GDT: GM#1 LA Kings vs San Jose Sharks @7:30 10/5/18

[Herby]

It should be
Kopitar-Carter-Doughty
Kempe-Kovalchuk-Martinez
Pearson-Toffoli-Muzzin
Wagner-Amadio-Fantenberg

*Thompson-Clifford-Phaneuf

 

[regulate]

Every one of those Wagner looks was due to Amadio's passing. Amadio played 7 minutes in this game.

 

[johnjm22]

Wagner had 3 break aways in 9:54 of ice time.

 

[Herby]

Obviously no way to know it would happen, but with Gaborik basically having a career ending injury and on LTIR I bet the Kings wish they had never made the Phaneuf-Thompson trade.

Wonder who would win a lap around the rink, Dion or Jumbo Joe.

 

[KingsOfCali25]

The team didn't look bad for the 1st game of the season. San Jose was lucky they already played a game this season. Kempe and Wagner looked like the best players on the ice tonight (a long with Kopitar). Carter, Kovy and Muzzin looked like they were steps behind. Phanuef and Thompson looked horrible and should be in the press box next game.

This team will be contending for the division title when healthy. Definitely would like to see JAD, LaDue and Brickley in the lineup to replace Phanuef, Fantenberg and Thompson.

PowerPlay still sucks. I think the Kings actually have more space 5on5 then 5on4

 

[Fishhead]

That's not going to keep him in the league if he's going to be as awful as he was in the rest of the game.

He is basically Stoll circa-2015 at this point.

Probably not, and I don't particularly care for Thompson, but he did give us a ton of possession down the stretch that we wouldn't have had. He was 7-9 in the defensive zone, that could have very well meant the difference between one point and zero points. He drew some pretty tough assignments tonight.

 

[SherVaughn30]

The usage of Kovy on the PP has been downright idiotic tonight

What the Kings need to do on the PP for the 1st unit is have Doughty and Kovalchuk(He can blast it inside that face-off like Ovechkin!) on the points, Carter in the slot, Kopitar behind the goal line and Kempe(he can stick handle a puck in a phone and can be a good passer) on the half-wall. This grind/cycle/fore-check on the PP is just ridiculous! I don't like Stevens coaching style, as he kills offense. Stevens needs to realize that a good offensive attack in terms of possession can be a good defense. The Kings went through too many spurts of defending too much.

 

[DryIslandBartender]

Who is this lady interviewing Wagner in the locker room? Her voice sounds like she's reading a child a bedtime story.

Don’t know but she used to be an ice girl for awhile. Can we get Heidi or Alex Curry back please.

 

[johnjm22]

Probably not, and I don't particularly care for Thompson, but he did give us a ton of possession down the stretch that we wouldn't have had. He was 7-9 in the defensive zone, that could have very well meant the difference between one point and zero points. He drew some pretty tough assignments tonight.

I agree.

As much as people complain about him, having a guy that's almost certain to win a face off can be huge in key moments of the game like a late PK.

 

[KingsFan7824]

I don't like Stevens coaching style, as he kills offense.

In the 2 full years he was the Flyers coach, they finished 6th and 4th overall in GF. In the 27 games Carter played in last year, they averaged enough goals to be in the top 10. They sucked in the other 55 games, and in the playoffs, but them defending a lot tonight has little to do with the coach. There was no self suffocating defensive system out there. Mostly chaos everywhere.

 

[goosh]

Mike Amadio should be getting way more minutes, and Thompson should be getting a seat upstairs.

 

[fsanford]

the boards at Staples have a lot spring in them this year. Team is gonna need to learn how to take advantage of that.

 

[Fishhead]

I will say the Kings played a lot riskier tonight than they usually do, all kinds of cross ice passes and things they wouldn't normally do. That's encouraging. I hope they see that they can do that without giving up a bunch of goals.

 

[kilowatt]

Don’t know but she used to be an ice girl for awhile. Can we get Heidi or Alex Curry back please.

No way. Carrlyn is great. Very happy for her success.

 

[TomasHertlsRooster]

I said before the season that Kovalchuk would probably score about 30 goals and 30 assists and nothing tonight changed my mind. I was laughing when people questioned LA for signing him. Every human being ages but elite talent like Kovalchuk pretty consistently keeps a good chunk of it into the mid-30s if they don’t suffer serious injuries over the course of their career. Very good player.

 

[mbar]

Don’t know but she used to be an ice girl for awhile. Can we get Heidi or Alex Curry back please.

She doesn’t seem like much of a broadcaster at the moment but hopefully she grows into it. Jim Fox was awful his first year and now he’s pretty ok.

 

[SherVaughn30]

Both chances if he goes to the bench it's a two on one. He knew it. No win situation there.

On the scoring play he needed to take one more push to get in position but he was just too tired.

He could of dove forward and reached out with his stick. He might of tipped that pass.

 

[kingsfan28]

Tough way to lose with Toffoli caught inbetween changing or not, and got burned. Worst ot in a while as far as getting the puck back. Had the one chance early on, and that was it. They seemed to chase the puck around most of the ot and both lines got caught out there for more than a minute.Kopitars line was out for about 1:45 before everyone could get changed.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Just got home from the game, just wanted to comment on the live view of some things.

Little did we know that the Kings' solution to their scoring was to change the boards. 4d chess there.

Doughty was mostly crap tonight and while I know getting hit in the side of the knee with no padding stings don't be a f***ing bitch and go to the locker room.

Glad more people saw 'average' EK tonight. Getting beat to the net by Tyler Toffoli, playing turnstile all night. Abused by rookies, etc. Guy has no concept of team defense. Phenomenal offensive player, great at making offensive plays, good at one-on-one D if he sees it develop...but my god did he look absolutely lost live. Funny all three Norris winners were mostly trash with some good offensive plays.

Kempe looked like our best player not named Kopitar, from the stands, he looked SUPER engaged and pissed off, trying to hit everyone, great forechecks, etc. HM to Iafallo and Wagner, both were flying, and Amadio, who looks like he played like...5 minutes? Am I close?

I've said enough about Stevens in the last few days but jesus f***ing christ the amount of talk over the summer about putting Kovy in the Ovy spot to help our PP then sending him to the front of the net in Brown's spot is just about the dumbest thing I've seen in hockey. And don't get me started on the lines again. They were unacceptable to begin with, but getting stuck with the 4th line and Fantenberg and Forbort out there, at home, vs. the Sharks top players, after a TV timeout? There is literally zero reason for that. Aaaand surprise, they got scored on in short order. I'll stop there because I'd fill up a post with very obviously bad decisions from the bench.

Overall had the intensity of a rivalry game with the hockey of a preseason game, guys are obviously still a mess on both teams. Some real volatile potential there with the Kovy-Kopi-Iafallo line but the rest of the forward lines as configured suck as badly as we thought they would.

Props to Wagner on a great debut, that speed is literally undefendable. Someone mentioned they wondered what it would be like when teams adjust...well, all they can do is back the hell off opening up ice for others. win-win. If Erik freaking Karlsson can't keep up, no one can.

 

[SherVaughn30]

In the 2 full years he was the Flyers coach, they finished 6th and 4th overall in GF. In the 27 games Carter played in last year, they averaged enough goals to be in the top 10. They sucked in the other 55 games, and in the playoffs, but them defending a lot tonight has little to do with the coach. There was no self suffocating defensive system out there. Mostly chaos everywhere.

Self suffocating only works if you have a fast skating team. The Kings are still not that. Stevens had better offensive players in Philly. This roster needs to be coached more to go on offensive attack. Stevens reminds me of Barry Trotz with team structure and rely on a heavy fore-check to create offense. The Kings need to learn how to execute quick/touch passing to counter teams that are quicker than them.

 

[Herby]

Wagner’s speed adds an element the Kings haven’t had in awhile. He has to be one of the 10 fastest players in the league. He didn’t finish and he had some issues clearing the puck early on, but it will be a big mistake to remove him from the lineup.

Assuming that Brown and Vilardi are regulars when (if for Vilardi) they return it’s painfully obvious which two players should be exiting the lineup.

But again this is John Stevens, so expect the unexpected when it comes to lineup choices.

 

[yankeeking]

I said before the season that Kovalchuk would probably score about 30 goals and 30 assists and nothing tonight changed my mind. I was laughing when people questioned LA for signing him. Every human being ages but elite talent like Kovalchuk pretty consistently keeps a good chunk of it into the mid-30s if they don’t suffer serious injuries over the course of their career. Very good player.

It was not his talent that concerns us its if one of two things happen , first he loses that edge to play and decides to dog it or bolt like he did to jersey we are not deep enough to have a 35 yr old contract and not receive bang for the buck , and second he just really gets hurt it takes longer to heal at 35 +, I promise you lol , could happen to anyone but the 35 yr old contract can't be LTIR so again we are screwed, but we signed him so now it's great to see him play well and I think in 10-20 games him and kopi are going to be great to watch , he is what we need a guy who creates and who drives the middle

 

[yankeeking]

In person it looked at times like a fire drill out there , but I feel better , we played a pretty good team that had a game in already and played them to draw , when we get a little chemistry in 20-25 games we should be hard to beat , in the mean time thank God we have Quick

 

[SherVaughn30]

Just got home from the game, just wanted to comment on the live view of some things.

Little did we know that the Kings' solution to their scoring was to change the boards. 4d chess there.

Doughty was mostly crap tonight and while I know getting hit in the side of the knee with no padding stings don't be a ****ing ***** and go to the locker room.

Glad more people saw 'average' EK tonight. Getting beat to the net by Tyler Toffoli, playing turnstile all night. Abused by rookies, etc. Guy has no concept of team defense. Phenomenal offensive player, great at making offensive plays, good at one-on-one D if he sees it develop...but my god did he look absolutely lost live. Funny all three Norris winners were mostly trash with some good offensive plays.

Kempe looked like our best player not named Kopitar, from the stands, he looked SUPER engaged and pissed off, trying to hit everyone, great forechecks, etc. HM to Iafallo and Wagner, both were flying, and Amadio, who looks like he played like...5 minutes? Am I close?

I've said enough about Stevens in the last few days but jesus ****ing christ the amount of talk over the summer about putting Kovy in the Ovy spot to help our PP then sending him to the front of the net in Brown's spot is just about the dumbest thing I've seen in hockey. And don't get me started on the lines again. They were unacceptable to begin with, but getting stuck with the 4th line and Fantenberg and Forbort out there, at home, vs. the Sharks top players, after a TV timeout? There is literally zero reason for that. Aaaand surprise, they got scored on in short order. I'll stop there because I'd fill up a post with very obviously bad decisions from the bench.

Overall had the intensity of a rivalry game with the hockey of a preseason game, guys are obviously still a mess on both teams. Some real volatile potential there with the Kovy-Kopi-Iafallo line but the rest of the forward lines as configured suck as badly as we thought they would.

Props to Wagner on a great debut, that speed is literally undefendable. Someone mentioned they wondered what it would be like when teams adjust...well, all they can do is back the hell off opening up ice for others. win-win. If Erik freaking Karlsson can't keep up, no one can.

To follow up, even at 35 Kovalchuk has the deadliest one-timer of any Kings player. On the PP you need to setup Kovalchuk to take advantage of his shot. The same with Carter. Carter is probably the most accurate shooter on the team. On the PP, use him in the slot like Oshie is used with the Caps PP. Stevens is clueless. Last season the Kings gave up the 1st goal in 50 of 82 games. That is atrocious, where coaching is part of the problem.

 

[yankeeking]

EK never seems to get his shot blocked.

I don't think he shoots it straight at the net , maybe it's my imagination but it looks like he shoots for the boards on the right and it's so hard it rockets out to the left for a great shotpass if you are looking for it , with the lively boards they had in Ottawa it was just a great pass its how he gets most of his points and doesn't get it blocked , our guys try to shoot thru guys