Kings showed an amazing amount of heart tonight, being down 2-0 early and battling back, overcoming that god awful BS non-call to force OT was a pretty amazing effort.
Kopitar and Richards showed up and made huge plays in the 3rd period. Greene, Scuderi and the rest of the D left it all out on the ice but the Kings just didn't have the roster to compete with Chicago this season, even with Kopi and Richards showing up huge today it wasn't enough.
I felt like there weren't any passengers last season, and this season there were quite a bit. In particular the Kings had no production from support players at all. Yeah Kopitar and Brown were playing hurt, but it would have been nice to get any kind of timely production from anyone else below them.
The Kings 3rd line, which was so good in the playoffs last year and for much of the early part of the season could never find that magic in the playoffs this season, last year they contributed 10 goals, including 4 by King in the WCF round. The Kings lost 3 games by one goal, they really needed something from this line and it never came.
Last year the 4th line was not a liability, Fraser played well, Nolan played well and Richardson played well before giving way to Gagne in the final 3 games. Remember Richie's huge goal in game 5 vs, Vancouver to tie it, or Nolan's goal early in game 4 vs. STL last year to get the crowd going wild, or Fraser scoring the first goal of the finals, those were all HUGE goals! This year the Kings 4th line was a disaster, out played in all three of the series. I really have no idea what kind of plans the Kings have for Kyle Clifford going forward, but this is a player that is regressing, rather than progressing. He really doesn't add much to the hockey team, especially in a series like this one, there was just no role he could play effectively. Nolan went from a huge plus to a negative this season, I still think he can be a solid 4th line player for the Kings, but he wasn't in these playoffs.
Alec Martinez, like Clifford he regressed as a player this season. If Alec is back here next season he needs to dedicate himself this summer and try and re-find his game from years past, he was a disaster this season, especially in the defensive end. He went from being a really solid contributor in the cup run to not being able to even see the ice he was so bad defensively.
Jake Muzzin, had a nice start to the year but fell off in a big way. Was not playing well in the playoffs, but the alternatives were Martinez and Ellerby, who were both overmatched. He has the talent, but the Kings need to decide if he has it between the ears to be a real quality NHL d-man. I don't know, I'm a bit torn on Muzzin.
I think in order to compete with Chicago, the Kings need to add quite a bit of skill and maybe roll 3 lines that can be a threat to score...
Here is something maybe to work with...
Brown - Kopitar - Williams
New Guy - Carter - Toffoli
Pearson - Richards - New Guy
King/Cliff - Stoll - Lewis
I just think they really need to improve the skill in this lineup.
