I feel like I'm pretty good about being patient. I try not to be a reactionary.
But damn PLD is getting on my nerves. I can't remember the last time I disliked a King's player this much.
It's like he doesn't want to engage in the board battles / cycle, so he just lobs blind passes through the offensive zone, almost always resulting in a turn over.
I just got back from the game, actually got to go tonight. He looked a bit better in person, he wasn't coasting as much as I thought he would. He was more engaged, but still nowhere near where he needs to be. That line was better tonight, but you can still see he and Laf are polar opposites. He does grate on you simply because he could be a monster on the cycle and he's not controlling the puck down low. He did that constantly last year, not sure what the deal is. He was hitting tonight and was being physical, so hopefully more engagement follows. I think he's had enough time to adjust now where it's put up/shut up time for him.
I'm a little concerned about Spence, he's missing the net, starting to make riskier plays, and is struggling a bit out there. When he does get it through it's right at the goalie. Overall he's solid defensively, but I don't know if he's hitting a bit of a wall or is gripping his stick. He does thrive on the PP and doesn't do anything glaringly bad, which is fine for a young 3rd pairing guy. I'm just wanting more, I guess. It probably doesn't help that Englund has come down to Earth a bit, but they still look more than passable.
I still think Laf needs some AHL time. He doesn't understand entering the zone as a unit, I was sitting on the end and all night you could see Arty and PLD coming up together and Laf flying off to the side trying to go around people. He's very quick and he got into the zone often which is good, but he skates himself out of support. As a result, he was out there at least 4 times where he got stuck on an extended shift because he went in and couldn't hang onto it while his line was changing. What's worse, is they were followed by the Danault line a lot of the game and it was keeping Fiala off the ice, who looked really dangerous tonight.
Everyone in my section was laughing after the first goal, the crowd was pretty fun. They were griping a lot because the Kings did outplay them handily for most of the game. Didn't see many ugly people. Climate Pledge is a nice place inside, but the outside is dated and a tad ugly to me. I don't think it can be changed though because it's in the area built for the fair in the '60s.
