Some notes from last night’s game…
– The Kings got a goal from Willie Mitchell with 5:49 remaining in the third period and held on to beat the St. Louis Blues 3-2 on Tuesday night at Scottrade Center.
– The Kings had won only two of their previous 10 games in St. Louis.
– The Kings have an 8-0-0 record this season when they score at least three goals. The Kings also have an 8-0-1 record when they allow two or fewer goals.
– The Kings improved to 5-2-2 on the road, 6-2-3 in one-goal games, 3-5-1 when allowing the first goal, 2-1-1 when trailing after the first period and 4-3-1 when outshooting their opponents.
– The Kings outshot the Blues 28-25, including 9-4 in the third period.
– The Kings went 1-for-6 on the power play and 6-for-6 on the penalty kill. The Kings had allowed at least one power-play goal in eight consecutive games.
– Jonathan Bernier stopped 23 of 25 shots to improve his record to 2-2-0.
– Mike Richards had one goal and one assist, on the power play. Richards ranks second on the Kings in goals (nine) and points (18). Richards has seven goals in his last seven games.
– Willie Mitchell scored the game-winning goal in the third period, his first goal of the season and his 25th career goal in his 664th game.
– Anze Kopitar had a power-play goal. Kopitar leads the Kings in goals (10), points (24) and power-play goals (4). Kopitar has two goals in his last three games.
– Andrei Loktionov had one assist, his second assist and point of the season.
– Simon Gagne had one assist. Gagne has one goal and two assists in his last three games.
– Justin Williams had one assist. Williams is second on the Kings in assists (13) and third in points (16).
– Willie Mitchell recorded a team-high four shots on goal. Dustin Brown, Kyle Clifford and Drew Doughty each were credited with a team-high three hits. Doughty was credited with a team-high four blocked shots.
– Drew Doughty played a game-high 24 minutes, 47 seconds, followed by Willie Mitchell, at 23:05. Dustin Brown led all Kings forwards in ice time, at 20:59, followed by Mike RIchards, at 20:37.
– The Kings won 28 of 47 faceoffs (60 percent). Mike Richards won 15 of 16 draws (94 percent). Jarret Stoll won 6 of 15 draws (40 percent). Colin Fraser won 4 of 7 draws (57 percent). Anze Kopitar won 1 of 5 draws (20 percent).
Believe the final was 3-2, not 4-3
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Brownkingsfan Reply:
November 23rd, 2011 at 11:15 am
@370455vinSD, Where do you see 4-3?
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370455vinSD Reply:
November 23rd, 2011 at 11:16 am
@Brownkingsfan, The original post had the score at 4-3 but Rich corrected it.
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Score more than 3 goals. Sounds like a winner to me. We have the capability to score more than three goals each game.
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370455vinSD Reply:
November 23rd, 2011 at 11:06 am
@bonvivant1, And hold the opponent to less then 3/game. Seriously, as far as a formula for success it shouldn’t be that hard for us.
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Move Mitchell to the second line. That dude is a scoring machine!!
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puck73 Reply:
November 23rd, 2011 at 11:16 am
@DesertKing, I would like to see him on the 2nd unit powerplay because he has a great shot, and usually gets it thru.
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Gokings Reply:
November 23rd, 2011 at 11:18 am
@puck73, Agree, getting a little sick of hearing stoll shoot, blocked of the way through. Doesn’t have to be a boomer just get it to the goalie
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Scot Reply:
November 23rd, 2011 at 11:22 am
@puck73,
You want to have creative offensive minds on the PP. Mitchell is a defensively-minded player all the way, & not exactly fleet of foot either when it comes to chasing the puck when it gets cleared. His role is to shut down other teams top offensive guys & kill penalties. It’s bad enough having Moreau out on the PP, you don’t want Mitchell out there too. Leave that to DD, JJ, and Voynov. Yes, a couple of them need to learn to get their shots through traffic better, but it’s not bad enough to warrant Mitchell on the PP.
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VanKingsFan Reply:
November 23rd, 2011 at 11:27 am
@Scot, Agreed, plus you want Mitchell out there on the PK all the time. I don’t want Willie’s minutes getting out of control, wearing him down throughout the season.
puck73 Reply:
November 23rd, 2011 at 11:37 am
@Scot, I have faith That TM will do whatever is best for the team. It was just a thought on Mitchell. I dont want to burn him out either, I just think that the guy has an underrated accurate shot.
Cripes, Richards is a monster on the dot.
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Brownkingsfan Reply:
November 23rd, 2011 at 11:17 am
@Jordan, A few games ago he was 1 for 10, and someone suggested he isn’t very good with face offs. I think this proves otherwise. He’s probably the most well rounded player on the Kings.
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Brownkingsfan Reply:
November 23rd, 2011 at 11:19 am
@Brownkingsfan, I’ll argue my own point and say he’s one of the top 2 most well rounded players in the Kings… The other being Kopitar
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Scot Reply:
November 23rd, 2011 at 11:24 am
@Brownkingsfan,
Probably?? It’s not even close!
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Anybody else enjoy the check by DB at the 2nd period buzzer? Ha Ha classic Brown drawing a penalty to help his team…
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puck73 Reply:
November 23rd, 2011 at 11:41 am
@bringbackbutchgoring, Good morning, my name is @Stuart, and I completely disagree with you on any sort of complement regarding Dustin Brown.
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DanD Reply:
November 23rd, 2011 at 12:04 pm
@bringbackbutchgoring, Right at the buzzer, dude had no idea Brown was gonna hit em.
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Caleb C Reply:
November 23rd, 2011 at 12:13 pm
@DanD, haha he barely hit him though he just kind of bumped him real good
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Perro Reply:
November 23rd, 2011 at 1:33 pm
@bringbackbutchgoring, I like brown, but he was lucky he did not get us a penalty there.
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BringbackButchGoring Reply:
November 23rd, 2011 at 3:17 pm
@Perro, How do you penalize someone for a legal check?
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Rich,
Unless I’m misreading it (which is possible) one of your stats doesn’t make sense. You have the Kings as 2-1-1 when trailing after two periods. They’ve lost 4 games when trailing after 2 periods in November alone.
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Rich Hammond Reply:
November 23rd, 2011 at 11:55 am
Right…should have said first period.
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Stuv Reply:
November 23rd, 2011 at 11:58 am
Also, the score was tied 1-1 after 2 periods. So I’m guessing Rich meant to post a stat that the Kings are 2-1-1 when tied after 2 periods?
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Stuv Reply:
November 23rd, 2011 at 11:59 am
Nevermind, saw Rich’s reply above.
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In New York, I was watching the Versus feed of the game. The announcers, who were the same guys that announced the Olympics were praising Doughty on, I believe, a 2nd period hit in front of the net. They were saying that it was a lost art, and Doughty was real smart doing that. BTW, I’m a huge Doughty supporter. His upside is huge. Too many of you are worried about his salary. Who cares! You aren’t paying it anyway.
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puck73 Reply:
November 23rd, 2011 at 11:54 am
@Poorman, I dont think anybody would argue that his upside is huge, that is not even debatable. That being said, he was very fortunate last night that the league only hit him with a fine, and he got no suspension for cross checking from behind. I am a big fan of Doughty, but that is the second time this season he has done that. The 1st time was that stupid cross checking penalty on Kessler when we already a man down, and it ended up costing us a goal and the game.
All I am saying is, is that the Kid needs to use his head and he will be fine, afterall he is only 21.
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Poorman Reply:
November 23rd, 2011 at 11:57 am
@puck73, Agreed. What did you think about Bernier? Pretty World Class Impressive in my mind.
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puck73 Reply:
November 23rd, 2011 at 12:03 pm
@Poorman, he played great, and he finally made some saves that should have gone in the net. The thing with Bernier is, he always makes the saves he is suppose to, but where Quick has blown him away is when the spectacular save is needed, or when we need mental toughness and Quick will steel us 1 or 2 points, that has been Quicks MO in his career so far.
If Bernier can continue to perform like he did last night, we will have the best 1, 2 punch in the NHL…and its not even close!
Michael J. Reply:
November 23rd, 2011 at 12:06 pm
@Poorman,
Your boy played very well. I think we will be able to look back to last night’s game as the one that turned it around for him. He looked very smooth out there.
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bbb7 Reply:
November 23rd, 2011 at 12:09 pm
@Poorman, A gree his upside is huge, and YES he is 21… the thing that concerns me is he was more effective two years ago than last season, and more effective last year than so far this season. He really looks at times like he believes he can do anything (like last night when he tried a difficult cross-ice pass on the PP that was picked off and almost turned into a scoring opportunity) and so forces things rather than playing skilled steady.
And both DD and JJ wait way too long to shoot on the PP, thus never having a lane. Try some one-timers, while the defenders are still moving across to close the lane. Still a bit too deliberate.
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puck73 Reply:
November 23rd, 2011 at 12:17 pm
@bbb7, Voynov will be a better powerplay QB then Doughty or Johnson, you watch.
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Poorman Reply:
November 23rd, 2011 at 12:34 pm
@puck73, Agree again. Voynov’s a stud!
Jimbo Reply:
November 23rd, 2011 at 1:17 pm
@bbb7, Strong agreement on the half second or more wait oPP before eith a shot or a pass…hard to imagine what the lane looks like on TV but you can just feel the D repositioning itself…we finally have the stick talent to be awesome on PP…hope to see more quick movement and quick shots.
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OCKingsFan Reply:
November 23rd, 2011 at 12:59 pm
@Poorman, I didn’t get to see the game, but I did see from the box score that in the 3-2 win Doughty was a -2. I sincerely hope to be proven wrong, but I think it was a big mistake for the Kings to cave and pay him the big bucks…
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Poorman Reply:
November 23rd, 2011 at 2:01 pm
@OCKingsFan, I don’t. The Versus announcers were talking about the little things he does that most Dmen don’t. These were the guys who announced the Olympics, and they aren’t with the Kings.
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The Kings are 4-1 in their last five. I’ll take eight points in five games any way you slice it.
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DesertKing Reply:
November 23rd, 2011 at 12:07 pm
@Michael J.,
Well said, but could they please do it in a way where my heart is always in stomach (of course, then it wouldn’t be as exciting, huh?).
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Michael J. Reply:
November 23rd, 2011 at 12:10 pm
@DesertKing,
I don’t think they can
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How did Kopitar take only 5 faceoffs????
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Djspock92 Reply:
November 23rd, 2011 at 1:49 pm
I noticed after the second Kings goal, Loki, Stoll and I forget he 3rd forward on the ice…but anyways, Loki was taking the draw, not Stoll.
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Richards is looking more and more comfortable every game. 94% on faceoffs, wow. I love the way he just floats around the ice. Always knows where to be.
I think I may be ordering an away Richards Jersey…
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Perro Reply:
November 23rd, 2011 at 1:35 pm
@KingsGuy, it’s on my christmas list.
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Kopi and Stoll didn’t do good in the faceoffs at all. that surprise anyone else? or is it just me
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I like the number of shots we’re taking. Put the puck on the net, eventually something good will happen.
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I looked at the replay like 10 times and it looks like the pick deflected off of Williams stick
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