Report from locker room

solid effort, garon probably stole this one for the oilers. probably wishful thinking to imagine what would have happened without the cloutier mess, but i'm fairly content with labs.

any chance of quick getting a look with back-to-back games coming up, rich?

Crawford should also explain why he runs his team like a union hall.
Its so obvious that this coach gives preferential treatment to some of his beloved players.

Certain players can do no wrong.
To start off with Visnovsky. This game was the worst I've seen him. The way he gave away the 1st & 3rd goals, you would think he was on the oilers payroll. He should've been benched instead of Preissing.
Although Armstrong should be given credit to setting up the tying goal, I can't understand why this coach continues to give a ZERO goal scorer so much time on the power-play. He stiil hasn't been able to get that the Armstrong experiment on the PP is FAILURE. A complete failure. Everytime you put him on the PP, its like a waste of a PP.
Its as though Crawford feels sorry for Armstrong. Like you feel sorry for a baby. You put him out there until he scores that first goal.
An what does this coach see in Klemm. You would think they once shared a room together or something.

Players who could do no right.
Benching Preissing in favor of Klemm, on his birthday, is absolutely shameless. Preissing may not be putting up the expected numbers. But by no means is he having a bad year either.
And if you are going to bench him, why not play Dallman. Dallman has been a real good sport while sitting on the pine. Cutting Klemm in front of him shows no respect or class.
An for the life of me, I can't understand why this coach keeps O'Sullivan off the power play. The last couple of games, with Kopi & Brown, Sully has been playing like a man on a mission. Why was he removed from from that line. A couple of days ago in San Jose, he took Nabakov to school during the shoot-out but today, he wasn't even selected by Crawford for the shoot-out.
He almost won the game by himself in overtime, but he hit the post.
This kid is gifted. He has offensive talent. Stands to reason he should be playing on the PP instead of Army.
Sometimes, I just get the feeling that Crwaford just doesn't want him to succeed. Or Something.

Anyways, I'm glad our team played with guts today.
I'm glad we came back and did not give up.
I give credit to Armstrong, Blake, And Nagy for their hard work at the end of the game.
But, I still think that Crwaford will be fired either this year or next year for sure.

Good point Anthony.
Personally, I don't think O'Sullivan will be back with kings next season. He's a restricted free agent and there will be a few teams, who appreciate his talent, making him serious offers.

He'll take off like Penner did, leaving Anaheim.
I mean, do you blame him for wanting to leave this coach. He'll be 30 goal scorer for another team easily.
Lombardi won't match the offer because he's as stupid as Crawford. He'd more than likely take the teams draft pick as compensation.

pokey I think your crazy to think Dl would let Osullivan get away, hes not stupid. Though I do agree Osullivan should be on the PP with JMFJ.

And thank the hockey gods Nagy did something useful. 2 useful goals all season isn't enough from him though. but holy shit is JMFJ a beast, I think he can pull shit like that breakaway almost whenever he wants but he is focusing on his D too much right now, hes so offensively gifted if he would rush the puck up more often the team wouldn't spend so much time down low, but hey I have no problem with the kid perfecting his D before he looks for the rush every chance he gets. It is too much fun watching players try to beat him in foot races, its no contest.

It was also good to see Ivaninis grabs someones face and talk some trash to the guy that tried to stand up to JMFJ.

And just because id feel ashamed not to mention it. Brown is becoming a beast on skates, if he continues like this, wow, what a steal at that price :)

That's the best 65 minutes of hockey the team has played in a long time. If not for Garon standing on his head, we would have come away with a well deserved 2 points. Kudos to the coaching staff for finally getting a complete effort from the guys.

Anthony, What has Preissing done all year? Because it's his birthday, he should play? Do we blow out the candles and sing to him? He got to spend the night at the mall with Dallman and Thornton. That's where they belong. He hasn't impressed me at all this season. He's not physical. He doesn't move the puck well out of his own zone, and defensively, he gets beat often. Offensively, how may goals does he have?
I didn't think Army played bad at all. He was strong on the puck all night. I agree that Sully should get more PP time, but that will come. Same with JJ. He's starting to get PP time that was previously being given to Preissing. I know everyone hates Crawford, but give him some credit with Sully. This guy was a one dimensional player when he 1st came up. He has become a really good 2 way player, something nobody, including himself, thought he would be.

I think Dustin Brown is finally coming into his own and is showing why he was a 1st round pick. He's becoming a complete player. Consistency was his biggest problem and I think this year, he has been the most consistent offensive player night in and night out.
Somebody needs to wake up Cammy a little bit. He hasn't been the dominant offensive player he was the 1st 10 games of the year. We need him to be that player again.
Even though Lubo had a couple of costly turnovers, he showed some signs of life. He seemed more comfortable with the puck and got a couple of shots on the net which has been a rarity this year.

Good game overall but there were some big mistakes also.

I have to agree with Anthony on a couple of points but would rather focus on the positive that the team didn't allow big spurts where the Oilers dominated play.

They gave almost 100% effort tonight and if we get that, then as fans we have to be happy that they guys we DO have are doing their best.

I do think Crawford is over coaching himself though.

"Even the coaches were real positive for us..."-JJ

What normally happens?

This is just a little disturbing. Positive reinforcement please.

I'm thinking positive about Armstrong finding his mojo again. Guy really gives it his all but can't find the happy space lately. Then we'll concentrate on Lubo,Lubo,Lubo.

Sans the wacky goal, Aubin played a controlled game and should have won. I am OK with the tenders now. They will hold their own. LaBabs, we missed you in the shootout.

I am positive about all the kids. Not one I don't like. They are the difference in games we win.

I'm positive these pairings are better than the previous Defensive pairs. I'm positive it took to long to get here.

We deserved to win this game. That shitty bounce off the glass and a downright unfair performance from Garon are the only reasons the Oilers stayed in this one. It's been a while since I've felt like I could bitch about bad luck rather than crappy effort.

Who else thinks Cammy needs a wakeup call? Right now its Kopitar and Brown who are propping this team up, and Cammy happens to be playing with them. And not too well.

I agree with anthony about Visnovsky, Blake was covering HIS as out there .

nhl.com is keepin' it real...

here's a taste:

Not hot -- Dean Lombardi calls them “bridges,” veteran players who can help the young Kings cross to the next level. Lately, however, the bridges Lombardi signed last summer have been burning the Kings. Michal Handzus is scoreless in 10 consecutive games, while Ladislav Nagy has one point in his last nine contests.

here's the link:

http://www.nhl.com/nhl/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=345421

while i saw more heart last night, i'm realistic about:

1. who we were playing

and

2. that we played them on night 2 of back to back games.

still not feeling it.

Hey, Recchi's on waivers. Anyone think thats a good idea? Just sayin'.

Funny....

Take Cammy off the first line and people bitch. Put him back on the line and people bitch. I read a lot of what is written here and quite frankly it is embarrassing.

- O'Sullivan is not going anywhere at the end of the season. He is a Lombardi acquisition and he won't let him go as long as he is progressing (and he definately is!) I think the line with he and Handzus is not a bad idea. Handzus is looking a lot better lately and they had a lot of chances last night. Add Frolov to that line when he gets back and there is a lot of potential there. That is the best shot the Kings have at a good 2nd line right now.

- The Kings Power Play is actually pretty good this year and that is what you complain about???? That JJ is not playing on it? So I guess the over 21 minutes per game isn't enough? Maybe he should play every shift.

- If there is one thing the Kings miss this year it is a stay at home defenseman. They lost Nordstrom and Miller and it shows. Klemm was brought up to fill that role, but injuries have forced him elsewhere until now. Neither Preising not Dallman can fill that role.

- Please remember that O'Sullivan and Johnson are still rookies. The more they play now, the more likely they are to collapse down the stretch (then everyone will crucify Crawford for over playing them).

- Interesting that last night was the first night (that I can remember) where Blake and Visnovsky were split up for the entire night. It was great...for Blake. Visnovsky still looked bad. I love that guy and hate to see him struggle, but man is he struggling.

i don't know why my post came up anonymous, [on the NHL keeping it real] but it did.

'Someone'- nice post, i agree with you on most points covered.

Whats wrong with JJ playing 20+ minutes a game? He's better than anything we have and will be for a long time. He's our Brian Leetch. Leetch played regular shift, PK, and PP.
It's possible he may tire out before the end of the year, but the experience will be invaluable down the road. Does anyone realistically think we have a shot for anything meaningful this year?