If there is one thing we love writing about at The Royal Half, it's Justin Williams injuries and Oscar Moller getting a chance to play on the top 6 lines. Luckily today... we get to do both!

The last time Justin Williams was an un-healthy scratch.

On the bright side, the latest damage to Justin Williams should stop all that talk of his legs being prone to injuries. Instead, Williams has suffered a dislocated shoulder and plans to re-hab it for a few weeks before making it back for the later part of the first round of the playoffs at 80% strength... or in other words... exactly what he did last year in the playoffs. Rehabbing from a dislocated shoulder is a bit of a crap shoot. Marian Gaborik was out 12 games earlier this season with a dislocated shoulder. While the Islanders Mark Streit dislocated his shoulder during pre-season and is out for the year. (Here is a great breakdown of Streit's injury.) Heck, even Alex Ponikarovsky came back 7 games after dislocating his shoulder in 2008. 

Funny enough, this is the same position a lot of Kings fans have seen him in this season.

So what happens when your 1st line Right Winger goes down with a season-ending injury? You go down to the farm for help, that's what you do.

Hello, I'm a professional hockey player.

So you all know the love we have for Oscar Moller here at The Royal Half. He made the Kings in 2008 out of juniors when the team was awful and after suffering a... well... shoulder injury during the World Juniors, he's never been able to keep a roster spot on the team, even after scoring 3 points in 4 games during a quick December call-up this season. So tonight, Moller gets his chance on the top line with Anze Kopitar and Dustin Penner. Here is an artists rendition of what that could look like.

Oh good, I'm glad he kept the beard.

The biggest knock against Moller is his size. Listed at a generous 5'10", Moller hasn't been able to keep from avoiding bone-crushing hits by bigger men during his time in the NHL.

Yet, Moller still gets up after each hit. Something that can't be said for Justin Williams. And even the littlest of NHL'ers take a while to adjust to the league. Moller hasn't looked too shabby at all this season in Manchester, where he has 50 points in 59 games. 

Do I think Coach Murray views Oscar Moller as a bona fide solution to filling the gaping hole Justin Williams leaves? No effin' way. Coach Murray will give Moller two shifts on the 1st line before replacing him with Wayne Simmonds, Brad Richardson or my personal guess... Kyle Clifford. But at the very least, Oscar gets to play with his friends again.

Check out Megaldon at Battle of California and Couch Tarts for all things related to that stupid fucking team from Northern California. Drug-soaked Hippies!

So what do you do when your favorite hockey team has an important Western Conference battle at the exact same time you are flying back from the East Coast to Los Angeles? Simple, in this day and age of Wi-Fi on airplanes you can watch the game using NHL Gamecentre or find an illegal stream, right? Well, what if your airplane doesn't have Wi-Fi? Simple, you watch the game using the several channels of DirecTV that your airline offers. Well, what if the DirecTV on your airplane doesn't offer Fox Sports West as an option? Sheesh... what the hell sort of low-frills airlines are you flying anyway?!? Well, if that's the case, you may just have to follow the Los Angeles Kings - Calgary Flames game the old fashioned way... listening to live play by play on Satellite Radio as you fly across America!

Go Kings Go!

It seemed like the 1st period was a low-shot, tight-checking battle. 

And after 40 minutes of play, the teams were still scoreless.

Damn, that red goalie just keeps making glove saves.

And then finally, Jarret Stoll scores a beautiful goal! What a great play, huh?

But then a defensive lapse a few seconds later leads to a great breakaway goal by Olli Jokinen. What a move!

Quick had no chance on that one.

Looks like this is gonna be a classic 3-Point Western Conference game.

Of course, right around Overtime is when my plane decides to land at Bob Hope Airport. So I did what any other hockey fan would do...

I switched to the iHeartRadio app on my phone and didn't miss a beat!
iHeartYou iHeartRadio app! 

After a dramatic shootout, the Kings gain the 2 points they needed. Hmm, I wonder who won the Pens-Red Wings game?

This sounded like an exciting game. I can only imagine what it felt like to be there in person!

Photo courtesy of the awesome @TheMouthLAKings.
Who also has awesome taste in t-shirts. 

The King get an important 2 points. Now, they can sit back and rest until Thursday and scoreboard watch as they plummet to the bottom of the Western Conference playoff ladder. 

UPDATE: Guess who is back, bitches?

'Sup.

With Justin Williams supposedly out for the rest of the season, it looks like we are getting the band back together.

I'm not saying that the Los Angeles Kings were starting to believe their own hype over the past week, but Thursday night against the St. Louis Blues the team seemed to come into Staples Center wearing rose-colored glasses. 

Why do I get the feeling Bob Miller was also wearing a gag handshake buzzer?

According to Jersey Brian, The Royal Half's resident half-Irish, half-Jew, after last night's game he figured out where the Kings "O" went...

Kings 0, Blues 4, Irish and Slovenians Everywhere... Insulted

Click Here to Read the Rest of The Royal Half Recap!!!

As a Los Angeles Kings fan... when it comes to the NHL Playoff Race, March tends to not be the kindest of months. In fact, usually it blows. When the Kings are in a playoff race in March, they don't have a winning record. 

2009-2010 W 6 L 8 S 1 - Playoffs

2005-2006 W 6 L 8 - No Playoffs

2003-2004 W 3 L 11 T 1 - No Playoffs

2002-2003 W 4 L 9 T 2 - No Playoffs

But here we are, on March 17th, 2011... in the middle of the craziest playoff race ever... and the Kings have a winning record... so far. 

2010-2011 W 5 L 2

Tonight against the St. Louis Blues is the very definition of a trap game.

No, not that trap game.

Loosely defined, a "trap game" is when a team looks past a current opponent to another team, and underestimates the game against the current team. So with the St. Louis Blues in town, losers of their last 2, 10 points out of a playoff spot and now up for sale... this is not the time for the Kings to fall back into their old March habits. And to make things worse, this shit will distract the Kings tonight.

Barf.

I'm not sure when the whole "St. Patrick's Day Customized Team Merchandise" trend started. But I hate it. Even for Boston teams. And since the Kings will be wearing special-edition Green jerseys tonight during warm-ups... the Kings Marketing Department decided to go full-throttle in terms of marketing to their Irish fans with a line of St. Patrick's Day Inspired Collective Giveaways:

A collectible doll honoring the Kings' past.

Kevin Reginald Westgarth may be Canadian, but tonight he'll be Fighting Irish.
Or at least Philip McRae.

Casting agents are anxious to get Kyle Clifford onto the silver screen.

Special outfits for the Ice Crew.

So be safe and sane at the Los Angeles Kings game tonight... and remember, the older you get... the harder it is to party on St. Patrick's Day.

Check out St. Louis Game Time and Thrashing the Blues for all of your Blues News. Or if you want to buy a hockey team. 

UPDATED:
The Kings have released the first photos of the St. Patrick's Kings Jerseys from the locker room.... God help us all.

I mean, this is Hollywood... wouldn't a Star of David be something that appealed to the fan base more than a clover?

This just in from the Hollywood casting couches... there is a brand new Iron Man!

"Hey guys! I'm like the Iron Man... and stuff."

Anze Kopitar is now the all-time Los Angeles Kings leader in consecutive games played. And although Kopitar has come close to serious injury before, he's not joking around when it comes to being in the Kings lineup each night. 

But the real story here is Anze Kopitar's play over the last 7 games, which happens to coincide with Dustin Penner's first 7 games as a Los Angeles King. Kopitar has 10 points in the last 7 games and it seems Penner and Kopitar are getting along just fine. 

"Hey assholes. I've been asking 3 years for a top line left winger.
Really big surprise that I'm doing well with one, huh?"

Kings 4, Predators 2

Click Here to Read the Rest of The Royal Half Recap!!!

The best part of Sunday nights last-second-come-from-behind-regulation victory over the Dallas Stars? Bob Miller going bat-shit-crazy.

I think we all know what Jim Fox had to say.

Hey, remember when everyone was ready to fire Coach Murray? Instead, Murray has steadied this team through their rough patch and the Los Angeles Kings are playing some of their best hockey since the start of the year. And here's reason #463 why I love Coach Murray... his quote about Dallas tying the game with a minute left:

“Screaming and the hollering only makes me feel better. It doesn’t make anybody else feel better. That goes nowhere. That’s going to be, actually, very disruptive. It’s important to stay focused and just go out and finish the game the right way."

Yeah, because all Kings fans were SUPER worried Coach Murray might show some emotion behind the bench. 

Okay, maybe once.

Kings against the Nashville Predators tonight. They are all big games from here on out. Big games that need to end in regulation wins. With a win tonight, the Kings could be 4th, 1 point behind the Pacific Division leading San Jose Sharks. If the Kings lose, they could be in 7th place. But most importantly, if the Kings win tonight, I'm upgrading the Los Angeles Kings Playoff Threat Level from MURRAY to WEBSTER.

Jon Bernier gets the call tonight to perform his one skill as an NHL goaltender... beating Nashville. 

Your move, Nashville.

Indiana Matt has been designing up a storm and we have a couple new T-Shirts here at The Royal Half Gift Shoppe. And one of them is even safe for work!

And here they are with all their friends!

And since the Los Angeles Kings are on a winning streak... we'll give you 10 bucks off orders of $50 or more as we head to the playoffs! Just punch in the code "SPRING2011" when you buy them. If you have bought a Royal Half T-Shirt... send us a photo and we'll put you on the blog. 

Over the course of last week the talk of the hockey world was players who seek out other players necks and break them. And while your opinion on whether the Zdeno Chara hit on Max Paniorrity was a "hockey play" or not might differ…  I think we can all agree that NHL.com handled this ugly incident hit with their usual elegance of pun sensitivity...

Indiana Matt strikes again!

Click here to check out the best and worst NHL.com pun headlines from the past week!!!

Marc Crawford is such a rich boy.