Stanley Cup Hangover

[Ron*]

IMO, the Kings are proving that its not about the short turnaround from June to October that causes the hangover, its about what's between the ears.

Everyone (myself included) thought the Kings would be immune to this, given the long lockout and everyone itching to get back on the ice.

However, as many have pointed out on these boards, the Kings appear disinterested at times. Apathetic. Listless. Pick your own words to describe the general malaise that seems to be affecting this team.

Sutter is calling out just about everyone (by name). His latest target is Doughty (see here).

Sure, injuries are definitely playing a part. Greene and Mitchell are out, and who knows when either of them will be back. Not surprisingly, the defense has been mediocre at best, and awful at worse, giving up far too many turnovers and making life generally miserable for Quick.

Quick, of course, hasn't been his epic self (how could he top last season's playoff run; indeed, last season in total?). But if he had a good defense in front of him, I probably wouldn't feel the need to post this thread at this point in time.

This might be the best time to get rid of this hangover. Detroit is suffering through an injury bug that makes the Kings look as healthy as they did in the playoff run, and St. Louis looks awful in their last four after a torrid start.

The Time Is Now.

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[deeshamrock]

IMO, the Kings are proving that its not about the short turnaround from June to October that causes the hangover, its about what's between the ears.

This isn't a hangover (I hate that expression.) The Rangers arren't playing great either but it's called a slump or slow start, same as the Caps. Just because the Kings were in the finals...it's a'hangover? Nope

The Devils were in the Finals too and are the best team in the East with the 2nd best record in hockey. And they lost a top player in Parise.

Losing Mitchell and Greene is a large part of what's wrong. IT changed the complexion of how they play.

I understand Sutter's frustration , his top players, the top 6 forwards and Doughty, have not given him what it takes to win. And that has to start today. The 3rd an d4th lines will be fine. Stoll and Richards will be able to stop the goals that have been goin the other way, which has happened far too frequently this year.

The first 2 lines will struggle, and won't be effective, it's not a good mix . But Sutter had to do something. HOpefully they can keep the Wings off the board and get their PP going, take advantage of the extrra man/
And tomorrow against the Blues won't be much easier, but they're in a bad slump and could be the key game for the Kings.
If they can beat the Wings ns Blues, take 6 of 8 from this road trip, that's a good start.

 

[ScoreZeGoals]

I'm usually not one to make excuses, but what has happened seems like the perfect storm to make this team crappy.

*We had the traditional cup hangover (everyone looks lethargic), and with the exception of Carter and perhaps one or two other guys, most guys look like they were busy partying and not hitting the gym.
*Most of our best players were not playing during the lockout and as a result came in out of shape. Those that did play look worse. Kopi got injured and is not 100% and Brown looks like he has brought the "no hitting" aspect of European hockey back with him.
*We are dealing with serious injuries.

My biggest concern right now is that we are getting so few chances from the prime scoring areas and instead rely too much on settling on shots from the point. This has lead to an obscene amount of blocked shots against us. We are also relying on Quick too much. He is coming off of back surgery and is the only goalie to start every game for his team

 

[deeshamrock]

My biggest concern right now is that we are getting so few chances from the prime scoring areas and instead rely too much on settling on shots from the point. This has lead to an obscene amount of blocked shots against us. We are also relying on Quick too much. He is coming off of back surgery and is the only goalie to start every game for his team

This!

It was very noticable against the Preds...not driving the net, taking poor percentage shots. I think the Preds blocked somthing like 24 shots. That has to stop. I know that Sutter and his coaches should be watching game videos, that they ahve to know that. But yet game in , game out, it continues. And it's costing them games.

 

[LAKings88]

It's been an ugly start and hard to watch...makes me feel hungover a little bit.

 

[BigBrown]

I would attribute this to the hangover if they hadn't looked about the same half of last season too. It just feels like this team won't play their best until they absolutely have to. It's like having weeks to finish a project but waiting until the day before it's due before you really get into it and start working hard. I do that all the time and I hate that I'm like that. They seem to have the team version of it.

 

[Kings4thecup]

I also don't think it's a "hangover" per se, it's a combination of things (all mentioned above). I felt they have starting looking better game by game until Thursday. They'll get their mojo back, and hopefully get on a roll. A couple road wins in a row could lead to that. Good timing to face Detroit and ST Louis. This team tore it up on the road in the playoffs, so we all know their capable. Time is now.

And maybe a little hair of the dog this morning, get rid of the "hangover" if they do have one.