Here’s my LAKings.com game story for today, with stats and video included, followed by my story about Anze Kopitar’s broken ankle. Thanks for reading…
Kings lose Kopitar to ankle injury
The Kings have a day off tomorrow and are scheduled to practice Monday at 10 a.m. at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo.
I haven’t read all of the other posts yet, so if this is a repeat I apologize. Were any of you other long time Kings fans having Charlie Simmer flashbacks? : (
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number 6 Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 6:27 pm
@prlandra,
I JUST thought of that. The only Good thing is whereas then it was before the trade deadline and we gave up a first rounder for Rick Martin (may he rest in peace), and the 10 games he played as a King, at least here we can hope to get far enough in the playoffs that Kopi could come back… and if not (as that would be a surprising scenario) at least we know that had it been ACL or something then it could really incredibly have been even worse.
Very depressing though nonetheless.
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Poorman Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 8:41 pm
@number 6, I agree. I thought it would be much worse than they said. I thought it was a knee as well. It was really weird. Before the game, i was thinking about Kopi and injuries. I don’t know why.
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KC23 Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 7:43 pm
@prlandra, Yep, exactly what came to mind almost immediatley.
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Brian Reply:
March 27th, 2011 at 8:18 am
@prlandra, Yes
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I am not old enough to remember Simmer, but this is almost like Allison and Deadmarsh. The good news is these are not injuries that will end careers. But we lose our best RW and our best C in a short time. It really shows that Handzus and Stoll are not quite #2 C’s, but I am really hoping that spreading out talent and experience will help us play our system and win some important games.
Don’t use Westgarth. This is the new NHL. We need talent and speed.
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Slim Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 7:03 pm
@jonsey, DL has told reporters that noone is being called up and were using Westgarth..
I can just imagine the backlash on this scenario….Was reported on HNIC..
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Ravens Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 8:24 pm
@jonsey, Allison and Deadmarsh where exactly what I was thinking too,,fortunatly we are much more defensively responsible team now,,,thanks to TM and DL, this is exactly what the organization set out to do, hire guys with a defence first culture and develope all our players from within, so we can avoid the misfortunes of the past and not have all our hopes riding on one or two guys.
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Not what we needed at all… Our two top forwards out for the season. SIGH. Would like to put a bunch of swear words together, but don’t want to have the post deleted. You get my drift.
Who is going to be in place of Kopi?
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Gislaw Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 6:49 pm
@KingsGuy, Nobody in the league can replace Kopi, but the entire team WILL fill in for him while he is gone. I still believe in this squad!
Go Kings!
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KingsGuy Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 10:58 pm
@Gislaw, obviously cant replace him, but who is going to fill that spot on the first line?
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In other news… Sturm got his first goal as a Capital
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Lime Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 7:00 pm
@Subby, Hahaha after 13 games.
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I was out today. Who centered the line when Kopi went out? How did he do? I’ll catch the replay at 11:00.
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KC23 Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 7:45 pm
@kingkrazy, Zues moved up with Penner and Moller and Lewis moved up with Smyth and Brown. Lewis play excellent, but up against one of the worst teams in the league.
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I wonder how the lines will look now
Penner-Stoll-Moller
Smyth-Zues-Brown
Poni-Lewis-Simmonds
Clifford-Richie-Harrold
??????????????
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FM3 Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 7:45 pm
@friarking, Those lines look about right. On each line you have someone that can hunt pucks down in the offensive zone (Stoll, Smyth, the whole 3rd line and Richie) and, with the exception of Handzus, speed at center. Each Center is defensively sound but it sure looks like scoring is going to be a grind-’em-out affair where we are going to have to crash the net and get some ugly ones.
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Sparman Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 8:48 pm
@friarking,
It’s really too bad. I really liked the Cliffard-Lewis-Richardson line.
They have been really great. That marathon shift today by the trio was unreal.
It’s ironic, earlier in the season we had too many centermen, we had centers playing LW.
Now they’re in precious short supply.
Moller was filling in great for Williams.
Then this. Damn it.
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TradedForAPick Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 9:17 pm
@Sparman,
The fourth line was cycling as good as the Sedins were. It was really something. I think Lewis could very well fill in for a top center (in title only) with his speed and defense
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Eggplant Reply:
March 27th, 2011 at 6:00 am
@friarking, I’ve been thinking about this since yesterday. Really the worst thing that could happen. Losing not just one but two of our top scorers at a time like this. Hope Anze gets well soon, there just isn’t a guy out there that I’d rather see on the ice.
Been thinking about the lines from now on. The thing I would do right now, based completely on yesterday’s game is put Smyth with Lewis and Zeus with Brown. Stoll has looked a bit out of place lately, so maybe it should be something like this:
Penner-Stoll-Moller
Ponikarovsky-Handzus-Brown
Smyth-Lewis-Simmonds
Clifford-Richardson-Westgarth/Harrold/Someone from Manchester
Definitely nowhere close to what it was. Losing Anze is just such an awful loss, same with Williams. But we gotta do the best we can with what we have.
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The only silver lining to this very dark cloud is that a terrible loss puts a team on a psychological edge. It’s difficult to become complacent in this situation. And complacent teams usually lose.
Here’s to miraculously speedy recovery for both Anze and Justin.
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Smyth-Lewis-Brown seemed to work well together on the ice today, maybe keep them together on a line, since lines are obviously gonna be shaken up anyways
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micah Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 6:54 pm
Smyth-Lewis-Brown
Moller-Stoll-Penner
Poni-Zues-Simmonds
Clifford-Richardson-Westgarth
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KC23 Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 7:48 pm
@micah, It all looked okay only because the Avs suck. We’ll really see where we are up against Vancouver, Dallas, Phoniex, SJ and the Ducks. We’ll know before the season ends.
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Just finished watching the game – great win but, at the end of the day, pretty depressing. Pull together guys and get well soon Anze & Justin!!!
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Neil trying to make Neil feel better…….Kopitar only plays a little bit more then 1/3 of the game…….Kopitar isnt that good on the PP……..Kopitar isnt used on our PK………Kopitar WILL be back for the later playoff games…..He is NOT out for a calender year….. GKG WE CAN DO IT!!!!!!!!
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Kings x Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 7:25 pm
@neil, One of two guys who are consistently scoring. There is no depth
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KC23 Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 7:49 pm
@neil, Kopitar is one of our primary PK guys. He’s used every single PK.
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This is why the kings are not a contender. One guy goes down and they are done. Take Philly for example. They have so much depth they could lose Richards and Carter and they would still be deadly. Now we have to figure out who is going to fill the role… King, holloway, Elkins. AHL scrapheap
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neil Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 7:44 pm
@Kings x, Kings are down 5 guys……Parse…Kopi…Williams…Lotki…Schenn
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KC23 Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 7:49 pm
@Kings x, Except we are not done.
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tmurrayhater Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 8:24 pm
I totally agree. I knew thatwe had little offense as far as last summer and what did Lombardi due, he replaced Frolov with Pony and that was it. We have absolutely nobody in the minors except for Moller who we already called up. The season is over in the first round of the playoffs, tha if we make it. Start looking for offense in the summer and we will see next year
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4lakngz Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 8:37 pm
@tmurrayhater, Way to support your team!
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Laura Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 9:10 pm
@tmurrayhater, Way to support your team! Such negativity! Take that somewhere else! Everyone is going to need to step it up. No ONE person can fill Kopi’s roll, but as a team, we can pull together. Even Nick and Darryl brought up a good point on the drive home..Pittsburgh has done it w/o Malkin and Crosby in the their line up and then when Getzlaf went out the Ducks pulled together and did very well. So it’s not over yet! Sometimes it’s so frustrating reading some of these posts – BE POSITIVE! Anything can happen! GO KINGS GO!
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HockeyNerd Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 10:27 pm
@tmurrayhater, I have some stocks I’m considering buying, please tell me if I should seeing as you can completely predict the future…..
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cpmc29 Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 11:05 pm
The ducks need some fans. If your interested. We are here thrue thick and thin.
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Adamic39 Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 8:39 pm
@Kings x, No one knows if they are done yet. There are still 3 others one the ice with 20 goals and stoll needs one more to make it to 20. I think simmonds has 15 or 16. Huge problem yes. But not the end. (I hope)
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MR King Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 8:42 pm
@Kings x,
So you’re saying Philly gets on through scoring by committee? Sounds like something the Kings are completely capable of. They still have a chance but they’re going to have to get by on their strong defense and holding 1-goal leads.
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HockeyNerd Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 10:26 pm
@Kings x, Who said they are done?
Did Colorado today? NO
Did DL ? NO
Did TM ? NO
Did anybody on the Kings? NO
Then WHO said it?
Only one person in this vicinity….
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In other developments Nasville leads Dalass but now has to kill a penalty for the last two minutes. Terrible call. Hope it’s not a three point game!
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Hockeysureshot Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 7:29 pm
@Hockeysureshot, Predators win! 6 points ahead of Dallas!
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KC23 Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 7:50 pm
@Hockeysureshot, Yep, most important game tonight for the Kings. 6pts up with 8 to play.
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was it me or was the Fans were all sleeping they didnt cheer at all or loud they were all in Dreamland
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KC23 Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 7:53 pm
@KingsFanFTW, Bad traffic had a lot of fans late to the game and a fair amount of empty seats … most I’ve seen for a while. Crowd got going after the two goals, but Kopitar going down let all the air out of the building for the rest of the game. Going to the consesion and bathroom between the 2 and 3rd period was like walking around at a funeral.
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KingsFanFTW Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 7:56 pm
@KC23, yea i know after Kopi Injury we all went completely quiet
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TYLER Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 9:06 pm
@KingsFanFTW, it was quiet the whole game…they said it was a sellout but you wouldve thought 3 people showed up for the amount of noise made…THE CROWD SUCKED TODAY…
Laura Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 9:13 pm
@KingsFanFTW, supposedly it was a sell out, the 31st of the year, a record. I saw a TON of people coming in the doors after the 1st period ended. It was a quiet game though for the most part.
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TradedForAPick Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 9:19 pm
@Laura, An injury to your star players can do that
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the Ducks going to make another 3 point game again just great
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i just started watching right after the injury happened. tears came to my eyes. totally not what we need right now but we’ll push through it and the team will give it their best.
on HNIC they had a poll online and 40% picked kopitar as the most significant injury to their team.
GKG!!!
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Ducks beat the Hawks. YESSS and in regulation.
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KingsFanFTW Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 8:05 pm
@KC23, yea woot
we are up by 4 points 
but sucks Ducks are down 3 points tho boo lol
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KDinUT Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 8:13 pm
@KC23, And the ‘yotes are down by 2 with 8 mins. to go; probably the better result in that game.
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why are a lot of ppl counting the team out already? i know KOPI is a great players and will be severely missed on both the O and D side of things, and having your second top scorer is not great iether(JW) we are a team that plays defense firts. so if we can be stingy on the Dside and just have other guys bring more to the table on every game/shift we should be ok. we are a good talented team and as said before other guys will have to step it up period. but no need to throw the team under the bus and call it quits…i still have hope that they can do it and stay afloat
GO KINGS GO
have a speedy recovery KOPI/JW
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this team will make the playoffs, and they will NOT be an easy out.
still plenty of talent left on the ice, and you can never really count out a team that plays D… sure goals are going to be a bit hard to come by possibly, but these guys will come together… i bet everyone on this blog is pleasantly surprised with the next few weeks of hockey.
that being said, it does seem like the hockey gods have it in for this organization… what we did to deserve it, ill never know…
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USHA#17 Reply:
March 27th, 2011 at 1:28 am
@ColoKingFan, And there are a lot of teams who won’t mind facing the Kings.
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As awful as it is to lose Kopi, I really believe the team will rally and still do well. This is going to sound bizarre, but 1 person that cannot get injured if the Kings are going to make the playoffs and move ahead is Willie Mitchell. Did anyone watching the game today notice the win, loss record when he’s playing. It was 31-13. Incredible.
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KingsFanFTW Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 8:32 pm
@Poorman, yea Mitchell starting to make goals and a great Defense without him our Defense is naked
But sucks to lose Kopi,but if we get to series 2 i believe he be back by then and then are team will have another person hungry so we migh be very strong who knows into the Playoff begins
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Poorman Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 8:37 pm
@KingsFanFTW, I just worry about Kopi’s Conditioning though. Also, he’s being re examined on Monday. It would be great if he was able to return, but how effective would he be then? Mitchell needs to remain healthy, and the team will win with the good defense.
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KingsFanFTW Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 8:41 pm
@Poorman, yea true Mitchell needs to stay Healthy cant afford to loose any Defense
Mostly Mitchell or Greene my opinion they both great Defense
Wow, the Oilers looking to end Calgary’s season tonight. 3 – 1 lead going into the 3rd.
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KingsFanFTW Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 8:43 pm
@KC23, sweet that more good news
Dallas almost dead too
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What's the frequency, Kenneth? Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 9:59 pm
@KC23, Amazing how Calgary pulled that game out after all….
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JJ and DD need to step it up on offense if we want to make a run in the playoffs. If we meet up with Yotes or Preds in the first round we will be fine. Both teams have very little offense and that buys us about four weeks. JW might be ready by then. GKG!
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KC23 Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 9:27 pm
@4lakngz, Rather play the Yotes. They have big injury issues as well. Pres are on a roll, don’t want them atm. I so want to see Chicago have to play Vancouver in the first round. Love to get rid of one of those right off the bat.
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Bill M. Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 10:07 pm
@KC23, If we get NASH, all we have to do is put in bernier, apparently bernier vs. preds = instant win.
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honestly people we’re fine plz enough drama for a day.
kopi’s injury will make us stronger and when he is ready to join back in, people will then wonder if this will disrupt our winning chemistry. you’ll see…
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Better this happened now, with some games left for the team to re-group and find their way, rather than 2 weeks from now. I for one would like to see Lewis with Penner and Moller cause Lewis isnt much of a finisher but hes fast and can create space. A methodical center like Handzus wont enable Moller to play to his strengths.
The team will buck up and figure this out, we just have to have faith.
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Damn Jacks on NHLN making it sound like we don’t have much of a chance to get out of a first round. I’d love to prove them wrong,,,,by the way I got in a car accident after I herd the radio telecast when Kopi went down,
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Pfft. Oilers blow a 4 – 1 3rd period lead. Man they suck.
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This franchise is cursed. Seriously. We even had Gretz and still couldn’t do it. What the hell. Still can’t help but love them though. What a rollercoaster. Good luck fellas! Keeping faith in this team forever.
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So are we gonna bring up Schenn or what? Tell me we’re gonna put Westgarth in to fill a hole…
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KC23 Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 9:55 pm
@Blumps, We’re not allowed to bring up Schenn until his jr. season is over including playoffs. Schenn’s team is the favorite to win it all which means Schenn will likely not be available until deep into the playoffs.
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Bill M. Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 10:08 pm
@KC23, Right. Kopi or Williams might be skating again by the time Schenn is available.
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KC23 Reply:
March 27th, 2011 at 1:37 am
@Bill M., Perhaps, but the whole team will likely already be hitting the golf greens.
Terrible news. The thing that gives me hope in this team meeting postseason success, is they have exceptional goaltending and are strong defensively. I feel this team has the character guys that can dig down and pick up the slack with the loss of Kopitar and Williams. Just trying to keep my hopes up…
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DesertKing Reply:
March 27th, 2011 at 12:07 am
@TM,
Cool, the coach is now on the Insider.
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This is the saddest day ever..
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To the doomsdayers saying the end of the season has arrived with the loss of Kopi, enjoy your fall off the wagon. The season is not over by ANY stretch. This team is built on solid goaltending and defense, both which are in excellent supply right now. Goals WILL be harder to come by, since even with Kopi we still ranked 17th in goals scored, but we are 4th in goals given up, 4TH. This team has the makeup to be able to succeed with the loss of a scorer. The Kings will play hard, will make some noise, and will garner much more needed experience for the many years to come of great Kings hockey.
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HockeyNerd Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 10:43 pm
@Hef11, Well stated. I’m not going to worry about the bloggers saying the sky is falling. They’ve been posting that all year and EVERY SINGLE TIME the Kings have proven them wrong. They will again.
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DesertKing Reply:
March 27th, 2011 at 12:14 am
@Hef11,
And who knows, they may still win the Cup. When you look at Kopi’s offensive production, several of this goals were empty netters or lucky tip ins. This team is not built upon one person. If several of our players can kick it up a notch (Lewis, Poni, Simmonds, Richardson, Clifford), then they will make up for both Kopi and JW being out. With both of them out, that means more ice time for the others. Our defense and goal tending are secure, so we just need a little bit of scoring. Those of you are declaring the Kings dead, well, maybe you should support another team and leave the Kings to those who believe. Like HockeyNerd says, this team has proven you all wrong. GKG!
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Just a thought. What do you guys think about bringing up this guy Marc Andre Cliche? Seems to me he’s been in the minors a long time, but is a really solid player who might be good at the NHL level.
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KC23 Reply:
March 27th, 2011 at 1:40 am
@Poorman, He was up a bit last year. A decent grinder, but not much else. Kind of a cross between clifford (lack of scoring) and brown (agitator, but not a real fighter).
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puck73 Reply:
March 27th, 2011 at 3:24 am
@Poorman, Paul from Panorama City who calls in on Kings talk would be all for it, thats Paul’s boy !
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It’s been a long day since the game and I am still moping around about this. I don’t know how to feel better :[
All my friends that don’t even like hockey are like texting me about it saying sorry D; I can’t get away from it. Lol I feel like legitimately sad. Sometimes I wonder if there’s a point where you can be TOO much into hockey.
Wahhhhhh
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Hope the injury bug stops here!!!! Please
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Dwight King will get the call period.
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Too bad we sent Schenn back to juniors, could really use him now…
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I started to compile a list of teams’ records without their injured star players, until I started spending too much time counting teams records game by game. Almost every NHL team has had a significant injury this year. Meaning, out for at least 3 weeks to a month.
Anaheim – Ryan Getzlaf
Boston – Marc Savard
Buffalo – Derek Roy
Chicago – Patrick Kane (and Hossa, and Toews, now Sharp)
Dallas – Brad Richards
Detroit – Pavel Datsyuk
Montreal – Mike Cammalleri
Nashville – Matt Lombardi (among many others)
New Jersey – Zach Parise
NY Rangers – Chris Drury (and Gaborik, for a few weeks)
Philadelphia – Chris Pronger (once for 6 weeks, also out NOW)
Phoenix – Ed Jovanovski
Pittsburgh – Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin (Jordan Staal the first half of the year)
Washington – Alex Semin (Ovechkin now)
Last I checked, ALL of these teams are in playoff positions EXCEPT Dallas and New Jersey. Though Dallas is a point or two out, and New Jersey went on an amazing run WITHOUT Parise (their Kopitar).
Listen people- when injuries like this happen, most of the time teams come together in a big way and BOND, and plays sometimes even better. Pittsburgh’s record WITHOUT Sidney Crosby is better than their record WITH Crosby! I don’t think anything else needs to be said.
The Kings will be just fine. Do not be surprised if they finish out the year 5-1-1, or 4-1-2, or something similar to that.
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Scot Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 11:36 pm
@Scot,
By the way, I started with Anaheim’s record without Getzlaf, and they were 9-3-0.
And then I stopped, but all of those teams are stronger because they’ve overcome big injuries.
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jess Reply:
March 27th, 2011 at 12:10 am
@Scot, Nice work scot
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DesertKing Reply:
March 27th, 2011 at 12:16 am
@Scot,
Very cool, thanks. Don’t forget, we lost DD to a bunch of games early in the season also.
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To all the Schenn hopers……
Saskatoon traded 6 players to get him…
You have to have 3 players sufficiently hurt in
order to call up him for the team..
Odds on that happening…
You figure it out…
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Token Reply:
March 27th, 2011 at 12:01 am
@Slim, Let me see, how about the whole first line …
Parse, Kopi, Williams.
But regardless of that, Schenn cannot be called up period, unless the Blades get eliminated. Them’s the rules.
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bbb7 Reply:
March 27th, 2011 at 9:01 am
@Token, Schenn can indeed be called up on en emergency basis if another King is lost to injury, but would he be? Probably not.
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I’m late to the comment party because I purposely avoid the board when I DVR games. What a time to do that. Man, that SUCKS about Kopi, but (and maybe this was mentioned) we scored 2 goals after he went down. Smyth is picking his game back up again. Lewis looked really clutch.
I have an outside thought here…
Parse has been skating. It’s a stretch, but why couldn’t he come back and play the LW and let Penner Center him and Moller? Parse can snipe. Moller can forecheck. Penner can play a 2 way game and is almost as responsible as Kopi defensively. It would require Penner giving 100% every night, but he can do it. Big body down the middle with a decent 2 way game…could work.
Willie could be back in the 2nd round of the playoffs. Kopi is pretty much done…BUT I have first hand knowledge about breaking an ankle playing hockey. My 8 week diagnosis became 6 because of the supplements I took and some aggressive rehab. I was nowhere NEAR the athlete Kopi is. Depending on which bone in the ankle is broken, if it is a fracture or a clean break, with an aggressive approach, we could see him back in a month. If the Kings can just bear down and come together to go deep, there’s an outside chance we could see Kopi back. Obviously we’ll worry about that when we get there.
Anyone who says this ruins our cup run is NUTS! It takes the entire team to play good defense, which we already do. Kopi going down is not going to hurt our defense too much. It’s our offense that’ll suffer, but that has already been suffering, so guys will need to step up anyway for the playoffs.
We’ll be fine as long as guys continue to step up. The talent is here. Now is the time to show it.
Get well Kopi! MSM, Ester-C, High-end Calcium/Magnesium supplents by the boatload, Antioxidants and Omega 3-6-9 oils. Looking forward to having you back for the finals!
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jess Reply:
March 27th, 2011 at 12:12 am
@Cynic, hey man, you think we can make the big show without our lead guitar bro?
j/k
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KingsFanFTW Reply:
March 27th, 2011 at 12:12 am
@Cynic, cause i dont think Parse is ready been skating doesnt mean he at 100% plus he miss all the season already
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KC23 Reply:
March 27th, 2011 at 1:44 am
@Cynic, Listened to the post game show and Nick Nickson and Evans both said Parse is no where near being ready to come back.
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IceGuy Reply:
March 27th, 2011 at 9:03 am
@Cynic,
Our reality check:
Kopi will probably NOT be coming back. Accept it, and move forward.
Whoever is brought up can in no way replace Kopi.
Obviously (yeah, another Brownism) every member of the team must commit to stepping up their game.
The real question is what Mjurray is going to do. I see two approaches.
1. Blow up all the lines to cobble together some form of 1st Line, 2nd Line, etc.
2. Accept the fact that we have 3 2nd Lines and a 4th Line.
I would go with Option 2.
Why?
Because we have scoring up and down the lineup this year. Everyone will have to contribute more to make up for the loss of Kopi, but we still have, really, an amazing balance for scoring. So what would I like to see?
Move Lewis to play with Penner & Moller.
Move Richie to Center the 4th Line.
And, drop Harrold into the 4th line RW.
So what we’d end up with is:
Penner-Lewis-Moller (BIG-speed-speed)
Smyth-Stoll-Brown (smart-quick-hitter)
Poni-Zeus-Simmonds (big-smart-wildman)
Clifford-Richardson-Harrold (Hitter-speed-plug in)
And, note to Kompon, now the PP MUST be adjusted.
Zues and Stoll have to be on different units to allow for more faceoff wins.
JJ and DD have to be on different units – EACH playing the role of “Rover”.
And Greene and Scuds must continue their blistering scoring runs!
We ain’t dead yet! This is like the third act in a movie thriller. We’ve overcome problems all year to get to where we are, but one last complication has been thrown at us in an attempt to deny us our goal.
Think back across the year. Who would have predicted the play of Clifford and Martinez? We already saw Capt. Canada step up yesterday. Peter Harrold has been the good soldier all year, and if anyone can step out on the ice and deserve the chance, it’s him.
” He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam’d,
And rouse him at the name of The Kings.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say ‘I played for The Kings.’
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say ‘These wounds I had on game day.’
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words-
Harry the King, Williams and Kopitar,
Quickie and Brown, Hanszus and Moller-
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb’red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And no Game Day shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in LA now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon our Kings Game day.
(with sincere apologies to William Shakespeare)
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I Know this has likely already been said but…please dear baby, adolescent, adult and elderly Jesus please give us back our KopI! We have wandered for many a year…please do not take our Kopitar,,,
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Anybody have a fork?
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DesertKing Reply:
March 27th, 2011 at 8:52 am
@PP Anybody?,
Yep, I do and I plan on using it on whoever we meet in the first round of the playoffs, then use it on each team we face in the playoffs until the final round and use it there too. I had some fat ladies applying for singing jobs too, but we don’t have a need for them so I referred them to the other NHL teams.
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Listen up Knitters…
We’re gonna be fine so cancel that order of prozac and put yer purses down.
This is hockey, not unicorn glue glitter art
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jess Reply:
March 27th, 2011 at 12:23 am
@jess, and we are the kings, not the ducks..
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well next game i dont care who we play against i wnat to hear the Fans Loud and proud of the Kings the Quiet was too dead the Kings doing great and no cheering into 13secs left of the game come on we can do better than that
Go Kings go
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jess Reply:
March 27th, 2011 at 12:26 am
@KingsFanFTW,
!!–GKG–!!
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How deflating.
We go all season without major injuries and then have our two top scorers injured close to playoff time.
And our replacement center, Loktionov, was injured as well for the season.
We were running on all cylinders, gearing up for the playoffs.
It seems like we’re cursed. Will only one SoCal team make it to the playoffs? And even if we make it, it’s not gonna be the same. Unless we keep going until Kopi and JW return.
Kopi, I was thinking you were on the wrong side of the ice—I never see you on that side on the PP—and then that guy’s stick is all over you—no penalty—and then you go down and it looks ugly.
And it is ugly.
Will we ever get a break?—and I don’t mean an ankle break.
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pr0cess Reply:
March 27th, 2011 at 1:10 am
@King John, it is the curse we all know this
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USHA#17 Reply:
March 27th, 2011 at 1:31 am
@King John,
Seems like the torture never stops for Kings fans. It’s close to high comedy.
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Penn-Stoll-Moller
Smyth-Lewis-Brownie
Poni-Zeus-Simmy
Cliffy-Richie-Harry-Westy
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Token Reply:
March 27th, 2011 at 8:51 am
@Dude, I think a skill guy has to go to the C1 spot and right now that will be Zeus, which in my estimate ain’t a bad thing. Worked well the third period yesterday afternoon.
Stoll is an energy and hustle guy, not what you need on the first line.
Penn, Zeus, Moller
Smytty, Lewie, Brown
Poni, Stoll, Simmer
Cliffy, Ritchie, Holloway/Harry/Westy/etc.
All we need to do is simplify the game in the first line a bit and use the basics, then follow that up with a consistent 4 line rotation and we will be just fine.
Remember folks, we did not lose our best player. He is still working his butt off between the pipes.
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A foreshadow…or more, if you are so inclined.
http://lakingsnews.com/2011/03/27/believe-2/
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DesertKing Reply:
March 27th, 2011 at 8:57 am
@Bobby Scribe,
Nailed it! I am sure TM has read it so he doesn’t have to worry about the future press conferences.
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I can’t sleep. This is horrible. After Williams went down I said to my buddy, “It’s bad but it’s not Kopitar.” I had no idea what it would actually feel like. 4 years of air pumped into the balloon suddenly popping right before my eyes. I know the team will rally but this is a season ending injury for Kopi, and how can we end the race on top without our best horse? It’s a tall task.. probably too tall. Let’s see something miraculous here boys. Pull together and make us all the proudest hockey fans on the planet.. win or lose.
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After Anze injury I was so shocked that I could not put any comment. After the night – I also dreamed about his injury – I found out that Kings are still a team to go to playoff and win. We have great goaltenders who can rise their play even better, we have a very good defense – Drew please no more stupid mistakes – and we have forwards that can score. I am glad that in last 2 games Brown was on a really high level, specially second PP line which scored couple of times,yesterday we saw the best play of Ryan Smyth in last 20 games and I hope he will keep his play on yesterday level. Handzus and Mitchell are very effective in last games – veterans in the playoffs are crucial. If guys like Johnson, Daughty, Lewis, Moller and Penner can put some in the goal in next games there is no worry to pass first round. Hope we will play either Phoenix or Nashville, no Chichago please in first round.
Hockey is team game and tea is consisted by 20 of guys on the ice every night. Many times decision is made by happy bounce, so we need to keep good defense, great goaltending and shooting mentality and I trust that we can beat any team on West even without Kopitar and Williams. It is just the case of mental, force and trust. And I trust in this team, I trust in 20 players and I trust in management. If we can put one PP goal per game, and two regular goals per game we are already near as the Quick average is 2,2 GPG.
Go Kings go and Justin back in the second round and Anze back in third round will just push our team forward. Remember last year on the east, teams from 5-8 went further. So we can go far this year and also other teams will face injuries.
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@friarking,
who knows what the lines will look like now, you just cannot replace Kopitar, he is one of the NHL’s top 10 players.
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First of all, I wish both Kopi and Williams a thorough recovery and hope for their return this year. But that remains to be seen. Now the team must step up and play with even more tenacity. Trying too reach the Stanley Cup is a huge hill to climb for all the teams. The hill for the Kings just became a little steeper, but they have the capability on this club to climb that hill because of their D and Goaltending. That is what has been stressed over the entire season and will continue to be stressed. Basically, it is opportunity time for each and every player on this team. The Kings have a unique mix of veterans and youngsters. Veterans (some of whom are young themselves) will provide the leadership and the youngsters will provide the youthful exuberence to go forward as a team. Think of the growth we have seen in many of the younger players as well as the newcomers to the Kings. This player mix will provide the energy needed to keep this team rolling. Also, we have even seen an improvement in our offense and the PP, as well. During the 3rd period in yesterday’s game, there definitely was evidence of a step up. The combination of Smyth and Lewis scored and assisted each other on the two goals the Kings scored. Here is an “old” veteran who has received a lot of comments for his lack of speed, and here is a youngster who “is not a finisher” who both stepped up and played their “new” game. It is there folks! This team can continue to succeed. With regard to the lines and who, if anyne might be brought up, I leave that to TM and DL. They have done well with the growth of the Kings and I trust they will continue. So lets all get behiond this team and continue with an exciting season. GKG!!!!!
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Moller has been playing very well.
Don’t put Parse in when/if he is “ready” to stage a comeback.
Lewis will need to pick up his offensive numbers:Joe Thornton had 7 pts in 55 games his first year.
They might as well call someone up, Harrold never gets to play and doesn’t bring “it” (just to be clear, he works very hard but no matter how hard a 6 works he’ll never be an 8.
We really do have depth -Brown has 25 goals. Smyth has more than 20. Stoll will have 25. Willy had 20something. Kopitar had 20. Doughty and Johnson could end up top 6 in points.
Simmonds can be a capable top 6.
The Kings have 2 games in hand and 5 points against 9th place CGY.
All of the Kings remaining games are against likely playoff teams (except EDM) so the only teams that can ruin the Kings are DAL and NAS. Even if the Kings lose every single game (highly unlikely), they would remain in the playoffs unless NAS or DAL play exceptionally well.
They should not have mentioned Kopitar’s games played streak.
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no practice today??? The last time the coach did that it was a diaster and he even took the blame. Now it seemed like it would be a good time to regroup the troops and be together.Also a good time to practice with the new lines…
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Great win, terrible losses so quickly with Williams and Kopitar. We all have to keep optimistic for our team. Yes, this past week had been brutal injury wise, but these kinds if things can really bring a team together. Brown lately is possessed, Zeus for all his slow points is a talented, valuable veteran. Quick? Other than a couple bad games that he lost by bad puck handling, he is the key and cornerstone of this team. Can anyone say Brodeour??
I think we make a big playoff push, and Williams AND Kopitar can rejoin the team. Not impossible. We just have to weather the current rough seas.
Go KINGS Go
I’ll be at Anaheim on April 8th. Camt wait
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