Game 6: Preds vs. Kings 2-1 Shootout Loss

[Ron*]

im starting to worry about Kopi. i mean, he played overseas for a while before coming back here so he should be in game shape already...right? him and richards have been extremely underwhelming thus far

Kopitar is playing with a knee brace.

 

[Buddy The Elf]

did the team have some kind of all night dinner-party the night before? i swear most of them looked like they were hungover. it couldn't have been the rookie dinner, because teams do that on the road.

Don't know about that but my friend who lives in Hermosa by the North End said they had the place shutdown after the Phoenix game last weekend. That is the place they went after the conference finals win so maybe they were feeling nostalgic 9 months later.

 

[deeshamrock]

Penner's in...

From King's News Daily...

@Dustinpenner25 practicing on the 2nd line with @MRichie_10 and Carter. Clifford drops to 4th line with King, Fraser and Nolan. #LAKings

 

[theMajor]

Kopitar is playing with a knee brace.

a knee brace isnt the sole reason for his play so far. if that were the case i wouldnt be worried at all
he looked great against the Yotes but since then i havent seen much of anything

 

[YP44]

Penner's in...

From King's News Daily...

@Dustinpenner25 practicing on the 2nd line with @MRichie_10 and Carter. Clifford drops to 4th line with King, Fraser and Nolan. #LAKings

Does that mean Gagne is out or playing on thrid with Stoll.
I don't know why Penner is on the 2nd he did good in the playoffs on the 3rd line with 3rd line minutes.

 

[Vic Vinegar]

Does that mean Gagne is out or playing on thrid with Stoll.
I don't know why Penner is on the 2nd he did good in the playoffs on the 3rd line with 3rd line minutes.

I'm pretty sure Penner was on the 2nd line for most of the playoffs.

Either way, I don't know if I like these lines. If anyone deserves to be demoted, it's Brown. Maybe try Gagne on the first and bump Brown down to the third? He has had chemistry with Stoll and Lewis in the past.

 

[YP44]

I'm pretty sure Penner was on the 2nd line for most of the playoffs.

Either way, I don't know if I like these lines. If anyone deserves to be demoted, it's Brown. Maybe try Gagne on the first and bump Brown down to the third? He has had chemistry with Stoll and Lewis in the past.

I thought he started performing once Sutter managed his mintues more closely. Either way I don't like seeing him in the top 2.
I would be for revamping the top 2 maybe splitting up Carter and Richards.

 

[Vic Vinegar]

I thought he started performing once Sutter managed his mintues more closely. Either way I don't like seeing him in the top 2.
I would be for revamping the top 2 maybe splitting up Carter and Richards.

I could be wrong, but I think Penner started on the 3rd line, was promoted due to good play, and then continued to play well on the 2nd. But, I agree, I don't like him jumping in on the 2nd line. But who knows, maybe being benched was the kick in the ass he needed.

 

[deeshamrock]

Does that mean Gagne is out or playing on thrid with Stoll.

Per Jim fox, Gagne on 3rd line, which won't work. Gagne's not a 3rd line player and SToll doesn't have the skillset to feed him. Gagne was better the few shifts he had withj Carter and RIchards.

Either way I don't like seeing him in the top 2.
I would be for revamping the top 2 maybe splitting up Carter and Richards.

Splitting up Carter and Richards would be a step backwards. You keep Carter and Kopi on separate lines (for most reg. shifts) because it makes the other team choose coverage.
And Carter is good with Richards, it's only 6 games, no need to panic.

 

[deeshamrock]

More PP work...

KingsNewsDaily New look Power Play. 11,23,77,10,8 #LAKings
pic.twitter.com/A9xvheNb
Read more at http://kingsnewsdaily.com/#4fDOVYYY1BsxeSBK.99

 

[Herby]

This is exactly why Loktionov should have been given a chance or they should have signed someone capable of generating offense from the 3rd line.

With Richards struggles and now Gagne being slotted on line 3 the Kings desperately need some scoring from the 3rd line. But yeah goodluck with that with #28 who could kill a line if his wingers were Pavel Bure and Cam Neely in their primes.

On the bright side, atleast Carter looks great. He has been carrying that line, been playing at such a great level, it's not hard to tell which guys were working out and staying in shape and which ones weren't.

 

[Sacha Baron Corbin]

This is exactly why Loktionov should have been given a chance or they should have signed someone capable of generating offense from the 3rd line.

With Richards struggles and now Gagne being slotted on line 3 the Kings desperately need some scoring from the 3rd line. But yeah goodluck with that with #28 who could kill a line if his wingers were Pavel Bure and Cam Neely in their primes.

On the bright side, atleast Carter looks great. He has been carrying that line, been playing at such a great level, it's not hard to tell which guys were working out and staying in shape and which ones weren't.

I dunno who we could send down, but maybe calling Loki up if Penner continues to struggle and put him on the 3rd line with Stoll, if he outplays Stoll maybe give Stoll the Penner treatment? I have no idea how it would work but just an idea, we haven't seen Loki under Sutter.

 

[kingsholygrail]

Why did Clifford get demoted?

 

[Telos]

Why did Clifford get demoted?

It is more of a team problem. Sutter is changing things up because the team still isn't scoring enough. Hopefully he saw something from Penner in practice that may help this team score, but more likely he is just trying to get the players back to their normal pairings to find a spark and let them develop more chemistry. The team needs to go back to the basics and find ways to score.

 

[KingKopitar11*]

I really think we need to make some trades and put some extra players through waivers. We have a lot of crap. Stoll is almost always bad let's no kid ourselves we need to get rid of him, if Penner doesn't improve soon enough let's get rid of him too, Richardson needs to get the boot. Then we can afford to scratch king and others and try our young kids like vey or Toffoli in our line up with Loktionov like it or not we really need to see them play. Loktionov and Toffoli with Penner makes a good third line. That's a talented line up. Maybe change up the system a bit tweak it up so players can use their talent and work the slot more than the board play. That'd be wonderful

 

[Dykstra]

has someone noticed that Quick has improved his puckhandling?

 

[Telos]

has someone noticed that Quick has improved his puckhandling?

I've seen this mentioned a few times, and I honestly don't notice it. Every time he touches the puck it still ends up on an opponent's stick. He may be less shaky and it doesn't result in a direct scoring chance, but he never knows what to do with it when he gets it and always panics and throws it up along he boards, usually in the opposite direction of his teammates, and always onto the stick of an opposing player. That happened in Nashville and caused like a 30 second possession by the Preds in our zone. It just irks me that practically every time I see him play the puck, the other team is typically playing it next.

 

[HansH]

As of now, 56 points would put the Kings into the projected #8 spot, meaning their target record to get into the playoffs from this point forward is 25-17, a points percentage of .595.

 

[onlyalad]

has someone noticed that Quick has improved his puckhandling?

I was thinking the same thing. Not a stellar play but less scary

 

[YP44]

Per Jim fox, Gagne on 3rd line, which won't work. Gagne's not a 3rd line player and SToll doesn't have the skillset to feed him. Gagne was better the few shifts he had withj Carter and RIchards.



Splitting up Carter and Richards would be a step backwards. You keep Carter and Kopi on separate lines (for most reg. shifts) because it makes the other team choose coverage.
And Carter is good with Richards, it's only 6 games, no need to panic.

I think Gagne looked good against Vancouver where he seemed to play with three of the four lines.
I don't think this would be a panic move at all. Panic would be saying players need to be traded. This is tinkering to see if you can find som success.

 

[Vamos Rafa]

As of now, 56 points would put the Kings into the projected #8 spot, meaning their target record to get into the playoffs from this point forward is 25-17, a points percentage of .595.

Unless we have a deep run again, number 8 seed will be a disappointment for this team. I mean the SC playoffs are a crapshoot, but why do we have to struggle to make the playoffs?

 

[topliner967]

has someone noticed that Quick has improved his puckhandling?

Not so much this season from last. I thought last season was an improvement from the season before that though.

 

[Pucknut50]

Activate the D please! Until you do we will not score. Most teams play a collapse defense so unless the D start to activate, the King forwards are playing 3 on 5 from the half boards in. Yes were going to get the rare goal here in there from the point but to get consistent chances we need to have a D down low. Just like when Murray coached, the D are afraid to go past that invisible line. If you watch tape of the games from the second half of last year and in the playoffs all the D except Scuderi would follow the puck down low when the opportunity was available. Trust the forwards to cover high.

Also what I noticed teams doing now is shooting wide and playing the rebound. With the equipment these days players are coming out to block shots and getting any type of clear look at the net is almost impossible. Look for a clear lane, shoot it whether its on net or not. You just need it to get past the first wave of defenders then you may have an out numbered advantage down low especially on the PP. Hey I think Edmonton got 2 goals by shooting wide and playing the carom vs the Kings.

 

[Whiskeypete]

Activate the D please! Until you do we will not score. Most teams play a collapse defense so unless the D start to activate, the King forwards are playing 3 on 5 from the half boards in. Yes were going to get the rare goal here in there from the point but to get consistent chances we need to have a D down low. Just like when Murray coached, the D are afraid to go past that invisible line. If you watch tape of the games from the second half of last year and in the playoffs all the D except Scuderi would follow the puck down low when the opportunity was available. Trust the forwards to cover high.

Also what I noticed teams doing now is shooting wide and playing the rebound. With the equipment these days players are coming out to block shots and getting any type of clear look at the net is almost impossible. Look for a clear lane, shoot it whether its on net or not. You just need it to get past the first wave of defenders then you may have an out numbered advantage down low especially on the PP. Hey I think Edmonton got 2 goals by shooting wide and playing the carom vs the Kings.

teams have been shooting wide for a long, long, long time ago.....

seriously they have, its just more pronounced than ever before. it's part of the strategy of playing puck possession and how this has evolved over the years. offensive zone time leads to scoring opportunities, penalties, shots and goals. the longer and the deeper the puck is in the offensive zone the percentages increase. the last thing you do/want is the puck up high or near the blue line.

i think it was DD last night on one cycle situation in the NSH zone that this was clearly evident. LA had cycled the puck around and up the wall to the point. the pressure moved up the wall to DD, but he didn't have a clear shooting lane or pass option. instead of forcing anything or turning it over, he dumped it cross ice away from every LA player. it was a clear and clean way of maintaining zone time and minimizing risk.

in the not to distant past this would have been refrained on. the old way of playing this was to keep the puck down the same half wall with a half pass/dump in to a teammate. never would you see someone dump the puck in away from support.

one major issue with LA's game as a whole is the lack of up ice pressure on the forecheck. last year when it clicked they had very tight up ice pressure with all 5 guys. the gaps and seams were tight and it caused turnovers, which lead to outmanned chances and high percentage chances.

that same forecheck and gap pressure hasn't been there. i think it's primarily due to lack of conditioning and practice time. to play Sutter's aggressive forecheck takes a lot of stamina, the guys aren't there yet.

i've also noticed the forwards are dropping further back in the O zone (Murray style). i was watching DB particularly last night and if 14 and 11 were down below the dots 23 was typically up high in the zone. far enough that DB was usually off camera and up around the top of the circles. to me this again is a lack of up ice pressure and support on the puck - same as above

 

[RonSwanson*]

Also what I noticed teams doing now is shooting wide and playing the rebound. With the equipment these days players are coming out to block shots and getting any type of clear look at the net is almost impossible. Look for a clear lane, shoot it whether its on net or not. You just need it to get past the first wave of defenders then you may have an out numbered advantage down low especially on the PP. Hey I think Edmonton got 2 goals by shooting wide and playing the carom vs the Kings.

Colorado did that against the Kings in the second game of the season.