Some post-game quotes
"It's a lot easier game to play when you're being assertive and making assertive decisions," Kings coach Marc Crawford said. "It's easier said than done, it is an emotional game and the emotion of getting some confidence and feeling good about yourself is the exact tonic that our team needed."
"We're doing very simple things, we shot the puck and looked for rebounds," Nagy said. "We just played like a team and we've been winning games.''
"I felt really good, and we had a lot more chances and played much more confident," said Frolov, who now has 100 goals in his career. "It's our third win in a row after eight losses and a new year, we're really excited to start the new year."
"We're not down now when we get a goal scored against us the way we were two or three weeks ago, it seemed like we were playing on our heels as opposed to playing on our toes," Crawford said.
It was a great game by the Kings. Very encouraging to see some of the "secondary" guys scoring.
THAT was the Nagy the DL signed and expected to get.
But, with all due praise for the Kings, the game of the day was in Buffalo!
For those who didn't see it, this was the best thing the NHL has done in many years. It was truly compelling to watch, from the drop of the puck to Crosby's game winner.
I hope that game puts the NHL back on the national map. I'm sure the league is eagerly awaiting the overnight ratings. It wouldn't shock me if it drew a bigger audience then the 2 football games it was up against.
Who stole our beloved Kings and replaced them with this juggernaut?
Winning breeds confidence so hopefully this is what the Kings need for a strong 2nd half showing.
Congrats to Nagy...He needs to play like this every night. That's where the secondary scoring has to come from.
Hockey isn't advertised as much as other sports. It isnt on the national networks like FOX, ABC, or NBC as much as football, baseball, or basketball. But there are enough fans of the game to keep it going thank goodness. It was a good game for sure, the buffalo one, but the Kings were certainly a surprise. Good job Kings, and now make it four!
LA is finally starting to see the real Dustin Brown. He has matured and will continue to mature into an even better player as time goes on and he is in my opinion, the future of the LA Kings.When he was drafted one of the commentators made the statement that Brown was the type of kid who would captain a team. Let's hope so. Come on folks, let's get him on the all-star team!
Three quick thoughts:
1) How awesome was Ivanans last night! He looked downright evil. It was good to see the Kings act really tough yesterday and stick up for Barbs. I know everything looks great when you win a blow-out but I was super happy to see the Kings limit the Hawks to 2 goals and give up nothing in the 3rd period.
2) To be fair one thing which is a worth noting is that the Kings have played about a game or two more than everyone else in the Conference, and are still 11 points out of 8th place.
That being said it looks like roughly speaking that at the halfway point of the season the cutoff is at 41points, which roughly means that the Kings may need to get at least 82 points by season-end to have a shot at post season fun...this is about 10 points lower than the league mark last year. Thus the talks here that the Kings need to win 30 out of 40 in the 2nd half maaaay be a bit high; 25 out of 40 may do the trick... To be fair having the Kings play .500 is a treat in itself these past 3yrs, but still...
3) Finally as a final note to my broadcaster question the other day, you gotta love Bob and Jim during the Hawks game. Despite the trouncing they were the first ones to point out that the Hawks are a bit injury depleted AND during scraps they gave the Hawks players the benefit of the doubt when they kept punching even when being wrapped up by a ref. That's good unbiased commentators who call it like it is and are often times more critical on the Kings than most homer announcers
** I don't wanna jump the gun and the Columbo BJ's have given the Kings trouble this year, but if things work out well this week we could be having some very interesting thoughts by next Sunday about the Kings entering the second half...
If the Kings are out of it by 6 points by the end of January I think life becomes a lot more interesting...let's be clear the Kings are really chasing a pack of people at 11points ahead, not just one who we're hoping crashes, which makes it a bit easier...
Is this the same Kings team???
I give them a lot of credit for working through their funk including the coaching staff. It's easy to dump on those guys when they are losing 8 in a row but let's give them credit for getting the team to play through some rough times.
Finally some scoring from multiple lines!! And as they say, winning cures all that ills a team and the Kings are building confidence one shift at a time.
I'm not even interested in seeing this team make it to the playoffs. (although it would be nice) It's seeing them play for pride and for each other, as well as getting out of the cellar in the NHL.
Rich & Matt - I was at the Rose Bowl game. I presume you guys are Illinois grads? The weather was freakin' beautiful to play Football in and all I can think of were the Pens and the Sabres playing in sub-zero temps!
Here's one for the NHL: An outdoor NHL game in Venice beach next to the Pacific Ocean!!
let's not get too excited here people. the KINGS are a streaky team both good and bad. management should stay the coarse and continue to build for the future.
Excellent point Shakes, I couldn't agree with you more.
Eliminating all hopes for a playoff spot with 41 games remaining is pre-mature.
I'm more worried about Sully possibly being suspended for his match penalty.
Rich or Matt, what's your intake on this.
What a fun game to watch last night. I had 2nd row seats right behind Labarbera. What FUN!
I hate to be the bearer of bad news but the playoffs are not happening this year. Once all of the teams in the Western Conference play 41 games the cut off point for the playoffs will be about 45 points. That means that we are about 13 points out of the playoffs now. I think that the cut-off point for the playoffs, by the end of the season, is going to be somewhere between 92-95 points. Which means that we would have to get 60-63 points in 41 games which is 30-32 wins in only 41 games. That would mean that we would have to win somewhere between 72-78% of our remaining games. The only team in the entire league to have a winning percentage above 70% so far this year is Detroit. We are not as good as Detroit. Playoffs aren't happening!
That being said, I like the way the team is playing team defense, making tape to tape passes in all three zones and finding some line chemistry and team chemistry, thanks in part to Crawford not being a line juggling Nazi, all while playing with some determination, confidence and heart!
Way to go boys, keep it up!!!
here's my idea: Ducks/Kings at the Rose Bowl. No threat of bad weather but temps in the low 60s which is the same as for an indoor game, great local rivalry, and if you play it under the lights it would be surreal. Can they sell out 90,000 seats? I don't know but don't forget the LA Galaxy sold out 90,000 seats during their first season. SoCal fans like big events.
Good idea Shakes - but even the combined crowd at Honda/Staples won't come close to selling out the Rose Bowl. But like you said, SoCal people like hype...
I think it should be either the Kings or Ducks vs. a Canadian team like Toronto or Montreal... Or NY Rangers perhaps? Something that will bring in the tourists..
The purists will definitely scoff at the idea of playing outdoors in warm weather but they are the same people who don't believe Lord Stanley belongs in the sun belt.
Either way the NHL should definitely look into it.
I'd like for the "next outdoor game" to be in the 2010 olympics with the NHL players.
anybody else think this team is playing better with out cammi. Not saying his play is the problem even though he isn't playing good. I just think the rest of the team is stepping up and in turn making the team better as a whole
Shakes- great idea!!! I think it would absolutely sellout. I know I'd be there every New Year's Day!!!
Don't you know the Rose Bowl is occupied every New Year's Day. Rose Bowl Parade and the BCS game. I also think this shouldn't be on a day where College Football is played. Christmas Day would be a nice day. All and all, i am completely open to the idea, and i was thinking more of a Kings vs Canadians game. Battle of the 93' finals or some date like that.
@Mike:
I can see your point. When Cammi is hot, the team seems to get a bit of "Gretzkyitis". They just sit back and watch him and don't play as hard to add production themselves.
I also think that over the last couple of weeks, teams were taking advantage of the Kings lack of size and toughness, and Ivanans inability to fight, and were pushing some of the better Kings players around.
When the Kings started sticking up for themselves again, and when Ivanans began dropping the gloves again, there was a lot more open ice for the Kings.
how would you get a sellout for a rose bowl hockey game? that's easy. put david beckham in skates and let him sit on the ducks bench.
love seeing nagy and fro getting it going. definitely not gonna declare us a playoff team yet, but this is a good sign.
and kingfan4ever, rich and matt went to usc.
If you guys think 82 points is going to get you in the playoffs, then good for you. But last year it was 96. Right now the 8th best POINTS PER GAME team projects to 93. So, the Kings need SIXTY TWO points in 41 games to get to 94. They got 32 in the first 41 games. They need to ALMOST DOUBLE their point totals in the second half.
You get 62 points by going 30-9-2. Good luck.
82 points WILL GET YOU NOTHING BUT EARLY Tee TIMES