Almost every team in the Western Conference playoff race has some sort of schedule quirk. San Jose and Phoenix both have bizarre four-day breaks within the final two weeks of the season. Chicago still has four games against Eastern Conference teams. Anaheim still has three sets of back-to-back games. Dallas closes the season with eight games in 13 days, six of which are on the road. The Kings have nine games remaining, seven of which are against teams within the top nine of the Western Conference. In the five-team Pacific Division, no team has a lock on any particular spot, so the potential exists for great movement over the final two-plus weeks, something of which Terry Murray is well aware…
MURRAY: “There’s no let-up. It is a playoff mentality, every game. You see our practice here today. With two days between games, it’s the last opportunity we have to really just push it back up there again, to get ready for these big games. It’s 60 minutes of high intensity, where everything is important. That’s what I’m trying to push in the practice. I stopped the drill if a pass isn’t completed or we’re not executing the right way. There’s a great need to have that focus coming into this rest of the season.”
Lets win win win
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Forget just getting in, let’s shoot for first in the Pacific starting with a win tomorrow!
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KingsFanFTW Reply:
March 22nd, 2011 at 6:33 pm
@EternalOptimist, u mean thrusday?
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Wow, KABC TV news just had a blurb about Justin Williams…
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Ravens Reply:
March 22nd, 2011 at 8:10 pm
@Alma, Isn’t it weird?? I herd a more than 5 minutes of air time about the whole “BooGate” episode over the weekend on espn 710…Whats the world comming to? is earth comming to an end?
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KC23 Reply:
March 23rd, 2011 at 12:08 am
@Alma, Yeah, ESPN LA has suddenly woken up to the Kings and 710 never has anything hockey usually. Kings set a record for sell outs this season. It’s about time someone noticed that there are a lot of people interested in hearing about the Kings lately.
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if murray stopped practice every time they missed a pass it must have been a long practice, based on how passing goes during their games.
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capt jam Reply:
March 22nd, 2011 at 8:06 pm
@Kevco,
Indeed. Or…they only completed 4 shifts up and down the ice in the hour,
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Stuart Reply:
March 23rd, 2011 at 9:27 am
@Kevco, But maybe it’s about time that he stopped everytime there was missed pass. All that talk about our PP a couple of threads and not one person mentioned how terrible our team passing is. To me, this is what makes a PP click, PASSING!!! I was watching the CAL PP the other night when they were force feeding JI and it was their passing that was making it possible…then look at our PP and our general passing is abysmal!!!
IMO our players don’t think about their passing, they just launch the puck without any conviction. I think DB throws every pass in a “general” area because nary is the day that I see him complete two tape-to-tapes in the offensive zone per time in. Same thing with WS. Intercepted passes end up going the other way. Blocked passes that get dumped out kill 12-17 seconds on our PP EVERYTIME!!! three bad passes and there a minute of PP time. With DP, at least I can see that the man can put a pass on someone’s tape at speed, to where the receiver doesn’t even break stride.
I’ve heard people talk about bag skates after bad games, well, IMO it’s time for a practice where all people do is hit players in stride. If you can’t put a pass on a stick then skate laps or wash everyone’s jock, I don’t know, but someone needs to point out that puck control and offensive chances go hand-in-hand with completed passes!!!
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CTRanch Reply:
March 23rd, 2011 at 11:44 am
@Stuart, Absolutely agree. Poor passing seriously limits all 4 lines. Until that improves to at least average NHL level, TM is going to have to continue to try to win with D and great play in net.
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J-dub… NO! We can only hope Moller is ready for the big show and that Murray utilizes his skill set above the 4th line.
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Ideal schedule for the Kings down the stretch. Complete control over their own destiny. I think they’re up to the challenge.
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Coach gets it, albeit a week late.
gKg!
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If we are going to catch the Sharks we have to win this one, we need to keep the odds in our favour and not leave it for someother team to solve.
GO KINGS GO, GO KINGS GO!!!!!!!!!!
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Lets go kings, Oscar show us what you got man. Welcome to the party for the rest of the year.
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Ravens Reply:
March 22nd, 2011 at 8:12 pm
@gene, If Benn can come up and do it for the Sharks,,Oscar can come up and do it for us,,,it’s about time we got some major league help from Manchester on offence.
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Focus,concentration, intensity, we can beat the Sharks. We have in the past and we can do it again. Time to just win.
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I really like TMs approach. I have said to friends at each of the last 3 home games that passing has been the problem in the last 3 games. Where the pass is being attempted and also the accuracy of the pass, more so than effort or shot mentality. After all if a series of passes are not completed no player is really ever going to have a shot opportunity defences close in to block shots very quickly. The right passes must be made and they must be made accurately.
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KC23 Reply:
March 23rd, 2011 at 12:11 am
@luc20rules, I think part of that is the ice at Staples. We being a slow team, if there is a turn over because of a bouncing puck it is difficult for us in transition.
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dpars Reply:
March 23rd, 2011 at 6:51 am
@KC23, I agree with this……The ice has been jst horrible. Players falling down, passes hoping stick, even just trying to stick handle, the puck is wiggling all over the place. Makes it hard to just complete a pass.
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Stuart Reply:
March 23rd, 2011 at 9:39 am
@dpars, wish I had seen this post, just went on a large rant about how terrible our passing is, above…
Capt Jam Reply:
March 23rd, 2011 at 11:28 am
@dpars,
True dat. Perhaps the morning skates should be at Staples instead of TSC so they can have more time to adjust the inferior conditions. Granted, that’s not always possible bc of doubleheaders at the arena, but aside from those days, why not put everyone on the arena on the morning of and keep everybody together for the day as if it were a road game.
How much time did they spend working on shooting? Without a goalie in the net would be my admittedly inexperienced suggestion.
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What would the standings be if teams didn’t receive 1 point for losing in overtime/shootout? Would the standings be as close as they are now or would the teams be more spread out points-wise?
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