It wasn't so much just those goals that defined their playoff performance, but they really did play exceptionally well during the stretch run. Stoll's line was producing, mainly due to the work of Dwight King and Trevor Lewis, but Stoll was winning big draws and shutting down the line he was matched up against. Penner was using his size, shielding the puck, and was creating room for Carter and Richards. From the second round on, they were contributing even if they weren't getting on the score sheet.
This season however is a different story. They're among the group of players who should be doing more. It's unfair to single out just them when you have about 9 players who have yet to show up, those names include...
Kopitar, Brown, Williams, Richards, Carter, Gagne, Penner, Stoll, King. The only forwards who have looked good are Clifford, Nolan, and Fraser. That's it.
Richards' point production lives and dies by the PP. Look at his Philly scoring years and you see he was a monster with the man advantage but very mediocre playing even strength. So the issue to see play out is, will the Kings PP thrive with Richards as a piece, or will it struggle along with Richards? Don't think Richards has the skill to carry a PP, so he's going to have to be in a situation that uses him well as a piece.
He majority of the time played the point on the PP in Philly as in LA, the issue is the Kings power play is so stationary while Philly's was mobile, they seem to just stand and pass it and not move, even though it was only one game, the 1st goal in game 6 last year, notice the puck movement as well as movement from Brown, that's what the power play needs, MOVEMENT.
Agreed on getting the talent part. But now if the Kings were able to upgrade at center, they have Jarret Stoll and that awful contract, still owed over 6 million for the next 2 years after this one. Stoll is basically a 4th line center at this point, it was poor asset management to give him that contract, he literally gets worse and worse with each game.
As for the other comment, that line had a good couple of months, then became statistically one of the worst in the NHL after about January. I like Brown alot as a player, but I wouldn't exactly call him an Einstein on the ice, pair him with two guys like Smyth and Stoll who have zero game sense and it equals a disaster, especially defensively. And once Stoll and Smyth stopped scoring that year, both became total liabilities on the ice, no matter who they played with.
i wonder if penner and stoll hadn't gotten those series gwg, would they be kings today.
It's not like Stoll is immovable in a trade, ya know.