alt="LA Kings Insider with Rich Hammond" />Terry Murray’s postgame thoughts…
(on what cost the Kings the most…)
MURRAY: “Faceoffs. Two faceoff goals against. I felt we managed the puck a little carelessly as we went through the middle of the ice. Just not making hard plays and making them go back every time. They’re in good position structurally, they’re in great position defensively, and there’s really not any opportunities to have possession entries. You have to make real strong plays, strong decisions. We thought we could maybe do a little too much with it, and it came right back into our own end, into our net.”
(on the faceoff struggles…)
MURRAY: “Not quite as high percentage as it was last year. Our percentage was one of the best in the league last year, so it has dropped off a bit. It ended up being the part of the game that cost us tonight, two faceoff goals.”
(on the goalie play…)
MURRAY: “Both goaltenders played very well here tonight. I felt bad for Quick at the end of the game. He made some big stops. I felt that through the second period we had the better scoring chances. Luongo was really good for them. It was an interesting game.”
(on Brayden Schenn’s play…)
MURRAY: “Schenn was very good. He plays with a lot of character and a lot of composure. He’s got a huge heart and he competes hard. We liked him out of the training camp and I like him even more after this game here tonight. This was a much harder game tonight than our other young player who played last night in Edmonton, Loktionov — and unfortunately got the injury — but this is a great opportunity for us to take a look at Schenn and evaluate him. Boy, he’s going to be a good player.”
(on the lack of first-line production in Purcell’s first two games…)
MURRAY: “No, there’s no production. There’s certainly opportunities, and that’s a bit of a concern for me. Again, those situations that I’m seeing Teddy in here tonight, that’s his M.O. He ususally jumps on those scoring opportunities. I’m going to have to take a look at it. I’ll talk with our staff and take a look at it myself and think about it. We have a day to get back and get reorganized and get ready for the next game.”
Tonight, I’m thankful for Rich Hammond’s hard work!
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I guess clippers didn’t get my last post.Great job again Hammond.
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We were doubled up on faceoffs I believe. Sad. We were lucky to be 1-1 after 2 thanks to Quick. His fire is officialy going now, so what’s going on with the rest of the team?
We can’t have some of the guys working hard: Brown, Williams, Kopi(On Backchecks), Simmonds, Parse, Richardson, Segal, Quick, Doughty, Greene, Schenn, Drewiskie, Johnson.
And some others not: Frolov, Ivanans, Handzus (Last 2 games), Purcell, O’Donnell, Jones, Kopi (On Faceoffs).
All cylinders all the time. Is that so hard? (Crying)
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Sorry, Teddy. You know/knew this was your chance, and it didn’t look like you were desperate to make something happen. Solid, if you were even that, is not good enough. You MUST create; you MUST get points. The coach has flat-out said as much. It may be unfair, but you’re not giving them any reason to keep you.
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Put Brown back where he had his success: LW with Kopi:
Brown-Kopi-JW
This way Brown won’t have to handle the puck that much because Kopi will, and we all know those two have pretty good chemistry.
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dominick i responded to you in the 4-1 final section where you posted it
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BringBack you nailed it!
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brown is a rw, and will never be a lw. give parse a game with williams and kopi. good forecheck, backcheck, speed, boardsplay and passing. Package purcell and ivan for a legitimate 4th line lw. I really like segal on richardsons rw
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I like the Brown idea, he’s not afraid to go to the net and can handle left wing…Teddy should have had that goal in the second, come on, lift the fargin puck already.
I’d love to have Kovi, if Atlanta goes the trade route, Fro, Purcell, a prospect, and a pick…sign him 7 years, 8+ million a year and then watch us destroy the competition…let’s hope Atlanta can’t seal the deal.
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I was just wondering how many breakaway does Brown need to score the goddamn goal?
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After Luongo, Dustin Brown was the best player on the ice last night
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Brown was the Kings best player last night and I haven’t been able to say that too often this year. I think it was Brown’s best game of the year and if any goalie was in net besides Luongo he would have had at least 1 goal.
The Parse-Richardson-Simmonds line was the hardest working line. They’ve played two great games in a row and I think until our injured players come back, they need to stick together. All players work hard and that creates chances.
Frolov…I don’t know what to say. He and Purcell have done nothing for this team recently. Everyone says Frolov needs to be with “scorers”, but shouldn’t a good player make those around him better? When you put him on scoring lines, he drags them down. As each game passes, I lose a little more respect for Fro. When Fro was on a line with Simmonds, people said Simmonds was dragging him down, but it looks like just the opposite. Simmonds has been scoring in every situation he has been put in without Frolov. Coincidence?
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I wrote this before Tuesday’s game… and I write it again, but now I’m not the only one suggesting it.
Anyone else wonder why TM doesn’t go outside the box a little and try Brown on the left side with Kopi and Williams. He is clearly the most Smyth-like guy on the team and he would bring great energy and potential scoring to the line as well. He’ll battle in the corners, he’ll go to the net. He’ll do whatever it takes.
Instead, we have Teddy Purcell. He will hang around the perimeter, become invisible only to reappear in time to lose the puck and fan on a couple of shots. I think he will suck the energy out of that line and the team. Brown could ignite the line and the team.
Look at Chigago with Hossa coming back in. Hossa will play right wing, moving Patrick Kane to the left side. Eddie Olczyk, who played all three forward positions, says the change shouldn’t be a big issue for a player like Kane.
“It’s when you come out of your zone with the puck,” Olczyk said. “It’s a different look up the ice, but those three will be so creative with the puck, they will be all over the place.”
It’s not that tough and yet Brown wasn’t even a choice on the survey a few days ago. I had to check off “someone else” or whatever the option was.
Can I be the only one who sees this? Am I crazy? They could at least try it in practice!
Now, I’ll add to that… if Brown can’t switch sides, perhaps Williams could. We need those 3 together.
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Two things.
1) Purcell was the best player on that line last night….Kopitar was the worst.
So, I don’t think you should put the lines lack of performance solely on him.
Where do you even come up with some of your stuff?
“Reappear in time to lose the puck”
Losing the puck is commonly referred to as a giveaway. Purcell has only 7 all season as compared to Smyth with 16 and Brown with 15.
2) Brown and Kopitar actually played together last year and it didn’t work.
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i have to disagree with kopi being the worst player on the ice last night. The only thing he didn’t do was score. The rest of his game is doing well. Plays the whole 200 feet backchecking like a maniac, Kopi will be just fine, what? players are not allowed to slump on this team? Did we ever really expect him to keep up the pace of the first 10 games the whole year?
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