Nothing ground-breaking at practice today. Same players, same lines, with the addition of Jarret Stoll, who stayed on the ice for most of the practice. Stoll will accompany the Kings to Calgary and Minnesota, in order to continue workouts with the team, but won’t play in either game.
More notes and quotes to come, including Michal Handzus’ thoughts about making the Slovakian Olympic team and Terry Murray’s thoughts on whether Alexander Frolov should have come off the ice after his broken-stick penalty-kill shift (short answer: yes).
Rich,
Ask TM as to why JMFJ didn’t get back onto the ice after Kings fell behind, 4-3…
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Shame on Fro for wanting to compete… He was flying last night. Played a spirited, high energy game with many chances. If TM is gonna blast him for that one, he is perhaps being a bit too harsh.
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I would agree with Mr. Murray, but isn’t it up to the coaches to tell the players when to come off the ice? I didn’t notice a single Kings player ready to hop on the ice when Frolov was skating to get a stick.
Seems to me the coaches should of had a player ready to go the moment Frolov got close to the bench instead of having everyone sit there watching him skate all the way down the bench to get a stick.
Accountability goes both ways.
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Marc,
TM didn’t blast Fro the way he could’ve during the game, by pulling his ice time.
That non-action was a very, very Pro-Fro signal.
Remember, TM did pull JMFJ after his bone-headed play with 2:00 minutes plus to go in the third (noticed by the NHL Network guys last night).
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Fro played really well last night, but he also had to make smart decisions. He had some really good opportunities to shoot the puck, but he chose to pass it instead. Why can all of the teams score on us when it’s 5 on 3, but we can’t even score when it’s 6 on 3?
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Lets get Stoll back in there ASAP, we’re 2-4 without him.
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Bako…Johnson did not get benched after the goal. In fact, he was out with Doughty on the very next shift and played another 35 seconds, according to the play-by-play. His last shift ended at 18:33.
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Amen Seabass! Stoll is the difference maker. We are a much better team with him in the lineup.
Would not be surprised to see DL make a deal for a scoring winger due to Justin Williams being out. Ruttuu from Carolina could be a candidate.
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Yea, as Rich said, Johnson played the next shift. You can’t consider it benching a guy if there is less than two minutes left in a game and he just had a shift.
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Those who think Johnson sucks knows absolutely nothing about hockey.
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Richard-
If you look at the replay Simmonds jumped over the boards and hit the ice when Fro was headed to the bench. Simmonds immediately hopped back onto the bench when Fro had to take a long turn to get back in the play. Not sure how much time would have been saved and if it would have made a difference anyways. I’d be curious why Simmer jumped back on the bench because it seemed like the right thing to do.
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Rich, that’s interesting, because they made a big deal of it on NHL Live that he’d been benched after the goal.
I should’ve noticed it myself, though…
Thanks.
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Jim Fox on TV last night thought Fro did the right thing.
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We NEED Stoll – get better soon!
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People, look at the replay. At the moment Fro decided to go to the bench, the puck was moving slowly toward an open corner where (1) there were no Wild Players waiting, (2) No Wild Players had inside position, or were closer to the puck, (3) Scuderi had position on Koivu, and was skating to get the puck and (4) Jonathan Quick had left the net and was on his way to to the puck.
Fro sees that and has to think “we are gonna get a clear.”
Instead, Quick got to the puck first, and instead of simply teeing it up for a d-man to ring it around the boards or wheel and fire airborne through a gap, he “slapped” at the puck and it partially climbed his stick, went past Scuderi right to Koivu on the half boards.
That goal was a combination of errors, but this blog and many of it’s readers seem myopic on Frolov. Sometimes it feels like the villagers with the torches are running up the hillside for Frolov no matter what he does.
The replay clearly shows Qucik with time at the puck, and Scudri has 2 steps inside position on Koivu, and as a matter of fact Doughty also had 2 steps of inside position on Brunette. Quick could have just stopped the puck, successfully slapped the puck much ahrder off the boards, left the puck alone entirely, or passed it slowly to either Scuderi or Doughty for them to clear.
I got news for many of you; Frolov did not kill Kennedy, either, and had nothing to do with Jimmy Hoffa or the Chicago Fire.
Yes, he could have stayed in the play, yes he could have let Simmonds come on for him, but also hell yes that puck was supposed to leave the zone any number of more likely ways than not.
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get over people long way to go
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