For the second time in three nights, a team came into Staples Center and showed the Kings how playoff-race hockey is supposed to be played. As the score indicated, the margin between the Kings and Calgary Flames last night was very slim, but consider that not only were the Flames playing at home, but they have been decimated by injuries of late. Given their group of forwards, it stood to reason that the Flames would have to get superb goaltending and hope to catch a break or two. That’s exactly what happened. Miikka Kiprusoff was consistently strong and occasionally brilliant, and Michael Cammalleri alertly knocked in a weird-bounce pass from Tom Kostopoulos. The Flames were far from beautiful on the ice, but they did enough to record a huge victory and leapfrog the Kings in the standings. Here’s how the Calgary Herald and Calgary Sun covered last night’s game, followed by some additional postgame quotes from the Flames’ locker room…
Flames topple Kings to move into playoff position (Calgary Herald)
Flames shut out Kings (Calgary Sun)
—–
COACH BRENT SUTTER
(on Miikka Kiprusoff…) “He was outstanding again. That’s just the way he is. He makes those saves for us, especially those first ones. We did a really good job of not giving those second and third opportunities up. He made some big first saves, obviously, for us throughout the night. It’s just what you expect from Kipper.’’
(on moving into eighth place in the West…) “It was obviously a big game tonight to be able to come and the ability to get a victory and knowing that Phoenix had won. You take it a game at a time. We have a lot of work left and we just need to pick away and it’s going to be a battle right to the end. Every point you can get along the way is huge.’’
—–
TOM KOSTOPOULOS
(on Miikka Kiprusoff’s performance…) “Same as he’s been all year for us. He’s a game-changer. He’s been like this all year. Hopefully we don’t take it for granted, but he’s unbelievable.’’
(on his line’s play…) “We felt pretty good as a line. We kept talking all night that we’re getting chances. Comeau was really skating hard ad making things go to the net. Cammalleri was all over the middle of the ice, making things happen. It was kind of a lucky bounce, but we got that one.’’
(on the win…) “Yeah, it was a big win. Everyone’s happy, but we have to get back on that plane and get home. We have a big game against Edmonton. They’ve been playing well and every game is such big points so it will be a crucial game on Tuesday.’’
—–
JAROME IGINLA
(on Miikka Kiprusoff’s performance…) “He’s played as good as I’ve seen him play in his career, and that’s counting the Vezina year. All year he’s been outstanding, it’s amazing. He’s having the best year that I can remember. He’s enjoying it too, though.’’
(on moving into eighth place in the West…) “It’s a big step for us. We look at it as, if it didn’t go our way tonight, we could be four points out again by two teams. (We) had kind of been getting close and getting close. To finally get there is a big step for us. We believe that we are going in the right direction. We’ve played some tough games and tough teams, different style games, road games, and we’ve been chipping away and stuff. It feels good. It’s been a long time. I don’t think we’ve been in a playoff spot all year.’’
The more I think about this the more it bothers me. Look what the Kings traded away/let go this last off season:
Michal Handzus This year – 7 g 15 a 22 p
Wayne Simmonds This Year – 21 g 16 a 37 p
Ryan Smyth This year — 16 g 20 a 36 p
Brayden Schenn This Year — 8 g 3 a 11 p
We let go a total of 106 total points
What we got back:
Mike Richards 14 g 14 a 28 p
Simone Gagne 7 g 10 a 17 p
we got a total of 45 points
Its no surprise the Kings are as bad as they are……
Mike Richards
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puck73 Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 10:16 am
@Lvhatrick, Wrong answer. He has no top 6 wingers to play with here like he did in Philadephia. Lets see how effective Getzlaf is without Perry and Ryan. Matter a fact, you already saw how bad Koivu was without Jason Blake…invisible
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Lvhatrick Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 10:18 am
The Mike Richards at the end was a typo…I wasn’t pointing fingers except at DL who probably didn’t have his best off-season last summer….I’m just sayin
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puck73 Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 10:22 am
@Lvhatrick, DL and TM are responsible for the lack of offense here, correct. They put no value on top 3 wingers and it shows here in the post lockout era.
DesertKing Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 10:34 am
@Lvhatrick,
You forgot to add the numbers from the players DL acquired to replace Zus and Smyth, namely for Moreau, Hunter and Fraser. Oh, wait, uh…… nevermind, there were no numbers
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Canadian King Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 11:07 am
@Lvhatrick, It’s not so black and white as you are maikng it out to be. Last year stats for the players you mentioned were:
Handzus – 12g 30 pts
Simmonds – 14g 30 pts
Smyth – 23g 47 pts
Schenn (didn’t play)
Gagne – 17g 40pts in just 63 games so 22g 52pts over a full season
Richards – 23g 66pts
So it’s no coincidence that the players coming to LA points went down and the players leaving LA points went up. Simonds wasn’t even close to being as productive for us last year. This is because of DL’s system stifles offensive players because he want Defense ALL the time, NOT because they were bad trades. If we don’t make the Richards trade, I can guarantee you that Mike would have waayyyy more points in Philly and Simmonds and Schenn would be about half as productive as they are in philly.
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Lvhatrick Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 11:31 am
@Canadian King, I agree 100%. That just goes to show you that there is something very wrong with the Kings system. Players seem to leave LA and excel while when they come here they underachieve. How many time does it have to happen, a player leaves LA and gets better before ownership realizes there is a serious problem with management. It’s clear ownership is not afraid to spend money. Get some young edgy coaches and management. The problem seems to be there.
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Kingstane9 Reply:
February 20th, 2012 at 3:37 am
@Lvhatrick, exactly, these are facts.
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Rumor has it: The Rick Nash trade won’t go down because jack Johnson wouldn’t be happy.
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Jeff_R Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 10:26 am
@Jeffreyryan, It is a part of sports getting traded….He can do just like Carter did and mope and then Columbus will trade him away. But I sincerely doubt that JJ not being happy is the reason a trade doesn’t go down.
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Jeffreyryan Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 10:28 am
@Jeff_R, why would cbj want to take on another player that doesn’t want to be there?
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Jeff_R Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 10:40 am
@Jeffreyryan, How do you know he is unhappy? Everybody was saying that Jack didn’t want to be a King, then he signs his new contract with us. JJ loves it here but he knows this is a business and that we need a sniper and some scoring Wingers in the worst way. He also knows that he might be one of the only guys who can get the Kings that. He may not be happy, but unlike Carter I don’t think he would make it known.
Cruiznblue Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 10:44 am
@Jeffreyryan,
Does JMFJ have a no trade clause?
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Canadian King Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 11:08 am
@Cruiznblue, No he doesn’t no one on the Kings roster has a nmc or ntc. So in the end it doesn’t matter what JJ thinks of the trade, he can just suck it up if he is traded.
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PP Anybody? Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 11:25 am
@Jeffreyryan, Does ANYBODY actually want to get traded to Columbus? Don’t think so.
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redlightrobber Reply:
February 20th, 2012 at 2:02 pm
@PP Anybody?, Since the all star game will be in Columbus next year maybe JJ will get some votes.
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Kings Defense: Awesome.
Kings Offense: Horse(crap)
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Our offense contniues to be completely predictable. The opposing defenses and goalies know exactly what we re agoing to do every time we come down the ice, thus the reason why every shot on goal hits the goalie. We never go to the middle, so the opposing defense finds it very easy to push us to the outside. We have no cross-ice capabilities, so we never get the goalie going to open the net. We have no snipers, so forget hitting the small openings and creases.
As said last night, don’t make any trades. Let the season play out. Nobody is going to give us anything of any value for players who are not accomplishing anything, either personally or as a team. Any offensive player with an expiring contract should be let go while we retain the defensive players (since they are performiong way above average). Use the cap room to extend Quick and find some free agent wingers. Bring in a young new coach with new ideas and who will be unpredictable.
In addition, get rid of DL, DS and JK. DL’s selection of DS to replace TM sealed his doom. DS is just an old-style TM, with no offensive capabilities. It only took a few games for the opposing coaches to figure out DS’s 5-year-old offense and his tricks and tendencies were already known. The game has passed him by. Keep Stevens and Ranfrod, since the defense and goaltending are outstanding.
The players have almost given up on DS as evidenced by warm-ups last night. Half the team was off the ice before the 4 minute mark. For the end of warm-ups scrum in front of Bernier, there were only 6-7 players instead of the normal 12-15.
Since our defense is so good, we need to find a GM who understands the concept of balance and finds a head coach and assistant coach who understand offense. GKG!!
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Jeff_R Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 10:33 am
@DesertKing, Doesn’t everybody say that players that leave L.A. and go elsewhere suddenly find there scoring touch? Isn’t that a problem people have with DL? If that is the case why would our players be devalued? I would think that since you have it all figured out as to why the Kings are so bad offensively, then so should the other 29 GM’s in the league and they would seriously want some of our players. Especially since when we do make a trade most of what we are trading away is Goalies and defenseman, which we are very strong at.
Also don’t you think that our defense and goaltending being even better with DS then with TM has something to do with DS? I think our problem is an easy fix, just bring in a couple wingers by trade and things will go better, as it will take time for them to be infected by our cursed offense. If they do score then it will get the others going.
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DesertKing Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 10:43 am
@Jeff_R,
You bring up a great point about the defense getting better, which is DS’s forte, but the offense is so horrible that it will need more than a couple of wingers to fix it. When someone like myself can call each play and predict what will occur when they come down the ice almost every time, then I have to believe that the professional coaches can call it to.
Reference other teams wanting our players, sure, but at a reduced price. Penner looks like the lumberjack from Hoodwinked, Kopitar is skating like he has a piano on his back (which he does because there are always 2 opposing players on top of him), Williams looks lost, Richardson flies everywhere but has no direction, Fraser is outmatched, Brown makes spot appearances, we had two rookies on our PP, it is just a huge mess and other teams won’t want any of these guys for anyone of value, thus my recommendation of no trade.
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Joe Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 10:58 am
@DesertKing,
Good observations. It took time, but the Lombardi, Murry, Sutter philosophy of defense first, killed the offense, because the offensive players are not able to organize themselves for offensive play making and net crashing. If offensive players are not allowed to play their game as they learned over the years, their skills and mind set deteriorates. If you were a kid and teenager growing up as an offensive player, there was a joy and intense desire to keep learning offense and play making and coordination with your line mates. That is suppose to carry through into the majors, but only if the GM and coaches allow that to happen and foster it and encourage it. The fundamental rule is not kill your offensive players to make them be someone they never wanted to be. Kopi, Brown, Williams and others wanted to be offensive players, but, with the Kings system, they have to swing to defensive mind set and concentrate and anticipate what they need to do to play defense. That is unnatural and they lose interest and desire and confidence.
So, housecleaning time, where management has to say that we will open up the game and allow the offensive guys to do what they can and if mistakes happen, so be it. Otherwise, the Kings are going to the cellar this year and that will be next year’s result too.
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http://www.nhl.com/ice/blogpost.htm?id=6609
Flyers going hard after Nash
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Jeff_R Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 10:35 am
@408kingsfan, Why would a team that can score in bunches go after a top 3 forward, when there biggest problem is keeping the puck out of there net. There defense has been horrible and there goaltending also. Plus they are close to the cap. I would think they would have to give up too much offensively to get Nash.
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puck73 Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 10:43 am
@Jeff_R, Totally agree.
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DesertKing Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 10:44 am
@Jeff_R,
So they can then trade him to us for a d-man?
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Jeff_R Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 11:04 am
@DesertKing, We have a top 2 defenseman (JJ), a up and coming goalie who would be starting now if it weren’t for Quick (Bernier) a 1st round draft pick, prospects. We have the best set of pieces that Columbus could want in a rebuild situation, except for a top offensive player. However they can use Penner and Carter and any number of there other players to bring in some offense.
408kingsfan Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 10:55 am
@Jeff_R, I don’t know? did you read the article?
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PP Anybody? Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 11:30 am
@Jeff_R, I would guess so they can score more than their opponent. That is ultimately the object of the game.
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Deadendcruiser Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 10:46 am
@408kingsfan, Saw that also, what do you think DL is doing about it?
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Cruiznblue Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 10:48 am
@408kingsfan,
That seems silly…Philly need defense and definitely a goalie…Philly has no NHL starter capable goalies to offer back to Colubmus either.
Sometimes these rumors just dont make sense…you wonder why these professional editors would even post them.
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GoKingsGo Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 11:24 am
@408kingsfan, Columbus GM is also meeting BB this morning in NYC. Makes you wonder that their GM will go out of his way to meet other GMs but never mention DL only confirms that Nash won’t be coming to LA.
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408kingsfan Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 11:28 am
@GoKingsGo,
Agreed
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Jeff_R Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 1:03 pm
@GoKingsGo, Maybe Howson got an offer from DL he really likes and he is meeting with these other GM’s to see if they can better it. Don’t take what you read seriously. Nothing really happens the way it is reported.
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Kings and DL need to do something to this offence NOW! This team is hard to watch right now. I feel sorry for J.Quick laying it out every night, give up one goal, and his team mates can’t reach deep and bury it. The only guy I see playing with desparation to score is Doughty, and he’s a defenceman!
Coaching is not the issue this time. TM had to go. The players need to go to battle for each other. It seems no one on the team is willing to park themselves in front of the net, get hit and make the oppossing goalies’ life miserable! The Kings lost this valuable asset in Ryan Smyth. I thought Penner would fill the void, but what a dissapointment that’s been.
Kings got faster this season, but lost a lot of grit. The grinders like Simmonds and Smyth played a more important offencive roll than realized. Memo to DL: We don’t need a super star, lord knows there isn’t one out there anyway, just bring in a guy that is willing to do the dirty work and lay it all out for Quick, the team, and the fans.
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Jeff_R Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 10:37 am
@COUS, I actually think the Kings are playing pretty well. For some reason the puck just won’t go in. They can’t finish right now. They do everything well but finish. Just need to bring in 1 or 2 finishers and that would make things better, with our defense and Quick shutting things down.
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COUS Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 10:40 am
@Jeff_R, I Agree…we need a garbage man like Lucky Luc was.
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Goring 19 Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 10:48 am
@Jeff_R, I agree, the team is playing well. It just seems like a combination of blocked shots, shooting wide on good chances, lack of creativity, unable to screen goalies, shots hitting posts, and the one thing that’s ticking me off, absolutely no bounces going our way. It all adds up. You’d think they’d have to break out of this sooner or later but jeez…
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Jeff_R Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 11:01 am
@Goring 19, It is strange that we don’t get any bounces yet a lot of these goals that we are giving up are on lucky bounces. How many posts have we hit? I have never seen anything like this. It is like the Hockey gods are truly against us and have put up an invisible force field causing the puck to not go into the net. I do agree with the fact that for some reason the Kings don’t go to the net enough or the slot where most of the dangerous shots happen. Not sure why they don’t do that and can’t believe a system would be the reason they don’t. RS and MH did it but I don’t understand why no Kings now will do it.
Oh and speaking of lucky bounces and funny goals, check a look at SJ’s goal that they just scored.
Joe Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 11:08 am
@COUS,
The franchise has done many things fine, nice arena, getting sellouts, raising ticket prices, entertainment, hot chicks in bikinis, and food concessions and team sport, etc, etc. Yet, the bottomline, they cannot figure out what the team on the ice needs to do to win. Everything has gone so over board to defense, the offense is killed. When your opponent knows that, they have an edge in just figuring out a way to score a couple of goals and win a game.
It is obvious Brown, Kopo, and others have lost interest in this system. They have become disillusioned. This kind of hockey has to be pure misery for them. They see a him that is so phobic on defense, they lost the mind set and thinking pattern to create offensive plays. While on offense, it is all designed to perimeter pass and see if a shot can be produced. Their opponents knows what they do with a perimeter plan and it is easy to defense.
There are so many variations on how a team can score points, but, the Kings lost just about every possible offensive way to score at this point. Unless you allow the offensive players to change and open up, the same result will be happening. The fans are the victims here, as we are forced to accept this and pay good money for continued lousy, boring, uninspired, hockey.
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Calgary, Anaheim, Dallas, and Phoenix are going to push hard down the stretch. There is a huge probability we don’t make the playoffs. What a sobering reality. Wake me up when Frozen Fury comes.
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So far, its just brad Richardson on the ice, with Bernie. Working on give-and-go’s
BR has been on.the ice for 25 mins before Bernie came on the ice.
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puck73 Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 10:46 am
@Harry, I think @KC23 said it best about Richardson, Dont mistake activity for productivity. He also stated..” I have never seen anyone work harder and accomplish less”.
The truth hurts sometimes.
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Harry Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 10:58 am
@puck73,
Here are some shots I just took. Will be uploading more
https://picasaweb.google.com/115599838512174468510/021912KingsPractice
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puck73 Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 11:02 am
@Harry, Thats wonderfull. Maybe you can forward these to Nash and Carters agents.
Harry Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 11:06 am
Brown not on the ice…did he get traded? We shall find out more from our insider!
Belexes Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 11:45 am
@Harry,
Ty for the pics Harry.
My analogy of this situation when it comes to this team is, it’s like a beautiful girlfriend, smoking hot, funny, nice personality, you want to keep her (Kopi,DD, Brown,JJ,JB) spend the rest of your life with her( the season)you want to marry her (playoff tickets). She’s such a loyal girl ( defense ) but she will not put out, she won’t let you score, and she never will, so what do you do? do you stay loyal to her, and hope she will change, or do you dump her (trade)and find a girl who’s a little more well rounded ( will go to those dirty area’s). I hope I didn’t confuse anybody with my ramble, I’m going nutty with this team, me, I’m ready for a trade, a new girlfriend if you will.
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COUS Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 10:45 am
@LVKINGS88, A coulpe of one-night stands would be nice right now!
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LVKINGS88 Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 3:03 pm
@COUS, LOL!.
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Stagger Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 11:35 am
@LVKINGS88,
“Will go to the dirty areas” Awesome
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LVKINGS88 Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 3:04 pm
@Stagger, Thanks Stags.
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Sportsnet confirmed that Nash is not on kings approved list.
Maybe AEG just wants to win the lottery this upcoming draft.
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Jeff_R Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 10:51 am
@Harry, Link?
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Jeffreyryan Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 11:05 am
@Harry, yeah. Link please.
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Blurker Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 12:12 pm
@Harry, I can see DL going the Quantity over Quality route here and trying to do 2 or 3 mid-level deals instead of putting all his already cracked eggs in the Nash basket.
JVR out of Philly for JMFJ.
Carter out of CBJ for Bernier and a late pick.
Kostitsyn out of Montreal for Stoll and a late pick.
(The Kostitsyn thing was my idea, might be overpaying. The other two I’ve seen tossed around the twittersphere.)
At this point, the more new blood that comes in, the better the chance to catch the proverbial lightning in a bottle.
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SJ is losing to the red wings 1-0 in the 2nd period. Once again the Sharks might lose and the Kings don’t take advantage of it.
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Jeff_R Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 10:50 am
@Jeff_R, 2-0 Detroit….
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number 6 Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 11:00 am
@Jeff_R,
What could you possibly be thinking of my man. Nevermind winning the division. That’s a dream.
Concern yourself with them scoring a goal or two and winning a game or two. That simple.
SJ has numerous games in hand And points in hand. I’d worry far more about who is behind them then who is in front of them.
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Jeff_R Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 11:07 am
@number 6, After todays game they only have 2 games in hand and it isn’t like SJ is doing well on this 9 game road trip. They have only won 1 game out of the first 4 and might lose today as they are down 2-1. We are only 4 points behind them and if winning a game or two will help them get going. It isn’t like we are losing big. As for teams behind us if we win we don’t need to worry about them.
Jeff_R Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 11:22 am
@Jeff_R, 2-1 Detroit after 2.
Two years ago the Kings were 5th in shooting percentage, last year 20th, this year a distant last. Why? Over the past 4 seasons the number of shots blocked is up about 20%, which says to me that teams are concentrating more on (and are therefor much better at) clogging the shooting lanes.. which would tell observers that the WORST strategy is to move the puck ‘low to high’ and hope point shots will generate goals or juicy, high-percentage rebounds… so OF COURSE that is the main strategy of the Kings coaching staff. 1980s NHL tactics dont work anymore. Even 2008 strategies dont work anymore! We need a coaching staff that understands this.
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puck73 Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 10:53 am
@bbb7, Actually, its mid 90′s strategy. Remember The Mighty Ducks inaugural season? 1 man up, and 4 men back. And of course, Parick Roy and his illegal goalie pads the size of sofa cushions…outstanding!
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TheAcaciaStrain Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 11:00 am
@bbb7,
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crashin' da net Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 11:02 am
@bbb7, My previous post on previous thread:
these stats are expected when the objective is “quantity not quality”. that is the style of the 70′s and 80′s. Too many men collapsing down low to clog everything up. Snipers and redirects rule the day. And this is something our coaches fail to teach our new kids. They ingrain them into the classic style of hockey. Banging and cycling but never getting a shot off. Look at DET (hate them). Not a vary physical team unless they have to be. Same with CHI. THis is not a player thing. This is a coaching style that the players are directed to employ. I’m ready for the next 5 year plan but only after we systemiclly clean house. This one is making me sick.
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Wasn’t to long ago we thought we would be a buyer for Iginla as the final piece to get us to the Finals. Now they may be buying from us for the same reason.
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Classic photo, Cammalleri celebrates his goal and in the background Richards is looking to the heavens in disgust.
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flakingsfan Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 11:10 am
@Deadendcruiser, At that point he realized….. great we just lost another one!
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I’d like to see Doughty and JMFJ carry the puck more into the offensive zone (and VV if someone would get their foot out of their behind and put him back in place of the dreadful DD2). They both have the ability to do so…take it up to the middle of the ice…and when they get to the blue line…they should have 3 forwards to pass to to start generating some offensive chances. Both of those guys can easily get around 1 or 2 guys with speed…and if the other team starts putting more pressure on them…then you have open wingers to dish the puck off to.
They both have more offensive ability than a lot of our forwards…they need to be utilized more offensively.
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puck73 Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 10:59 am
@Cruiznblue, Doughty and Johnson have no finishing wingers here to play with. Therefore, their taleny is going to waste.currently. Watch how much better one of them is when Nash and Carter show up. Its called balance…on offense and defense.
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408kingsfan Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 11:02 am
@puck73, when Nash and Carter show up? I like your optimism
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DesertKing Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 11:07 am
@puck73,
Agree. DD made a couple of strong drives last night but when he got to the net, no one was with him and it fizzled while he got mugged by 3 Flames.
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Jeff_R Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 11:09 am
@puck73, I agree. If we got Nash and or Carter things will turn around as they will have guys who can finish when they go on there rushes. This team has so much trouble scoring that even when they are on a 2 on 1 or a 3 on 2 they fizzle out.
Fail for Nail anyone?
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Jeff_R Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 11:10 am
@Who Knows, Even if we lost all the rest of our games it isn’t assured we get the #1 pick. Not even sure Columbus would even pass us in points.
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IMO, the Kings need more skill. Players with sufficient quickness and hand eye coordination to finish scoring chances. I think Lombardi botched the rebuild by a) not using all his #1 picks; and b) exiting the rebuild too soon–which Lombardi himself told us STH was a classic blunder. Trading two #1′s to get Teubert was a huge blunder. Then he traded Teubert and a #1 for Penner, who at best was a likely rental. We also lost Boyle, who could have filled Handzus role for cheaper; lost Frolow for nothing.
In our sixth year of rebuild, for the past ten games or so, our AHL affiliate Manchester has been getting killed. Not much depth there. Pathetic, if you ask me, for year six of a rebuild.
On the horizon, we have Toffoli (left off Team Canada) and maybe Forbort if Forbort adds another 20 lbs of muscle and improves from what he’s done.
IMO, we’d hv been a better team this year letting Stoll play #2 center and having Schenn come in as the 4th line center rather than trading for Richards. And that’s without losing another young forward in Simmonds. At this point, I’d rather see the Kings tank then continue in the black hole, trading away future assets a team slightly above average at the NHL level. Someone ran some #’s and these late seasons pick ups work out like 25% of the time. Of course, the Kings % is probably lower than the NHL average. But since Lombardi’s likely fighting to justify his actions, he’ll likely role the dice.
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number 6 Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 11:05 am
@vicarious,
I see the direction you’re going but your facts are off. They didn’t trade two #1 picks at all to draft Teubert. They gave up Cammelleri to be able to switch draft positions with the Flames. So… Flames #1 pick for Kings #1 pick and Cammy.
I know Cammy wasn’t well liked (I gather) but my issue is that DL has had a good reason to get rid of Moulson, Purcell and onwards. And now he finds himself in a position whereby he either does nothing (good idea) and waits it out or makes a move out of desperation, most likely overpays as he did for Penner, and hopes that some magic kicks in.
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Jeff_R Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 11:18 am
@number 6, If Cammy was liked how come when that trade was made there was a huge cheer at the Draft party. Looking back on that trade do you really want Cammy? Plus getting Teubert was a good thing, even though it didn’t turn out that way. Who knew Myers would take off like he did and Teubert would lag. We needed defense in a huge way at that time and teubert was supposed to be our big bruising type of defenseman who could score some. Things don’t always work out. After Boyle’s breakout year last season he is back to 5 goals now, how would that of helped us? As for our rebuild DL didn’t start it until after his 2nd year which means we are in year 4 of the rebuild. The only thing we are missing now is two top 6 wingers, with one of those a top 3 sniper type. Hopefully the other one can be had as a trade deadline for a rental. Then starting next season our prospects can start flowing in, Toffoli, Kozun, Kitsyn, Weal, Vey, etc.
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Williams is trying to be this guy who’s super poised with the puck when he’s a chippy as hell crafty veteran player. His poise last year was in his on ice demenor, now he just looks like a punk out there. Most of his goals were scored within 5 or 10 ft of the net last year and he hasn’t gone there. He’s in the corner, behind the net, basically every where but the low slot. Like I said, this team is trying to be opportunistic with out playing like it, Willy was money on rebounds last year and this year he’s looking to be a different player apparently.
Kopitar is just straight lost. Are you really going to pull up at the half wall and try to pass inside every rush? Predictability starts with this guy. I would rather him burst in and skate around the net like he did last year, at least then he’s using his strength and reach. Kopi needs to realize the difference between effort and conscientious effort, quit running around like a headless chicken. The offense follows this guy, just don’t know if he’ll take that next step and accept that responsibility every night.
Scuderi where the heck did you go? Are you injured? You’re turning over unpressured passes. Are you on the trade block? Where’s your head? Where’s your talent?
Doughty quite honestly has been one of the more consistent Kings game to game, Scuds has been letting him down a lot lately. Remember his comparison is Nick Lidstrom, not Bobby Orr. Unfortunately a lot of Lidstrom’s package has to do with his maturity, he’s a role model on the ice. I think if Doughty wants to be better he’s going to have to be that role model. When I say role model I dont mean the way he acts, the way he plays needs to be someone to look up to. From there Drew really needs to step up when he’s on the opponent’s blue line.
Brown needs to want the puck more in a shooting position. He has a solid one timer and must add it to his bag of tricks. Brown has been one of the players who hasn’t changed the way he looks at things. His simplicity on the play is something his line mates will do well to notice. While the other two run around trying to hold onto the puck, Brown stops, starts, assesses and makes up his mind on the play.
I can go on, I’d like to see the players be more aware of their mistakes when they make them. Maybe then they’d realize how unprofessional they are out there.
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Anybody know why the players sat on the bench after the game ended? I saw players, including Penner with his head down, on the bench when they usually just go to the tunnel.
Anyone see this besides me?
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flakingsfan Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 11:08 am
@Kingsfanone, They were giving the jerseys off their backs for charity , I believe
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lakingbob(chi) Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 11:08 am
@Kingsfanone, They were giving away the purple jersys after the game.. I wish Sutter said give me 45 minutes of hard shooting at the net.
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DesertKing Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 11:10 am
@Kingsfanone,
They were going to remove their game-worn jerseys, autograph them and then give them to the fans who won them in the auction during the game. Because of the poor game, no one stuck around to watch it, the fans just booed and then couldn’t wait to get out of there. Heard lots of complaints about increased ticket prices to.
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Jeff_R Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 11:29 am
@DesertKing, All season ticket holders (like myself) that are affected with this ticket price bump of 50% should all get together and complain….Occupy Kings!!!!!!!
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Kingsfanone Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 11:38 am
@DesertKing,
Thanx, dude!
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kings king Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 11:15 am
@Kingsfanone, They should do that every time they lose and don’t score more than 2.
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Watching the Hawk-Blues game and I feel like I am watching a King game 1-0 late in the 2nd.
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All Swedish no Finnish
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Did I miss it , Are the Kings on theice today??
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I am hearing that Brown me have just got dealt from 2 different guys on the blog. We will see.
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Jeff_R Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 11:20 am
@puck73, Be interesting if he did and for who. Don’t see any of the big media guys mentioning it.
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