Below are the postgame thoughts from Kings coach Terry Murray…
(on his game thoughts…)
MURRAY: “We got one point. Whenever you have a lead in the third period like that, you’d like to keep it, but we tied it up late. That’s a pretty good hockey club we were playing out there today, too. There’s a lot of desparation on their side of it. I thought the effort that we gave, 5-on-5, was sporadic. I thought there was some shifts in the first two periods that were very good. They got back up in the third period. That’s the kind of intensity that we need to learn to bring every day.”
(on another Saturday afternoon loss…)
MURRAY: “I don’t have any clue about the afternoon starts, as far as a lack of preparation or why it should make any difference in your life as a player. You’re coming to the game. You’re playing against a big conference team, and a home game. So you should be pretty exciting about getting here.”
(on getting Erik Ersberg a start sometime soon…)
MURRAY: “I’ll start to take a look at the schedule and see where I can get Ersberg into a couple of games before the Christmas break. There’s back-to-backs, and that’s pretty demanding, especially when you have travel involved. So I’ll take a look at it.”
(on whether he’s concerned about the lack of production from Kopitar and Brown…)
MURRAY: “I’m concerned right now. I’m concerned. when you go through a dozen games and you haven’t scored a goal, and you’re getting the amount of minutes, special situations that you’re getting, and being quality players, that’s a concern. Kopi ends up, in overtime, with the puck on his stick on a breakaway, and he loses it. That’s not like him. So I’ve got to sit down and have an opportunity to talk to him, just about how things are in his own mind. But yeah, I’m concerned. We’ve done a pretty good job here as a team. Simmer and Parse and Richardson, they’ve stepped up and they’re doing their part. We’ve got to get our top guys back on top again.”
I think kopi’s hurt…. He’s fighting through a “lower body injury”… Just my guess. He’s a step slow and the lack of confidence is not smitty, just a guess…
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I’ve been saying that for almost a week now. I’m willing to guess it’s a groin or a hip flexor. He has seemed a step or 2 slower than usual, and see him falling a lot as well.
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The only thing thats hurt on Kopi is his confidence. He’s reverted back to last years underachiever. Losing Smyth sent his confidence in to a tail spin, and its continued to gain momentum on the way down. You can see the difference pretty clearly. Earlier in the year he was crazy creative with the puck, but now he suddenly only has the one move (low 5 hole), way too predictable. Mason knew exactly what he wanted to do in the shootout, just like the rest of us.
It’s really good to hear Terry’s concern. Getting Kopi scoring goals again should be our #1 priority. Fro and Willy are finally finding some chemistry together, which is a good sign. Now lets figure out how to get our superstar back.
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I’m telling ya, Kopitar got rocked a couple three times in the game before that first Blackhawks game (the one on Versus), and he hasn’t been the same since.
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Face it the Kings are a lazzzzzzzzzzy team. COACHES JOB TO MOTOVATE THEM.
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