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Kings @ World Championships in Czech Rep (?)

US couldn't send better players than Matt Hendricks and Dan Sexton? It's a joke that other countries top players want to play...Jack Campbell and Connor Hellebuyck in goal lmfao.
 
Hellebuyck leads all goaltenders in saves %. :)

Slovakia loses to Russia 2-3 in overtime. Gáborík missed a wide-open net, then hit the crossbar on the same powerplay. He later scored with a slapshot to equalize 2-2. (Slovakia's play-off chances continue to be minimal: they need to beat the US in the final game, and they need help from two other teams that need to defeat Belarus...)
 
SFKingshomer said:
US couldn't send better players than Matt Hendricks and Dan Sexton? It's a joke that other countries top players want to play...Jack Campbell and Connor Hellebuyck in goal lmfao.
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This is the point that I made before, in fairness, many of our top players were/are still playing when this started, Kane, Suter, Parise, Bishop and Pacioretty just to name a few, some also were getting some much needed rest, most notably Quick.
 
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I feel bad for Slovenia, they play their hearts out and were a treat to watch in the Olympics last year. But Kopi needs some help, he cannot carry the team by himself against stacked international rosters.
 
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I haven't been keeping up with the hightlights from the World championships but they had a video and commentary on Jagr's play for the CZech's and how he's been so strong and dominant. That would be impressive for any player, but at 43 after a full NHL season, it's incredible. And it's givng the whole country a boost. hopefully for them, tomorrow morning 's game will be close. He's an amazing example of skill, dedication and drive. He might not be joking when he says he will play to 50.
 
Jágr looks pretty gassed out there, but still managed to decide the quarterfinal game against his Florida linemate Barkov (who could be his son, age-wise) and Finland, with 2 goals and an assist. Jágr now has 9 points (6 goals) in 8 games. He's also playing through injuries – he first hurt his little finger in one of the opening games, and then, due to a "lower-body injury", he only played a minute or so in the last group game, so it wasn't certain whether he'd be playing in the play-offs at all.

Jake Muzzin leads the entire tournament in +/-, he's +12 after 8 games (7 assists). For comparison, Crosby is -1 (8 points, 3 goals) after 7 games (he got rested in the final group game) on a dominant Canadian team that has been scoring over 7 goals per game (!) so far. :amazed: Muzzin currently has 17 + points and 5 - points for the overall +12. Muzzin is one of only two skaters on the Canadian team who haven't scored a goal.

Big semifinal day coming up today Saturday, with US vs. Russia (6:15 a.m. LA time) and Canada vs. the home team, Czechs (10:15 a.m. LA time). Lewis gets to play against all the Russian superstar snipers except for Datsyuk (injury). Ovechkin just flew in from Washington yesterday. I can't see the US surviving this onslaught, but Hellebuyck (Winnipeg Jets' AHL goalie) has been leading all goaltenders (including Rinne) so far with 0.944 SVS%.
 
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kingsholygrail said:
Maybe Ovie will be jet lagged and suck.
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It's happened before that Ovechkin's late arrival at the Worlds disturbed team chemistry. He captained Russia to gold at last year's Worlds, but he was with the team the whole time then. Russia's performances have been pretty uneven this year. Their team is structured similarly to Canada (though on a lower level, of course): offensive juggernauts, with less impressive defence, and Bobrovsky in goal hasn't been secure at all times. Russia's 1st line at this tournament has been their top KHL line, and it doesn't even include Kovalchuk (looks like he's only a third-liner on this team) but the top threat on it is Panarin (who'll be playing for the Blackhawks next season). Malkin's 2nd line came alive in the quarterfinals, and Malkin with 2 goals and an assist was the driving force behind eliminating Sweden. So it's hard to predict what shape Russia is going to be in later today, and on which line Ovechkin will be playing. It would seem too bad to disurb the chemistry on Russia's 1st line, so it looks like Ovechkin may end up somewhere on the (officially) second or third line. Definitely 1st power-play unit, though.
 
Faterson said:
Jágr looks pretty gassed out there, but still managed to decide the quarterfinal game against his Florida linemate Barkov (who could be his son, age-wise) and Finland, with 2 goals and an assist. Jágr now has 9 points (6 goals) in 8 games. He's also playing through injuries – he first hurt his little finger in one of the opening games, and then, due to a "lower-body injury", he only played a minute or so in the last group game, so it wasn't certain whether he'd be playing in the play-offs at all.

Jake Muzzin leads the entire tournament in +/-, he's +12 after 8 games (7 assists). For comparison, Crosby is -1 (8 points, 3 goals) after 7 games (he got rested in the final group game) on a dominant Canadian team that has been scoring over 7 goals per game (!) so far. :amazed: Muzzin currently has 17 + points and 5 - points for the overall +12. Muzzin is one of only two skaters on the Canadian team who haven't scored a goal.

Big semifinal day coming up today Saturday, with US vs. Russia (6:15 a.m. LA time) and Canada vs. the home team, Czechs (10:15 a.m. LA time). Lewis gets to play against all the Russian superstar snipers except for Datsyuk (injury). Ovechkin just flew in from Washington yesterday. I can't see the US surviving this onslaught, but Hellebuyck (Winnipeg Jets' AHL goalie) has been leading all goaltenders (including Rinne) so far with 0.944 SVS%.
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Well, that's because Muzzin is playing Doughty. Muzzin sucks...oh wait.
 
Brad Doty said:
Well played!

Actually, it IS refreshing to see what Muzzin can do in a different situation elsewhere. Glad he's still making his mark!
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Generally, I am not in favor of players like Kopitar (that is suppose to be exhausted) and Gaborik participating in the tournament.

However, I think it can be great for the development of good young players like Muzzin, Toffoli, Lewis, etc. They often get thrust into new roles, and if they are successful they can develop a new confidence in certain aspects of their game.

The Kings may need Muzzin to carry a pairing some day. The experience he is getting in this tournament can help with that. Sorry European fans, I look at this tournament as a development tool, and am glad that Quick, Brown, Doughty, Carter, etc. decided to stay home.
 
Nose of Sutter said:
I feel bad for Slovenia, they play their hearts out and were a treat to watch in the Olympics last year. But Kopi needs some help, he cannot carry the team by himself against stacked international rosters.
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Our blueliners were awful. Same goes for the first line (Jeglic-Ticar-Sabolic). Goalies were not sharp enough and so on. They played much better in Sochi and OI qualification At least agreement has been reached between our, French, Latvian and Belarusian federation for annual tournament starting in November 2016.:handclap:
 
Well, was hoping for the US to pull it off, but no go. Maybe get the bronze. That'd be pretty nice considering how low budget the team is.
 
US team named its 3 best players for the tourney, which were given an award. Traditionally, though not always, teams nominate a goaltender, a defenceman, and a forward. The US team named Hellebuyck, Seth Jones, and Trevor Lewis. :handclap: Slovak TV announcers said they were surprised to see Lewis get the award, but I wasn't.

I was more surprised by Team Canada and Team Russia picks. Canadians rewarded Smith, Burns and Giroux, while the Russians selected Bobrovsky, Kulyomin and Panarin. So, no award for Malkin (despite 9 points in the tourney now), Kovalchuk, Tarasenko, etc.
 
Watching Lewis in today's game against Russia, he was doing everything for that team, including his center's job to cover forwards below the circles, blocking shots, killing penalties, being in position to recover pucks from his own end of the ice and getting it out of his zone.

Seeing him perform away from the Kings makes you admire the work he puts into the game. If he wasn't a King, he's the type of player you would want to have on the roster, and a player like him is exactly what this team was missing in the bottom six back when we had to watch the likes of Willsie and Zeiler on the roster.
 
The Lewis-Eichel combo is at it again. Lewis gets his 3rd goal (and 9th point) in 10 games, and Eichel his 7th point. The US lead the home team, Czechs (deflated after their semifinal loss), 2-0 after 1st period of the bronze-medal game.
 
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Great tournament for Lewis. Hopefully he can translate it to take another step next year within our own system.
 
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