Some notes from last night’s game…
– The Kings suffered a rare loss to the Florida Panthers, as they fell 3-1 on Thursday night at BankAtlantic Center.
– The Kings had beaten the Panthers in seven consecutive meetings (including one in a shootout). It was the Panthers first victory over the Kings since Nov. 27, 2002, and their first home victory over the Kings since Oct. 26, 2001.
– The Kings were held under two goals for the 21st time in 55 games this season. The Kings have scored a total of five goals in their last four games.
– Shots were even, 23-23.
– The Kings went 0-for-2 on the power play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill. The Kings have now killed 13 consecutive penalties.
– The Kings fell to 11-8-6 on the road, 7-15-5 when allowing the first goal and 1-17-3 when trailing after the second period.
– The Kings played a 0-0 first period for the 22nd time in their 55 games this season. The Kings have not allowed a first-period goal in any of their last nine games.
– Jonathan Quick stopped 9 of 11 shots, then was pulled at the start of the third period in favor of Jonathan Bernier, who stopped 11 of 11 shots (Florida’s third goal was an empty-net goal). It was the second time this season, in 46 starts, that Quick was pulled from a game.
– Drew Doughty scored the Kings’ goal, for his fifth goal and 25th point of the season. Doughty has two goals and three assists in his last six games.
– Anze Kopitar had an assist, to push his team-high totals to 31 assists and 48 points. Kopitar has six goals and six assists in his last 13 games.
– Dustin Brown had an assist, his 15th assist and 28th point of the season. Brown had not recorded a point in his previous five games.
– Justin Williams recorded a team-high five shots on goal. Dustin Brown was credited with a team-high six hits. Brown, Drew Doughty, Jack Johnson and Anze Kopitar each were credited with one blocked shot.
– Drew Doughty led the Kings in ice time, with a game-high 26 minutes, 53 seconds, followed by Jack Johnson, at 21:50. Dustin Brown led all Kings forwards in ice time, at 20:31, followed by Anze Kopitar, at 20:18.
– The Kings won 20 of 52 faceoffs (38 percent). Anze Kopitar won 9 of 19 draws (47 percent). Mike Richards won 3 of 10 draws (30 percent). Jarret Stoll won 2 of 7 draws (29 percent).
Not beast
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everyone is all talked out!!!!
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Stuart Reply:
February 10th, 2012 at 8:39 pm
@neil, palabra! But I’ll still say last nights game was a super letdown. I hadn’t felt really upset in a while and I felt that way last night, I wish it had been a home game so that it would’ve been over later in the night… it’s like everyone was wearing #25 out there. Pianos for days.
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Duncanz Reply:
February 11th, 2012 at 12:56 am
@Stuart, Need more Leon Russells, less Liberaces!
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I will agree with some posters on here who say “Get Carter”. Is there potential downside given his past extra circular activities with MR? Perhaps. But tons of potential upside. It’s a fact that Penner and Stoll are just not delivering. And if we can get somebody to heat up Richards and put the puck in the net himself, I’m all for it. How do we go about getting him? I’m not sure. Would hate to lose Bernier given the potential for Quick to jump ship in a couple of years. But we have to do what we have to do to put the puck in the net. Johnson, Penner, and a low draft pick perhaps? I’d miss the head fakes from JJ but I would definitely welcome the goals!
Heat up the #2 line and we will have a shot in the playoffs. That I firmly believe.
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Part Two:
For the love of god let’s start putting bodies in front of the net. We should never be camping 3 guys up on the blue line. Two forwards digging pucks out of the corner, MAX. Not all three. Third forward camped in front of the net and the occasional d-man trailer creeping up through the slot looking for loose change (See Doughty’s game winner the other night). And if we give up the occasional odd man rush or breakaway as a result of agressive offense, so be it. That’s what we have Jonathan “Smiley” Quick for!
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I think just the change since last night. To bad with Stoll but to bring up the 2 monarchs are a good thing. Got to remember we are in New York and Manchester is not far away. Who knows could maybe something big happens tomorrow morning???? With Richards in the middle of the two who knows.Also I say Bernier on the Island..
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Watching the Shark-Hawks game and have mixed feelings knowing SanJose goes for 9 on the road and Chicago has the Yotes in less thean 24 hours..
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Jeff_R Reply:
February 10th, 2012 at 9:54 pm
@lakingbob(chi), San Jose is wining 4-3 now and they are going on the PP. Hopefully Chicago can score and it goes to OT and a shootout, or Chicago wins in regulation.
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@Harty (IIRC), good article in the LATimes about Cliffy…
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Duncanz Reply:
February 11th, 2012 at 12:59 am
@Stuart, Perhaps Harty’s hibernating…
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Changing the subject, this Jeremy Lin guy, a complete unknown takes Manhattan by storm. I know since I live here.
He beat the Lakers tonight with a mix of speed and skill. What a novel idea. I wonder if it would work in hockey?
As for Neil’s comments above….. everyone is all talked out. YES NEIL!!
It’s almost surreal what a difficult season this has been. When the team was just poor, they’d often lose by a goal – sometimes two, but you had the feeling they would advance thru the draft and some of the young guys like Brown and Kopi developing.
I don’t have that feeling at all now. Who is young and developing? Doughty and Johnson. That’s true. But they’re dmen. Clifford, but is his ceiling Lucic like? Other than him, what? Trevor Lewis and Richardson will blossom from being 5 and 7 goal scorers to being 12 goal scorers.
What does this franchise want? I ask myself that.
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neil Reply:
February 10th, 2012 at 9:35 pm
@number 6, what is amazing about Lin is Golden State waived him last year….Houston had him in camp this year…he ‘s been on the bench all season…then due to inyuries he plays and plays really well….Why cant the Kings get lucky like that???LOL !!!!
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neil Reply:
February 10th, 2012 at 9:37 pm
@number 6, Who is young and develping?? Martinez and VV…Hickey … But thats the trouble..its our defensemen that are young and develping….
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johnjuan Reply:
February 10th, 2012 at 10:31 pm
@number 6, They cant develop playing 3 on offense. Every time a player leaves they have offensive breakouts because the teams they go to support the forwards with a 4th and even 5th attacker. We started to do it against TB and even a little bit against Florida but it has to become second nature or we will always be a low scoring mediocre team.
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Duncanz Reply:
February 11th, 2012 at 1:18 am
@number 6, interestingly, he’s already going to be 24 in August – as old or older than many of our youngsters!
Funny tweet going round:
“You know that Kim Kardashian is looking at Jeremy Lin and thinking, “once you go Asian …. it could be another TV occasion.”
Ok, so I agree with you #6 ….. he’s 6’3, 200 lbs, and has huge upside ….
….. sooo, How’s about VV, DD, JJ, our whole 2nd line, errr and a 3rd round pick for Jeremy Lin???!!!
Linsanity or LinStanity? You be the judge!
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neil Reply:
February 11th, 2012 at 8:03 am
@Duncanz, Linn doenst play gritty or heavy…..
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Postgame notes (Feb. 9) (Three words)
We were horrible.
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Continuing trends:
No first period goals
No PP goals
Less than 3 PPs
Great PK
How can the same players play so well in one part of the game and so poorly in the other?
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Duncanz Reply:
February 11th, 2012 at 1:32 am
@DesertKing, Totally.
From those stats, 2 jumped out for me:
Awful FO %s – Yuk!
JQ pulled only 2X the WHOLE season – Wow!
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Ok lets hope the medication has worn off the boys from thursday night and their ready to go! It was almost like TM jumped inside coach sutters body for a while. Camera shots showed him standing still arms folded with some kinda glaze over his eyes. No emotions just empty. I hope that never happens again that was my biggest problem with TM.
I hope the Kings win but if they don’t I wanna see some fricken emotion! I can’t remeber the last time the entire team got into it with another club. I mean just a nice solid checking game with some scrums and face washes! A little scrap here or there. Something that says “we are the Kings and we are not missing the playoffs this season”
Hockey’s a funny game.
You have to prove yourself every shift, every game.
It’s not up to anybody else.
You have to take pride in yourself.
-Paul Coffey
GKG!!!!
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Duncanz Reply:
February 11th, 2012 at 1:34 am
@illegalstick33, Time for a Westy wrangle??
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Wow, things could be worse. We could be playing like Chicago … ugh, talk about a free fall.
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KingsFanFTW Reply:
February 10th, 2012 at 10:08 pm
@KC23, oh no Chicago can score 3 goals…Kings can only score 1…Totally different…
Quick average to let in 2 goals a game….So we would of won most games than we lost.
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KC23 Reply:
February 11th, 2012 at 8:32 am
@KingsFanFTW, Except that Chicago lets in 3 or more in often.
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Well San Jose wins and now they are 4pts up with 3 games in hand and there ROW is 24 vs the Kings 22.
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KingsFanFTW Reply:
February 10th, 2012 at 10:06 pm
@Jeff_R, forget about the 1st place…Kings dig themselve a hole..Lets just pray they cna get scoring than worrying about the Sharks.
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Jeff_R Reply:
February 11th, 2012 at 10:02 am
@KingsFanFTW, I am not forgetting San Jose. It isn’t like we are losing 5-6 games in a row. We are only 4 pts out of first and 2 if we win today. San Jose plays there next 9 games in 14 days on the road.
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So Richards with two rookies will be a checking line? Or other line will be?
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KC23 Reply:
February 11th, 2012 at 8:32 am
@goldielocks, Good question.
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Hmmm… Kings game or root canal tomorrow? They are both equally painful to experience but at least I know the root canal will actually fix a problem.
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This franchise is so frustrating. I mean the red wings were known as the dead wings because of 20 years of suckage but look at them now. Now they’re like a damn thumb drive just plug in players and let them play and bam… instant success! Since 1967 we’ve had one SC appearance?? Yikes… Hopefully they can turn this mediocrity soon.
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tacomakingsfan Reply:
February 10th, 2012 at 11:30 pm
@tacomakingsfan,
turn around
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Duncanz Reply:
February 11th, 2012 at 1:20 am
@tacomakingsfan, the DwightKings …
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What a lousy faceoff percentage.
Wow, the western conference is getting ridiculously tight; the gap between the Kings at 7th place and the Flames at 12th place is just 4 points :O
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Jeff_R Reply:
February 11th, 2012 at 10:03 am
@Christian, Kings are only 5 pts out of 3rd. It will always be like this with the loser point.
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This is what we should do… This is the answer!!
Sign Jeremy Lin.
I’m sure he can score more goals than Stoll and Loktionov have combined in just one game. It’s a slam dunk!.
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Duncanz Reply:
February 11th, 2012 at 1:42 am
@DBking, Lol, What do you think of my suggestion above?!
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STOLL:
As much as people don’t like Stoll, I think they need to re-sign him next year. Obviously at a reduced cost and maybe not in a high profile role. Him in the 4th line centre spot.
%90 of you base a player’s skill and value solely on numbers. He is great on faceoffs. He’s been there a while now, so he’s comfortable there. He knows the players and fits in.
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KC23 Reply:
February 11th, 2012 at 8:38 am
@California Royalty, A 4th line player perhaps at a vastly reduced price. Great team mate it seems. It is hard to know which forwards really suck (see Frolov, POS) and which just suck because of our whole system of working our forwards (see Moulson, Purcell, Simmonds, Smyth).
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Jeff_R Reply:
February 11th, 2012 at 10:06 am
@California Royalty, Stoll is gone, let the kids play.
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