alt="LA Kings Insider with Rich Hammond" />Anze Kopitar’s postgame thoughts…
(on the lack of power-play success…)
KOPITAR: “Everybody has got to take some responsibility on that. I’ve got to do what I’m supposed to do. Everybody else has got to do that. It is a five-man unit. The penalty kill has come such a long way in the NHL these days that you’ve almost got to work harder 5-on-4 than you have to do 5-on-5. They’re pressing all the time, but it’s about execution and taking pride in that, and knowing that it’s not just going to come because we have the power play.”
(on losing games based on small mistakes, such as early and shorthanded goals…)
KOPITAR: “Always, when you lose a game, you feel awful. It doesn’t matter if you got scored on 13 seconds in or with 13 seconds left in the game. It doesn’t matter. We’ve got to figure this out now. We’ve dropped two in a row now. We’re going to have a couple days of practice now. We’ve got to look ourselves in the mirror and get the job done.”
Kopi has stepped up big this year. Even though he probably won’t lead the nhl in points at the end of the season he has made great strides this year and you have to give him a lot of credit. You can’t expect the guy to score a hat trick every game now, can you?
The guy is solid and he is the franchise, his character and demeanor speaks volume!!
He’ll get better every year and will be as dependable as an Iginla or Richards in a year or two. He is still 22. You do realize that.
Kopi, continue to improve and try to bring your A game every night, that’s all we can hope for!
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Oh yeah and this game wasn’t one he’ll like to remember. But most of the guys had a bad night.
The most troubling issue for me is the effort the captain is giving or lack thereof.
Murray and DL needs to talk to BROWN and help him figure out a way to get him out of his slump and bring back the energy and life, love of the game that he oozed in the past seasons.
As a captain he has to set an example for the rest of the team, put forth the effort Smyth shows nightly!
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That’s what’s been wrong with the power play. Kopitar didn’t think you have to play as hard on the power play. Now he knows! It’ll all be better now. [/sarcasm]
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Kopi can bring his boombox and blast some MJ before the next game. If you wanna make the world a better place…
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Stebo,
I too have wondered about Brown this year.
He has had one or two kids now and gotten a big contract. You have to wonder if his priorities are different now (not sure I could blame him). Its still early in the season so maybe its just a question of getting the right line combos and finding his game again.
Hope so.
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It seems that Brown is running around hitting people and making nifty passes to himself between his legs while complaining the Kings arent playing together as a team. I think DL could get some useful bodies for him in a trade.
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ohh god…the trade brown talk has started….
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