So close
Jack Johnson recorded his first NHL point last night, with an assist on Kyle Calder's third-period goal, and he also nearly got his first goal. Johnson jumped into a play and was open in the slot but the pass couldn't quite get to him. It was worth noting that Johnson easily beat Mike Modano down the ice.
``I was just thinking, `Why did i have to be Modano?''' Johnson said. ``Out of 600 players in the NHL, it had to be him.''
The consensus seemed to be that Johnson played his best game as a King last night, one of the team's few highlights in that dreadful game. Is it just a coincidence that he was paired with Stuart instead of Modry? Today, Johnson practiced with Rob Blake, and Crawford indicated that it might stay that way for Friday's game.
``I can play with any of these guys,'' Johnson said. ``They're all so good.''
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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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Thanks Rich! I was just wondering about that.
Maybe Crow is a better coach then a lot of us think he is and puts Jack with Modry on purpose. He wants him to get really good by making up for Modry's mistakes. I think if that's the case, maybe he learned alot more than we saw. And yes Jack actually took a shot finally.
Yeah, when Crow was making excuses for Modry a couple days back, it kind of irked me.
Fans aren't on Modry's back because he's not physical. It's because he's not effective. He doesn't have to knock guys down, but I would like to see him cover open guys in front of the net and make contact. There is a long way between being physical like Crawford was talking and doing nothing. Modry tends to do nothing.
At least from my un-hockey-educated POV. Phil Housley had a little "how to be a defenseman" article in some hockey publication years ago and would talk about timing. Put your body on the offense or your stick on their stick at the right time. When the puck is coming to them, when they are making a move, etc. You don't have to knock a guy down, just disrupt him. Modry does nothing but watch.
And saying he's the right fit because he can move the puck...please. We have six guys in our top six defenders who can move the puck. Which one of these guys can't? When Brad Stuart is looking like our most physical defender, you know we aren't lacking skill players on the blue-line. Nothing against Stuart, but his biggest knock since coming into the league is that he isn't physical enough. He comes tot he Kings and he's our bruiser...
Anyway, if anyone needs a ride to the Modry lynching, let me know. I can probably seat four more in my car. :)
Seriously. Playing with Modry is like swinging a weighted bat in the on-deck circle.
you DO realize that the shift where Jack registered his first point, he was paired with... you guessed it, Jaroslav Modry.
Wait a minute...
Modry has been playing a lot better than our "loyal" team captain has. Blake is on the ice for nearly every goal that I see go in. Talk about a weighted bat...look at the beast who does nothing but help the other teams score...I'll take Modry any day over Blake's ridiculous play this season.
I didn't like Modry in his first stint with the Kings. While he isn't the most physical player, he did make a nice disruption and clear of the puck in the last game to save another goal. It's not like he NEVER does that, he just RARELY does that. He'd get less verbal assaults if he would. I thought he played one of his better games in a Kings uniform last game, personally.
Not trying to defend Blake much, because he isn't what he used to be, but Kyle, Blake gets 7 1/2 more minutes on averge per game than Modry.
Ever stop to think that if maybe you saw Modry out there against top opposing lines for an extra 7-8 minutes a night, you might see more goals scored while he's out there?