The Kings’ record has been inconsistent of late — since Dec. 4, they’ve gone from win to overtime loss to win to loss to win to loss to win — but throughout all that, the Kings have remained one of the top teams in the NHL in goal prevention. Entering tonight’s games, the Kings are fourth in the NHL — and first in the Western Conference — in goals against per game, with an average of 2.34. Last season, the Kings were ninth in the NHL (and sixth in the conference) with an average of 2.57. Asked today, Terry Murray said he doesn’t mind that the Kings don’t seem to be getting representative recognition for their defensive numbers…
MURRAY: “That’s part of our m.o. That’s the part of the game that we really want to be able to hang out hat on and say, `We’re going to bring that effort every night on that part, on the checking side of it.’ And we’ve done a very good job over the past couple years. The numbers have improved. It’s whenever you start to slip that the attention starts to get focused on that area, and we understand that. It’s OK that it’s not talked about. That’s who we are, that’s what we expect and that’s what you have to do in order to, I think, be a team that’s going to be a successful team. You get down to those games in the second half of the year, and you’re talking about one-goal (games). You’re talking about tie games, and you’ve got to find a way, at the end of the day, to shut it down and to win.”
The silver lining with Mitchell being out is getting Harry, Whiskey and Martini quality playing time in preparation for the end of the year playoff push. Not to mention it gives Jack and Drew more responsibility. But until Mitchell is healthy, I’m afraid we’ll continue to see inconsistent results.
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Here is an excellent article about the Kings. Make sure you also listen to Barry Melrose and E.J. Hradek sing the Kings’ praises (on video at the link). They even think the Kings can reach the Stanley Cup finals!
http://espn.go.com/blog/nhl/post/_/id/2852/december-a-turning-point-in-kings-season
In contrast, here is an article about the Devils’ sad situation:
“The Devils Circle of Shame Now Complete”
There actions have come home to roost. I’m glad greed has this outcome….
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/story?columnist=burnside_scott&id=5951137
Two teams; two different scenes. It feels like hockey justice has come about.
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Yes we’ve reversed the GAA and ICBW but I think we lost considerably on the GFA side. One side negates the other so we need to be mindful of both. Unfirtunately, TM seems interested predominatly on one side why discounting the other.Hopefully, Marco will assist in this area.
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DLB Reply:
December 23rd, 2010 at 7:28 pm
@crashin’ da net, one CAN possibly negate the other, but the Kings’ goal differential is pretty splendid right now (+20). The fact that they’ve scored fewer goals this season has so far been offset by allowing fewer against.
In any case, over the course of this road trip there’s been an uptick in goals per game. That’s a positive sign.
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The lower GFA is a result of our poor and inconsistent PP. Once we get that fixed, really good things will happen for us. IMHO, I think it would be easier to fix a PP rather than trying to develop a better defense. Of course, a top 6 LW would help. Defense wins championships so we are on the right track.
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we have a real important stretch of games coming up the next two or three weeks with division and western conference rivals(ANA, SJ, PHX, SJ, CHI, NSV, CLB). These games i believe will have a big impact on our playoff chances. The goal prevention and scoring through out the lineup will be very important in getting the most out of these games. Everyone, and ill repeat EVERYONE IMO needs to step it up a notch and take it to these guys and give us some breathing room going into the second half of the season. January and march IMO will make or break the Kings season!
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The two games I want most of all. I want to send a message to SJ. I want both those games.
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Defence wins championships. The bottom line is the when Willy comes back is when were going to be the top team in the league. I think adding Marco for nothing is huge plus. All kings need to do is that add first line player like Richards and I think they have a chance to win the cup. Keep in Mind if Willy doesn’t stay healthy and they don’t add a soild player. The kings will not win the cup this year. They just don’t have the fire power aganinst the good teams.
or if they add another soild player will not win the cup.
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