... Kings captain Anze Kopitar had three assists, giving him five in the past two ga | Forum

LOS ANGELES -- Cmon, Clay Helton. Aaron Adeoye Jersey . You know you want to. Heres your chance. Heres your chance to tell all the college football experts to go do something anatomically impossible.All he does is give a hearty laugh.Not my style, Helton said. Not my style.Helton is the former soon-to-be-former USC coach. He spent the first month of his first head coaching season hearing why he shouldnt get a second. Now Helton is the middle of his third month, and his No. 13 Trojans are 7-3 with a six-game winning streak as they prepare to finish their Pac-12 schedule at UCLA (10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN). USC is a half-game behind No. 10 Colorado, and a half-game ahead of Utah, in the Pac-12 South.The Trojans actually can win the division. If they beat the Bruins (4-6, 2-5), and if No. 22 Washington State wins at Colorado, and the Buffs go on to beat No. 12 Utah next week, then the courtly Helton would have every right to say something that is not his style.Google Clay Helton and you dont have to scroll down very far. The fifth story is, Clay Helton Must Be Fired and USC Needs to Find a Real Head Coach. The seventh and ninth stories provide five names as possible replacements. Those three stories were published in late September, when USC had a record of 1-3.The ready-fire-aim section of my business did itself proud. Yeah, the Trojans got humiliated by Alabama in the opener, 52-6. It turned out that USC, in its first game, literally was not ready for the big time. The atmosphere in Cowboys Stadium, not to mention the Crimson Tide themselves, overwhelmed the Trojans.Yep, they followed with an equally inept offensive performance at Stanford two weeks later in a 27-10 loss. After that game, Helton benched fourth-year junior quarterback Max Browne for redshirt freshman Sam Darnold.He played well in his first start, at Utah, but the Trojans lost fumbles on their first three offensive possessions, and then gave up a touchdown with :16 to play to lose 31-27. All they had to show for the first month of the season was a victory over Utah State and a rabble that had been roused.Gah, Helton said, that feels like years ago.His family rallied around him. In the days after the Utah game, his daughter Aubrey, a high school senior, came up to him, gave him a big hug, and said, Daddy, dont worry about it. Its all going to be good.Not even Aubrey knew how good. But her daddy had an inkling. As the carping about Helton being overmatched reached a crescendo, he came away from the Utah loss convinced that the Trojans would be fine. He wont tell you six-wins-in-a-row, 13th-ranked, division-contender fine. But fine. This wasnt a team pointing fingers across the locker room.There were guys coming up on their own to watch extra film in our meeting rooms and taking it upon themselves to bring their teammates with them, Helton said. Thats what hurt, losing that game, because I saw what each kid was trying to do to help this team win.Helton seized on that kernel of determination and, as the geniuses speculated on his successor -- four games into his career -- he let his team know that he paid it no mind.I kept telling myself, Remember, 18- to 21-year-olds look to their leader and look to their coaching staff, Helton said. How we react, theyre going to react. Just stay poised. Dont panic. Stay consistent in what youre doing and what you believe in and live with the results.Six starts later, Darnold is the best first-year quarterback in the FBS. Dont ask me, Jalen Hurts fans. Ask Darnolds QBR (86.8), fifth in the nation. Darnold has been so effective as a passer he has reopened the running lanes for backs Ronald Jones II and Justin Davis.That is as good a decision as any to probe whether Helton could coach his way out of a paper bag. With 20/20 hindsight, it seems perfectly obvious that Darnold is the better quarterback. But Helton remains steadfast that the full-speed decision he made to start Browne in the first three games is one he would make again.I had seen a kid, Max Browne, whos a redshirt junior, that had been in college football games, was efficient, had been a team captain, very respected by our team as a leader, Helton said. And I saw Sam, just this ultra-talented thing, just brilliance. But had never seen him in a ballgame, a real live college game.Browne didnt make mistakes, but he didnt make magic, either. Darnold proved he could handle major college football. Boy, could he. Should you blame Helton for not getting Darnold ready for the opener? You should, as long as you ignore that the offense had a new coordinator, the defense had a new coordinator, and so did the special teams. That contributed to the slow start as well.Look at the way the defense has improved over the course of the season: five sacks in the first four games, 14 in the next six. The Trojans have allowed an average of 18 points per game during their six-game winning streak.USC is coming off a 26-13 victory at No. 4 Washington, a vivid illustration of how far the Trojans have progressed since that loss to Alabama. Here was another fast, talented team. Here was a game in Husky Stadium, one of the most intimidating atmospheres in college football. USC didnt wilt this time.As I look back on our entire season, it really culminated in last week, Helton said. ...I just saw unbelievable poise and maturity. It was as electric an atmosphere as you could possibly have. It was as good a scene for college football as you could see, and the moment wasnt too big for them. They really walked in there with a sense of maturity and confidence. Hey, lets just focus on our job. Lets dont care about the stadium. Lets dont care about the noise. Lets dont care about the weather. Lets just get our job done.They have two rivalry games remaining -- Notre Dame comes west next week -- and Helton said he has seen no heads swelled by the win at Washington. Coach Overmatched could end up with a 10-win season. And a Pac-12 title. The guy that the internet fired seven weeks ago may end up in the Rose Bowl.Heltons unfailingly polite, unerringly even-keeled, unbelievably unexciting personality ended up being just the right touch for a young team. So, cmon, Coach. Let it go. Tell the experts off.You have to be very strong-willed, Helton said. You have to have thick skin. And dont get your feelings hurt. Believe in what youre doing. Believe in the things youre doing for kids.Oh, well. They got off lucky. Cyrus Jones Jersey . -- Team after team passed on Andre Ellington in the draft. Willie Henry Jersey . -- Damian Lillard and LaMarcus Alrdridge were again the go-to duo for the Trail Blazers against the Kings. http:///...eshon-elliott-jersey . Jim Rutherford, President and General Manager of the Carolina Hurricanes, announced Wednesday that the team would assign Swedish forward Elias Lindholm to his nations team for the upcoming tournament. LOS ANGELES -- After struggling for offense throughout their road trip, the Montreal Canadiens finally found a whole bunch of goals at Staples Center.So did the Los Angeles Kings, which left goalie Carey Price both frustrated and grateful after a high-volume victory.Max Pacioretty had two goals and an assist, and Paul Byron scored the clinching goal in the fourth round of a 5-4 shootout victory over Los Angeles on Sunday.Alexander Radulov and Andrew Shaw also scored for the Atlantic Division-leading Canadiens, who earned just their second victory in seven road games. Montreal had only one win in its previous 11 games in California before scoring three times in the four-round shootout.Before all that, an unusual afternoon home game for the Kings led to a rare goal bonanza: The teams combined eight regulation goals -- including six in a crazy second period -- were the most scored in a game featuring either club in the past month.From my perspective, its not a great way to go about things, said Price, who made 27 saves. But it doesnt matter how we get it done, as long as we get it done. We know we have a lot of skill on this team. We have a lot of guys who can finish.Montreal finally found its scoring touch on the fourth stop of its five-game road trip after managing just five combined goals in the first three games, including losses at Anaheim and San Jose. After Shaws goal early in the third period forced extra time, Radulov put an offensive flourish on the shootout with an exceptional backhand goal moments before Byrons winner.When the whole team is playing hard and we get it going, its hard to play against us, Radulov said. Its always nice to score, but its huge for us to get going and get our confidence back.Pacioretty had a chance to end the shootout in the third round, but Budaj stopped him. Byron then ended it after Tanner Pearson missed for the Kings.Jeff Carter and Drew Doughty had a goal and an assist apiece for the Kings, who lost for only the second time in eight games. Hayden Hurst Jersey. Peter Budaj stopped 26 shots, but the Kings have given up 11 goals in three games during their worst defensive stretch since the opening days of the season.We pride ourselves on a hard-checking game, good defensively, Doughty said. We try, at the most, (to) give up two goals a game, and thats why we lost. We gave up four. It wasnt the offense that was the problem. They did a good job today.Nick Short and Trevor Lewis also scored for Los Angeles during that back-and-forth second period.It wasnt my favorite period, Price said.Carter and Shore connected 2:14 apart to start the second. After Pacioretty evened it on a power play for his first multi-goal game of the season, Doughty scored his fourth goal with a slap shot on a power play.Radulov evened it again on the power play, but Lewis put the Kings ahead with a slick move on a rare breakaway. Lewis has just four goals all season, including the late go-ahead goal in the Kings win over Arizona on Thursday.Shaw evened it with his sixth goal early in the third, giving him a point in all three California games.They are a real high-octane team, Los Angeles coach Darryl Sutter said. They havent done it lately, but it was something we addressed the other day. They scored the first goal, and we still found a way to get back and get a point.Game notes Before the game, Los Angeles activated C Andy Andreoff from injured reserve and assigned veteran F Teddy Purcell to its AHL affiliate in Ontario. Purcell has only two assists in 12 games in his return season with the Kings. ... The Canadiens beat the Kings 4-1 in Montreal on Nov. 10. ... Kings captain Anze Kopitar had three assists, giving him five in the past two games after a slow offensive start to the season.UP NEXTCanadiens: The road trip concludes at St. Louis on Tuesday night.Kings: Host Carolina on Thursday night. Wholeslae Jerseys NFL Jerseys Cheap Wholesale NBA Jerseys Cheap NHL Jerseys Cheap MLB Jerseys Wholesale Soccer Jerseys Cheap College Jerseys Cheap Football Jerseys Cheap Basketball Jerseys Cheap Baseball Jerseys ' ' '