GDT: Gm 1: kings vs flyers 7pm @ Staples

[mbar]

Only truly alarming thing about tonight’s game was Kopitar’s play.

No signs of a bounce back.

 

[onlyalad]

1/82 of the way to an undefeated season

I would rather they look bad and win than look good and lose

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Seeing Quick with one of his typical performances was very relieving. He will need to pull another 2012 season out of his butt and keep this team above water, because the offense sure as shit isn't going to give him much support.

Only one line was consistent throughout the night, and that was the Clifford-Shore-Lewis line. Iafallo was the only player on his line to display any talent, and the Pearson-Carter-Toffoli line had their moments but were mostly quiet for a large chunk of the game. The Cammalleri-Kempe-Brodzinski line had disaster written all over it, and that's exactly what they were inside their own blueline.

On the blueline, Muzzin stood out as being a driving force at both ends of the ice, and I like how quickly him and Folin meshed together. I also wasn't too concerned when the MacDermid-Fantenberg pairing were on the ice. Forbort and Doughty could play better. Sometimes they took too long to decide what to do. Doughty tried to join the attack a few times but the forwards never really presented him with many options.

Kopitar's play reminded me too much of what we saw from him last season. I get it, it is game one of the new season, but this just seemed like a continuation of Kopitar's dwindling play. He also didn't look any better in the preseason. He's just a healthy body who can be counted on to match up defensively against the opposition's top offensive forwards. He's turning into the next Jordan Staal.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Kind of an underrated aspect of Quick's game as hit on by Rosen from the presser:

"On Jonathan Quick:
He’s tremendous. He obviously makes the key saves at key times, but I think he manages the team well. He got whistles when he needed to. I thought he steered rebounds out of harm’s way when they had traffic coming to the net, so his experience, I thought, was very evident tonight."

 

[kingsfan28]

Seeing Quick with one of his typical performances was very relieving. He will need to pull another 2012 season out of his butt and keep this team above water, because the offense sure as **** isn't going to give him much support.

Only one line was consistent throughout the night, and that was the Clifford-Shore-Lewis line. Iafallo was the only player on his line to display any talent, and the Pearson-Carter-Toffoli line had their moments but were mostly quiet for a large chunk of the game. The Cammalleri-Kempe-Brodzinski line had disaster written all over it, and that's exactly what they were inside their own blueline.

On the blueline, Muzzin stood out as being a driving force at both ends of the ice, and I like how quickly him and Folin meshed together. I also wasn't too concerned when the MacDermid-Fantenberg pairing were on the ice. Forbort and Doughty could play better. Sometimes they took too long to decide what to do. Doughty tried to join the attack a few times but the forwards never really presented him with many options.

Kopitar's play reminded me too much of what we saw from him last season. I get it, it is game one of the new season, but this just seemed like a continuation of Kopitar's dwindling play. He also didn't look any better in the preseason. He's just a healthy body who can be counted on to match up defensively against the opposition's top offensive forwards. He's turning into the next Jordan Staal.

Oh god I hope not.

 

[KingsFan7824]

And that's fine, but we won, we just didn't win good enough I guess. I understand even being nitpicky to an extent, but just enjoy a two-zero shutout ffs. You would think we got stomped in a loss here. Jonathan Quick channeling 2012 alone is nice to see, never mind Toffoli getting on the board, the fourth line being manimals, and new d-men working their way into the lineup and looking good doing it.

Could we give the opponent some credit too?

We were one crazy Neuvirth save away from praising Iafallo and Kopitar in one breath. We shut down a PP that went 3-for-5 vs. one of our nemeses last night, shut out a team that scored 5 goals, while barely getting our legs under us.

If everyone looked that godawful in a 2-0 win, imagine what we'll do when everyone stops sucking!

Hopefully, but they don't get the benefit of the doubt after the last 3 years. Again, one game, just uninspiring. Where was the energy? Home opener, new coach, a lot of big name guys looking to bounce back, and it was just ho-hum. That's why they pay Quick though. It's 2 points they don't get last year because Budaj isn't Quick when Quick is Quick. On to game 2.

 

[damacles1156]

Toffoli had 7 shots on goal ! That's how you get out of a funk, start the season right

 

[lexlavender]

Despite the goal with Carter tonight, I really think Toffoli should be up with Kopitar. Last time I remember Kopitar being productive was when they were together. Maybe it'll shake things up with Kopi to reunite them.

 

[kingsfan28]

Did NBCSN even acknowledge the tribute to Christina Duarte before, during or after the game?

 

[Fishhead]

Just got back. I totally agree Ziggy, saw the same thing out there. The third line was not good, they got owned all over the ice. Kopitar should have had at least one goal, though, and his acumen is still there. Iafallo was the dangerous one on that line. I think Kopitar's biggest problem is he isn't taking straight lines to places any more. He's on the perimeter or taking an easier route rather than using his size to get where he wants to go. He used to body up to guys and bull them out of the way whether he had the puck or not. Instead of showing him film of this game, show him some film from 5 years ago and say "do this instead"

Muzzin was outstanding. Folin/Fant/MacD were solid. Forbort and Doughty were shaky. DD was taking too long to do things and it got him in trouble. Both he and Forbort turned the puck over at really bad times leading to prime scoring chances. Both were strong away from the puck and in good position, but they weren't good once they had it. They were matched up against some stiff competition and that explains some, but that's going to be every game so hopefully they improve.

Quick was in top form. But I thought Neuvirth was even better, dude kept them in it early when it could have gotten away from them.

 

[Sol]

Did NBCSN even acknowledge the tribute to Christina Duarte before, during or after the game?

Nope.

 

[kilowatt]

Nope.

Pretty bummed about the entire coverage situation. I didn’t see a notice that the Kings game was going to be on NHL network until minutes before puck drop - it just kept saying puck would drop at 10:21 EST. I wanted to see a full pregame show.

 

[Sol]

Pretty bummed about the entire coverage situation. I didn’t see a notice that the Kings game was going to be on NHL network until minutes before puck drop - it just kept saying puck would drop at 10:21 EST. I wanted to see a full pregame show.

You would think by now the NHL wouldn't schedule like idiots.

 

[kingsfan28]

You would think by now the NHL wouldn't schedule like idiots.

They needed the extra time to show how awesome the new Joe , I mean
Little Caesars Arena is and part with Doc Emmeric making a pizza live on air ran long .

 

[chesed]

Nope.

That's a shame. I had to listen to the first part of the game on the radio with Nickson and Evans and they aired the the announcement and moment of silence.

 

[Inner Turbulence]

Nice to start the season with a win.

Lewis' goal gave me major flashback to the 2012 playoffs.

 

[KingsFan7824]

If I'm seeing it correctly, last night was the most total minutes Brown has played in a regular season game since Feb 7th, 2012. Doughty had the 4th highest ES minutes on defense. Almost 5 minutes of SH time, while MacDermid had 0:00. If MacD can't play on the PK, or if they don't want him to, what's the point of him being here? Can't run 5 d-men every game. Rough night for Kopitar at the dot. 23% outside of the offensive zone. Solid night for Shore, and the 4th was the most effective line. If Kempe can't win a draw, he can't be a center.

 

[ScoreZeGoals]

One down, 81 to go. Not the best or most exciting effort, but a win is a win. With that said, the current 3rd line isn't going to work

 

[DocWest]

Did NBCSN even acknowledge the tribute to Christina Duarte before, during or after the game?

Not at all. It really pissed me off.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

If I'm seeing it correctly, last night was the most total minutes Brown has played in a regular season game since Feb 7th, 2012. Doughty had the 4th highest ES minutes on defense. Almost 5 minutes of SH time, while MacDermid had 0:00. If MacD can't play on the PK, or if they don't want him to, what's the point of him being here? Can't run 5 d-men every game. Rough night for Kopitar at the dot. 23% outside of the offensive zone. Solid night for Shore, and the 4th was the most effective line. If Kempe can't win a draw, he can't be a center.

That's a really interesting stat. There has to be a reason for it, maybe just experience with the system and they'll ease him in, or they didn't want to wreck the d-pairs? Regardless, don't want Doughty being given the ME Vlasic (babysitting a younger d-man) role for yet another year. But I guess if we have Muzzin and Martinez scoring, whatever!

 

[Fishhead]

Hey, the last time the Kings won their opener, they won the cup. I sense a pattern.

 

[kilowatt]

Let’s talk about Dustin Brown for a minute. He looked real good. He was causing problems in front of the net, he was passing well, he threw a few hits, and he looked pretty fast. Combined with Iafallo, that top line will be hard to deal with if Kopitar can find some energy.

 

[onlyalad]

It is just one game. No need to panic
I am going to wait until at least 20 have been played before writing this team off. And they won so something must have worked.

 

[KingsFan7824]

That's a really interesting stat. There has to be a reason for it, maybe just experience with the system and they'll ease him in, or they didn't want to wreck the d-pairs? Regardless, don't want Doughty being given the ME Vlasic (babysitting a younger d-man) role for yet another year. But I guess if we have Muzzin and Martinez scoring, whatever!

A 0-0 or 1-0 game for almost 60 minutes, with the Flyers controlling play for the most part, so I get that it'll be a little more situational. Doughty can play a ton too. One is a lefty and one a righty, so Mac wouldn't necessarily give Doughty a rest, but less than 9 total minutes for a defenseman, and nothing on the PK, when he's not going to give you much offensively?

One game, situational, but Stevens went short bench quickly. Basically 3 lines and 5 D. Brodzinski, Kempe, MacDermid...who? Not that they played great, but young guys have to prove it, no matter the coach. So much time on special teams. Carter ended up with the same ES time as Shore.

 

[fsanford]

Well we knew that Cammy is not known for his defensive skills, and it seemed Flyers took full advantage when he was on the ice.

Would have been nice if Kopi buried that point blank shot, hope its not an omen of things to come.

It was a great win because there were 3 things going against the Kings last night.

1) First regular season game, those have pretty much sucked in recent memory
2) It was a regular season game on NBC, lots of Kings ass getting kicked when that happens.
3) Back up goalie, who when he made that save on Kopitar, had me thinking no way we overcome the 3 negative trifecta

Also nothing like coming to the game as a fan of the opposing team not getting to cheer even 1 goal.
Crickets are a beautiful thing.