The LA Kings played one of their best games of the season on Saturday against the Pittsburgh Penguins despite losing in the shootout. Even though it wasn't the most offensively explosive game or the most disciplined game, since the Kings played against arguably one of the best teams in the league (even though the Pens are without the best player in the NHL), I'm going to chalk this up to the best showing of the season so far.
First let's talk about the negatives so I can end on a positive note. The craziest thing about how great the game was is that it looked like only two Kings forward lines showed up to play on Saturday. I promised myself before the season started that I wouldn't be too critical of individual players, but I have to break that promise for this post because I was down right appalled at the play of the bottom two lines, especially the third line. For the past several weeks I've tried to look at all the positives of a certain Kings player and point out every good thing he has done in hopes that they were baby steps towards getting the monkey off his back. But holy hell, he looked like shit on Saturday. He looked slow. He was making passes behind players. And did anyone else think he just looked lost? #17 looked even worse, but he's not being handed a boatload of criticism because no one expects him to be a 30-goal scorer. I still don't know why the Kings signed him over the off-season. He took two completely unnecessary penalties and got fined for one of them; I was actually hoping he would have an appointment with Principal Shanahan so Terry Murray would be forced to bench him for a couple games. This line was on the ice for Pittsburgh's tying goal in the third period and was completely outplayed during that shift.
I was a little surprised that Trevor Lewis was benched in favor of Kevin Westgarth. Maybe Murray didn't get the memo that Matt Cooke has been a saint this season, but someone must have told him early in the game as is evident by Westgarth's ice time. I suppose I can't be that mad at the 4th line when none of the guys played more than 10 minutes, but I can be upset that Clifford and Richardson didn't play well enough when they were on the ice to garner more shifts.
I think my anger is all out so I can move onto the positives of this game.
The Kings power play did an amazing job in the first period and they came so close to killing off all the penalties. Someone on Twitter said the Penguins power play didn't score a goal so much as the odds finally kicked in. (I can't remember who tweeted it...) The Kings easily could have been down 3 goals in the first period and were lucky to only be down by 1.
Mike Richards once again looked like a badass....if only he can score on a penalty shot! The Brown-Richards-Parse line looked really good again. But no line compared to the Gagne-Kopitar-Williams line. That line looked phenomenal! Just check out the passing among these guys:
It looked like Murray was only using the top two lines in Saturday's game, occasionally throwing in the third line, and I was amazed at how much energy the Kings forwards had. However, the Kings have back to back games this week, first up San Jose, then Nashville, so there is no way the Kings will be able to heavily rely on only two lines and have a chance at winning both games. I think Bernier should get another look in one of these games and, based on the lines from Sunday's practice, Penner might get another chance on the second line.
The game against the Penguins was low scoring, but it was the most exciting game the Kings have played since the home opener when they ripped the Blues a new one. There were many moments during the third period and overtime that I could barely breathe because either the Kings or Penguins were so close to scoring. That's the type of hockey I like to watch and even though the Kings lost, and despite the negatives I mentioned above, the top guys played really well and it blows my mind to think what this team is capable of accomplishing. Hopefully the Kings can keep it up and get all four lines rolling.
Showing posts with label Anze Kopitar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Anze Kopitar. Show all posts
Monday, November 7, 2011
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Kings Gameday: The Oil are in Town
Fact: I've never liked the Edmonton Oilers.
I'll save my hate-fueled rant about the Oilers for another day.
Apparently the Edmonton Oilers have a couple of young sprightly talented hockey players. You can follow their lives on Twitter: Taylor Hall & Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Both of these kids referred to California as "Cali". I hate them already.
There's an article about RNH and his start in the NHL and comparisons to his days in Juniors. It's all very inspiring and heartwarming, but the part that made my eyes bug out was the description of Edmonton having "the best goaltending in the NHL". Guhhhh-WHAT?! Impossible! (say it in a French accent for a better effect.) Since when does Edmonton have the best goaltending? I didn't trust the writer so I checked the NHL stats and sure enough our beloved Jonathan Quick has been bested in GAA and SV% by one goaltender: Nikolai Khabibulin. Is anyone else shocked by this? He goes from Tent City to top of the NHL in a matter of months. That is crazy talk. Also, this doesn't bode well for the scoring-challenged LA Kings.
I'm a bit frustrated, or maybe it's jealousy that's talking, to see Ryan Smyth with 10 points (5G, 5A) in 11 games. You have got to be kidding me. The guy had 7 points last season (3G, 4A) in 11 games and based on his play during the rest of the season, I figured his stats would continue to fall in the following season. It pains me to see him doing this well considering there are some Kings who haven't yet contributed very many points.
LA Kings Insider reported on Wednesday that Simon Gagne will be back in the lineup, which means I can now restart my 'Anze for MVP' campaign. Anze has been most effective this season when Gagne is playing alongside him. I expect at least 3 points from Anze tonight. Totally doable!
Things to watch for tonight:
I hope the Kings get out of their funk tonight.
Go Anze Go!
I'll save my hate-fueled rant about the Oilers for another day.
Apparently the Edmonton Oilers have a couple of young sprightly talented hockey players. You can follow their lives on Twitter: Taylor Hall & Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Both of these kids referred to California as "Cali". I hate them already.
There's an article about RNH and his start in the NHL and comparisons to his days in Juniors. It's all very inspiring and heartwarming, but the part that made my eyes bug out was the description of Edmonton having "the best goaltending in the NHL". Guhhhh-WHAT?! Impossible! (say it in a French accent for a better effect.) Since when does Edmonton have the best goaltending? I didn't trust the writer so I checked the NHL stats and sure enough our beloved Jonathan Quick has been bested in GAA and SV% by one goaltender: Nikolai Khabibulin. Is anyone else shocked by this? He goes from Tent City to top of the NHL in a matter of months. That is crazy talk. Also, this doesn't bode well for the scoring-challenged LA Kings.
I'm a bit frustrated, or maybe it's jealousy that's talking, to see Ryan Smyth with 10 points (5G, 5A) in 11 games. You have got to be kidding me. The guy had 7 points last season (3G, 4A) in 11 games and based on his play during the rest of the season, I figured his stats would continue to fall in the following season. It pains me to see him doing this well considering there are some Kings who haven't yet contributed very many points.
LA Kings Insider reported on Wednesday that Simon Gagne will be back in the lineup, which means I can now restart my 'Anze for MVP' campaign. Anze has been most effective this season when Gagne is playing alongside him. I expect at least 3 points from Anze tonight. Totally doable!
Things to watch for tonight:
- 5-on-5: will the Kings be able to dominate at even strength?
- Stupid penalties: Green has been good lately about staying out of the box, but now Parse is having trouble avoiding taking unnecessary penalties.
- Turnovers: Recently the Kings have been shooting themselves in the skates by turning over the puck way too many times
- Penner vs. the Young Guns: Who will garner the most attention and will it be positive or negative?
I hope the Kings get out of their funk tonight.
Go Anze Go!
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
The Kings Home Opener was FANtastic!
The Kings home opener exceeded all of my very low expectations! I felt like a little kid again, super excited about the little things, like a beer garden, being able to walk across the closed-off-to-vehicular-traffic Chick Hearn street, magnet schedules, and especially watching the Kings win their home opener!
My Kings home opener celebration began a little earlier than I had initially anticipated because I was so antsy to leave work and get to LA Live. The Husband was starving and the Yard House was packed as usual so we made our way to Lawry's Carvery. They serve overpriced sandwiches but they're tasty (which I can't say about the food at the ESPN Zone) and they have $3 bottled beers, including Blue Moon and Stella Artois.
The place was packed by the time we left, but the food does come out quick. We headed over to the Kings Fanfest beer garden for one last stop before heading into Staples Center. I'm glad we went because we got to witness the bottoms-up beer dispenser in full action!
I had read about it last year on Puck Daddy, but never saw it at Staples Center. It definitely serves beer quicker and everyone around was amazed at this magical invention. I forgot about the magnetic "stopper", which you can definitely poke up into the cup. The husband was very tempted to drink the beer from the bottom of the cup, but common sense got the better of him.
I made a quick stop in the Team LA store. There was a Kopitar player t-shirt for women in black, but I really wanted a vintage grey Doughty player t-shirt, which the store didn't carry. Instead of buying stuff I walked around the store and made fun of the hideous shirts including this one:
The Husband was really smitten with this baby/toddler tracksuit even though we don't have any kids and are several years away from having any:
I'm also not sure how I feel about dressing up a kid in a tracksuit. A bib and a onesie are acceptable, but a tracksuit? Umm...we're not Italian.
I really enjoyed the player intros. I was wondering what this device was:
And then we soon found out:
Last season before the Kings entered the ice, there was this horrible animation that would play on the jumbotron. My description won't do it justice, but it consisted of animated medieval soldiers going to war and they carried flags that showed the teams' logos and one of the Kings soldiers would shoot the puck and it hit the opposing team and shattered them. Something like that. Trust me, it was terrible. Thankfully, it was not played last night and hopefully it will never be shown ever again. It was super cheesy and I cringed every time I saw it.
Another absence I appreciated? Davis Gaines didn't sing the national anthem!
The game was fantastic as well! I sat in one of the sections behind the goal where the Kings shoot twice. From that viewpoint I was able to clearly see how the Kings break out of their zone. I was impressed with how well they were passing to each other and it seemed like they were really trying to open the game up by playing laterally, making a lot of cross-ice passes, even in tight situations. There were a couple close calls when a defenseman made a cross-ice pass literally a stick's length in front of Quick, but they were confident passes. It probably helped that the Blues were playing their 3rd game in 4 nights (thanks NHL scheduler!) because the Kings looked fresh and fast. Quick was on fire and tracked the puck really well even when there were multiple deflections.
Whenever I'm at the game it always seems like there are a lot of phantom penalties being called since you only get one look at it from one angle. Last night it seemed like several penalties called on both teams were ticky-tacky, but at least it wasn't one-sided. I really enjoyed watching Dustin Brown rough it up with the Blues and draw a penalty. The Captain's got a great talent! During the coaching staff intros, the Husband asked why people were booing Jamie Kompon so I had to explain about how the power play has been pretty terrible the past couple seasons so the majority of the fans blame Kompon. Well, it seems like the fans are going to have to eat crow because the Kings power play is getting the job done. We can't expect the Kings to score on every power play, but so far the Kings have had two game-winning power play goals (thanks, Jack!) and last night the power play looked pretty good most of the time.
Here are some quick and dirty thoughts about a couple players' performances:
Kopitar: Another great game. I can't get over how amazing he looks this season. Is it too early to start the "Anze for MVP" rally?
Brown: He did all the work on Stoll's goal, including setting it up perfectly and drew at least one penalty.
Gagne: He really exploded tonight.
Penner: I saw him in warm-ups and I couldn't help but imagine him whining to Coach Murray that he couldn't play because of some injury and Murray rolling his eyes and telling him to put a band-aid on it. I don't think Penner had that great of a game. I mostly noticed him when he was standing at the blue line and someone would pass it to him and he would just deflect it into the offensive zone and then skate off for a line change. I doubt he's 100% right now, but he still needs to be better because there's no crying in hockey!
Richards: I like him more and more with every game I watch. Do I see a Richards jersey in my future???
Voynov: The kid looks a lot bigger than the 5'-11" he's listed at. He had a pretty solid game tonight. If he keeps it up, once Doughty is healthy Martinez might need to book a flight to Manchester.
Quick: Like I said above, he had a fantastic game. He wasn't tested that much, but there definitely could have been some fluky goal off a second deflection, but Quick was all over the puck.
The only way this game could have been any better is if Gagne had a hat trick. Oh, and also if the hipster douchebags sitting in front of me didn't talk non-stop throughout the game about everything under the sun BUT hockey. Seriously, if you don't know anything about the game, then at least try to learn and if you're not going to pay attention, then LEAVE or at least don't talk so freaking loudly! (rant, done.)
It warmed my heart to see the fans standing through the last minute of the game cheering the Kings for putting on a great show. 5-0 against the Blues? Now that's how you start a season at home!
My Kings home opener celebration began a little earlier than I had initially anticipated because I was so antsy to leave work and get to LA Live. The Husband was starving and the Yard House was packed as usual so we made our way to Lawry's Carvery. They serve overpriced sandwiches but they're tasty (which I can't say about the food at the ESPN Zone) and they have $3 bottled beers, including Blue Moon and Stella Artois.
 |
| hmmm....beer. it makes me happy. |
 |
| Look Ma! It's Magic! |
 |
| Do it. Do it. Do it. |
 |
| brought to you by Ed Hardy |
 |
| why was my husband looking at kids clothes? i don't know.... |
I really enjoyed the player intros. I was wondering what this device was:
 |
| What could that possibly be? |
 |
| now that's pretty cool, right? |
Another absence I appreciated? Davis Gaines didn't sing the national anthem!
The game was fantastic as well! I sat in one of the sections behind the goal where the Kings shoot twice. From that viewpoint I was able to clearly see how the Kings break out of their zone. I was impressed with how well they were passing to each other and it seemed like they were really trying to open the game up by playing laterally, making a lot of cross-ice passes, even in tight situations. There were a couple close calls when a defenseman made a cross-ice pass literally a stick's length in front of Quick, but they were confident passes. It probably helped that the Blues were playing their 3rd game in 4 nights (thanks NHL scheduler!) because the Kings looked fresh and fast. Quick was on fire and tracked the puck really well even when there were multiple deflections.
Whenever I'm at the game it always seems like there are a lot of phantom penalties being called since you only get one look at it from one angle. Last night it seemed like several penalties called on both teams were ticky-tacky, but at least it wasn't one-sided. I really enjoyed watching Dustin Brown rough it up with the Blues and draw a penalty. The Captain's got a great talent! During the coaching staff intros, the Husband asked why people were booing Jamie Kompon so I had to explain about how the power play has been pretty terrible the past couple seasons so the majority of the fans blame Kompon. Well, it seems like the fans are going to have to eat crow because the Kings power play is getting the job done. We can't expect the Kings to score on every power play, but so far the Kings have had two game-winning power play goals (thanks, Jack!) and last night the power play looked pretty good most of the time.
Here are some quick and dirty thoughts about a couple players' performances:
Kopitar: Another great game. I can't get over how amazing he looks this season. Is it too early to start the "Anze for MVP" rally?
Brown: He did all the work on Stoll's goal, including setting it up perfectly and drew at least one penalty.
Gagne: He really exploded tonight.
Penner: I saw him in warm-ups and I couldn't help but imagine him whining to Coach Murray that he couldn't play because of some injury and Murray rolling his eyes and telling him to put a band-aid on it. I don't think Penner had that great of a game. I mostly noticed him when he was standing at the blue line and someone would pass it to him and he would just deflect it into the offensive zone and then skate off for a line change. I doubt he's 100% right now, but he still needs to be better because there's no crying in hockey!
Richards: I like him more and more with every game I watch. Do I see a Richards jersey in my future???
Voynov: The kid looks a lot bigger than the 5'-11" he's listed at. He had a pretty solid game tonight. If he keeps it up, once Doughty is healthy Martinez might need to book a flight to Manchester.
Quick: Like I said above, he had a fantastic game. He wasn't tested that much, but there definitely could have been some fluky goal off a second deflection, but Quick was all over the puck.
The only way this game could have been any better is if Gagne had a hat trick. Oh, and also if the hipster douchebags sitting in front of me didn't talk non-stop throughout the game about everything under the sun BUT hockey. Seriously, if you don't know anything about the game, then at least try to learn and if you're not going to pay attention, then LEAVE or at least don't talk so freaking loudly! (rant, done.)
It warmed my heart to see the fans standing through the last minute of the game cheering the Kings for putting on a great show. 5-0 against the Blues? Now that's how you start a season at home!
Thursday, October 13, 2011
LA Kings 2nd Season Opener
Even though the LA Kings season opened less than a week ago it feels like those first two games took place ages ago. But the weather was cooling down, pumpkin ale was readily available in the stores, and it was finally feeling like hockey season!
Almost a week later, the weather is in the 90s, I'm cranky about it, I've had time to think about the games in Europe and, surprise surprise, I came to the easy conclusion that signing Trent Hunter and Ethan Moreau weren't very good signings. Also, I forgot to mention in my review of the previous games, that I did not realize Scott Parse played in the first game until I noticed him in the second game and I wondered who he was replacing in the lineup. Is it just me or did his development take a step backwards over the off-season? He looked more effective in the playoffs after rehabbing from an injury than he did in the first two games after several months of training.
So, it's a good thing that on Wednesday it was announced that the Kings acquired Stefan Legein and a 6th round 2012 Draft pick from the Philadelphia Flyers for future considerations. Who???? According to Puck Daddy, he "may have just retired at 19" or perhaps he was just joking and "was having some fun at the expense of everyone". Basically, this kid sounds awesome.
But I am truly excited for Dustin Penner to return to the lineup. It's a shame that I probably won't be able to watch tonight's game against New Jersey since it'll be on at 4pm PST. Oh, the problems of living on the West Coast....if only I could leave work at 3pm for every East Coast game. Or I suppose I could just DVR the game. Decisions, decisions. Although, I can't decide if it would be worse to live on the East Coast and have to watch games start at 10pm. Any East Coasters want to weigh-in on this discussion?
Anyway, not quite sure what to expect in tonight's game besides 5 Kings goals all scored by Anze Kopitar (Did you see him against the Rangers and Sabres? It's totally possible, so just roll with it). New Jersey had such a bad season last year, but I don't expect the same this time around. I highly doubt Kovalchuk will continue to be KovLOLchuk and maybe Marty Brodeur will play like it's 1997. I don't really care. I'm most looking forward to Saturday night's contest again the Philadephia Flyers. Now that should be a helluva game!
Go Kings Go!
Almost a week later, the weather is in the 90s, I'm cranky about it, I've had time to think about the games in Europe and, surprise surprise, I came to the easy conclusion that signing Trent Hunter and Ethan Moreau weren't very good signings. Also, I forgot to mention in my review of the previous games, that I did not realize Scott Parse played in the first game until I noticed him in the second game and I wondered who he was replacing in the lineup. Is it just me or did his development take a step backwards over the off-season? He looked more effective in the playoffs after rehabbing from an injury than he did in the first two games after several months of training.
So, it's a good thing that on Wednesday it was announced that the Kings acquired Stefan Legein and a 6th round 2012 Draft pick from the Philadelphia Flyers for future considerations. Who???? According to Puck Daddy, he "may have just retired at 19" or perhaps he was just joking and "was having some fun at the expense of everyone". Basically, this kid sounds awesome.
But I am truly excited for Dustin Penner to return to the lineup. It's a shame that I probably won't be able to watch tonight's game against New Jersey since it'll be on at 4pm PST. Oh, the problems of living on the West Coast....if only I could leave work at 3pm for every East Coast game. Or I suppose I could just DVR the game. Decisions, decisions. Although, I can't decide if it would be worse to live on the East Coast and have to watch games start at 10pm. Any East Coasters want to weigh-in on this discussion?
Anyway, not quite sure what to expect in tonight's game besides 5 Kings goals all scored by Anze Kopitar (Did you see him against the Rangers and Sabres? It's totally possible, so just roll with it). New Jersey had such a bad season last year, but I don't expect the same this time around. I highly doubt Kovalchuk will continue to be KovLOLchuk and maybe Marty Brodeur will play like it's 1997. I don't really care. I'm most looking forward to Saturday night's contest again the Philadephia Flyers. Now that should be a helluva game!
Go Kings Go!
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