Game #44 Kings vs. Wild SOL 2-1

[Reclamation Project]

Been losing us games for a while now. Painful to watch.

 

[KingsFan7824]

Interesting the central ownz the Kings this year.

And in 7 of the last 8 games, who have the Kings played?

The Kings have been shut out 3 times this year. Against? Colorado, Chicago, and St.Louis.

In 11 of 15 games against the Central the Kings have scored 2 or fewer non-SO goals. In 14 of 29 games against everyone else the Kings have scored 2 or fewer non-SO goals. So I'm not saying the Kings are ripping up the rest of the league or anything. Just that in 73% of games against the Central the Kings can't score, and in 48% of games against the rest of the league the Kings can't score.

In those 11 games against the Central where they score 2 or fewer goals, they're 3-6-2 overall, 3-1 in the SO, 0-1 in OT, and 0-6 in regulation.

In the 14 games against everyone else where they score 2 or fewer goals, they're 6-5-3 overall, 3-2 in the SO, 0-1 in OT, and 3-5 in regulation. 5 of those games have come against Metro teams, and the Kings are 3-1-1, with 1 win in the SO. 3 games have come against the Atlantic, and are 1-1-1. 6 games have come against the Pacific, the Kings are 2-3-1, with 2 SO wins, and those 2 regulation losses to stinkin' Calgary.

Now of course the Kings will come out on Thursday and get blown out by a non-Central team, and the theory will come crashing down.

 

[Steve Zissou]

Top Titty needs to be on a line with someone who can get him the puck in prime scoring areas, otherwise he's lost.

 

[Steve Zissou]

Last 11 games since the end of that Eastern road trip.

Mike Richards -11GP, 0G, 1A, 1 Pts, -5
Dustin Brown - 9GP, 2G, 2A, 4 Pts, -4
Justin Williams - 11GP, 2G, 2G, 4 Pts, -2
Tyler Toffoli - 11GP, 1G, 1A, 2 Pts +3

There is your LA Kings secondary scoring, that is why we struggle to score 2 goals a night.

Brutal.

 

[damacles1156]

Top Titty needs to be on a line with someone who can get him the puck in prime scoring areas, otherwise he's lost.

Ever since King left that line , Richards/Toffoli have been garbage.

King is having one hell of a season , guy makes 750k .....

 

[KingsFan7824]

Last 11 games since the end of that Eastern road trip.

Mike Richards -11GP, 0G, 1A, 1 Pts, -5
Dustin Brown - 9GP, 2G, 2A, 4 Pts, -4
Justin Williams - 11GP, 2G, 2G, 4 Pts, -2
Tyler Toffoli - 11GP, 1G, 1A, 2 Pts +3

There is your LA Kings secondary scoring, that is why we struggle to score 2 goals a night.

Is DL content to hope that these guys get it going, Richards had his first good game since about Thanksgiving, will he build on it or go back to sucking. Toffoli has hit the wall, looks lost out there.

That's actually a better points per game average for Brown than his overall numbers this season. Baby steps to the elevator...

 

[MynameisKing]

Remember EA NHL games where they had line chemistry calculator. No matter how good the three players on a line are there will always be that one or two who would subtract chemistry from the line which makes it less optimal. King is that wild card. Any line he gets put on makes that line perform optimally. So, how do we clone him?

 

[The Butcher]

Ah the ole' "is Kopitar elite" argument right on cue.

 

[Herby]

Ah the ole' "is Kopitar elite" argument right on cue.

Sometimes on GCL I will watch the other teams broadcast right before the game starts to see what they say about the Kings, and it's always about how great Kopitar is. But the guy never seems to do enough to please some people here.

I'm still more worried about the two supposed key players the Kings are paying $9 million to this year while playing like total crap. But don't worry, starting next year the number jumps to over $11 million a year through 2020. Luckily for the Kings, but of these guys have played pretty passive styles throughout their careers and aren't a threat to fall off the cliff.

I mean it sucks we are in 3rd in the division right now, but I guess I would take it if someone had said through half the season Dwight King would be having a better year than both Brown and Richards.

 

[Riposte!]

Now imagine us without 77.

I don't need to imagine it, all I need to do is watch a game from pre-deadline 2011.

Anyway, no surprise that all the scoring dried up when Mike Richards became invisible. He lost the #2 C job (I think because of a nagging injury, personally), and that's when all the offense started to fall apart.

 

[Winger23]

How sutter has not tried to change things up is beyond me. Toffoli as had been mentioned needs someone to get him the puck. Swap tt and carter.

WHat really needs to happen is we need a king clone. Guy is turning into a stud.

 

[Herby]

Swap tt and carter.

King- Kopitar- Toffoli is not going to be the world class 1st line we need to win another Cup. And Frattin- Richards- Carter has already failed once, and that was before Richards started playing like the reincarnation of Yanic Perreault, so I don't know what we would expect them to do now.

Sutter has his #1 line with 74-11-77, time for some other players to show some pride and show that they can be effective secondary players without being carried by either Kopitar or Carter. If players like Brown, Richards, Williams and Toffoli continue to suck against other teams 2nd and 3rd defense pairings we are doomed.

 

[salsa man]

Crosby, Malkin, Stamkos, Tavares, Toews, Bergeron, etc.

I know I'm not welcome here, but I would take both Getzlaf and Kopitar over Bergeron. I wouldn't give up the offense you get from either of Kopitar or Getzlaf, just so I can take the guy who might be a bit better at defense. I know he's one of the top Defensive forwards in hockey, but he's not THAT much better at defense where I would sacrifice the extra 15-30 points you get from Getzy or Kopy. A 1st line center's most important job is creating offense, right? I'd probably even consider taking either of the SoCal guys over Toews. Screw Stamkos though, I'd take Fraser over him, considering he only has 1 leg.

Oh, and Getzlaf's not a +17 just because of his offense. He's very responsible on defense, he's on the Ducks' top PK unit. Perry isn't bad defensively either. The Ducks' system is not THAT wide open, either. It's not as conservative a system as the Kings' system of course, but it's not like they're the Caps from a few years ago.

There's definitely some other things I could argue about, but I don't want to be too much of a burden and be overly disrespectful on your forum. I'll leave now

 

[Arrhizal]

Exactly , I accepted Kopitar for what he is. A very ,very good center.

You should but "Kopitar is not a elite center." in your signature.

 

[KINGS17]

Top Titty needs to be on a line with someone who can get him the puck in prime scoring areas, otherwise he's lost.

Richards should be a guy that can do that, shouldn't he?

 

[KINGS17]

Last 11 games since the end of that Eastern road trip.

Mike Richards -11GP, 0G, 1A, 1 Pts, -5
Dustin Brown - 9GP, 2G, 2A, 4 Pts, -4
Justin Williams - 11GP, 2G, 2G, 4 Pts, -2
Tyler Toffoli - 11GP, 1G, 1A, 2 Pts +3

There is your LA Kings secondary scoring, that is why we struggle to score 2 goals a night.

Is DL content to hope that these guys get it going, Richards had his first good game since about Thanksgiving, will he build on it or go back to sucking. Toffoli has hit the wall, looks lost out there.

Yuuup! If these guys don't get their ***** in gear, then it won't matter. At least Stoll, Brown, and Williams have been crashing the net. I think they are going to start scoring more, it's a hard working line. Toffoli and Richards are just awful right now.

We haven't seen much production from the blue line either. When the Kings' offense is doing something Doughty, Muzzin, and Voynov are usually chipping in.

Quick can win all the playoff games 1-0, or 2-1, right?

 

[KingKopitar11*]

Eh I want Kopi and Carter together too much potential.

Richards needs to step it up though, Kings shouldn't budge the first line just because Richards isn't doing good with Toffoli He needs to sstep up his game.

 

[Winger23]

King- Kopitar- Toffoli is not going to be the world class 1st line we need to win another Cup. And Frattin- Richards- Carter has already failed once, and that was before Richards started playing like the reincarnation of Yanic Perreault, so I don't know what we would expect them to do now.

Sutter has his #1 line with 74-11-77, time for some other players to show some pride and show that they can be effective secondary players without being carried by either Kopitar or Carter. If players like Brown, Richards, Williams and Toffoli continue to suck against other teams 2nd and 3rd defense pairings we are doomed.

Until a trade is made its obvious nothing good is coming from keeping the top line in tact if the rest of the lineup sucks. Splitting one of them up makes it harder to shut down both kopi and carter. TT is the kings 2nd best sniper. Richards has a knack for finding carter in tight spaces.

This current roster is not going to win anything anyhow. Breaking up the top line in an effort to stop the inability to score goals can't get any worse than the current lines.

 

[KINGS17]

The power play ......its losing the Kings games.

This is now two coaches .…....I am going to start blaming the players now.

Kompon has Chicago's pp top five. I know that's not his wisdom doing that.

Players.....Kopitar , get off the halfwall please and attack the net. Draw a defender to you , or use that nice shot you have.

Doughty has actually been better on the point, but he needs to use his wrist shot more

I said many times when Kompon was still here that there was no way that Kopitar was being told to glue his ass to the half wall on the PP. Anze is just a passive player at times. His attitude seems to be, I know my game, and I shoot enough.

Well Anze, no you don't. You don't attack the slot aggressively on the PP and you don't shoot enough.

 

[Herby]

Until a trade is made its obvious nothing good is coming from keeping the top line in tact if the rest of the lineup sucks. Splitting one of them up makes it harder to shut down both kopi and carter. TT is the kings 2nd best sniper. Richards has a knack for finding carter in tight spaces.

This current roster is not going to win anything anyhow. Breaking up the top line in an effort to stop the inability to score goals can't get any worse than the current lines.

Well we will just have to agree to disagree. I think Sutter is making the right move keeping the first line together, he has pretty much said that is my first line, the rest of you idiots fall into place.

Right now most nights Frattin- Richards- TT are going to be up against 3rd lines and weaker defensive pairs as everyone matches up to shut down Kopitar and Carter. Same goes for the Stoll line, these guys are all getting what should be optimal matchups away from the other teams best checkers, and Mike Richards and TT have a combined 1 goal in the past 11, that is pathetic.

 

[Herby]

Thankfully we already saw some more of Slava on the #1 unit, he is the Kings best natural PP quarterback and he has great vision from the point.

I would get King in front of the net and Carter in a position to fire more shots on goal, whether thats from the slot or one-timers from the circle. The biggest issue with the Kings PP is the lack of movement from Doughty and Kopitar.

 

[TimbeS]

Im worried about Richards...

 

[YP44]

Im worried about Richards...

agreed. He stared the season looking alright. I thought hell year one he needed to readjust and get comfortable. Year 2 was shortened by a lockout. Year 3 this was supposed to be his year.

A couple days ago Big Mouth Barry reported him and Sutter are having issues. Not sure what that means exactly, but does not sound good.

 

[stonedhenge]

Playoffs will show, if this Kings system is still the best way to the cup. Other teams are improving. If they don't reach WCF, there must be some changes made from this stiffing, defensive, overcoached system to more open, but responsible one (like Ducks, Blackhawks, Pens, Bruins,...) The thing is Kings can win every game if everybody is at 100% all the time. But that's not possible. Getzlaf , Toews and other stars can take a night off, but still score some goals, because the system allows that. They just win 6-4 instead of Kings typical 1-0 or 2-1. Kings players must play at 100% all the time, work the boards and bleed on the ice to score 2 goals if they are lucky. Getzlaf could be joking around on the ice, but still score 2 goals and 2 assists. I don't know, maybe Kings game is still the best for the playoffs, we'll see.

 

[moosehead81]

I'm worried about Richards too but let's put some perspective on it. I haven't seen the team W-L calendar one of our posters was putting up recently but relate the recent run of Ls`to Sutters line-up changes and you may be unpleasantly surprised to finding a relationship between poor team performance and a lack of scoring by Richards (and other`s).

You cannot expect Mike Richards to be all things, an elite scorer and a defensively responsible 200 foot player when he`s continually shoved around between normally a rookie and whatever slug available that Sutter wants to throw on the other side. I`ve watched and Richards (unlike Kopitar) is once up, once down, off the ice, anywhere from 40-50 seconds and when you`re playing with offensively challenged players, you`re defending more than not. Tough to suddenly go on offense when you`ve already spent 40 seconds of your shift in your own zone.

I, for the life of me, cannot understand why Sutter changed his lines when the team was doing so well at the time. In fact, I think Mike Richards was tied with Kopitar for the team lead in scoring at the time. Am I missing something here. And for those of you who have this sudden hate-on for Richards, you should remember that Lombardi`s deal for him and Carter had a great deal to do (not all of it) with the Stanley Cup win. I`m giving him a lot of lee-way just for that fact.