Every notable pundit around the NHL has picked the San Jose Sharks to beat the Kings in the first round, most in five or six games. Not the majority of pundits. Not most pundits. Literally, I have yet to see a single media personality predict that the Kings will win. Las Vegas odds, and the odds posted on the Bodog.com website, have the Kings as the biggest underdog in any of the eight first-round series. Now, there might be a reason for that, but on the other hand, it’s possible that the Kings might be able to draw motivation from that, if they’re even paying attention to it. Today, I asked Drew Doughty about the Kings’ underdog status, and if it was appealing to him in some way…
DOUGHTY: “I expected everyone to kind of choose San Jose before the series got going. That’s a good thing for us. They have the pressure on them, and they have for so many years in the playoffs. It seems like, when they’ve had that pressure, they really haven’t succeeded in the playoffs, so that’s obviously to our advantage. We knew we were going to be underdogs, and going into it, it’s always better to be the underdog. You have that pressure off of you. It’s not that you have nothing to lose, but you can kind of play with that underdog mentality. Starting off in San Jose, it’s going to be a loud building, but we just have to kind of look past that and use that in the other direction, use it to get us up for the game and get us excited.”
Terry Murray didn’t specifically address the Kings’ underdog status, but he did speak to the team’s mood heading into the series…
MURRAY: “I think there’s always a great sense of anticipation, whenever you get to this time. Excitement, adrenaline starts to get going on a day like today, because you know it starts tomorrow. There’s a great attitude. (With) the attention to the meetings that we had today, the questions that were asked, everybody is eager, everybody is excited. We know we’ve got a very hard opponent, one of the favorites coming into the playoffs, and it’s going to be a great challenge for us. We’re going into this thing not being afraid to win. We want to go out and play and compete and battle and do the right stuff every shift.”
go get em dewie!
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Ahhhhhhhhhhh I’m getting so antsy! I wanna see us steal Game 1 already.
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Duckbasher Reply:
April 14th, 2011 at 9:39 am
@Bring Back Palffy,
Love your name. I’ve been a Kings fan from the start and I just wish we had someone who could Ziggy the puck through 3 defenders right up down the slot without being touched like he could. One of the all time greatest skater play makers in Kings history.
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Dmitry Chesnokov, Puck Daddy Senior Writer has the Kings in 7. But he admits to being a poor prediction maker!
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FiG17 Reply:
April 13th, 2011 at 8:28 pm
@NOW IMPRESSED,
I know. I won’t be able to concentrate on absolutely anything tomorrow. It was hard enough today, but tomorrow… impossible.
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Oh man now Doughty is going to try and take over the game with some attempts at fancy footwork on the blue line or trying to get that perfect shot through when Marleau is bearing down on him. He is right that expectations and pressure are on San Jose so let that work for him and be patient. Don’t sit back but just remember the longer it goes 0-0 the better it is for LA.
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BakoCAkingsCondorsGuy Reply:
April 13th, 2011 at 4:40 pm
@JB,
–Not really.
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RobSD Reply:
April 13th, 2011 at 4:57 pm
@JB,
The longer it goes when we have the lead… the better it is for L.A.
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JB Reply:
April 13th, 2011 at 9:56 pm
@RobSD, Really cause they’ve been so good hanging on to leads? Sure an early lead would be best but no need to press and try to do too much.
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Shotongoal Reply:
April 13th, 2011 at 5:48 pm
@JB, someone has to step up. I’m glad to see this attitude. The Kings nothing to lose in this series. I hope they go balls out and leave everything they have on the ice. They are nit going to win games in this series 1-0 I just about guarantee it!
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Lets Go Kings
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All things considered, I’d much rather have the Kings be the heavy favorite in this situation. I mean, the Kings are an underdog for a reason (not an excuse): they played themselves into this position.
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I’m having Shark steaks for dinner tomorrow night…
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It’s great to see DET holding to form and falling behind in the first period at home. Again. Go Dogs!
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Gosh I can’t wait for this game. Prediction: Drew will put a hurt on the Sharks. I throw my hat in the Kings in 7 ring.
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That last Anaheim game we had 44 shot to their 20. We need to keep that shot mentality, get good goal tending and a few lucky bounces. I just hope it is a fun competitive series. Even if “we” lose.
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Man I am psyched!
Tomorrow we kick some Shark ass all over the ice.
GO KINGS!!!!
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@Shakes, KINGS FANS, it’s killing me, but I won’t get to see Game 3 in person. I have two sweet seats in section 117. Close enough to see Greene smash Heatley’s face into the glass. $160 per. That’s face value. Reply to this post and I will hook you up.
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dcaps55 Reply:
April 13th, 2011 at 5:06 pm
@puckpoker, Happy Passover…(killing me as well)
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puckpoker Reply:
April 13th, 2011 at 5:08 pm
@dcaps55, LOL, Are you kidding me, I would never put religion before Kings hockey! … Vacation that was planned for a year, but bought tix hoping Kings would get home ice and play in LA THIS week.
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Jack Aubrey Reply:
April 14th, 2011 at 7:53 am
@puckpoker, Hey, Kings hockey IS religion, folks.
NOW IMPRESSED Reply:
April 14th, 2011 at 11:55 am
@puckpoker, You must be a fairly new Kings fan. I’m a Kings fan since they came into the NHL and sorry to say but I’ve learned to not allow the Kings failures to influence my happiness one bit. I had a great weekend even though the Kings lost both games to the Ducks and fell from 4th to 7th. That’s just the way it is…
KingsGuy Reply:
April 13th, 2011 at 5:21 pm
@puckpoker, Email me – ride.offroad@gmail.com Thanks
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here’s a list of predictions:
http://canuckshockeyblog.com/?p=6482
These have just about all “experts”…. so yeah Rich you’re right nobody is picking the Kings.
But who is our resident expert – Rich Hammond picking in this series?
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puckpoker Reply:
April 13th, 2011 at 5:11 pm
@LB, HA! Kings-Sharks is the ONLY series where every single person agrees that Sharks will win it. You know what that means? Kings will win it in 6.
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Slim Reply:
April 13th, 2011 at 10:45 pm
@LB, Interesting,, Is there a word that is more definitive than Underdog?
Cause that is what we are in these “experts” eyes..
Also MTL only got one vote..Kelly Hrudey you were a king and you
think were going out in 5.. youre on my poop list..
Nothing and I mean nothing would make me happier to shove this
you know where..
GKG…
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let’s do this like brutus!
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KingTrojan Reply:
April 13th, 2011 at 6:00 pm
@Qmungous,
Are we playing the Sens?
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Why does the title sound like DD is putting condiments under some links in a bun.
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saskatoon lost…. is shenn coming up?
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Token Reply:
April 13th, 2011 at 5:24 pm
@KellyHrudey, Game four hasn’t even started yet. They need to lose one more.
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KellyHrudey Reply:
April 13th, 2011 at 9:17 pm
@Token, it’s official saskatoon lost…is shenn coming up?
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No matter who is the scorer for us, Quick must be the player of the game for all the games in the playoff.
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Slim Reply:
April 13th, 2011 at 10:48 pm
@zdfun, Quick HAS to be our best player in every game!
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Was the “relish” and under”dog” a pun there Rich? HA.
Great info. Love one on one with the players. Thanks!
Any possibility of asking Westgarth, about his fighting and why he claps his hands at the end of every fight. (Besides the obvious of him being pumped up) Maybe, why he thinks the team feels comfortable with him in the line-up.
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King Taco Reply:
April 13th, 2011 at 5:32 pm
@KingsGuy,
I thought the same thing. I’m sure he ketchups and mustards the underdog role also…
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As if we needed another reason to hope the Canucks get bumped from the playoffs…
http://youtu.be/iJ-M4-I0Xog
I can’t even bring myself to watch the whole thing
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OldKingsFan Reply:
April 13th, 2011 at 6:00 pm
@friarking, That was a waste of bandwidth. STUPID
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friarking Reply:
April 13th, 2011 at 6:21 pm
@OldKingsFan, it’s awful. I turned it off less than halfway into it.
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OC Hip Check Reply:
April 13th, 2011 at 6:34 pm
@friarking, oh wow what a bunch of trash. I had to turn it off. STUPID
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loskingpride Reply:
April 13th, 2011 at 7:17 pm
@friarking, the line at 1:09 make me realize how dumb their fans are.
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I hope the Sharks are looking past the Kings right not and come in thinking it their series and not mentally prepared for it… Wait yeah, just like the past few years…
GO KINGS
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One of Wisniski’s pundits on Yahoo! picked the Kings.
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Chesnokov says Kings in 7 if you count Yahoo writers.
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I want to say how cool I think it is that most of the playoff teams in the western conference are from non-traditional hockey markets–three from California, one from Phoenix, and one from Nashville probably means things are subtly changing. Of course, rumors are the Phoenix team won’t be in Phoenix for long….
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I hope Dought’s jabs at the Sharks lack of playoff success doesn’t put the motivation back in their bellies. Kings need a huge series from DD, JJ, JQ and DB. My bet is we see JB before the series is over. GKG!
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Mmmmmm Relish
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Is there a common thread here…it’s really hard for the Kings to win this series, just because the Sharks are so hot right now.
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I saw an article online yesterday written by an NHL.com writer stating his prediction of the Kings taking Lord Stanley home when its all said and done. He cited the kings top rated defense, underdog status and determination. especially with Williams coming back. He stated if we can get a about 2-3 goals and have Quick and Bernier play to there known potential we can be a formidable force . “This PUMPS ME UP” I BELIEVE,I BELIEVE,I BELIEVE. GKG
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Bonvivant1 Reply:
April 13th, 2011 at 9:41 pm
@Central Coast King, provide the link to the article.
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KFII Reply:
April 14th, 2011 at 10:23 am
@Bonvivant1, I’m not sure this will work, but perhaps this is what he was referring to.
http://kings.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=559454&cmpid=rss-News%20in%20English#
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Fine, fine, the underdog role for Drew. As long as he doesn’t revert to being a HOT DOG, with his junior-league head fakes, over-passing, and “I can get this puck out of trouble all by myself… oh, dang, I gave it away” play of late. I’d like to see more of the Drew of last year and less of the Drew of this year…
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