LOL, Here's an idea. Why not post a poll for only the people who voted for Erik Ersberg to be the Kings starting goaltender next season.

Do You Feel Stupid Now?

Do You Feel Ashamed Now?

Do You Feel The Same Now?

Granted, it was not all Ersberg. That 6 million dollar turd (and third star of the game, as selected by a group of blind people) Rob Blake certainly contributed to the mess.

Still, it's amusing to think that a goalie with one NHL win was able to garner over 300 (and over 40%) of the fans votes for a question that had to make Kings management chuckle.

George,

Thank you for the excellent coverage today! You did a great job, sir...

dude, are you watching the same game i was, you actually blame ERSBERG for the goals, WOW. Obviously you weren't watching the game. O yeah, the 5th goal was Ersberg's fault too rite?

Thanks for the coverage and quotes George!

"dude" - your reading comprehension leaves much to be desired. I stated that it was not all Ersberg's fault, but there were over 300 people that annointed him the starting goalie for next season based on one shutout two nights earlier. THAT was the point. Ersberg was human today. Blake... sub-human.

Thanks George. Great job. To diehrdkingsfan38. Please notice that the only negative comments re Ersberg were in quotations and were made by Crawford. You know what they say about the messenger George.

Ersberg was way out of position on the 5th one.

Can't blame Ersberg on all the goals. 2 for sure he should have stopped. But, again he kept them in the game when he had too. What a goalie should do. I am not giving him the starting job next season but, its good to see a goalie make the save and keep his team in it. On the last goal that made it 5-2 he was way out of position.

@shakes LOL!! he sure was

@marc..its a poll get over it.. he was solid in net today but defense collapsed as usual... 1st goal, 2nd 4th and 5th goal were not his fault. Did you see the 4th goal when the habs player was left all by himself in front of the net?? Nothing he could really do on that.

Good stuff George!

I was disappointed they didn't rise to the challenge and elevate their game today. It was the Canadiens! Cmon boys.

Oh, and Ersberg is human afterall.

Yep, he was out of position for the 5th....Still tho, just a little early to award Ersberg the Vezina. The kid no doubt has a good future ahead of him. The thing I like the best are the rebounds, he's very focused on not giving them up. Unfortunately, our options are rather limited at this point.

Granted, the Kings didn't have a shot at Bryz but I'm still amazed at what a waiver pick-up can do for a team and what he's managed to do for the Yotes. Our time is coming. We've got a lot of great kids in the pipeline and lots of picks in a very deep draft. If we can just maintain a little patience and hope that the Bolts manage to win a few, who knows?

I was very lucky today, at the last minute I got a call to go to the game. Even better, first time is a Suite!
Damn was that fine.

Now to the game, I couldn't believe it, I couldn't tell who was worse, Cammalleri or Visnovsky.
Cammalleri would telegraph his shots, the Montreal goalie never had a problem seeing the puck. This down to one knee deal is getting very old. Almost as bad as Frolov's around the back of the net backhand shot.

Visnovsky bounces off anyone he hits. None of his shots were on net. Damn I don't think he could hit the barn let alone the barn door. Seems he has lost all his instincts. From what I saw, he might do better as a winger.

I can't believe Crawford saying we didn't have strong goaltending... He is blind, his Defense sucks.
Erik Ersberg kept us in the game. A few goals deflected off out players...

And someone remind me again about Jack Johnson??? the boy has no blue line shot. Doesn't like to carry the puck out of his zone always deferring to his partner. In fact Blake has the only shot worth a damn from the blue line, but most the time he is down low, playing forward.... Yeah I know Visnovsky has a hard shot, but hitting the glass doesn't count for much.

The Kings over all need to work on passing. I hope they got a lesson from Montreal.

Being at the game with prime seats...you cannot blame Ersberg for this game.

Two of the Canadiens goals were uncontested shots and a third was close.

Same story: spot the opponents two goals and then start playing.

Thanks George for the coverage, it's much appreciated.

Bake Minus 3 and,
3rd star of the game.
Give me a break.
He played terrible today.

I hope DL trades Lubocrap and Lord Cammalleri for some much needed help on D.

"Ersberg was way out of position on the 5th one."

Shakes,

How can you blame Ersberg, HE WAS PULLED he WAS NOT out of position. Don't you know about pulling the goal tender!!!!

Boy some people really don't know how hockey is played.

Mark you are so right,I`m so sick of the Kings trying to sell me on Blake. Between Blake and Handzus they slow the team down to a walk.I was so happy when he went tocolorado, and so sad when he returned. But it looks like he will be back next year.(got to vent a little,THANK YOU!)

Ersberg wasn't the problem..one timers from the crease, tips, and such aren't his fault.

All Crawford's comments = BS.

Ersberg I think played well. 2 goals were deflected and one was from a defensive brain fart. No one will win them all. Hey Marc, given what we've had in net the last 2 seasons, I think everyone would love to have Ersberg in net. You probably want Clouts back in net so you can come bitch about him every night.

Defensive break downs by the kings made it very easy for Montreal to win this one. Undersized defensive units are just killing the kings. Other teams are very quickly figuring out that, its OK to rush the crease and get great chances to score goals. On defense a team must have size to clear the front of the net, period. You can't expect 5'10" defenseman to play the role of a 6'5" player. Its a clear fact that the kings don’t have the personnel on the ice to match up against the top teams in this league.
Roger

Thanks, George. we appreciate the effort!

well i'm not really sure what to think about next year. that's all there's to look forward to. for the remained of the season it's not about Ws and Ls. instead it's all about how to lay a foundation for success next season. and i'm not seeing how positive change will happen. 5 out of our top 6 forwards have or will come close to having over 20 goals. how many teams can boast 5+ 20 goals scores? and of those teams with 5+ 20 goas scores, how many are out of the playoffs? face it, adding a legit centerman (either by draft, FA, or trade) to the top 6 will not mean more wins. offense is not the problem. the kings have not had a problem scoring goals this season nor will they next season. the bottom 6 are a dime a dozen. to even suggest that the bottom 6 need to be addressed is crazy considering the major issues in other areas. i'm not going to breakdown goaltending because that's a whole other beast. suffice it to say that Roy or Brodeur would look like minor leaguers behind the D. when it comes to the problems with D i'm not seeing how the issues will be addressed. there are two parts to this: the 6 d-men and team defense. the question to be asked is is it the system, execution within the system, or personnel. right now 3 out of 6 d-men are returning (JJ, LV, TP). assuming blake resigns that's 4 of 6. how is it that the D will improve? if harrold is retained that leaves one open spot - 5 of 6. what's that old saying - stupidity is repeating the same thing over and expecting a different reasut. that leaves the system and execution within the system. i'm not to sure about whether this system is right or not for the players that are in it. what i can say is that the coaching staff is going to have to get the top 6 fowards to commit themselves to playing strong defense and winning one-on-one battles. until we see total commitment to team defense there will no playoffs.

@fourtunato

I hope for your sake that was sarcasm.

@ Fortunato....uhh I think I'm pretty good about knowing hockey but it looks like you're not very good at spotting sarcasm...

I was able see that Ersberg was pulled with about 3 minutes because of the fact Jim & Bob said it every 30 seconds and the subtle hint on the screen under the score saying "empty net" so I put two and two together...

Marc Nathan = the new Anthony?

Shakes:

I was kidding :)

Sarcasm can be pretty sarcastic sometimes....

while there's no doubt that we're an undersized team [especially on d]

my question to you guys is this:

is it more 'the system', the pairings, or the individual players?

as i say this, i can obviously see the turnovers made by _____________[enter d-mans name here] on any given night.

i just struggle with where to place blame... and i want to blame the system more than anything right now.

Shakes, I think fortunato was being sarcastic as well, at least I hope so.
I have posted that Ersberg was good, not great...yet. He's rebound control is good. Our skaters have been playing the same IMO. Ersberg has just been exceptional against the Sens. Everybodys excited about him, because really, he's been the one really good goalie we've had in years. I've been so used to how our goaltenders have been that every shot from the blue line I've been holding my breath. Ersberg has stopped almost all of them without giving away rebounds.
Lubo's shots have been awful, but I'm still not giving up on him.

Marc Nathan

You seem to be relishing in Ersberg struggles last night. That's not cool. It almost looks like you want him to fail so you can say.."told you so". Every goalie will struggle including Brodeur. That doesn't take away from what Ersberg has done since he's been here. He's been the only shining light in goal for the last 2 years. Give us a break for getting a little excited.
Who would be your choice next year? If it's not someone already in the Kings system, assume whoever you want thats a stud goalie, the price is Kopitar.(for arguments sake)
Teams aren't giving up studs for nothing.
My point is whoever you are anointing the number#1 spot next year, there is no guarantee. Every goalie in the system has question marks. I think the 2 with the least amount of question marks are Ersberg and Bernier. That doesn't mean they both won't be the next Cloutier. We've already seen what Cloutier and Barbs can do on a regular basis. Some of us think Ersberg/Bernier can do better.

Can anyone tell me what system Lubo plays with??????

jack--
I think it's a combination of the system and the players. As you said, the team is definitely undersized, and I think we saw that last night. Our defenders especially were consistently outmuscled. But the system itself I think is weak. It's far too passive, both in the neutral zone and in the defensive zone. The bottom line is that the current system allows opposing teams too much speed in the neutral zone and too much room in the defensive zone. Until the Kings start playing a more tight-checking system in which defenders and forward aggressively support one another in both the neutral zone and the defensive zone, they're going to give up a lot of goals.

And it doesn't help that the star forwards still suffer some pretty staggering defensive lapses. They (Kopitar, O'Sullivan, Brown, Cammalleri, and even Frolov at times) spend far too much time watching the puck carrier than picking up open men in front or shutting down passing and shooting lanes.

"He's been the only shining light in goal for the last 2 years." - Totally! We've been in the desert and Ersberg is like a fresh glass of water.

Also, my hunch is that Lubo may somehow be hurt. That's the only thing that explains it for me. He's been a class act up to this point, so I'll give him and the unknown, the benefit of the doubt.

Shakes...*ROFLMAO*...That was funny although you could see it coming. I'm relieved everyone knows about pulling a goalie....

I told you so..

Actually I did, but not as you think. Before this season there was a video interview with Ersberg posted here, and all you guys made fun of his size and laughed about his english, and thought he was a poor goaltender. I posted a remark about this and told you that Ersberg could surprise this year. If only Crawford would have given him the chance earlier, imagine how that could have been?

I am from the swedish city were Erik played last year, and he was awarded the mvp goalie in the swedish leauge, and that is not bad. Henrik Lundqvist has got it also..

I agree with Dave Fouser's comments. The top 6 have proven they can score but they are weak two-way players.

Compare this to recent players like Allison, Deadmarsh and even Ziggy who was sort of a cherry picker before he came to the Kings and even he was able to elevate his D.

Size shouldn't even become an excuse for them. Guys like Mike Donnelly, Theo Fleury and Lapi are under 6 feet and aren't afraid to muck and grind. They simply play BIG.

The Kings need to get tough or teams will continue to take them for granted.