GDT: Game 66: Washington Capitals at Los Angeles Kings | Wednesday, Mar 9 2016 - 7:30PM PT

[KingsKnight]

WASHINGTON CAPITALS @ LOS ANGELES KINGS
Wednesday, Mar 9 2016 - 7:30PM PT
Staples Center | Los Angeles, CA
TV: FS-W, SNE, SNO | Radio: AM 790 KABC

|

WASHINGTON|

LOS ANGELES

(49-13-4 102pts)|

(39-21-4 82pts)
​

|

Ovechkin - Backstrom - Oshie |

Lucic - Kopitar - Carter

Burakovsky - Kuznetsov - Williams |

Pearson - Lecavalier - Toffoli

Chimera - Johansson - Wilson |

King - Lewis - Brown

Winnik - Richards - Beagle |

Clifford - Shore - Versteeg
​

|

Alzner - Niskanen |

Scuderi - Doughty

Orpik - Orlov |

Muzzin - Martinez

Weber - Chorney |

McNabb - Schenn
​

|

Holtby / Grubauer |

Quick / Enroth​

INJURIES
Greene is on LTIR, but has been seen skating before/after practices in El Segundo.
Gaborik is on LTIR for a lower body injury.
Nolan is out indefinitely after undergoing surgery for a herniated disc.

NEWS | NOTES

Kings are 5-2-0 for 10 points through 6 games on this 9 game home/socal stand:
TUE 2/23 CGY 1 at LAK 2
THU 2/25 EDM 1 at LAK 2
SAT 2/27 BUF 0 at LAK 2
SUN 2/28 LAK 2 at ANA 4
THU 3/3 MTL 2 at LAK 3
SAT 3/5 ANA 3 at LAK 2
MON 3/7 VAN 1 at LAK 5
WED 3/9 WAS at LAK 7:30 PM
SAT 3/12 NJD at LAK 7:30 PM

MATCHUP
This is the second and final regular season meeting between the clubs:

2/16 LAK 1 at WSH 3
3/9 WSH at LAK

|GP|Record|Pts|ROW|Home|Away|Last 10|Streak
LAK|65|39-22-4|82|37|20-11-1|19-11-3|6-3-1|Won 1
WSH|66|49-13-4|102|45|26-6-2|23-7-2|7-3-0|Won 2

|G/GP|GA/GP|PP%|PK%|S/GP|SA/GP|FOW%
LAK|2.66|2.26|22.2|81.1|32.6|27.6|50.0
WSH|3.18|2.27|23.3|84.8|30.7|28.9|49.8

STANDINGS

# | [pre] Pacific [/pre] | GP |

[pre] W-L-OT [/pre]|PTS|ROW

1|[pre] Anaheim[/pre]|

65|

37-19-9|

83|

34

2|[pre] Los Angeles[/pre]|

65|

39-22-4|

82|

37

3|[pre] San Jose[/pre]|

66|

37-23-6|

80|

34

4|[pre] Vancouver[/pre]|

65|

25-28-12|

62|

21

5|[pre] Arizona[/pre]|

66|

28-32-6|

62|

27

6|[pre] Calgary[/pre]|

66|

27-34-5|

59|

25

7|[pre] Edmonton[/pre]|

69|

26-36-7|

59|

22​

SEASON SCHEDULE | RESULTS

Disclaimer: “GDT may not be 100% accurate. I got the line combos from your mom. I used to have Center Ice, Gamecenter Live, and an undercover concession worker in each arena, but this **** costs money. I will admit that my pet otter is using all up that money on his worsening opium problem. I try to not be an enabler, but I haven't had a sea urchin problem in months. Then I thought, why should I pay all this money and have a sea urchin problem to appease fans of random teams that I don't even care about anyway? Unless you are willing to take a bunch of sea urchins off of my hands, don't ***** if I get the lines wrong.” - BF​

Click to read more...

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

On the eve of Williams' return and I'm stuck in a youtube hole on our 2014 run

And one of my favorite near-forgotten moments was Williams skating by Lundqvist after his first goal in game 5 and talking **** like "no snow piles to save you this time" ....

 

[The Night King]

That pic breaks my heart.

 

[KingsFan7824]

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

On the eve of Williams' return and I'm stuck in a youtube hole on our 2014 run

And one of my favorite near-forgotten moments was Williams skating by Lundqvist after his first goal in game 5 and talking **** like "no snow piles to save you this time" ....

Watched the WSH/ANA game the other night....man, are we going to miss Williams in the playoffs. I wonder if Dean regrets not doing more to keep him.

 

[PJ Kings Hockey]

On the eve of Williams' return and I'm stuck in a youtube hole on our 2014 run

And one of my favorite near-forgotten moments was Williams skating by Lundqvist after his first goal in game 5 and talking **** like "no snow piles to save you this time" ....

Or after the 2014 win when Williams stood outside the locker room and told everyone who wasn't on the team to get out.

Nice GDT, KingsKnight. That's what I like to see, Stick and Rick in Kings White instead of another team's jersey.

Christov just got post #1. Welcome, rookie!

KingsFan7824, now you're just going to get us all sentimental.

 

[KingsFan7824]

Watched the WSH/ANA game the other night....man, are we going to miss Williams in the playoffs. I wonder if Dean regrets not doing more to keep him.

If Lombardi is who we think he is, I would guess Williams was his most difficult move. Mitchell and Richards would be in the discussion. Maybe Stoll too.

Live by the cap, die by the cap. Williams got a 2 year deal, at the same money as the Kings are paying Lucic. Lombardi has cap issues to deal with, and another $3+ million for a 34/35 year old going into next season makes things that much more complicated, and it's tough enough already.

Plus they missed the playoffs last year. If they had made it, and even if they only won a round, who knows what happens with the roster.

 

[tycoonheart]

And one of my favorite near-forgotten moments was Williams skating by Lundqvist after his first goal in game 5 and talking **** like "no snow piles to save you this time" ....

Caps fan here.

During the game against the Pens last week he skated by their bench and trashed talked just about everyone. I love how heated he gets at times. Love the guy. He plays on a line with two young bucks, and he protects them. Anyone who tries to take cheap shots at 'em, and he's in their grill. Ask any Caps fan and they will tell you this is one of the best free agent signings in a very long time.

 

[deeshamrock]

Caps have been horrid in the 1st period, 12 of last 13, giving up the first goal and -3 differential in the first. 1st line has been esp. poor there, somehting the Kings need to take advantage of. The 2nd and 4th lines have been their best, the 4th line since Winnik joined has been dominant, with 79% corsi thru those 4 games. THye have become a trio of unholy terrors, and are Trotz's go to line.

But the Caps get better as the game rolls along, +25 goal differential in the 2nd and a +33 in the third.
In games where they give up the first goal, 20-11-4.

The Kings need to put a full ice press in the 1st and bag 3 goals, since being behind by 2 usually is something they usually overcome.

I thought they'd lose to the ducks, given they had 5 games in 7 days, and flying in from Boston.
Should be a great game.

 

[deeshamrock]

Caps fan here.

During the game against the Pens last week he skated by their bench and trashed talked just about everyone. I love how heated he gets at times. Love the guy. He plays on a line with two young bucks, and he protects them. Anyone who tries to take cheap shots at 'em, and he's in their grill. Ask any Caps fan and they will tell you this is one of the best free agent signings in a very long time.

JW has leadership in spades...when the Kings were eliminated in the 2013 WCF, on ice post game interview was asked if he was 'proud ' of what they'd accomplished (injuries, etc) and he got angry, face got red and he snarled, "No" that they expected to win the Cup and he had a bitter taste in his mouth.
He was pissed off...and that's what leaders are, always hungry,never satisfied.
That's the kind of stuff you can't coach or teach.
And that will ,make a big difference for the Caps in this years playoffs.

 

[bouncesonly]

And one of my favorite near-forgotten moments was Williams skating by Lundqvist after his first goal in game 5 and talking **** like "no snow piles to save you this time" ....

What is the source for this? I would love to read/hear this incident.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

What is the source for this? I would love to read/hear this incident.

I was looking for footage but can really only find it in highlight videos.

Totally speculating on what was said, just guessing based on the context, but he's definitely in there giving Hank a ride and the NYR d-men are pissed.

From about 4:15 on in this one, goal and then next shift talking

 

[Trolfoli]

Williams... unfortunate that he didn't earn a $3M contract with the way he played his last year here. He was just too small/slow to be effective in the Kings system anymore.

Moving on... Hockey!!!

The key to the game is going to be taking lots of penalties so we get to see Overchicken's one timer!!!

Edit: can't wait to see what lines Sutter runs... Keep Lewis at 3C or go for the more defensive center depth with offense killing Brown in the top 6...

 

[johnjm22]

Williams... unfortunate that he didn't earn a $3M contract with the way he played his last year here. He was just too small/slow to be effective in the Kings system anymore.

Not sure if you're being sarcastic or not, but either way this statement isn't true.

 

[Trolfoli]

Not sure if you're being sarcastic or not, but either way this statement isn't true.

It is 100% true. Guy was struggling to make plays, constantly passing the puck to the other team. He'd throw terrible passes to the point when he'd get frustrated that he couldn't get free of his defender. He struggled breaking out of the defensive zone. He caused multiple playoff shorthanded goals. He was a defensive liability.

There's a reason Lombardi wasn't interested in signing a "Top 6" forward that can produce and is clutch for $3M.

People just don't want to admit how bad it was.

Edit: Most people are probably blocking it out, but didn't we sit through a long stretch of Lewis on the first line when Brown and Williams both played themselves off it?

 

[Reclamation Project]

Too much recollecting for my liking. Crush this hype train.

Dustin Brown needs to assert his dominance tonight. Charlie horse someone. Score a goal. Elbow some guy in the forehead. Just do something, anything.

 

[YP44]

Gonna miss most of tonight's game....sucks

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

It is 100% true. Guy was struggling to make plays, constantly passing the puck to the other team. He'd throw terrible passes to the point when he'd get frustrated that he couldn't get free of his defender. He struggled breaking out of the defensive zone. He caused multiple playoff shorthanded goals.

How is this any different for any of the Kings players when things aren't going well?

He was also the Conn Smythe winner the last time the Kings played a playoff game, somehow that doesn't equate to 'caused multiple playoff shorthanded goals.'

 

[WHOneedsSOX]

Caps have been horrid in the 1st period, 12 of last 13, giving up the first goal and -3 differential in the first. 1st line has been esp. poor there, somehting the Kings need to take advantage of. The 2nd and 4th lines have been their best, the 4th line since Winnik joined has been dominant, with 79% corsi thru those 4 games. THye have become a trio of unholy terrors, and are Trotz's go to line.

But the Caps get better as the game rolls along, +25 goal differential in the 2nd and a +33 in the third.
In games where they give up the first goal, 20-11-4.

The Kings need to put a full ice press in the 1st and bag 3 goals, since being behind by 2 usually is something they usually overcome.

I thought they'd lose to the ducks, given they had 5 games in 7 days, and flying in from Boston.
Should be a great game.

When was the last time the Kings even had a lead after the first period?

 

[KopitarFAN]

When was the last time the Kings even had a lead after the first period?

I think against MTL last week, scored twice in the first 5 minutes.

 

[KingsFan7824]

Williams did have just 3 goals in the last 30 games last year. He was far from the only guy that didn't do enough, but they could've used some Game 7 magic at any point in those last couple months of the season. Then he just happened to be a free agent. If he wasn't, he's still probably here, and if someone else was, maybe they're not.

 

[Reclamation Project]

People forgetting that he was a turnover machine. He handled the puck like a grenade.

 

[Omni Owl]

I want to see this team beat a "better" team than them already. Too many lesser opponents, time to lay waste to a dominant team. Let the ice flow with blood and whiskey.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I want to see this team beat a "better" team than them already. Too many lesser opponents, time to lay waste to a dominant team. Let the ice flow with blood and whiskey.

Sucks because the last game was very even, maybe even tilted in our favor, until McNabb and Gravel got discombobulated vs., of all people, Kuznetsov.

Kuzy is going to eat Vinny alive tonight

Actually since Sutter doesn't give two ***** about regular season matchups I practically guarantee one of the top two Washington lines gets to start vs. our 4th line and McNabb Schenn in our defensive end repeatedly.

 

[YP44]

I want to see this team beat a "better" team than them already. Too many lesser opponents, time to lay waste to a dominant team. Let the ice flow with blood and whiskey.

I agree...I need some hope that this team can beat teams that are supposed to beat them. There are not that many but with recent loses to the quackers it feels like it has been a while.

schedule looks tough going forward too.