When it comes to the Kings’ “new-look” lines, the line of Richardson, Kopitar and Simmonds found some early success, and Michal Handzus and Alexander Frolov have always had a certain chemistry. The line that probably has taken the longest to come together is that of Ryan Smyth, Jarret Stoll and Dustin Brown.
Brown had an interesting quote last night, in which he essentially said that playing with Smyth can take some time to adjust to, because of the way Smyth likes to play with the puck. The three seemed to be on the same page Tuesday, as they were on the ice together for three of the Kings’ first four goals. Terry Murray had solid praise for the line today, and not just on the offensive side…
MURRAY: “I liked it last night. They seemed to be developing some chemistry. Certainly whenever you put up some points, there’s always that result at the end of the day, that you’re able to look at the stat sheet and say, `Boy, they accomplished something really good here tonight.’ But overall, in the checking part of the game, they were really good.
“Jarret Stoll in particular, I thought, really dug in in the third period, in plays in the D-zone, his board battles. He was strong on the puck and had some big hits in those 1-on-1 battles. So not only were they putting some points up, but they were recognizing that it’s important to shut this game down and not give anything up. Overall, they did a very good job on that side of it also.”
Awww yes thy chemistry thy precise formula does not thy coach trust Ye teammates to play the way thy lines are set with?
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I find it interesting that most of us thought that this would be the 2nd line hands down before the season started. I believe Rich even had a poll about it here and that was the top choice.
Either way, I hope they build off this new found chemistry.
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Gotta say…I am very happy with the line combos the last few games, especially Kopitar/Richardson/Simmons.
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OT, but Detoilet got their clocks cleaned by the Wild tonite. Nice…
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I thought Stoll was great last night.
He’s really a smart, defensive first mentality, type of player. He’s huge on faceoffs.
He’s proving his value to the team.
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Nice article about JJ on wearing the USA sweater
http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/31077-THNcom-Blog-Jack-Johnson-happy-to-play-the-badguy-role.html
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For all those that have bashed TM and wanted to construct lines for the Kings. I didn’t read any Richardson/Kopitar/Simmonds blogs. I like TM he has made defence the priority and the cycle is the key to Kings Victories. Thats why I have been posting Whitney, Jussi Jokinen, or Belanger(extra faceoff guy) as guys we should be interested in. Do you really think Kovi is going to work the boards and buy into the cycle & D gameplan? We need the right pieces to finish the puzzle, not pretty shinny ones. Just look at what the Ducks and Oilers have done to there rosters they gave up there identity with there new additions and now have no phlosophy as a team.
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Luc20 — excellant point regarding team identies and the Kings not losing theirs. I might just ask if the Oilers selected the right coach for the given players. I believe in Quinn very much, but I am not sure a small fast team fits his prefered style of play. I would think they will be big and early sellers.
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Rich — I would also like to let you know that posted today like Brown passed yesterday. Keep the great stuff coming our way.
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dead things lost; Calgary got only a point . Now if VAN can just choke as a warmup for all of their away games, things could begin aligning nicely…
Thanks for the great work Rich!
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Fun for Kings Fans!
http://kingscast.net/
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I also like the lines we have set up now. I also support TM’s work. Haven’t agreed with all his moves, but overall I think he is a true professional.
Boy the Wings are sliding. They got their butts kicked and are back in 9th place.
I just wanna see the Canucks get whooped up on. That team scares me. They seem to have the Kings number.
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Blues tied up!
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Well Van won. With 14 road game in a row for them I wouldn’t worry too much.
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The nucks are going to have a rough stretch when they play a combined 14 games straight on the road. (before and after the Olymp. break) Hopefully, this is when they will come back to earth.
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Washington wiped out the Ducks in the 3rd period! You should see the goals scored by the Caps.
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The post game interview with Ron Wilson, had him saying “I hope Dustin Brown keeps that level of play up 3 weeks from now. He killed us tonight.”
That was Brown’s best game this season, maybe the last 2 seasons.
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I’m glad others were watching the Blues/Nucks tonight. I’m just a bit off topic but I’ll be brief.
I am having a real problem with officiating lately. The last ‘Nuck power play tonight reminded me of it. As we all know there was the big issue with the Canucks and the refs a few days ago.
When I saw the “60 Minutes” piece about the NBA referee I realized that, yes, refs do not like certain players who mouth off, or certain teams for this or that thing from the past, and their league seems to like certain things to turn out a certain way for a variety of different reasons. But what about gambling or personal spite?
I think the NBA fans have always known this and to a certain degree accepteed it. But when you hear it up front though, it is more easy to see what a problem it can be. It contaminates every reason why we watch the game, no matter what the league might be.
I think the NHL might have a problem right now. I say this not because I think the Kings are getting a raw deal this year or anything like that but, I watch NHL games every day. And I think the league might have a problem right now. At least it is a problem if the league says nothing about it. Just look at that last Blues penalty tonight on Karyia; what a shame.
anyway…back to happy thoughts…!!
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Not to mention the no call corkscrew with 1:30 left in 3rd against Dallas, then 2 calls against Kippur in that span to give Dallas a two man advantage in OT. BTW Dallas wins in SO.
What line do we put Semin on when Kovi goes to the Caps and they ship out Semin to LA?… Hahaha, just stirring it up ;p
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Stirring it up are you Brian D?; Nothing wrong with that!
Dallas has gotten some strange ones lately!!
Semin will get 6 next year. If they give Kovi 10 they will have to dump someone before making such a deal in order to account for the other 4.
I know the Kings will have to give up someone to make any deal as well, but there is a difference between doing it because another team wants a return, or because you’re up against the cap!
I have said it before but I will say it again just to be redundant; you can not healthy scratch those kinds of dudes who make that much money (I don’t care who the coach of the team is). We talk about their commitment to the Kings, but the Kings better make damn sure as if they spoke to the damn Devil herself, that they are willing to be equally committed to such a move and all that implies before they actually do it!
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go post in the big thread get 500!!
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Is it me or do the Kings seem like a better road team than home team to others as well? We get this next one and it’ll sure make up for that crappy home stand.
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THE PRESIDENT IN HIS STATE O’ THE UNION ADDRESS SAID:
HE thinks its a great idea to deal for KOValchuck.
HE also said that PURCELL SUCKS and SHOOT THE PUCK ON THE PP.
GO KINGS GO
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Instead of you know who, maybe we should consider trading for another mobile, good puck moving Dman(besides DD)? Harrold is doing a good job filling this role recently, but having another good passer from the back end could really improve our transition game. How about Kaberle from Toronto? Imagine how good our PP would be with him and DD manning the points! Toronto will be looking for prospects and picks so it seems like we would be good trading partners.
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Was looking back at the recap of the previous 2 games we played the Blue Jackets. In Ohio we lost 4 to 1 when about a third of the team had the flu. Was a lot closer than the score indicated. The 4th goal was an empty netter. Purcell and Fro had bad games.
The 2nd game between the two the Kings won 6 to 2 and Fro had a great game. You King fans might remember this game as the one where Scudes checked one of Blue jackets low and set the guy flying head first onto the ice. The guy had a real bad cut on his face and was crying to the media about the hit after the game.
Expect some serious hitting nad Scudes better keep his head up.
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Update on Obama’s state of the union address: Republican Senators have proposed legislation that Kovalchuk cannot be traded and the Kings must play Purcell play at all times, every minute, except when the King’s are on the power play.
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The guy Scuderi hit plays for the Capitals, now. I’m not so sure there will be any payback for an ex-teammate that’s not with the team anymore.
On another note – Kopitar with Simmonds and Richardson: In October, who would have thought?
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Actually the Kopitar line really sucked in Toronto. I bet they won’t stay together very long.
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I heard that Mikus was going to speak to the media last night, so they cancelled the State of the Union address.
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Not Impressed
you always so negative? Kopis line played fine in Toronto. Hey didn’t your mother always tell ya that if you have nothing nice to say then don’t say it? Hey everyone reserving their playoff tickets yet?? Big game tonight to put some distance on us and the Red Wings and Flames
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Check out this Semin highlight reel…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh0zW0HMWVA
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Hey go post in the monster post. help us get 500
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Great hope for the future.
Brayden Schenn throws the check, then throws down.
http://www.hockeyfights.com/fights/91981
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Timbo:
Kopitar was a minus one
Simmons was a minus two
and Richardson was a minus three.
No one else on the team was a minus.
Yea, they played great together.
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Interesting, Smyth plays with Kopitar who goes on to have his best start of his career; they move Smyth to to Brown’s line and Brown has his best game of his career.
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Plus/Minus is a garbage stat. I’m covering my man, you’re covering your man, someone else is not covering their man – the other tam scores and we ALL get a minus?
Oh, and the guy who just came on for the guy who made a bad change and contributed to the goal against? He gets a minus, too.
Like I said, bad stat. Bob Miller agrees with me.
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Update on politics: Not allowed in this forum, and government worship is ruining this nation.
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Minnesota:
Yea, I agree its not the best stat. But the point was NO ONE eles on the team was a minus. It was a game that the Kings won 5-3. Richardson was on the ice for all 3 Toronto goals, and for none of the Kings goals. It wasn’t a good game for that line.
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6 out of 10
hockey people agree that the plus/minus stat has no real purpose.
Even brian hayward has said-
“those grade A scoring chances rely on opportune and aware forwards slash skating to create a cornacopia of woven sticks, to facilitate a screen or a tip in. So that being the reason The captain
got a minus on that play.
right outta his mouth honest.
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Plus/minus is sort of like a throw-in stat. “That player sure seems to get burned a lot, and by scrubs–what’s his plus/minus?”
or, “That player always draws tough assignments, but his plus/minus doesn’t suffer…”
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I’ll just finish this off with this:
plus/minus isn’t the best stat out there, but it seems to be good enough to see it on all the NHL stat sheets. And in my humble opinion, its more accurate than saying a goalies GAA is a team stat.
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I’m definitely with you on GAA. It and plus/minus both need context to mean anything at all.
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Agreed with most people about +/-
But top play devils advocate for a second…
Yes you may have been covering your man and someone elses mistake caused you to get a minus. BUT you also might have picked up a plus when you had absolutely nothing to do with the offensive play that created the goal…. so they even each other out, at least to an extent.
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Agree, mostly, VKF, except if you’re screwing up as much as Jack Johnson.
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