GDT: Game 74: KINGS @ PENGUINS, Thursday 3/27/14 @ 4:00PM PDT #AskNeal Edition

[Alternate Jersey]

@jneal_18 Mar 24
Thanks for all the great questions today. I'm overwhelmed by all the support. #AskNeal

i saw that. hahaha. i'm sure he's overwhelmed. but not by the support. lol. so many people were posting screenshots of being blocked from following him on twitter.

 

[CTKingsFan]

No Dwight King tonight.

Jon Rosen ‏@lakingsinsider 3m

Dwight King isn't with the team today. He'll miss tonight's game due to personal reasons.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

That's a shame, King was playing really well of late. Whatever the reason is he is missing the game, let's hope it isn't too serious.

 

[Reclamation Project]

Must be family related. Hopefully it's just a scare and indeed not too serious.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Ahhh, bummer on King missing

"On whether Los Angeles uses any type of statistics or metrics to measure possession:
I think every team does now. For sure." Paging Toronto!

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

My guess is that Clifford is bumped up with Stoll and Brown and Nolan goes on the fourth line.

 

[Little Psycho]

I'm glad we won the last two because today is going to be lighthearted!

And yay look, a backup goalie!





great idea!

A train leaves NYC traveling at 97 mph, another train leaves LA traveling at 76 mph, when do you headshot the child riding coach? #AskNeal

Looks great, Brad!

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Likely lineup for the Pens:

Kunitz-Crosby-Stempniak
Jokinen-Sutter-Neal
Gibbons-Goc-Pyatt
Glass-Megna-Adams

Maata-Niskanen
Scuderi-Despres
Orpik-Bortuzzo

Zatkoff

 

[Randy Butternubs]

Pens fan here. What's the deal with Richards and why is he on the 4th line?

 

[KingsFan7824]

"On whether Los Angeles uses any type of statistics or metrics to measure possession:
I think every team does now. For sure." Paging Toronto!

I'm sure they know how far down they are on a lot of those lists. Doesn't mean they currently have the ability to fix the problem though.

 

[Reclamation Project]

Pens fan here. What's the deal with Richards and why is he on the 4th line?

Wasn't playing well and finally was demoted. All four lines since then have looked great and everyone has settled into their role. Most of us are happy...

 

[cyclones22]

Pens fan here. What's the deal with Richards and why is he on the 4th line?

Motivation since he was stagnating centering Carter and assorted left wingers. Since the move, he's played much better and scored a couple of goals. That being said, he's still playing 16+ minutes a game, so it's not like he's putting in Colin Fraser-type minutes.

 

[ScoreZeGoals]

Pens fan here. What's the deal with Richards and why is he on the 4th line?

Too many bad turnovers, and basically being invisible offensively for a LONG period of time. He's been MUCH better the last few games. Sutter is trying to give him a kick in the butt

 

[Randy Butternubs]

I see. Thanks.

 

[kingsholygrail]

No Dwight King tonight.

I hope everything is alright. He's had a pair of great games on this road trip.

 

[lexlavender]

From practice quotes by Sutter:

"Good players play against good players. It’s not like they’re a one-line team or a one-player team. You might argue that the best player, other than Kopitar, in the league, is Crosby. So we’ve got to handle him tonight."

So apparently Sutter thinks that Kopi is the best player in the League. Interesting...

 

[MynameisKing]

Gotta pay the Pens back for the embarrassment at Staples.

Not quite. Ducks would be bumped down to 4th with Colorado in the #3 spot as a division leader. So it would be Kings vs Avs and Ducks vs Blackhawks.

Yeah, but still if you went with the previous playoff formats added to the restructuring we'd still have the same matchups either with seedings 1-8 or divisional playoffs. I thought that was interesting.

 

[King RAZZ]

If Neal AND Malkin are out...the headshots will be gone for at least this game...

 

[KingKopitar11*]

That sucks for King. Did Kneeal take out Malkin?

Well Clifford has been pretty good lately.

 

[SLang]

From practice quotes by Sutter:

"Good players play against good players. It’s not like they’re a one-line team or a one-player team. You might argue that the best player, other than Kopitar, in the league, is Crosby. So we’ve got to handle him tonight."

So apparently Sutter thinks that Kopi is the best player in the League. Interesting...

Awesome quote by Sutter.

 

[KingCanadain1976]

I vote lewis He always seems to end up in the net on scrabbles so they hit him and score. Im just curious if we re right do we get point for the first goal of the game contest lol I'm betting on a better pk tonight after giving up two to ovie Go Kings go

 

[kingsboy11]

Slava's first goal is going to be an own goal. Book it.

 

[DocWest]

Lol, nice thread!

 

[Puck U]

My guess is that Clifford is bumped up with Stoll and Brown and Nolan goes on the fourth line.

NOPE ... http://lakingsinsider.com/2014/03/27/game-74-preview-los-angeles-at-pittsburgh/


Los Angeles Projected Lines

Marian Gaborik – Anze Kopitar – Justin Williams
Tyler Toffoli – Mike Richards – Jeff Carter
Tanner Pearson – Jarret Stoll – Dustin Brown
Kyle Clifford – Trevor Lewis – Jordan Nolan

Jake Muzzin – Drew Doughty
Robyn Regehr – Slava Voynov
Willie Mitchell – Alec Martinez

Martin Jones
Jonathan Quick

Level of confidence in projected lines: A. As noted on Twitter earlier, Dwight King will miss tonight’s game due to personal reasons. The above lines represent the line rushes used at today’s morning skate. Martin Jones left the ice first and is projected as tonight’s starting goalie.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Toffoli back to LW and Richards back up centering Carter? That's interesting. I thought the fourth line was outplaying everyone else and the line with Pearson-Carter-Toffoli was also generating plenty of chances.