It was a frustrating loss, but the end of days it was not. There were some positives to take away from this, as well as continued rust in some key areas.
Guys I liked - Kassian, Schroeder, Raymond, Burrows, Hansen, Weise, Ballard, Luongo.
I didn't think Edler and Garrison were as bad as some are saying, and I think Bieksa was relatively decent. Tanev got caught by the quick Kings' forecheckers a few times, but Ballard had a strong game covering for him.
We were fairly lucky to get ahead 2-0, as we really didn't generate and sustain much pressure, ditto for scoring chances. The Kings were much more consistent in their effort and execution throughout the game, forcing Luongo to make a lot of big saves, whereas Quick usually just need to be in roughly the right position to stop a puck.
The thing I found the most frustrating was the team trying to guide the 2-1 lead home rather than pursue the insurance marker. It's not a tactic that's worked well for us in the past, but given that we're missing some key pieces due to injury and that there is a lot of rust and what have you to be worked out, it's a positive step. We've earned a couple of points in games where he probably didn't deserve them.
We haven't seen anything remotely close to what this team has to offer yet, and there will be more stumbles before they start walking and eventually sprinting, IMO.
