GDT: 2020-21 season Game 4 LA Kings vs Colorado Avalanche @7:00pm 1/21/21

[Skinnyjimmy08]

Mikeys coming out party game???

 

[SFKingshomer]

This 2-on-1 save by Quickie was vintage JQ.

I've got a semi, no homo.

 

[cyclones22]

How could you not mention Mikey Anderson?
Dude looked like a seasoned vet

He executed quite a few nifty breakout passes where he won a puck battle and made a short pass into an area where a King was there to scoop it up and exit the zone. That kind of play was a trademark of the Cup teams and how they dominated faster teams with the clean breakout. Especially for the defensemen who are not puck carriers. So far, Maatta and MacDermid seem completely unable to execute this and it all starts with actually winning the puck. Then when they do, because they're not PMDs, it results in excessive time in their own zone chasing the puck.

 

[killermiller]

I only really got to watch the last 2 periods, but here's my thoughts on what I saw:

Positives:
Vilardi was nails again, he's been consistently one of our better players. I can only see him getting better once he gets used to all that muscle he put on over the lockdown.
Kempe has that fire in him, always had the skill but he's battling for loose pucks and causing turnovers. Also been one of our best players.
Doughty looked much more comfortable out there without Maatta as his partner, still need to get his minutes down but I like the change.
Quick made some huge saves, still gives me a heart attack from all the sliding out of the net he does.
Team defense overall looked much better, loved watching that penalty kill in the third when they kept the Avs without a shot because of blocking 4 or 5 of them.
Grundstrom and Andersson still impressing with limited minutes. Please keep these guys up!
Roy and Walker were the other D that stood out with decent games.
The forecheck in general was great tonight, made it hell for them.

The "meh":
I wanna say AA had an good game, but besides that turnover he caused which almost got us a goal I didn't really notice him (probably cause of his lower ice time.)
Carter had a game where he looked human again, no biggie.
Brown looked better in a limited role (where I think he should have been years ago) he's not a top 6 guy anymore but still forechecks pretty well
Amadio: for all the shit I give the guy he actually broke into the zone a few times and had some decent passes in the second...then in the third proceeded to look like crap with a few giveaways.
Mikey Anderson looked like he was just getting in sync playing with Doughty, he made some misteps but looked infinitely better than Maatta.

The invisible:
Iafallo, wait he was still on the top line?

Negatives:
Maatta: how bad has he been? Well I thought he looked better further down the lineup. He still was not good.
Moore: I know some have said they like his energy and how he got pucks deep. What I saw was him dump it in, chase but lose the battle for the puck and turn it over...multiple times. I do like his energy but he just can't forecheck effectively in my eyes at least, oh and that flubbed point shot was uuuuuuuugly.
We also need to stop taking so many needless penalties, it's gonna really burn us sooner than later.

 

[No Name The Nameless]

The Good: Racoon saying that he is fed up and turning the game off after the first period.
The bad: Ditto

 

[cyclones22]

The Good: Racoon saying that he is fed up and turning the game off after the first period.
The bad: Ditto

I was so close to doing this, but since the only way for me to watch the Kings now when not on a national broadcast is via my phone or laptop, it's easy to keep it on while watching something else on an actual TV. Screw you Sinclair.

 

[BigKing]

@Statto - While some teams maybe shied away from Vilardi due to skating concerns and the "New NHL", he was unable to participate in the majority of physical testing at the combine and had already amassed an injury history. That is a recipe for a Top 5 ranked NA skater to fall.

Even if the Kings had concerns about the injuries like other teams, he was too good of a player to pass up.

As for last night's game, it is nice to see a win. Like I've mentioned before, they kind of woke up when Colorado started playing more physical. I am tired of this team needing to have the game brought to them v. taking it to the other team. I keep hoping that the young guys and fringe guys will try to set the tone because the vets certainly aren't doing it and I worry about the precedent they are setting. I'll echo @bland and say it was great to see Vilardi take control. He was lucky to not get a roughing penalty--with the way these refs have called games so far--and seemed like he wanted to start a fight. Skates off to the bench and then plays a great game the rest of the way. The old guys on this team might not care too much about what amounts to an October regular season game in a rebuilding year but these young guys need to show that they really care about winning every game they play. This is going to be their team soon enough so it is nice to see a bit of that last night.

In regards to T-Mac's minutes, NHL coaches are trying to win games and generally don't care about development. No surprise he's going to rely on the vets early on with the way the off-season went but I do feel that T-Mac has pretty good job security and he and Management are on the same page as it relates to helping develop the prospects. He is also going to find that we will get to a point, and probably pretty soon, that winning games and increasing minutes for the younger guys will go hand-in-hand. That said, it will be nice to see a real f***ing NHL game instead of this 10 power plays for each team garbage that is completely ruining the flow of these games and skewing minute totals.

That doesn't mean I'm not aroused by 25 minutes of Anderson and a top-pairing promotion against one of the best teams in the league. Very impressive to do so after shaking off one of the most soul-stealing one-on-one moves I've ever seen when MacKinnon crossed him up like Tim Hardaway in the 90s. I mean, he made him fall on his face. Awesome game for him the rest of the way and he continues to impress.

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

I haven't noticed, but are they still announcing the goals with no fans in the building? I know they canned Dave Joseph, so I'm curious who is replacement is.

 

[Bandit]

I haven't noticed, but are they still announcing the goals with no fans in the building? I know they canned Dave Joseph, so I'm curious who is replacement is.

Siri.

 

[Zats Muccarello]

How has Lias looked for you guys through the two games he has played?

 

[Lt Dan]

I was so close to doing this, but since the only way for me to watch the Kings now when not on a national broadcast is via my phone or laptop, it's easy to keep it on while watching something else on an actual TV. Screw you Sinclair.

In case you didn't know AT&T has a streaming service. it has FSW and the Dodgers channel



AT&T TV | Sign Up Now & Start Streaming Live TV Today

 

[Lt Dan]

How has Lias looked for you guys through the two games he has played?

Very good

He was on the 4th line the game before last and was one of our best players that game.

He was bumped up to third line last night and was very good again

 

[BigKing]

How has Lias looked for you guys through the two games he has played?

He looks good but especially when you compare his play to the cost of a 2nd rounder in the last draft. If you are judging by 7OA, you'd like to see more.

He's earning more minutes. We'd all be stoked if he simply becomes a nice 3rd line player.

 

[Statto]

@Statto - While some teams maybe shied away from Vilardi due to skating concerns and the "New NHL", he was unable to participate in the majority of physical testing at the combine and had already amassed an injury history. That is a recipe for a Top 5 ranked NA skater to fall.

Even if the Kings had concerns about the injuries like other teams, he was too good of a player to pass up.
.

& @rosslonsberryfan Thanks, I’d either forgotten or missed the combine stuff completely... makes absolute sense now.

 

[DoktorJeep]

With the momentum Lias and Tonka are building, I think their chemistry should result in a goal soon. If they establish themselves as the third line pair, I’d love to see them incorporate Fagemo later in the season for a call up.

 

[Token]

Y’all realize it’s January.

The legendary annual Kopi “Grammies” slump is US Naval Observatory level dead-on-balls-accurate!

Just give him a minute ...

 

[BigBrown]

Psyched about a win! It's been far too long.

Overall, 4 points in 4 games...

 

[DoktorJeep]

Play of the game goes to DD8. Executing a world class shot for a goal 5 on 3 is making the right kind of statement that you’re still an elite threat at the NHL level. A productive, dangerous Doughty is the difference between the Kings returning to respectability or another sunk season.

Honorable mention to birthday boy Quick. His never quit attitude was the type of leadership this squad needed last night to climb the mountain to the win.

 

[kings11]

Psyched about a win! It's been far too long.

Overall, 4 points in 4 games...

 

[SettlementRichie10]

I've got a semi, no homo.

That's the Jon Quick special. He's always been virtually impossible to beat down low on transition plays like that due to his lateral agility and speed.

 

[kingsholygrail]

Y’all realize it’s January.

The legendary annual Kopi “Grammies” slump is US Naval Observatory level dead-on-balls-accurate!

Just give him a minute ...

Funny enough, despite looking like a slug out there, he's tied with Eichel for the assists lead.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

Keep in mind I missed the beginning of the 2rd period before my masochism kicked back in, so some of this may be slightly inaccurate. I mean, it's always inaccurate, but this time it's also possibly misinformed!

The Good
-My lord, congratulations on the emergence, Mikey Anderson. What else can we say? I wish he'd put a little more heat on necessary dump zone exits, but I don't want that to take away from a stellar ascension to the top pairing where he somehow looked even better.
-2nd and 3rd period Drew Doughty--welcome back, my man. Looks like he got a wake up call. I don't want to lay blame on Maatta because DD owned his own share of stupid shit, but Anderson clearly had the calming effect that guys like Scuderi had on him in the past. Making GREAT breakout plays, and though still needs to clean up his end, Anderson simply absorbing some responsibility meant Drew didn't have to 'conserve' and swing feebly at pucks.
-Adrian Kempe played over 19 minutes and looked like a confident NHL vet minus one terribly unfortunate PP skate his forechecking efforts have a lot more purpose these days and his PK ability is trending up.
-Vilardi was playing angry and it got me all pumped up. That snipe was glorious. Hope his confidence and comfort keeps growing because he's one of the only guys on this squad with game breaking ability.
-Lizotte, as always, was a checking machine, and he absolutely nailed that empty net...how much have we missed that over the years?
-Grundstrom making his presence felt, another pretty good showing, along with Andersson. These guys are providing a good combo of sandpaper and silk for the bottom six. It's nice to have guys that can get in and check, actually win the puck battle, and then actually DO something with the puck.

The Bad
--More like the mediocre--but again, Kopitar's fallen a long way from the guy that absolutely dominated Mackinnon head-to-head. It's starting to look like his days as a "don't worry" matchup center are behind him. He's not dominant defensively. I'm glad he's scoring and still making good plays for the most part, and it may be stupid to say he was mediocre on a night where he assisted the GWG--and he looks better with Kempe, and it's probably at least part AI being a problem--but again, it's looking like a combo of playing MORE MINUTES THAN ANYONE IN THE GAME BUT DOUGHTY AND ANDERSON (including more minutes than ANY avs player--yes including all their dmen) and Father Time is kicking the everliving shit out of him. Reduce his minutes for the love of god, he's still playing more than most #1 Dmen. Also--he's now leading the league in assists, so there's that!
--Jeff Carter has been excellent so don't want to beat him up too much, but him and Athanasiou were pretty garbo tonight. Worst line on the team by CF%, and most of them were out there for the ESGA.
-Saw more praise for Mike Amadio tonight than usual which is nice to see but imo the dude that I usually defend was making some pretty glaring puck errors in bad spots that will get him in the doghouse pretty quickly if he doesn't clean it up.


The Ugly
-1st period Drew Doughty--got completely clowned by Mackinnon twice and was really starting to look like it was Old Yeller time. Couldn't handle the puck, couldn't defend.
-Trevor Moore has completely lost what made him good in the first two games which was speed and tenacity and getting the puck deep. The skating ability of the Avs defenders neutralized his speed, but he couldn't stick a check and handled the puck like a golf ball.
-Alex Iafallo is just really, really disappointing right now. Not even sure how to diagnose.
-Olli Maatta is just totally, totally lost but creates so many of his own problems it's unbelievable. I actually really, really liked the rest of our d-men once Maatta was moved down, but poor Walker, who had a pretty monster game and ended up having to bust his ass twice as hard. Hard to see how anyone coming into his spot could be worse. Right now he's making Mark Alt look like Rob Blake.

Yeah, that reads like a pretty typical scouting report for a team mid-rebuild, which is a good thing. Young kids playing with fire. Old guys struggling. I don't see anything wrong with this. We knew Kopitar would start to regress sooner or later. He has a lot of miles on him.

 

[Statto]

Yeah, that reads like a pretty typical scouting report for a team mid-rebuild, which is a good thing. Young kids playing with fire. Old guys struggling. I don't see anything wrong with this. We knew Kopitar would start to regress sooner or later. He has a lot of miles on him.

But is he regressing or is he just finding his game after the long break? It’s far too early to call it.

 

[kevsh]

The Avs were -1.5 for both of these games. I would have never believed anyone if they told me the Kings would not only cover both times but actually win one.

I liked how they played. Fast, tenacious and gave the Avs a couple less powerplays than the first game. And for all the undeserved hate Doughty gets, I was grinning when he blasted that one on the PP. Good for him.

 

[KingLB]

How has Lias looked for you guys through the two games he has played?

He looks good but especially when you compare his play to the cost of a 2nd rounder in the last draft. If you are judging by 7OA, you'd like to see more.

He's earning more minutes. We'd all be stoked if he simply becomes a nice 3rd line player.

Meh I think he gets overrated cause he is “new”. Big King hit on it, but I’d go as far and say really only out played 1 player in the bottom 6 this game, and that was current whipping boy Amadio. maybe about equal with Moore?

In reality, its been 2 games. But nothing about his play screams top 6 player.