With Calgary losing to Boston today, the Kings’ major number for making the playoffs has been reduced from 10 to 8. If the Kings win in regulation tonight, it will be 6 (and, if they lose in overtime/shootout, 7). It should be a wild night in the West. The No. 6 Kings host Dallas, No. 5 Nashville hosts No. 8 Detroit and No. 4 Phoenix hosts No. 7 Colorado. By the end of the night, the bottom four teams in the West could be completely shuffled. By the end of the night, the Kings could be in fifth place or eighth place. Even though the Kings are eight points behind fourth-place Phoenix (with two games in hand), Murray hasn’t given up on that either…
MURRAY: “I think home ice is always very important. That’s your goal. Your first goal is to make the playoffs. Your second should always be to finish first in the conference. You’d like to win the President’s Trophy. It means that much to have home ice in the seventh game. There are arguments against it, but that’s my own feeling. That seventh game comes down to matching and changing and having the last opportunity to change. On the other side of that, you have your home fans. It’s comfortable, you’re in your own home, you’re in your own bed and you know your fans are there to support you. So there’s a significant difference in my view of it.”
Murray was also asked about matchups, and if it was important to stay away from certain teams…
MURRAY: “I see them all very difficult. I see everything in the first round as hard. I know it’s hard. I’ve been there too many times to think otherwise. There has been an incredible amount of top-seeded teams go down. The expectation of having to win when you’re expected to win is the most difficult thing to do in sport. So the goal for us, still, is `Let’s get in,’ then it starts over again.”
I call it “The Wild Wild West”! Brings the mind the song by Will Smith! LOL! Anyways, hopefully, the teams beneath the Kings start losing every game and the Kings win all the rest of their games. GO KINGS GO!
Rich, thanks for everything you do, again. You have done so much for the fans of the Kings, that in all honesty, you deserve MVP of the whole Kings Org. Thank you!
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okto Reply:
March 27th, 2010 at 4:51 pm
@#1faninvegas, kool moe dee
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It seems like the arguments for home ice are good ones, however, it also goes back to the team record that season. Without looking up the stats, it seems like sometimes the record at home isn’t as good as the one on the road. If that’s the case, home ice isn’t necessarily a good thing. It is nice for the fans though.
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Player-X Reply:
March 27th, 2010 at 4:05 pm
@just my opinion,
Kings at home are 21-12-3, Kings on the road are 21-13-3.
I would rather have home than away for a game 7, but since the Kings start slow generally and more often start slow at home, I would rather have Game 1 on the road. You can’t have both.
So, like their records being even, home or away is a toss-up. Right now I would trend toward wanting home ice, if only because that would require a hot streak to get and it’s better to go into the playoffs hot.
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TM motivates by saying we can still catch phoenix and 4th hello !!!!!!!!! that ought to do it
try something like start winning boys or we will be playing golf soon
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Player-X Reply:
March 27th, 2010 at 4:06 pm
@backchecker,
Kings are widely held to be 99.9% to get into the playoffs, sir.
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Player-X Reply:
March 27th, 2010 at 4:06 pm
@backchecker,
Kings are widely held to be 99.9 percent to get into the playoffs, sir.
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runningman Reply:
March 27th, 2010 at 4:54 pm
@Player-X,
It is always nice when your losing like the Kings are going into the playoffs.
1-7 in their last eight games against playoff teams is also nice.
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USHA#17 Reply:
March 27th, 2010 at 6:24 pm
@runningman,
I would expect the Kings to be somewhat stunned in the 1st game of a playoff, especially if they face SJ or the Hawks.
Hopefully one game is all it will take for them to get the idea.
Player-X Reply:
March 27th, 2010 at 6:34 pm
@runningman,
What exactly is your point? Is there anything new in it? For the record, as in the actual RECORD, the Kings are 2-2-1 in their last 5, 4-4-2 in their last 10, 11-6-3 in their last 20 and 42-25-6 for the season.
Where is the “losing” in a .500 record or better?
If we lose tonight and Detroit and Colorado win we are in 8th
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USHA#17 Reply:
March 27th, 2010 at 4:49 pm
@I’m Just Saying”,
Be grateful for Calgary…even at 99.9%!
Would really like the Club to put together a big game tonight.
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runningman Reply:
March 27th, 2010 at 4:58 pm
@USHA#17,
The problem is that beating Dallas is not going to be a big game for the Kings. Beating Vancouver or Nashville next week would be a big game.
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USHA#17 Reply:
March 27th, 2010 at 6:22 pm
@runningman,
Baby steps…
raunq12 Reply:
March 27th, 2010 at 6:27 pm
@runningman,
HUGE games
I think I felt a few new gray hairs just grew in thinking about the fact that we are the only 4-8 team in the west not playing another 4-8 team in the west. We need a win tonight. Granted we still have a game in hand (or 2) on some of these teams but I for one will feel better with 2 more points.
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I know this is slightly off topic but is anyone else watching the Nashville/Detroit game? Is it me or do they both seem to play at twice the speed of the Kings? I never thought of the Kings as a slow team, maybe not as quick as some, but not slow.
It seems that these teams both are quick but I think it’s the passing that makes them look faster and it’s no coincidence, IMO, that they have great records since the olympic break.
I know that Detroit has all of their players back, but still, the pace is very fast.
Just looking for some input from the rest of you!
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Follow up…on the other hand, the Colorado/phoenix game looks much slower…
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I love how NONE of the posts have ANYTHING to do with the blog.
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bmova Reply:
March 27th, 2010 at 6:44 pm
@bmova, oops…my mistake…wrong blog!
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Uggg! Someone please score in this Detroit Nashville game! We don’t want OT!!!
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Masked Man Reply:
March 27th, 2010 at 7:25 pm
@Kris, Agreed. When was the last time u saw a 0-0 game?
On a side note Nachokov did what he does best. Look for the Sharks to fail.
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Did u see what they did to Brown? 5 minute major at least. C’mon refs!
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