Kings Team Report

Looks as if we are falling apart , injuries are one thing but not being able to put the puck in the net is just not gonna cut it no matter who is out there on the ice. Ersberg is junk,like i said earliera, we need a guy who can spell Quick and keep up the same quality...all be it shakey at best recently.
Come on and pull the trigger on that big trade we need to get us over the hump Lombardi! I want Kovalchuk damnit!

Please don't feed the trolls.

@Boston....I can only guess by your screen name, that you are in fact a Bruin fan. If that is the case, and as you made abundantly clear, that you are not a Kings fan....then why the hell are you on a kings blog talking $HIT??? Look.... I dont come on the Boston blogs trying to act like I know what I am talking about and making references to your F%CKING team...so why dont you keep your wanna be know it all, east coast punk @SS out of our blog! We dont want to talk about your $HITTY team and we sure as hell dont want you talking about ours. Especially when our team is obviously doing just fine(2nd overall in the league) on its own. Gee, I forgot where Boston is this season....oh yeah, they SUCK AGAIN!

Just stopped in to see what has been said, and I found blogger Boston. Timing couldn't be better, his team just lost 4 in a row while we go 7-2-1 while dealing with injuries to 6 regular starters. Yo Boston, how ya like us now? And by the way, my power play analysis was only stupid in that it was written assuming morons like you would be able to understand it. Meanwhile, everything I said is EXACTLY what the Kings have been doing on PP lately, especially in the Calgary game. O, I forgot, we were wupposed to be doing your one-dimensional strategy or else we are stupid. Boston, man, talk about shallow... Please don't embarass your self, it is painful to watch.

@ Boston, uuum i was gonna write a bunch of stuff but i am tired and you're an idiot. Stupid non Kings fan coaching the power play.
Oh ya... Ryan Smith isn't god because Gretzky is!

Love to see my Kings beating the teams ahead of them in the standings with the backup goaltender who like never plays and without Ryan Smyth! It gets better. Quick is back in goal tonight, and Ryan Smyth just might be back for next week's swing through the Great White North.

Way to lump us all together into one collective, Chowderhead!

I love how you stupid Kings fans try and sit here and coach the power play. This is ridiculous, "make it a 4 on 3 and let the fifth guy rove around" that is a fantastic strategy (sarcasm), there is really nothing concrete to that plan. I am not a kings fan at all, but it is fairly clear that the Kings should be creating traffic in front and let Drew Doughty blast away.
Ryan Smyth is God

The Kings are playing about as well as can be expected (maybe a little loose on Defense against Vancouver) in this tight spot. They outworked a more talented team tonight, and Quicker has been standing on his head. Aren't you guys who weren't sure about Quick glad he's found his game? Looking forward to getting Scuds back.

Something to chew on for Thanksgiving:

http://www.sportsclubstats.com/NHL/Western/Pacific/Kings.html

The Kings are playing .600 hockey right now (30 pts over 25 games). Now, according to the odds makers at the above mentioned website, if they finish the last 57 games at .588 (example record of 31-21-5) they'll have a 99.7% chance at making the playoffs. However, if they finish the last 57 games at .500 their chances of making the playoffs drop to just 4.5%.

It really is tough to be a Kings fan. Seems now like we have gone full circle from Opening Night against Phoenix. Last year, we had that 5 game trip playing the East Coast teams where we did so well, then that turned out to be the last good stretch of play all year. Now, we play great for a stretch and beat Pittsburgh, but since then it has been a slow decent into mediocrity.
I am just going to try to remember that this year is meant to be the first of many, that the plan is working, and that solid improvement has been made from last year. It is a good sign to be disappointed with our current record, over .500 with so many road games played, showing the expectations are justified for better.
Power Play is weak, slow, simple and mechanically predictable. And Kompon? Let’s just say that Dave Tippett used to have his job, and I do not see Kompon following the same career path.
Penalty Kill seems to belong at the bottom.
Frolov is doing everything possible, everything he is asked to do, and doing it well. Still, he is always blamed. I wonder if "Frolov" is actually Russian for "scapegoat", otherwise the jersey guy should change the lettering on his jersey.
Jack Johnson is still young, very young, but it seems to show more lately.
The line combinations seemed awkward, but lack of familiarity does not create ineptitude with basic puck handling. Passes bouncing off sticks, passes over-leading guys resulting in giveaways, passes into the linesman and referee, we went from a puck-control team to being the Keystone Kings again.
Dustin Brown has got to make some serious adjustments in his thinking and his game. He is playing at 110 miles an hour, but the game is "egg-toss". He zooms past the play, he zooms into point shots with no net-front screens, he zooms past the net when others shoot and misses rebounds, he zooms all over the place looking for a play that can't happen because he isn't taking time for it to develop. His post-game quotes make it sound like he is completely baffled as to what is going on, and he just spouts cliches such as "more energy"... The last thing we need is more running around all over the place; he needs to lead the team back into a puck-controlling, play-making, clock-eating winner. To use a football term, we need to work on the ground game and play-action passes, the run-and-gun only works after the fundamental game is established.
And Quick? I never knew it was going to be short for “quick goals against”. I like the guy, but c’mon kid, get your chit together.
Purcell is fun to watch. It is so entertaining to see him actually skate near people and lightly brush them in the corners. Maybe he rubs a balloon on the bench and is trying to zap them with a small electric shock, I dunno.
I actually like this team, and I am trying to believe in them, but this is starting to look like every other year. Hockey is a thinking man’s game, and we need to improve our “vocabulary” of how to win games.
I ramble becuase I care.

They'll have to play with more discipline against Calgary. In fact, the most important stretch of the season is coming (beaucoup division matchups) and they're without this year's MVP thus far--Smytty. They need to show us more than they did last night, or they'll be in trouble.

This 5 on 3 has to change. Seriously, we cannot stand close together and hope for a horribly telegraphed shot to get through. We need to spread out more, make perimeter passes among 4 people while the 5th guy moves from side to side in front of crease, then do give-and-goes from either half-boards to low circle man or half-boards to point man as he drags the blue line. We were so close together the Flyer didn't even have to move at all and he could block 2 passing lanes at once.
Dustin Brown needs to slow his game down a little. Burning intensity, shot mentality and emotional commitment do not necessarily mean fire at the goalies logo immediatley on zone entry. Slow down your game just a little, and use dekes and feints and fakes to just buy a little time for the play to develop before shooting, and look for the early give and go while out high before you get too deep into the zone.

Way to go Kings!!

Aren't you people glad we burned that tape Friday night? When you do "everything" wrong, you just forget about it and play as you know how.

Can't even really comment on last game, it was such a mess, except for a couple things. It was a team loss, not a goaltending loss, as some might say. The chances Thrashers got were premium, and it seems like they buried every one--translation: all players at fault, including goaltenders. Also, they played their asses off, and were soundly defeated. We know this is a talented team, so that means they weren't prepared properly by the coaching staff. They either weren't told what they needed to do specifically to win THIS game, or didn't give good feedback and weren't challenged to demonstrate they knew what they'd be doing out there. This is the NHL. All teams need tight communication between all the players and coaches. It obviously didn't happen.

What to do about it? BURN the tape and spend the time available to prepare properly for Tampa.

I am a Kings fan. I am loyal. It is not easy today. We could say that if we had scored during many of the second period flurries and goal-mouth scrambles that Atlanta somehow stopped while letting two forwards cherry-pick at the blue line, that we would have been ahead 3-1 at the end of the second period, but that is not what happened. So, forget the what-ifs, or any other excuses. 7-0 is a humiliation. Show me sonething against Tampa guys, I want to believe.

What we need:

Continue the excellent cycling down low, but please please please develop the ability to one-time from the blue line when we pass from low to high. Force opponents into the defensive shell by cycling, and when you get them all rounded up in the "inside position" throw the puck to our defensemen, create havoc by sending the puck to the blue line for the quick strike on goal. Rebounds will happen, and by the way after you make the pass out high get your azz to the high slot on the weak side of the ice for the rebound.

Hit somebody; I would love to see the body count after the Atlanta game. Did we have ANY hits through the second period? It is one thing to play strong from boards to dots, it's another to actually play a physical game. We got sucked into the Atlanta style of run and gun, we need to use puck control and offensive zone time PLUS early physicality on the forecheck; hit and seal, stick and pin, control the tempo.

Create movement on the power play: Especially the 5 on 3, but also the 5 on 4. Note Niedermayer with the "rover", Blake moving from D to crease, etc. Let's face it, we are not that good at one-timer's. I mean, we just do not use it and can't get an effective shot off quickly. Did you see Kovalchuk's (spelling?) release? Okay, he is one of the best, but we need to learn to pass it harder and faster for the one-timer, we need to learn where to pass it into our guy's "wheelhouse", we need to be able to move to the pass, and we need to expect that pass. To set up the one-timer, hoever, we need deception or else it gets blocked. Movement creates that deception and opens lanes. Guys moving in and out form the high slot, rotating from boards to corner to crease WITHOUT the puck, moving toward the net for potential shot while men away from puck MOVE TO CREATE A PASSING LANE. Even with 5 on 3, all we do is remain static and try to set up a one-timer. Make it a 4 on 3 with our 5th guy roving, doing the globetrotter weave with 2 other guys AWAY FROM THE PUCK, skating diagonally through the opponent's triangle, and then having the guy you are skating at begin his own ramble toward another guy. Use the extra men to confuse, use the extra men to skate by in front of the crease for a moving screen, use the extra men to overload one area of the ice, use the extra men to spread out with greater spacing so the lanes are wider for the opponent to cover. Instead, we stand still, we stand still close together, and then we make slow passes to an obvious slap shot.

Maintain gap control- If they are gonna have two forwards out high at their blue line while we are pressing offensively, we especially need to use greater spacing on the cycle, looking for a defenseman coming down weak side for the backdoor play. That means our cycle guys have to work to cover the strong side defenseman as he rotates to cover the weak side area vacated by the back door play.

We got a good game in us, we can score and we can control the puck. Minor tweaks in what offensive tactics we use will also slow down the other team's offensive regroup and rushes.

Tampa likes run and gun: do we play the same or do we improve? Is it going to be King's hockey or Lightning hockey?

I agree Duuude, especially the road trip in January...Detroit 23rd, Toronto 26th, Columbus 28th, Boston 30th and then New Jersey 31st. Hoping for 3 and 2 or better, or some combo of ovetimes to give 6 of 10 points. As a matter of fact, January is brutal...San Jose a total of 3 times, Washington, Detroit a total of two times, Boston twice, St. Louis, Buffalo and Anaheim plus the above on the road games. Make or break time probably, but a good month and we are for real.

Kings traditionally do well in the beginning of the season. They also normally tank in December and January and then play .500 hockey until the end of the season, barely missing the playoffs. Watch how December goes and you'll know if the spell is broken.

They're ahead of almost everyone's expectations--refreshing, since last season, they seemed behind expectations. At this point, I'll be very disappointed if they miss the playoffs or even fail to compete in the first round. I suspect they can get a high enough spot to have a legitimate opportunity to win the first round (like somewhere from 3rd-to-6th seed.) It IS, however, a long season, but according to the way things are going, they should be a better team then, which justifies that expectation (and that expectation is actually straight inline with what they're doing now.)

Wow, this is getting good. Kings are playing really well, are superyoung and can be expected to be inconsistent, but when they are "on" they are really a good team. And although you hear all over the place that it is still "early in the season", we are at 19 games, and on this road trip will complete the first quarter of the regular season. So, it isn't all that early, and I am exteremely pleased so far. SO FAR. Check these numbers out...
Standings-2nd in Division behind San Jose, whom we have beaten once and lost in shootout the other game. 3 of 4 points against division rival and division leader. Plus, we are 4th in Western Conference with more points than division leader Colorado, and are TIED FOR 4TH OVERALL IN POINTS WITH PENGUINS AND DEVILS.

Power Play- 7th in the league overall, best in the entire league at home.
Goals For- 2nd only to Capitals in total number and 4th in per game average.
Goals against-Tied for 24th worst in overall goal numbers, but the per game average places us at 16th. We need to do better, but the next two stats show it isn't that bad, really...
Goals differential. Two teams have 13 more goals scored than allowed (Washington and Colorado), one team has 10 more scored than allowed (San Jose), and the Kings are tied with two other teams for 9 more scored than allowed. We score alot of goals...
Save Percentage- We are 26th now, but if you take away 7 goals in 9 penalties from the first few games you get a more accurate depiction of the actual quality of the Kings' play this year over the long view. The adjusted number show that number as 91.1%, ties for 11th.
Penalty Kill- Even though we are 29th overall, it really isn't that bad. Again, we started the year giving up 7 goals out of 9 times shorthanded. Since then we are 11 given up of 61 chances for 82%, 13th in league.
Times Shorthanded-12th most, middle of the pack and not great. We should take fewer penalties...I am probably biased, but it seems we get called more than other teams for stick checks into the hands, while other teams do it to us without penalty. Also, other teams seem to get away with "free hand" obstruction while we get called for it. I must be biased...
Shots on Goal-Only 13th, but we are getting quality shots because...
Shooting Percentage-We are 4th in the league, we get good chances and we got snipahhhhs...
Faceoffs-Only real disappointment, we are 25th. Last year we were a top ten team in this category, so I am looking for steady improvement as the year goes on.
Anze- Yeah baby, uh huh, uh huh. Plus, Ryan Smith is tied for 3rd, Dustin Brown is tied for 7th, Justin Williams, Frolov, Doughty and Stoll are all tied for 9th. We have 7 of top 50 scorers, closest team to that is the Capitals with 5. We score tons of goals, and not just one line, either, we have points spread out all over the place, the most balanced scoring in the league.

Add to all that some huge "character" moments. We scored 4 goals in one period against the 3rd best defensive team in the league (Penguins) to come from behind in the 3rd period and win. Before that we scored 3 goals in one period against the (at that time) number one best defensive team in the league (Phoenix) to come from behind in the third period and win. When the Kings are "on", we can beat anybody.

Congratulations Kings, keep it going!!!

BTW, Player44, you can congratulate me for being right. I predicted they'd play him and it happened. Fortunately, he didn't have the game to matter.

No, Player44, I was not referring to Legace sharing any "inside information." I was referring to exactly what the other folks who read my comment thought--that the Canes would hope for some spark from him, having played for the Kings and wanting to "show them" what they're missing. Unlike when he played for the Wings, he showed them nothing. Unfortunately, Ersberg did look a bit rusty, which I suppose is understandable. Hope he gets some more chances to knock the rust off, and if he can't hack it, we'll have a chance to see a different backup (Zatkoff) or competition from Bernier.

I was thinking before that they should send Ersberg down for work, but someone pointed out that you really can't get away with that any more (especially as reminded by the Quincy and Jones waiver acquisitions.) In fact, I believe that played into the goaltending troubles a couple years ago, because they didn't dare bring up LaBarbera at the time (and now, we're not sure what kind of a loss that actually was!)

It is good to see Ersberg get some ice time. Perfect team to knock a little rust off with, struggling Canes offense. I will laugh if he gets a shutout!

I highly doubt that wtfk meant Legace would have any inside info, just a spark for a really slumping team. The Kings do seem to make all 12 or so ex-King goalies in the league look like Patrick Roy on occasion.

It looks like they have this game under control, sitting at 2-0 in the 2nd period, knock on wood, I hope i didn't just put the kabosh on the guys!