I don't think I've ever been so mad after a win. The Preds have a serious problem with sitting back and letting teams off the mat when they have them pinned.
At least Forsberg got his point though amirite?
Still cant get over how many shots and chances LA is giving up this year. They cant survive playing Doughty 30 mins a night and having Quick stand on his head. Think back to their other regular season slumps over the past few years, they've all been a product of lack of goal scoring, which i believe was fixed when they added Gaborik and promoted Pearson and Toffoli. But this year its much more serious, and i think the illusion of the "Cup hangover" might be distracting people from how bad things really are. Their D simply isnt what its been the past few years. The Voynov saga, the departure of Mitchell, Martinez being banged up, whatever u wanna call it. Schultz is weak, and i dont think their younger guys are ready for the post season quite yet. Their back end is a mess right now, and im not sure if thats something they can fix by flipping a switch on a playoff run.
It's closing in on mid-Season, so the Kings are starting to rev their engines. By the 60-game mark they'll be full steam ahead.
Still cant get over how many shots and chances LA is giving up this year. They cant survive playing Doughty 30 mins a night and having Quick stand on his head. Think back to their other regular season slumps over the past few years, they've all been a product of lack of goal scoring, which i believe was fixed when they added Gaborik and promoted Pearson and Toffoli. But this year its much more serious, and i think the illusion of the "Cup hangover" might be distracting people from how bad things really are. Their D simply isnt what its been the past few years. The Voynov saga, the departure of Mitchell, Martinez being banged up, whatever u wanna call it. Schultz is weak, and i dont think their younger guys are ready for the post season quite yet. Their back end is a mess right now, and im not sure if thats something they can fix by flipping a switch on a playoff run.
Typical Kings. The worst thing you can do against that team is take a big lead.
I'm concerned that the Preds are going to pull this in the playoffs and get burned. You can't expect teams to roll over and die in the playoffs like they might in the regular season. In the playoffs, the Preds will face teams like this that refuse to quit. They really need to work on this in the coming months.
In overtime, Sutter had 3 forwards out and Doughty. I wonder what he expected to happen. Doughty forgot that he didn't have a backup defender and was all of the way up at the blueline when the game-winner was scored. Doughty needs to have far better sense of the situation, and Sutter should be aware of his proclivities.
I really feel that Doughty needs to be re-united with a defensive partner. Even though he had no partner on the game-winner, it showed how prone he is to wander around the ice and what happens when a partner isn't staying home to cover for him. I feel that part of his struggles this year come from being paired with Muzzin, who thinks offense first all of the time and is unreliable defensively. I don't like the idea of pairing two guys who both assume that the other will cover for them. I would groom McNabb to be Doughty's partner and dump Muzzin to a lower pairing, where, he, too, can be given a defensive partner to cover for his mistakes, as well as fewer minutes.
Still cant get over how many shots and chances LA is giving up this year. They cant survive playing Doughty 30 mins a night and having Quick stand on his head. Think back to their other regular season slumps over the past few years, they've all been a product of lack of goal scoring, which i believe was fixed when they added Gaborik and promoted Pearson and Toffoli. But this year its much more serious, and i think the illusion of the "Cup hangover" might be distracting people from how bad things really are. Their D simply isnt what its been the past few years. The Voynov saga, the departure of Mitchell, Martinez being banged up, whatever u wanna call it. Schultz is weak, and i dont think their younger guys are ready for the post season quite yet. Their back end is a mess right now, and im not sure if thats something they can fix by flipping a switch on a playoff run.
I'm concerned that the Preds are going to pull this in the playoffs and get burned. You can't expect teams to roll over and die in the playoffs like they might in the regular season. In the playoffs, the Preds will face teams like this that refuse to quit. They really need to work on this in the coming months.
In overtime, Sutter had 3 forwards out and Doughty. I wonder what he expected to happen. Doughty forgot that he didn't have a backup defender and was all of the way up at the blueline when the game-winner was scored. Doughty needs to have far better sense of the situation, and Sutter should be aware of his proclivities.
I really feel that Doughty needs to be re-united with a defensive partner. Even though he had no partner on the game-winner, it showed how prone he is to wander around the ice and what happens when a partner isn't staying home to cover for him. I feel that part of his struggles this year come from being paired with Muzzin, who thinks offense first all of the time and is unreliable defensively. I don't like the idea of pairing two guys who both assume that the other will cover for them. I would groom McNabb to be Doughty's partner and drop Muzzin to a lower pairing, where, he, too, can be given a defensive partner to cover for his mistakes, as well as fewer minutes.
Kings play like ***** and like Cup champs, then like ***** in the same game.
Frustrating, I'm not an NHL player, so I don't know what's goung on, but if they're getting ready to go on their late season run again, I can't see it yet.
Don't know how often you watch the Kings but Muzzin does not think offense all the time and is one of the more defensively sound on the Kings (although he also has a good shot when in the offensive zone). He also has great chemistry with Doughty. Your reason is exactly why Muzzin is paired with Doughty. Kings also have guys like Greene and Regehr to support more offensive minded guys like Martinez (who is also pretty solid defensively).
I'm very familiar with the Kings and Muzzin sacrifices defense regularly to go on the attack. He's always making the risky play to avoid having to play defense. He's not "defensively sound" in the least bit. He's very good at passing, which helps him out very much in his own zone, but don't confuse that for defensive skill. As for chemistry, he and Doughty work well together in moving the puck and on the powerplay, but they tend to run around in their own zone, not sure where he each other is and which man he's taking, so the defensive chemistry is lacking.
Typical Kings. The worst thing you can do against that team is take a big lead.
Were Quick and Rinne even playing??
As a Blues fan watching this game, I thought, wow, it isn't just us. A nice, fleeting thought.
They appeared to be standing in their spots, yes.