Finding a balance
Finding the right line combinations has been a month-long quest, but it seemed to me that last night, the Kings got the closest to finding exactly what they were looking for. I asked Marc Crawford if he agreed.
``I don't know about that,'' Crawford said. ``I think we're getting more chances from Handzus' group. When Handzus was brought in here, we thought he would be a forward who would allow us to be a better penalty-killing team, but we also thought we were getting a line that would be able to contribute offensively. Last night they had six or seven really good chances that didn't score, but they created a lot of momentum for us.
``I think all three of those guys -- Calder, Willsie and Handzus -- are feeling better about their offensive games. The game is still one where, I don't care who you are, everybody gets a kick out of scoring and everybody finds value in scoring. So it's nice when that sort of thing spreads out. Right now, we've been jumping around a little bit in that group with Frolov. We've got O'Sullivan and Nagy with him right now. Before it was Armstrong. Armstrong has been playing with John Zeiler and Ivanans and they seem to have a little bit of chemistry right now and it was probably the best game that we've seen from Nagy.
``When you get contributions from throughout your lineup, it takes pressure off of people. It distributes the amount of coverage that you get from top defensive pairs. They've got to respect more than just Anze and Mike and Dustin. Let's face it, they deserve a lot of attention right now because of how they've scored, albeit a lot of it's been on the power play.''
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J.P. Hoornstra writes about NHL and IHL hockey for the Los Angeles Newspaper Group. He welcomes any and all dialogue on the finer points of hockey.
E-mail J.P. at jp.hoornstra@inlandnewspapers.com.
Jill Painter joined the Daily News in 2000 and during the last eight years she's covered the Dodgers, Cal State Northridge, UCLA, Kings, golf and everything in between. Even though she's from Colorado, she still freezes in the Staples Center press box but always manages to thaw her fingers in time to make deadline. E-mail Jill at jill.painter@dailynews
.com.
Vincent Bonsignore is a sports columnist for the Los Angeles Daily News. E-mail Vinny at vincent.bonsignore
@dailynews.com.
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I don't care how evasive he is, he IS saying that he likes Handzus, Willsie, and Calder together. Meaning the lineup will look almost exactly the same for at least another game, thank God. I found it interesting that the guys on the top three lines played nearly identical minutes, making for a nice balanced attack. If it isn't broken (at least right now) don't fix it.
Rich: I agree with you...the line combinations last night clicked really, really well. Sure, it was against a team that is simply playing dreadful hockey, but given how good the chemistry looked between all four lines, they should keep the lines the way they were on Tuesday and see how they look. And if they still look good on Thursday, I think they've found their line combinations for the long-term.
$5 says that Crawford breaks up last night's lines and we lose the game.
Keep em the way they are, the team is finally playing as a unit. The lines seem to have really jelled, shoot even Ivanans got a goal last night. Sully's line continues to impress. I believe all three of these players really complement each other's style. Plus they take the pressure off the other lines, opening it up more for Cammy, Zeus, etc. Big test tomorrow night against a team they can beat if they play the way they did in against the Preds and in Western Canada. Great job again Rich helping us all see the light (hopefully not a freight train coming right at us!).
What's gonna happen to Thornton?
I agree with the others as to the lines. Don't change it if they are working. What happened to Jack Johnson? He played the first period Tuesday night and that was it. I have been looking for any information on this.
Johnson left during the second period with a charley horse. Not sure if he's playing tonight.