Notes and observations from the Kings’ 3-2 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday:
-That game. That play. I caught two key issues on the game-winner. First, and most importantly, that’s a shot that the team is counting on Jonathan Quick to stop. Daniel Cleary made a great hustle play to put the Kings in the position where Drew Doughty turned the puck over, and Valtteri Filppula may have made minor contact that distracted Quick. Still, as Darryl Sutter said after the game, “Had to make a save there.” That said, there were lapses in coverage that set the play up. As critical as Doughty’s turnover was, this is a game that heads to overtime if Jarret Stoll – skating as a left wing that shift – doesn’t get drawn down below the faceoff dot, leaving Jonathan Ericsson open and unrestricted at the right point. Was he too preoccupied by Pavel Datsyuk? Maybe. Was he out of his comfort zone as a natural center and tasked with boards work and remaining close to the point? Perhaps. Doughty put the puck in a dangerous area, but I have a feeling he was counting on his left wing to be right there alongside Ericsson. Instead, both Doughty and Stoll were focused on Datsyuk, leaving the point wide open.
-The Kings heavily controlled the run of play and forechecked as well as they have this season. Detroit had twice as many giveaways as L.A. One game after being forced to the perimeter by Nashville’s centers and defensemen, the Kings found much better success in driving to the net and creating traffic in front. This was their best 200-foot game since last year’s playoffs. They won more faceoffs than their opponent for the first time since the home game against Nashville. Twice they scored a goal in the final minute of a period. The new line pairings seemed to find instant chemistry, and Jeff Carter looked comfortable as a center. He won 13 of 17 faceoffs. Kyle Clifford may have played his best game of the season, and he’s still tied for the team lead in scoring (which is 35% encouraging to see his continued development / 65% top players need to start scoring more consistently).
-The Kings played a similar game on March 9, 2012 at Joe Louis Arena. Dwight King scored a go-ahead goal with under six minutes to play, followed by a Filppula goal that tied it 1:52 later. Darren Helm scored the game-winner with 1:13 left for a 4-3 Red Wings victory, leaving L.A. two points out of a playoff spot with 14 games to play. The Kings then rattled off six straight wins and finished the year on a 25-6-3 stretch, which includes the playoff run. These are obviously two completely different sets of circumstances. Quoting Dustin Brown from earlier today, “Sometimes you say at the end of losing streaks and at the end of winning streaks sometimes you’re losing games you shouldn’t, and sometimes you’re winning games you shouldn’t, as well.”
-Datsyuk’s goal deserved its own bullet point. Beauty. There have been grumblings on Twitter and in the press box that he was off-sides, but it’s really a borderline call in my view. When you’re Pavel Datsyuk, you rightfully get the borderline calls. The Red Wings are 34-0-1 in the last 35 games in which he’s scored a goal.
-Slava Voynov has been the Kings’ best defenseman at getting shots through on net. He has been the Kings’ best defensemen in basically every other category as well. Slava led all skaters on both teams with 25:36 of ice time and tied for the most shots in a game by a defenseman with Alec Martinez with four shots.
-Dwight King, who had five shots in 12:34, is coming along and had a strong performance opposite Jordan Nolan on a line centered by Mike Richards. After Carter was booed (and scored) in Columbus, I can see a similar situation playing out in St. Louis Monday night. He was robbed on a second period rebound, but who wasn’t robbed on a second period rebound?
Well, for gawd sykes!
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lol jon rosen …. absolutely love this guy ………. not only agreed with everything i said , but the dudes not afraid to throw his opinion out there
what a refreshing change this is ….. nice to have a fellow kings fan covering the team ….. even if maybe he dosent want to admit it for credibility issues ………. but u can tell he is
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Lake Forest Reply:
February 11th, 2013 at 1:09 am
@phil sykes, if Jon Rosen said one more thing about ellerby we’d be in trouble!!!!
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Half of our defencemen have less than 150 games. Ideally you only want one of six in that position. With 2 of 6, you will have some trouble, but if they can add offensive then you wash. We just cannot hide 3 or 4.
The question is can Sutter teach and will he have enough patience with them. In the past, the answer has been no. Hopefully, he can grow.
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2 games like this early on, _Edmonton being the other that scored late) is not a coincidence. IMO. Lack of concentration all the way around. I can’t say for sure but since Sutter looks the same every time I c him n he expects his players to know what to do, I can’t c him yelling out something like “WHATEVER HAPPENS ON THAT FACEOFF GET THAT FRICKIN PUCK OUT OF OUR ZONE OR DONT LET A SHOT GET THROUGH!” If he didn’t maybe he should have.
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number 6 Reply:
February 11th, 2013 at 9:07 am
@linny,
+1…. This.
BEST THREAD ON HERE. Absolutely agree with you Linny. When you’re giving up goals at such a late juncture in the game it Has (IMO) to boil down to lack of concentration. Maybe not all the way around…. but if three players of the six aren’t absolutely focused on what their jobs are…. then that’s three too many.
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obviously hes not going to say anything bad about ellerby , cuz hes gonna have to interview the guy and stuff …… but i can be that loud obnoxious fan guy without having to worry about meeting my maker – ellerby
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Duncanz Reply:
February 11th, 2013 at 12:35 am
@phil sykes, I know who you are now.
You’re Patton Oswalt from Big Fan!
I’ve been trying to put my finger on it and I think I finally figured it out …
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Lake Forest Reply:
February 11th, 2013 at 1:14 am
@phil sykes, you give Jon Rosen a great compliment on his review but then you completely take that away by this comment…..
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“When you’re Pavel Datsyuk, you rightfully get the borderline calls.” Wow.
Now, I wonder if this is an offhand, tongue in cheek type quip or an educated and experienced observation.
The next thing I would wonder is if there is any L.A. King that approaches Datsyuk’s undoubted preeminence, at least as far as unspoken priveleges go.
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bbb7 Reply:
February 11th, 2013 at 10:16 am
@Duncanz, Upon further review he was definitely offside, but I didnt see that for sure until I re-ran it at 1/2 speed and even then it was close, so I’m not blaming the linesman for missing that one.
I dont think anyone on the Kings gets the benefit of the doubt. Kopi would be the closest the Kings might have to a Lady Bing winner and he was called on that trip that was really just him turning and reaching for a puck and the Wing skating into the same space. Questionable call – against Kings.
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xeropoint Reply:
February 11th, 2013 at 11:23 am
@Duncanz, That’s an easy one. Dustin Brown. Undoubtedly gets the benefit of the doubt when it comes to lets say, his slight and frequent embellishments.
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What's the frequency, Kenneth? Reply:
February 11th, 2013 at 12:56 pm
@xeropoint, I’ll back you on that. Brown is universally loved by everyone except, it seems, the other team’s fans. I think he’s respected because he lays so many hits and so few are borderline. I remember about five years ago telling a bartender in New Jersey that Brown was a 100% two-way player and was going to be a monster. Of course, at this time the Kings weren’t awash in talent. This was about the time Fukufuji saw time in net.
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Duncanz Reply:
February 11th, 2013 at 11:45 am
@xeropoint, Right on. Often thought this myself.
You could almost call it ‘captain’s privelege’ the (NHL topping) number of times he draws the call, often when ‘helping’ the officials to discern it.
Fools Kings fans a lot of the time, too!
@bbb7, Upon further, further review, the correct call was actually made.
See my submission on ‘The view from Detroit’ thread. >>>>
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Wow, wouldn’t have guessed voynov as the ice time leader. Good for him, awesome player
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Duncanz Reply:
February 11th, 2013 at 12:43 am
@vinny, Ha ha, Voynov means Vinny in Russian, doesn’t it!
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vinny Reply:
February 11th, 2013 at 12:57 am
@Duncanz, lol don’t drag me into your competition!
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Love you Rosen…you have the blots to call it. Sutter has cost us 4-5 points…cup hangover is over.
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I am as confident as ever that the ship will be righted. What I am seeing is a carbon copy of what I saw last year with some role reversal. The responsibility of what happened last year falls an the same person this year. Jonathan Quick, and I NOW think platooning duties with Bernier is the prudent decision to make.
If last year’s Quick makes a quarter more of the saves this year, our record would probably be 6-3-1 instead of 3-5-2. I think what is going on this year shows how phenomenal his effort was last year. Remember he was NHL player of the week, week One. He was lights out, right out of the gate and the single reason why we went as far as we did. Everything else this year is the same as last year except for him. Our team looks as if it has collapsed this year, withering under the wait of our own collective expectations, when in fact JQ’s SAVE% and GAA are just average, which is making everyone else look inadequate, which their efforts have been so far. It’s easy to be a great coach/team when you have what we had in goal last year.
I expect everyone else, after witnessing yesterdays debacle, to come to the realization that if they really want to go far this year that they are going to have to step it up themselves. Quick did his part and deserves to have his boys having his back. I’m sure JQ wants to play every night but DS has to be the coach and split duties or else quick is going to be ruined by his teams inability to put the Puck in the Net. The longer that things continue the way they are, the worse JQ will look. He doesn’t deserve that pressure.
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linny Reply:
February 11th, 2013 at 1:36 am
@kissmyblarneystones, but its not a carbon copy without WM /MG. Yes Doughty was out but they had longer to right the ship. Just hoping its not the Titanic.
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kissmyblarneystones Reply:
February 11th, 2013 at 1:47 am
@linny,
If Quick make the saves, we don’t miss Greene and or Mitchell at all.
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Rainman Reply:
February 11th, 2013 at 10:02 am
@kissmyblarneystones, A Goalie is only as good as the players in front of him. It’s painfully obvious that the Kings are missing Mitchell and Greene on D, especially on the PK. The other guys need to step up and pick up the slack in their absence.
What's the frequency, Kenneth? Reply:
February 11th, 2013 at 12:59 pm
@kissmyblarneystones, I think you can split the “Quick controversy” down the middle. He has to adjust to not having the best defense in the league in front of him. That’s really only partly on him, since it was unexpected, and it’s a difficult adjustment.
Osaka Reply:
February 11th, 2013 at 3:16 am
@linny, Doughty was out, Richards was out, Gagne was out, Carter and Quick were playing injured during the playoffs. Every year there are injuries to deal with. Kopi started last season not 100% like this season. The Kings have shown they can turn it around. Not just last season, the last several seasons they made the playoffs after strong turnarounds. It is like these guys can’t play until it is all on the line.
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linny Reply:
February 11th, 2013 at 7:17 am
@Osaka, is it on the line yet? In a 48 game season I think it is
Lake Forest Reply:
February 11th, 2013 at 8:32 am
@linny, stoll holding Doughty
“IM on top of the world”
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linny Reply:
February 11th, 2013 at 3:35 pm
@Lake Forest, LMFAO
Waking up with the Kings? Sorry, right now it is waking up with throwing-up dog. I think she got some bad nachos.
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Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to watch the game yesterday. When I did finally get a chance to see the stats and hear how it all went down, I honestly couldn’t help but be encouraged by the numbers. Unless I’m reading into it, the Kings came to play yesterday which makes this an even more heartbreaking loss but demonstrated that the effort is there.
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KC23 Reply:
February 11th, 2013 at 7:54 am
@Cav Pilot, Kings badly outplayed Detroit, but before we all start feeling that is worth something we need to stop and remember:
1)we played a team with just as many injury problems as us.
2)a team that was playing their third game in four nights.
3)a team playing less than 24 hours of a back to back.
In short, we really don’t have anything to feel good about that loss really. The heros of last April, May and June or letting their fans, their owners, their coaches, their families and most importantly themselves down and are in ever growing danger of missing the playoffs entirely.
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xeropoint Reply:
February 11th, 2013 at 11:27 am
@KC23, I get the frustration but isn’t that just a tad hyperbolic? They’re letting their families down? Really?
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I couldn’t disagree more about King’s performance! He was a way behind the play, turned over the puck several times. He needs to be placed on the bench and we need to bring up a goal scorer to take a place on one of the top lines. That name is Toffoli!!
Kyle Clifford will take the place that King took last year as a big body on the forecheck.
This team needs a true goal scorer worst than our country needs a competent…A well I guess I better leave that alone.
Bring up Toffoli! Send King down.
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LVKINGS88 Reply:
February 11th, 2013 at 11:26 am
@cetericeman, I completely agree with everything you said, even the competent…….
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Duncanz Reply:
February 11th, 2013 at 11:56 am
@cetericeman, LVKING88, We are all in very safe and competent hands for four more years – not least of all due to DL’s contract extension …
PS Forgive my ignorance, but what’s a ‘cetericeman’?
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Michael J. Reply:
February 11th, 2013 at 12:10 pm
@cetericeman,
“We don’t have a spending problem, we have a budget deficit problem”
Can someone please explain this to me?
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What's the frequency, Kenneth? Reply:
February 11th, 2013 at 1:03 pm
@Michael J., It cannot be explained. It flies in the face of the spending history, and that’s an objective fact. I wouldn’t even go so far as to blame it on a party, as the party that usually talks that line doesn’t have a good record in that department either.
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Duckbasher Reply:
February 11th, 2013 at 3:06 pm
@Michael J., What it means is that the top earners don’t pay enough taxes on all that money they are hiding in the Caymans that was made by outsourcing all the jobs.
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There are screenshots of the Datsyuk play — I know it’s a fast game and it’s hard to catch everything, but he was offsides.
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I’ve got to agree with where Jon Rosen seemed hesitant to take this: You can sorta feel the dam is about the break. If they make the right defensive adjustments (mostly on the forwards, it seems) they’ll be about where they should be.
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