for much of Saturday’s game, but looked solid, and the Kings didn’t take long to give Bernier the lead. Coach Murray said “Bernier was really good, He got a lot of pucks coming around in small areas, like we saw against Tampa Bay. They take pucks to the net. They’re very aggressive. They’re quick, they’re fast. They’ve got a cannon up top, with Weber. And on the penalty killing, he was our best penalty-killer tonight. Our group was off a little bit. We allowed some plays that are very uncharacteristic of the way we’ve been killing so far this year, and Bernier came up with the big save.’’ Murray concluded “It would have been great to get the shutout for Bernier, but overall it’s a very big two points for us against a conference team that we’ve had a lot of problems with over the last couple of years.”

The Predators had won five straight in Los Angeles since a 6-0 loss on Oct. 23, 2007 until Saturday night. However, they are on quite a skid, and now lost four of their last five. They face the Anaheim Ducks tonight.