The Kings don’t intend to make any changes on the defensive pairs tonight, meaning Drew Doughty will stay with Willie Mitchell, Jack Johnson with Rob Scuderi and Alec Martinez with Matt Greene. That was the look for the three previous games, and Doughty, in particular, seems to be enjoying a bit of a resurgence, although in all fairness, his game seemed to be turning around while he was still paired with Scuderi. Of course, the Kings started the season with that Doughty-Mitchell look, before injuries forced them to move defensemen around, and today I asked Terry Murray if there was anything, in particular, about the Doughty-Mitchell look that made it work.
MURRAY: “What makes it work is whenever you can have a lefty-righty pair. Scuderi works really good with him, and Doughty enjoys playing with Scuderi as much as he does with Mitchell, and the same thing with Jack. They really love to play together also. But it’s important, I think, to have a lefty-righty. Scuds is the one player that is playing on his off side right now. He’s a veteran pro, and he has no problem with it. In fact, he probably gives us his very best as a left-side D also, but this is the way it is. But I don’t know if, with Mitchell and Doughty, if there’s any special chemistry there, or anything different than what we would get with Scuderi there. Maybe we will end up back with Jack and Doughty, some day, too, down the road. They’re dynamic, and they’re a pair that are young and can grow together. We’ll see how it plays out.”
No DD/JJ pairing for the rest of this year please! PP is OK, but nothing else.
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TheRussianKing Reply:
January 26th, 2011 at 3:31 pm
@tornado12, Too much of a liability when they play together. They get caught too deep in the offensive zone allowing teams to have uneven attacks on us. You’re right PP is really the only option for now.
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Paul G Reply:
January 26th, 2011 at 6:01 pm
@TheRussianKing, they arent together in the PP…Doughty is with Stoll
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TheRussianKing Reply:
January 26th, 2011 at 6:16 pm
@Paul G, I know it didn’t mean it’s the only option. I meant that it’s more fitted for the PP than PK or 5v5.
What's the frequency, Kenneth? Reply:
January 26th, 2011 at 3:46 pm
@tornado12, Yeah, it’s really irritating Murray keeps on trying to do that!
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tornado12 Reply:
January 26th, 2011 at 3:53 pm
@What’s the frequency, Kenneth?, His quote above makes me very uneasy. I like TM for the most part, but his fascination with this particular issue vexes me. Im quite vexed!
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doughty and mitchell are the way to go gives doughty the chance to be more aggresive offensively
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Hello Rich,
I’m not getting any more text updates on my phone anymore from your twitter page. Do you have a different page now ?
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Just a note for those of you who otherwise have no access to the game tonight. Tonight’s game will be on Hockey Night on Y!
http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/hockeynight
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lvkingaholic Reply:
January 26th, 2011 at 3:44 pm
@What’s the frequency, Kenneth?, its on fsw also?
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What's the frequency, Kenneth? Reply:
January 26th, 2011 at 3:47 pm
@lvkingaholic, I presume it is. For those of us without Center Ice, it’s a way to get to see the game live…and…without going to the dark unspeakable corners of the internet.
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pr0cess Reply:
January 26th, 2011 at 3:50 pm
@What’s the frequency, Kenneth?, I know those corners.. Want a buy a watch?
What's the frequency, Kenneth? Reply:
January 26th, 2011 at 3:48 pm
That is, those of us without Center Ice and not blessed with the FSW local broadcast.
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lvkingaholic Reply:
January 26th, 2011 at 4:11 pm
@What’s the frequency, Kenneth?, thank you sir
Stupid question …. You put your left handed Dman on the left side (with his stick crossing his chest and touching the ice down on his left side and on the side of the middle slot in front of the net)?
So you want your pairs to look like this:
\_ [_] _/
Kinda making a trap in front of the net
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Michael Reply:
January 26th, 2011 at 4:05 pm
@Ari, Yeah only the left handed guy would be on the right side and the right handed guy would be on the left side
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Bill M. Reply:
January 26th, 2011 at 4:05 pm
@Ari, I think that it is primarily that with the stick on that side, the shooting and board battles both seem more natural on that side. at least, I remember it being that way when I played.
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TM needs to leave EVERYTHING the way it was last game, they looked very relaxed and comfortable with each other. Try it, line scrambling is not the answer, been there, done that!
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Terry Murray is a blender head, what other explanation is there? This guy can never leave well enough alone and will always do something questionable as far as the fans on this site are concerned like….Shove Westgarth down our throats, if one of our defensemen gets hurt, play Drewiske and let Harrold ride pine until he gets splinters in his….And of course, play Brian Boyle on defense to make him more valuble at the trade deadline !
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fsd1 Reply:
January 26th, 2011 at 4:12 pm
@puck73, you never are happy are you?
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puck73 Reply:
January 26th, 2011 at 4:16 pm
@fsd1, I have been happy with their effort the last 3 games, I guess I have a question for you and the others on this site…Is the reason the Kings are playing better because Terry Murray has changed the system, or is it because the players have tuned him out and are skating hard and pinching in despite him ?
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happylappy Reply:
January 26th, 2011 at 4:21 pm
@puck73, I think the D pairing are a big part of it. Also, DD is getting way more aggressive on offense.
John Reply:
January 26th, 2011 at 4:19 pm
@puck73, I don’t think Terry Murray ever had anything to do with Boyle playing D, that was an experiment in Manchester before Murray even came on the scene.
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puck73 Reply:
January 26th, 2011 at 4:26 pm
@John, They did experiment with it down there, and then Murray tried it up here as well. I am sorry for the negativity but I have been very disappointed with both Murray, and Kompon for their inability to make in-game adjustments this season. They appear to be playing differently now but the fact that Murray didnt dump that 1990′s system earlier when other teams were catching on may cost us the playoffs ….stay tuned.
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launch Reply:
January 26th, 2011 at 4:33 pm
@puck73, I hear ya brotha….it’s hard to stay positive when you’re a Kings fan.
all of my friends give me hell because every year I kill them with Kings info and stats…just one time I would love to say we are the Stanley Cup Champs….just once!
It’s time to start believing we can still make the playoffs. All you long time Kings fans know we never do anything the easy way. Just helps us to not get cocky (like we were earlier this season). Road wins after the all-star break baby!
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@Michael and Bill M – thanks guys
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I think TM should pair up the two vets for a couple of games. Keep Green/Martinez going and pair JJ/DD. Tell the JJ/DD line to be more O minded when the situation calls for it. they both have no problems skating it into the zone and getting deep. I’d say let Martinez go for a few but if something goes wrong Greenes not the fastest guy on skates.
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i think these D pairings are perfect.. 1 young offensive minded and 1 stay at home on each line
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