Edmonton and Calgary are two good teams to play after that third period performance, there's room to build upon that. Have to build upon it.
Our bottom six is of major concern to me. With Clifford out of it there's nobody down there who can buy a goal.
Kopitar isn't the same player as he was last season. He could tell when he's along the boards and he can't protect the puck using his body. He's easily bumped off the puck now and constantly turns the puck over. I think his injury is hampering him more than we are led to believe. All of his strength is gone.
Trevor Lewis and Dwight King have played a combined 25 games, they have zero points
If Richards is back-up on the 2nd, we are basically rolling two 4th lines. We have to make a trade,
Kopitar isn't the same player as he was last season. He could tell when he's along the boards and he can't protect the puck using his body. He's easily bumped off the puck now and constantly turns the puck over. I think his injury is hampering him more than we are led to believe. All of his strength is gone.
That's one of the games in hand the Kings have on the teams they're chasing.
I still expect the Kings to make the playoffs, because that's what this group has done for 3 years. They've had fewer points each season, and a lower seed each year, but they've also run through 4 rounds of the playoffs.
At some point a few wins have to be put together though. You don't want to dig yourself too big of a hole.
The Kings are 5-0 against Columbus, Vancouver, St.Louis, and Phoenix. The worst team in the league this season, and the 3 teams from the playoffs last year. 0-6-2 in the other 8 games(4 of those games against just 2 teams, Chicago and Nashville). The next 5 games to end this month aren't against any of the 4 teams the Kings have beaten. 4 of the 5 are against teams the Kings have already lost to.
Time to start winning some games.
That's what I have been saying for weeks already. Of course these players should not be held responsible but would be nice to get some offense when your top 6 is having problems. That's just not the case for this season, and neither last season. In the playoffs players like King, Lewis stepped up and see what happened.It's going to be hard to win getting nothing from the bottom lines.