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GDT: Game 17: Los Angeles Kings @ Colorado Avalanche 11/15/16 6:00PM PST

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kingsboy11 said:
I thin we all know the issue here. 1-3-1 with Gary Thorne calling the games...

In all seriousness this team is streaky as hell. I'll give it to Brown and Dowd as they have been the 2 bright spots this season, but outside of them no one has really performed that well. Budaj has played well at times, but he is what he is and we know he can't keep up his play long term. His play today is evidence of that.
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Dowd/Forbort/Brown.

Best surprise of the season so far.
 
Sutter should never pull the goalie again. Ever.

Nice to see Lewis get some near breakaways. He's gone through a stretch of not getting those.

Thought the team played pretty well all things considered, fun game to watch.
 
WHOneedsSOX said:
Something like if you aren't within 4 points of a playoff spot at Thanksgiving, only 4-6 teams have made the playoffs in the cap era. Can't remember the exact numbers but it was something really low.
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That's pretty close. Teams more than 4 pts out of the 8th (wildcard) spot by Thanksgiving have a less than 10% chance of making the playoffs.
 
kingsfan28 said:
We saw that a lot during this roadtrip. Budaj let some bad goals in that cost the team points, especially vs the Sens.
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It's not on Budaj, it's more on the team, or lack thereof, in front of him. He had limited time before being called upand is doing his best and on most nights, keeping them in games.

Carter, Toffoli, Pearson, Doughty, Muzzin, Martinez, all capable of scoring and getting this team the points they need.
DD and Carter are leaders on this team and esp with Kopi out should be the ones stepping up. Even prior to his injury, Kopitar wasn't providing what he should, given the 10M he's now pulling down.

The Dowd line has been solid and consistant and Forbert has played well.

Maybe DL should have signed Enroth... or another goalie. you need a good backup.
And a team needs to score more than 2.2 goals per game to win on most nights.
This just puts a spotlight on the obvious, that Sutter's system is far too reliant on JQ. He keeps them in the 2-1 games because they don't score enough.
 
kingsfan28 said:
Damn, the 3rd line was a combined -12.It sucks because they were the best line of the night.
:amazed:
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Outside of the defensive breakdowns on those Avs goals, oh yes, they were definitely the best line last night. Getting outscored 4-0 at even strength makes for a really good night for that line. :sarcasm:
 
KingsFan7824 said:
Maybe that Islander game. Although we know Ladd will get a hat trick.

The next few games are actually pretty big. Got the Oilers and Ducks, two teams ahead in the division by a couple points. The Devils have been pretty decent, but you got them at home. The Islanders are struggling. Isn't Thanksgiving the time when if you're in a playoff position, or at least very close, you usually end up making it? Big 4 games. Things could get away quickly if they don't do something.
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The Devils are better than decent, they're really good and only 3 reg losses and 1 pt out of 2nd place refects that. I like that new coach last year and the changes he brought, and adding Hall, makes a huge difference. Not just for the fact he's 3rd in the NHL (2.4) pts per game since he's come into the NHL but he takes a burden off the defense need to produce goals. He's given them a real boost.

The other surprises in the Metro, the Rangers being in 1st and thriving with a +34 goal differential and 72 goals so far, 4.2 per game.
The continued downward spiral of the Isles, something is very wrong there, too much talent to be this bad.
 
deeshamrock said:
Maybe DL should have signed Enroth... or another goalie. you need a good backup. And a team needs to score more than 2.2 goals per game to win on most nights.
This just puts a spotlight on the obvious, that Sutter's system is far too reliant on JQ. He keeps them in the 2-1 games because they don't score enough.
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And Quick himself has been in net for too many blown leads, and goals scored in bunches over the last couple years.

Sutter's system isn't reliant on Quick. It's maybe become more reliant on the goalie, because of a changing roster, but it's never been like Hasek in Buffalo. The Kings are a volume shooting team, that is supposed to get to the net offensively, and cut down on the chances in the middle of the ice defensively, in part because they spend more time in the offensive zone. Too often over the last couple years, the Kings still get those shots on net, but nobody is close enough to the net to take advantage, so instead of the Kings getting 4 or 5 really good chances, they get 2 or 3, and instead of giving up 2 or 3 really good chances defensively, it's 4 or 5, which is asking whoever the goalie is to make that many more big saves. So instead of winning 2-1, it's 2-2, and goes to OT. Or, instead of winning 3-2, it's 2-2, and goes to OT.

Now this season, everything is coming together. There's no Quick, no Gaborik, now Kopitar is out, Doughty has been off, they couldn't keep Lucic, and they're 2-9 in regulation, surviving on the 3v3 point. Forbort has played pretty well, but Muzzin has been shaky, and has just 2 points, which sort of cancels out the positives of Forbort. Same way Dowd has finally given the Kings depth down the middle again, but Kopitar hasn't been doing enough to pull his $14m salary/$10m cap hit weight. Neither has Carter for that matter.

There's a reason that when you take out those OT wins this year, the Kings have the 3rd worst record in the league, ahead of only Arizona and Vancouver. Weird having the Kings be one of the teams helping to drag the Pacific down, instead of one of the teams giving it some small amount of respectability.
 
I liked sutter's quotes on LAKINGSINSIDER.com about the road trip. The jets game was **** luck. The sens game sucked. The avs took it to LA last night.
 
I would expect this team to maybe win two out of ten games without Kopitar and this current lineup so no surprises here.

I've been pretty adamant that this team is going to get beat up on when on the road and here we are.

Nobody has pulled away in the division though. They have to beat bad teams or at least get points against them until everyone is healthy again so this road trip was a real kick in the nuts.

Have to expect a bad goal given up every game. The great Budaj/Zatkoff game is going to be the exception to the rule so they've got to start scoring. As I said before the 12 goal in two games explosion, this team could easily be in the low 2s for goals per game. They are at 2.29 right now with the 5-0 and 7-0 games really boosting that number. Of course, they were shutout for three straight so that plays into the figure as well, but the Kings getting shutout is much less of an outlier than scoring 7 goals.

Only hope here is that Kopitar is back and not hindered and the top players can start scoring while the 3rd line continues to produce. It could happen but it just really seems like it is going to be a struggle all year.
 
BigKing said:
I would expect this team to maybe win two out of ten games without Kopitar and this current lineup so no surprises here.

I've been pretty adamant that this team is going to get beat up on when on the road and here we are.

Nobody has pulled away in the division though. They have to beat bad teams or at least get points against them until everyone is healthy again so this road trip was a real kick in the nuts.

Have to expect a bad goal given up every game. The great Budaj/Zatkoff game is going to be the exception to the rule so they've got to start scoring. As I said before the 12 goal in two games explosion, this team could easily be in the low 2s for goals per game. They are at 2.29 right now with the 5-0 and 7-0 games really boosting that number. Of course, they were shutout for three straight so that plays into the figure as well, but the Kings getting shutout is much less of an outlier than scoring 7 goals.

Only hope here is that Kopitar is back and not hindered and the top players can start scoring while the 3rd line continues to produce. It could happen but it just really seems like it is going to be a struggle all year.
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One thing that could save them is how bad the division is. Van/Flames are bad. AZ is on a level of suck all by themselves. EDM is showing signs of slowing down. Playing in division teams more with the division being so bad could add some extra points in the standings, if the Kings win those games.
 
YP44 said:
I liked sutter's quotes on LAKINGSINSIDER.com about the road trip. The jets game was **** luck. The sens game sucked. The avs took it to LA last night.
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not only did the Avs take it to the Kings, but the Kings were on the tail end of a 4 games in 6 days road trip where they were playing at altitude. the Kings go through a few rough stretches every season...this is nothing new. Sutter's presser was spot on.

PARK N RIDE
 
theMajor said:
not only did the Avs take it to the Kings, but the Kings were on the tail end of a 4 games in 6 days road trip where they were playing at altitude. the Kings go through a few rough stretches every season...this is nothing new. Sutter's presser was spot on.

PARK N RIDE
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Pretty long rough stretch considering they have 2 regulation wins this year against teams who played absolutely horrible hockey.
 
Before the season started, the two glaring holes in our roster were one top 4 defenseman to replace Voynov, and a third line center. Surprisingly, the kids filled that hole. Both Fobert and Dowd have done a phenomenal job.

At this stage, we just have to somehow gather points until Gaborik, Kopitar, McNabb and Quick are back. I think Budaj has done his job during the time that Quick has been out. People need to remember that Budaj was our third string goalie. You have to expect soft goals from him during the game. I am frankly surprised that he hasn't let in more.

Last season, our biggest challenge was the D-zone exits. This year, we are a lot better at it. Now, because of the injuries and poor play by Toffoli, Carter, Pearson, and lack of offensive depth, we are having trouble putting any sustained pressure in the O-zone. I think this issue will eventually correct itself once our first line returns and the 70s line returns to form--hopefully it wont be too late.
 
Trolfoli said:
One thing that could save them is how bad the division is. Van/Flames are bad. AZ is on a level of suck all by themselves. EDM is showing signs of slowing down. Playing in division teams more with the division being so bad could add some extra points in the standings, if the Kings win those games.
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4 of the next 7 games against Edmonton, Anaheim, SJ, and Arizona. There's their chance. Then the others against NJ, NYI, and Chicago. Most likely at make or break time. 7 points out of the 7 games keeps them close to breaking even going into December, which still might not be enough.
 
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