Just what are the Kings missing with Jarret Stoll out of the lineup for Game 2 tonight? Well, Stoll played more than 22 minutes in Game 1, recorded two shots on goal and four hits and took 20 faceoffs (and won 13 of them). He was on the ice for more than half of the Kings’ power-play time and 1:42 of its four-minute penalty-kill time. Oscar Moller will replace Stoll in the lineup, and likely will also replace him on the power play, but Terry Murray freely acknowledged today that one person will not be able to make up for Stoll’s absence…
MURRAY: “Some guys might end up playing a little more than they have. Stoll is a big loss for us, because of his importance in all the situations, both special teams. But that’s the way it goes. The suspension has been handed down. I accept it. I agree with it. So we move on and we adjust and we play with what we’ve got.”
Murray was not in a fighting mood Saturday afternoon. Given another chance to crack the NHL for not suspending San Jose’s Jason Demers — on Friday, Murray called Demers’ hit on Ryan Smyth “five times more severe” than Stoll’s hit on Ian White — Murray declined.
MURRAY: “You know what? It’s time to turn the page. This is Game 2. Forget about it. The game is over. There was a lot of competitive atmosphere there. There was a lot of competitive play. It was a good game. This is now Game 2, and that’s the focus.”
Wise of TM to focud on tonight. Very wise. Look for the Kings to be dismal on the draw tonight.
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JS will be sorely missed tonight. If the boys can pull it off, will be HUGE!
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jess Reply:
April 16th, 2011 at 4:03 pm
@tornado12,
aside from the range of talent he brings which is nearly impossible to replace, we lose a serious grinder who keeps his legs moving…
If having talks with pens won’t work, is waterboarding an option?
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the_guv Reply:
April 16th, 2011 at 4:10 pm
@jess, Definitely. Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions DOES NOT apply to hockey!
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tornado12 Reply:
April 16th, 2011 at 4:17 pm
@jess, lol- hopefully it doesnt come to that, but as long as it doesnt break any international laws on torture, i guess so. Wheres Jack Bauer when you need him?
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Losing one of our best Spark Plugs will hurt, no doubt. Lewis will have to play better and Brown needs to find his spots. This game scares me alot. I’m telling you San Jose was put on notice in the last game. This one will not be easy and we will be in a fight. I wished I could skate. These guys from both teams hate each other and the hitting will be awesome. This is what hockey is all about. If we can keep our composer and choose when to hit, not letting them dictate the flow then we can keep the game close. We can not afford to give up silly goals and if we get behind stay focused. It would be awesome if we could get the first goal and play “D”. Well nap is over 3 hours till game time. Good thing I stopped drinking because hockey has away of getting me pumped up and I don’t want to hurt anyone, so time for some quite time with my Buddha statue and let things happen as it may, for I am only a fan who has nothing more to do but write on this blog wishing for a Kings win, so all can be well in our universe.
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Can Westgarth skate backwards?
Move JJ to 4th line center because Moller is just too diminutive for that role.
My 4th line would be -
Penner – JJ – Moller.
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LOL Bobby Ryan got suspended for two games for stomping his feet on a preds Defense foot LOL
thought we had it bad
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Kings x Reply:
April 16th, 2011 at 6:27 pm
@KingsFanFTW, Have heard he is appealing the suspension because he is Bobby Ryan. He referred to himself in the third person.
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Time for the guys to pull together as a team and overcome adversity once again…Go Kings!
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I love it. This is game two. Let’s take it to them. GKG.
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Yeah, I caught that about Bobby Ryan. His penalty was just flat out stupid. This is what I mean when I talk about guys actually out to hurt each other. Huge drop off in terms of respect for fellow players.
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the_guv Reply:
April 16th, 2011 at 4:38 pm
@number 6, Yeah it feels like this season was extra dirty.
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Slim Reply:
April 16th, 2011 at 4:42 pm
@the_guv, I’ve been posting that for a week now..
Someone is gonna get seriously hurt at this pace..
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jess Reply:
April 16th, 2011 at 4:55 pm
@Slim,
I’m just wondering at what point people are going to stop thinking hockey is ever going to be a pretty sport.
If and when it does the exciting game you once knew which had you on the edge of your seat, will exist no more. Trust me.
the_guv Reply:
April 16th, 2011 at 5:43 pm
@Slim, Glad someone else sees it. I would have replied to your posts had I seen them.
@jess, It isn’t about the game being pretty. A deliberate intent to hurt someone is just bad sportsmanship. The game can be as rough and exciting as it’s always been without being dirty. We’re talking about the integrity of the game.
jess Reply:
April 16th, 2011 at 6:03 pm
@the_guv,
There is an ebb and flow to all of this. Refs do their job and all will be fine. No more rules and regs plz –unless of course you want hockey to become as pollitically correct as football and basketball? How about a whistle every two seconds? No thx.
Was stoll’s penalty considered a deliberate intent to hurt? Answer: no. Over reaction? Yes.. Chara’s hit in reg season? No. Over reaction? Yes.
Sorry to rile everyone up (or not) but Cammelleri scores a goal diving to get someone’s rebound. That’s so nice after seeing part of the package for Penner came from giving up Cammy (Colten Teubert). How much could we use that. YES I know he was whatever he was in the room, and you’ve gotta trust DL on that one, but still stinks. I mean if we had two or three snipers wouldn’t think twice about it. But on a night like tonight you’ve gotta wonder where the goals come from, unless Poni, Simmer, Penner, Someone finds a way to score beyond giving the job to DB and JW. Can’t just count on them.
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Belexes Reply:
April 16th, 2011 at 4:40 pm
@number 6,
yes, Cammy’s 19 goals this year were huge!
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number 6 Reply:
April 16th, 2011 at 4:54 pm
@Belexes,
that’s funny…. i sincerely hope you weren’t thinking i said we should have cammy…. read what i said… it would be ‘nice’ to have that sort of a goal scorer. i didn’t say i wish we had cammy cause i don’t wish we had him.
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Guess it could always get worse though. Bruins down 2-0 (at home) before the game is 3 mins old.
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Anything can happen if we play hard and smart..
Look at the Habs, their also underdogs and are
outplaying Big Bad Boston..There is hope…
GKG… Quick gotta play like Price and he can…
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what is up with boston?
well, there are teams which excel in the regular season, and then there is playoff season..
hockey clubs without the jump or the heart fall by the wayside in a hurry.
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Go coach Murray! I’m with the coach! He’s right Stoll is missed there is only one Jarret Stoll! That’s understandable! The other boyz gotta play for Stoll and make a mark! Let’s go Kings! Muay to the team!
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jess Reply:
April 16th, 2011 at 4:48 pm
@Pearl Estrada,
um would you like a downer?
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Two comments…
First Jarret Stoll is the most responsible forward playing the point on the power play that I’ve ever seen. I’ve never seen him badly exploited by a forward. That’s something you can say about Jack Johnson.
Second, if the Kings go down in four games that may be it for Terry Murray. Yes he’s had Kopitar out. But his inability to motivate Penner or DD or really anyone this year is telling. No one on the Kings team had a career year this year except for Quick. With a team this young *someone* should have played up to expectations. It may be time for a coach who is less teacher, more motivator.
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Slim Reply:
April 16th, 2011 at 5:00 pm
@Donald_S, Murray is already gearing up to coach the Sens
for his brother..They could use him at their point of development..
Time will tell..
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jess Reply:
April 16th, 2011 at 5:03 pm
@Slim, you serious?
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Slim Reply:
April 16th, 2011 at 5:10 pm
@jess, Just an uneducated guess..
But don’t count it out.. Sens are looking for a new coach…
And the brothers have always wanted to work together.
the_guv Reply:
April 16th, 2011 at 5:20 pm
@Donald_S, TM has only been here for three years, and made playoffs twice. Something no other coach did even ONCE in a DECADE before him. DL and TM have done a great job rebuilding this team, and in a pretty short amount of time. Starting from goalkeeping and working forward, They’ve already made us playoff contenders, possibly the best team we’ve ever had, and they’re not even done! We’re now doing with our offense what we did with our D. We’ve drafted one of the deepest offensive prospect pools in the league, and we’re about to start bringing them up. Another year or two, we’ll be legit, and we WILL be contending for the Cup. I think you’re way off with “that may be it for Terry Murray”(respectfully of course), a top tier team doesn’t come over night. It sucks that it’s taken this freakin’ long to get decent management, but they’re here now. Let’s let them get it done.
!!!GO KINGS GO!!!
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Kings x Reply:
April 16th, 2011 at 6:30 pm
@Donald_S, I think if you tied a sandwich to the end of penner’s stick the guy would skate nonstop
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That should have been ‘cannot say about Jack Johnson’
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This is the scenario we need to initiate rather than be the victim of. A couple of early goals. We never led last game once.
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PK face-offs will be a problem
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Okay, I’m gonna get torched for this but here a goes …
Stoll isn’t all that hard to replace imho. He is one of the biggest reasons our PP has been poor. His one timer is one of the worst I’ve ever seen in this league. His forecheck is good, his back check is marginal. Stoll has an outstanding wrist shot, but he almost always goes for a big back swing slap shot that misses everything, gets blocked because it took too long to develope or gets poke checked away.
No question Stoll is a lot better than Lewis on face offs and he does have more experience than Lewis, but that is where the advantages of Stoll ends. Lewis is just as good on the forecheck and much better on the back check and just as fast as Stoll. Lewis can pass well too, but he just hasn’t had anyone to pass it too. When he finally did have someone to pass it to (on Brown’s line) he got two beautiful assists.
Look for Lewis to be surprisingly good tonight … except on faceoffs.
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CB14 Reply:
April 16th, 2011 at 5:15 pm
@KC23, I’m gonna need a flamethrower quickly. LOL.JK I agree completely with your second paragraph, Lewis has been under the radar all year long except for those couple of games he was with Brownie, and I still don’t know why he was demoted. You do make some good points in the first paragraph, but all of our point men on the PP get their shots blocked, or shoot wide. I blame the PP system more for that, Kompon, you do make a good point about Stoll using his wrist shot though.
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the_guv Reply:
April 16th, 2011 at 5:23 pm
@KC23, You’re totally right…you’re gonna get torched.
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KC23 Reply:
April 17th, 2011 at 5:19 am
@KC23, Torch away, but the proof was in the puddin tonight.
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Don’t let S.J. get under your skin boys! Play smart and stay out of the box. Play hard and tough but keep it clean. Stollie, we know you didn’t mean to hurt White, you will be missed tonight. Stay determined to get the win, even if we’re down, and play like you expect to win. Most of all have fun doing it. Playoff game #2 is huge. Bring it home all tied up boys! Make it happen. GKG!!
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Blessing in disguise. I’ve been waiting a couple years for TM to back off Stoll. Tonight’s the night. So we lose a few more faceoffs and don’t need him in SO anyway. So glad he won’t be crippling our PP. I respect his defensive reliability but the other guys will pick up that slack. What does TM do if everything clicks for Kings without JS in G3?
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the_guv Reply:
April 16th, 2011 at 7:49 pm
@egold44, Hell of a call man. Two PP goals! Can’t remember the last time.
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One more hour. Jared Stoll will be missed, but we march on. Play hard boys.
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We are used to losing our best players. Just fill the spot with a minor leaguer. We will be just fine. No problems whatsoever. We are deep at all positions.
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