alt="LA Kings Insider with Rich Hammond" />In talking with people after the game last night, the general sense was that the Kings had a golden opportunity to put away the Red Wings in the second period. The Kings played a strong first period, the Red Wings were shorthanded and the Detroit crowd was dead.
Give credit to the Wings for raising the level of their play, but the Kings simply flat-lined in the second period. The offensive chances stopped, Jonathan Quick gave up a bad early goal, the Kings took four penalties and the Red Wings took control. Today, Murray talked about that collapse and tried to put it in some context.
MURRAY: “It’s an attitude. It’s a culture. The Detroit Red Wings have been doing this since about 1993. They’ve been one of the top offensive teams in the National Hockey League since that time, and they figured out how to win in ’97. That was after a lot of heartbreak playoff series. Then they finally figured it out and now they have a culture that’s well-established. They put new players into the lineup. They were missing four key guys from their lineup last year, and against us last night they were able to get the job done.
“But we opened the door. It was our game to win. We let them in. We gave up a bad goal on the first faceoff. Richardson got thrown out, but Lewis is the center iceman. He’s supposed to take it, not Peter Harrold. We lose the draw, and that puck is missing the net and it’s pulled into the net off (Quick’s) pad. We need those saves. Look, when you go in to play Detroit, and several other teams in the NHL that are high offensive teams, you have to have great goaltending. I don’t care how well you play, they’re going to generate scoring chances.
“Goaltending is critical, and our goaltending last night has to be better, and it has to be better against the New York Rangers. That’s a fact of the business, period. I told the players, the two goaltenders, that, and that’s just the way it is. We have to put more demands on ourselves. But then it becomes…there’s a goal, and another goal on the power play, but you have to be able to regroup, and I thought we really took a step backward at that time. So that’s where we’ve got to figure it out.’’
Only Kings move best player (Frolov)in 3th line.
He played a lot ,but with who ?
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There’s a couple a few things we need to improve – 5on5 scoring, Penalty Kill, Goaltending.
-Shake up the lines if the goals are not coming. In other words, let’s get Frolov off the 3rd line. If we have to break up the 1st, then so be it. Winning is our #1 priority.
-I think the PK will work itself out (hello QUICK!).
-When it comes to goaltending, if things keep going the way they are, make sure our top goalie prospect Jonathan Bernier is ready. This could be it.
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Besides all the issues discussed already, what I saw was a tired team. This team has been playing harder and given more effort than any Kings team I’ve seen in a couple years. I don’t really blame the players for this loss, from my vantage point the tanks were empty and I’m o.k. with that.
I expect a solid effort from all this Saturday.
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first thing is fro needs to be on the number one line with kopi and smyth, he is the best shooter we have and can keet offensive zone puck control better than almost anyone in the league. i like williams he is playing good but i think his speed and creativity would help stoll and brown on their line. purcell isnt consistant enough so i think he could be put on the line with simonds and zues and work on his defensive game which would probably work out good since he does have good speed and he is a good skater. i understand the type of players that Murray and Deano love (hard nose dvive to the net grinding types) but fro has upped his physical play and his skill has to be used on offense or he is no use to this club period.
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So Quick has a 4-2 record and you all want to ship him out of town on the next bus hey??…wow…
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Like I said the other day
Bernier (with Manchester)
3 GP
3 W
1.67 GAA
957 SV%
Everybody pay attention, it looks like he will play tonight at Springfield. Unless of course, he gets called up to start tomorrow at Columbus.
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oh, its only a hope and dream as a die hard kings fan of 20 years but an elite scorer would be nice. we have missed that presence since the palffy days, we have lots of young tallent and i think lettin a few guys go plus some picks would be worth trying to get a player like Ilya Kovalchuk. a player like that would put the la kings into the playoffs and give that consistant scoring threat we really need.
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How about Zatkoff, he has a 1.02 GAA and 974 SV%
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i really think everyone needs to calm down about the goaltending, give quick at least 20 games and if he is not on top of his game than ya bring up one of the other guys from manchester. we cant wright him off yet he has played too many good to great games for us to give up already. we all know Ersberg is only going to be able to be an ok backup, lets be honest he will never be a number one in the NHL but we have to give quick a chance and if he doesnt cut it and Bernier has a great year then guess what we still are in a good situation.
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I think the elephant in the room is bigger this year with regards to goaltending because we gave LaBarbara those 20 or so games and they killed our playoff chances. Everyone was saying “If Quick could have played those game LaBarbara did, we might be in the playoffs”. I think that is the pressure on the coaching staff to not wait so long this season if the goaltending is not up to snuff.
Really you’re damed if you do and if you don’t. Bring up Bernier early, if he tanks, those games are ‘Woulda COulda Shoulda’. Let Quick play 20 and if he tanks, same thing. Just gotta go with your gut and hope it works out.
I think Quick stays 20 games in my opinion. Let Bernier enjoy his success in Manchester for a while and really let his confidence soak in.
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i totally agree with Cynic. i beleive the entire season rests on our goaltending. we have enought talent to consistantly score around 3 goals per game, that means our goaltending will have to be above average for us to keep the opposition off the board. I think Quick shows a lot of promise, especially for a team that has had garbage goaltending since Felix The Cats first great season with us which was forever ago. goaltending has been the biggest downfall for our team over the last 6+ years so to see all the young tallent we have now i am sure we will have a one of these young guys step up and be a long stay number 1
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i like the way he worded this. it seems to me TM isn’t cutting ‘youth’ the slack he did last year. it’s not pointed talk, but it is direct; no minced words.
vlad – for me, i have no issues with the first line as is. my issues lie more with the second line; although i think Zues looked tired last night… which definitely affected the third line IMO.
kings came back down to earth… its still early and i’m not worried [yet]
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I remember watching the play where Harrold steps in for the faceoff thinking: “there are two centers on the ice, why is the converted defensemen taking this draw?”
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but Lewis is the center iceman. He’s supposed to take it, not Peter Harrold.
Uhhhhh… who was the braintrust that decided to make Peter Harrold a CENTER in training camp? As I’ve said a few times before… if you want Peter Harrold to be a CENTER, let him go down to Manchester and skate a regular shift as a first or second line CENTER, taking 10-20 draws a game and being actively involved in LEARNING the position.
Fools…
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Seems like some people don’t get the concept that there is a difference in the level of play from the AHL to the NHL. The NHL game is a lot faster. Just because a goalie can see the play develop and shots coming at him at one level does not mean that it direstly translates to the NHL game.
I can’t see how Murray blames Quick for a bad goal when it hits the pad going past the goal and makes a crazy bounce off the pad back into the goal. What’s he to blame for, angling his pad in the wrong direction? That goal was just pure bad luck. Now the wrong person taking the faceoff, that’s another story.
The biggest thing this team did wrong last night was not sending the message that it’s not OK to do what Cleary did to Kopitar. Zetterberg should have had a target on him after that.
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The Kings were 4-1 when they go NY and loose to the hottest team in Hockey. The in a back-to-back game they loose to Detroit (the strongest organization in hockey for two decades). Its still to early to panic.
The next two games against conference opponents, Columbus and Dallas, should be a good test. Let’s see how the Kings respond to their sub par performance in Detroit.
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