LAK 4 - NASH 3: Halloween heart attack

[Ron*]

That was a really fun game to be at.

Dude, you should have let me know. I'm going to all the games this year, let me know next time you are around we can meet at one of the intermissions. The finaceé wants to know all my BBS buddies.

 

[Frolov 6'3]

I thought Carter's OT winner was wonderful, and people weren't giving him nearly enough credit. I wrote a little thing on reddit.com/r/losangeleskings, but of course they don't pay attention to quality there so I thought I'd post it with the "Authentic Fans" here as well.

Doughty's coordination and quick thinking was great, obviously, but I wanted to point out Carter's play as well.

Go find an extended replay and watch it. (Can I post a streamable link here?)

Carter is exhausted there. It was (if I recall) already a long shift, with a LOT of open ice, and that means a lot of skating. The fact that he had barely made the red line when Doughty's pass found him is a good indicator of this; he just didn't have the gas left in the tank to backcheck. But, like any good scorer, getting the puck on his stick and seeing open ice in front of him gave him enough energy to manage one last burst.

Notice the way that his skating is labored coming through the neutral zone, and he doesn't handle the puck cleanly when he receives the pass. Those are both unusual for him--he's normally a very smooth and powerful in his skating, and his hands are typically excellent. You can see the exhaustion in the sloppiness with which he begins his run in, as he pushes the puck too far ahead of himself with his first touch, and must then take a few extra strides and shift his angle slightly to regain full possession.

Ironically, it ends up helping him. His instincts are to shoot, and most of his one-on-one opportunities will quite rightly end with him sniping it, taking advantage of his excellent shooting abilities. Here, however, his bobble of the puck took him too long to recover and he didn't have the space to set himself. By the time he reached the top of the circle, the puck was in his skates, and he didn't have his weight set properly to get off the shot that he probably wanted. The upside of this is that his crazy and half-controlled approach kept Rinne deeper in his net than he wanted. So, without a clean shot and a goalie deep in his net, Carter was practically forced to cut across the crease, and out-wait Rinne. Rinne, I'm sure, is kicking himself for committing when he did. But, Carter, despite the obvious exhaustion manifest in his legs and hands, kept his head and took his time.
Great ****ing goal.

Longest recap of a goal I've ever seen.


Awesome, well said

 

[Reclamation Project]

Dude, you should have let me know. I'm going to all the games this year, let me know next time you are around we can meet at one of the intermissions. The finaceé wants to know all my BBS buddies.

She's gonna regret that.

 

[cheap77]

Gaborik feels like such a waste playing with shore and lewis on the third line.

 

[Ron*]

Gaborik feels like such a waste playing with shore and lewis on the third line.

Sutter changed it up mid-game and put Gaborik back onto the top line and sent Pearson to purgatory.

Although I should say that if Lewis keeps up with those wing rushes Pearson should get some chances. I've noticed that the last week or so Lewis has really started to take advantage of his speed.

 

[KopitarFAN]

http://lakingsinsider.com/2015/11/01/forbort-recalled-ehrhoff-skating/

Everybody exhale, Ehrhoff participated in practice.

 

[possesthepuck]

Lewis and King are going to have their best years yet. Dwight King got so much faster!

 

[Reclamation Project]

Ribeiro boarded him? Go figure, guy's a dirtbag.

 

[kingsfan28]

Ribeiro boarded him? Go figure, guy's a dirtbag.

2 min minor my ass! That had 5 and a game all over it, and we've all seen majors called for lesser hits.

 

[Captain Mittens*]

Lewis and King are going to have their best years yet. Dwight King got so much faster!

You know that King has a broken leg, right?

 

[TheSentinel]

Bionic Leg

 

[SettlementRichie10]

Hopefully, we ride this streak as long as possible, collecting as many points as we can in the process. Because the Carter line will inevitably hit a wall, and we clearly have no secondary scoring ATM.

Hate to be the negative nancy here, but Kopitar, Brown, and Gaborik have been offensive black holes thus far. Would like to see what a Pearson-Kopitar-Gaborik line could do.

 

[Reclamation Project]

This team needs some veteran grit and depth scoring. They're severely lacking it.

This team needs Mike Richards.

 

[scryan]

Gaborik feels like such a waste playing

I know, right?

 

[KopitarFAN]

You know that King has a broken leg, right?

Broken foot. Out 5-7 more weeks.

 

[scryan]

Foot is part of your leg.

 

[Martyros]

Foot is part of your leg.

not in anatomical terms. A foot is a foot.

 

[possesthepuck]

Funny cause I just had my foot broken! Doctor still made me walk!

 

[Dog as Man]

I love how the misery of being a Kings fan can come out even as they're streaking. The boys and the fellas running the club are about two steps ahead of us all the time. We're better Monday morning quarterbacks though.

Seems to me that with all the changes from last year and the injuries we've sustained the team is finding their new roles. Did anyone see Lewis in the worlds last year? He was a scoring force. That third line's speed helped to neutralize the Jets speed at a critical point in that game. I think most of this will shake out.

Sure would like a tough faceoff guy.

Hawks are used for sport by Kings, thus may it always be.

 

[Quattro]

The other thing is there's only so much offense to go around. We've been over 3 goals a game in the winning streak, that would be near the top in the NHL. If the 70s line is potting 3-4 goals a game, putting other guys at 70 point paces would mean we're scoring 5-6 goals a game. Not even the mighty Hawks or Lightning are doing that. There's a reason there's typically only 1-2 players per team approaching PPG. Someone will cool off, you just have to hope someone else heats up to even it out. It's the reason scoring depth is so important in the playoffs and why one line teams struggle.

Great post. I've thought about this often. If everyone on the team performed at the level people here seem to expect from them individually, the team would score 10 a game. Ludicrous for any team, much less one with a defense first, grinding style. You have to be realistic about individual expectations and focus on the team result instead imo.

The kings have won 7 games in a row, one off a club record and 3/4 of the posts on the PGTs are hand-wringing about what certain players aren't doing rather than what the team is doing. I guess it's just the nature of the internet and boards like this to focus on the minutia.