FINAL: Flames 6, Kings 2

Oh no. Ersbergs first "bad" game. I am very worried coach will try Labs now to see how he handles things...

That was absolutely atrocious. It looked like the Kings of last year. I've been holding off criticism of the 4th line, but man Boyle looked bad, and Ivanans took 4 penalties with 9:44 in ice time. They both need to ride the pine for a while. Jeez, I hope the team can come back tomorrow...

Boyle, Gauthier, and Ivanans were pitiful. No one really stood out...maybe Brown and Doughty. That's about it. Neither Ersberg or Labarbera looked particularly good.

I thought that Brown, Frolov and Simmonds had good games. Way to many penalties. Can not have players trying to "kill" the other team because we are down (Ivanans). Going to the game in Edmonton, hoping for a better result. GO KINGS.

This coach think he's coaching New Jersey or Detroit.
He continues to play four lines even though the 4th line took 7 penalties.
He continues to play four lines even though his team was trailling the whole game.
Ivanans is absolutely worthless. Waive him a call up Westgarth. At least he can win some fights. Boyle needs to be sent back to the minors. The 4th line just doesn't suit him. Gauthier, Armstrong, and Calder are all a waste of oxygen.

i agree with everything accept boyle... look who he's playing with. sounds like the kings took too many penalties

Yes, it was an awful game. There are now two stinker games in 20 that I've witnessed (I missed two games). The Vancouver home game and this one. That isn't as bad as last year (every other game at least). I can live with that. However, I don't want them to go zero for Canada this trip. Let's get SOMETHING out of tomorrow's game with the Oilers.

The players that really looked slow on the ice were army, boyle, handzus, ivanans and gauthier.The rest tried very hard.I just think we need to trap and pressure the puck more. We consistently sent one man to forcheck with poor results, while they trap with three and cause havoc.Let`s hope they bring some energy and play a little smarter tomorrow.Thanks Rich, and to all you King fans have a wonderful Thank`s Giving!

Anthony:

Well I have to disagree with you once again my friend. Yes, Ivanans is a horrible player and shouldn't play as many minutes as he does, but to say he never wins any fights is ridiculous. I can't remember the last time I have ever seen him lose a fight. And don't say it's because he doesn't fight anyone tough, he fights all the heavyweights in the league and either wins or gets a draw, but rarely ever flat out loses. He should be played like other guys of his skill level like Laraque, Jansens, Hordichuk, Boogard, Orr, Parros, etc...maybe 2 or 3 shifts per game, not each period. We need him in the lineup just to keep the other teams players honest, if they didn't know Ivanas was waiting on the bench for them, our young players would get ran through the boards and roughed up every night....

I know Brownie gets a ton of shots, but many of them are of questionable quality from a shooting percentage standpoint. Many times he enters the zone with plenty of time to make a play or involve his linemates, but then he'll fire a shot from 40 feet that gets snatched up each and every time. Opposing goalies will take an end zone faceoff rather than a clean entry into their zone any day of the week.

Avery used to do this and it irked me. Now I see Brown following suit. Hold on to the puck every now and then and involve your team.

I was watching from the mid point of the 2nd period on that channelsurfing.net feed with the calgary announcers. Even they said Ersberg wasn't to blame for his performance.

Ersberg wasn't totally to blame, but he wasn't very good either.

I am very troubled by the Kings' lack of offensive production this season. I know the company line is that offense is going to suffer as the team focuses on its defensive system which has admittedly been pretty good (most night, obviously tonight was an exception), but the fact remains that the Kings are out-shooting their opponents in almost every game and they are usually spending quite a bit of time in the offensive zone. The power play has been pretty terrible and with this group of forwards that should not be the case.

I am simply not seeing any creativity from the forwards, with the possible exception of Alex Frolov. Kopitar, Brown, and O'Sullivan are all just carrying into the zone and either shooting right away or going to the corner with the puck where the promptly lose it.

They are not cycling with the puck down low where you can get someone into scoring position or draw penalties. Instead when they do get control of the puck in the offensive zone they are tending to either a) keep the puck on the outside where you are never going to score or b) make terrible passes directly into opposing players or their sticks.

Something's gotta give. There are a whole bunch of very talented young players on this team and Terry Murray has to let the kids play again when they are in the offensive zone because this was not happening last year. The question too often this season has been whether the Kings are going to score, not how many times they are going to score and that is a major problem!!

two of the goals against Iceberg weren't entirely his fault, while Babs could of easily had three goals against..

Penalties really hurt us

worst...game...ever!

So am i the only one that notices that Kopie just ant shooting? I mean i know he is doing alot too set guys up, but he is looking too hard too pass when he has a shot?

Kopitar never shoots enough. It's the one real knock I have on him. He's always looking to pass, never to shoot.

Those of you who didn't see this game, you're lucky you didn't. It was the worst effort of the season by the Kings. To say that the Kings were never really in the game is an understatement. I'm sure coach Murray wasn't pleased after this game or the last. I hope they can give a better effort tonight in Edmonton.

And I'd say neither goalie was to blame. They were both left hanging by the Kings all night long. All the Kings just followed Iginla and Camalleri around like puppy dogs. It was.....well.....it was the 2007 Kings. :rolleyes:

That was one of, if not the worst performance of the season. The goaltending was terrible..both guys.
Way too many bad penalties taken. It's hard to single out a few players because the whole team played terrible, but the worst of the worst were Ivanans, Boyle, Gauthier. Boyle reverted back to his play from the beginning on the season. That's just not acceptable. Gauthier was a give-away machine and Ivanans was etching his name all night in the penalty box..and most were lazy penalties.

I'm interested to see what, if any lineup changes TM goes with tonight. I'm not saying he should or he shouldn't, I'm just interested to see what he does.

While it isn't good, these games are going to happen every once in a while. Lets hope they bounce back tonight and give a solid effort for 60 min.

This team is not good enough to play 4LINES!Because they are weak players they were the players to take all the penalties then waste are better ones on the PK.Totally a let down from Murray all the way down to the players,you gotta be smarter. SHORTEN THE BENCH!

A 4th line of Amry, Boyle and Ivanans lacks sufficient speed. Thus too many penalties. Boyle needs to play with some quicker guys to balance to his strengths.

Anthony, you need to get it out of your noggin that this team is a playoff team this year. I'd love it as well, but I'm also realistic.

That being said, THAT is why you play all four lines, and roll them on a regular basis, regardless of how many stupid penalties they take (granted, I did not see the game, I do not have center ice). This is how young teams learn, period. Young teams will take two steps forward followed by giant leaps back. You learn from your mistakes, but the only way to do that is to continue to play.

The reason why Crawford was not good for this team, this direction, was because he could not handle teaching from mistakes. He taught by screaming and yelling, and especially today, most of these kids with their monstrous egos (kinda like yours Anthony), can't handle that, and they regress more. They need to be handled with "kid gloves" and that seems to be what Murray is doing. Yes, discipline needs to be there, and I suspect Riates won't be playing tonight to make a point, but the only way for these kids to learn is to make those mistakes, sometimes over and over again, and learn from them.

What sucks is your veteren prescence on the team is not exactly helping matters (Gauthier), but as soon as Jack Johnson is healthy, his butt will be on the bench as well.

When is management and the coaching staff going to realize that Gauthier is:

Overrated
Overpaid
Overplayed

If you're going to suffer through defensive shortcomings, do it cheaper and with someone with some upside. Surely there are young defensemen that deserve a chance to learn and contribute.

They definitely seemed to be chasing the puck all night. As previously mentioned, this was really only the 2nd game this year where they were completely out of it and weren't too competitive.

Tonight will be a good test to see if they can bounce back, and if they truely are a different team than last year....

Subpar game overall. I think it was bound to happen. We're forgetting that these kids are over achieving this year.

Ersberg was due a bad game, and Labs is due another start.

Ivanans needs to learn if he's not hitting someone with his fists, he shouldn't be taking a penalty.

I have to defend the coach for rolling 4 lines as much as he could. They have back to back games so he had to try and keep as many guys fresh as possible.

It's amazing to see how many people forgot that this was a rebuilding season with little expectations other than to learn a new system.

Bad games happen. At least they are ranked higher than Phoenix and Dallas.

Yeah bad games happen, but when the team doesn't come out to compete what's the excuse? The kids should come out with some fire, is that too much to ask.

lots of road games coming not good for the kings got away with it in the first 20 gms watch out now its coming

Anon-

So you're saying each team in the NHL plays 100% in every game? Look at Buffalo and Montreal for examples. You answered your own question in your first sentence.

I don't have the problem with Gauthier that many have, though I can certainly see where they're coming from. Last night was not a typical Kings game defensively, and in general the defense has been solid. However, I am thinking more and more about changes for the 4th line.

Because, really, the top three lines are pretty solid, or at least (in terms of the 1st line) will become solid once they shake themselves out of whatever funk they're in.

POS/Kopitar/Brown (give them time to rediscover themselves)
Frolov/Stoll/Moller (even with offensive lulls, they've been by far a net positive)
x/Handzus/Simmonds (also by far a net positive, although I hope for a player better than Calder in the "x" position)

What players are left for the fourth unit and the x spot on the third line?

Armstrong
Boyle
Calder
Richardson
Ivanans
Zeiler

and then, in Manchester, there's:

Moulson
Purcell
Lewis
Parse
Clune

But what kind of fourth line do you want? Murray has tried different versions, the two main ones being the "big mean" line (with Ivanans) and the covert offense line (Boyle and O'Sullivan). The covert offense 4th line coincided with several Kings victories. Losses like last night's underline the (sometime) futility of skating a big mean line that's not fast enough to keep up.

I have no special beef with Ivanans, but I agree he's overmatched. I think the best option would be to use the fourth line and two scratched forwards to be able to assemble and offensively-capable unit or a nasty unit, as the specific opponent calls for.

Offensively capable line: Moulson/Boyle/Purcell
Nasty line: Zeiler-Clune/Boyle/Armstrong

I'm treating Clune as a better Zeiler who until he's ready is Zeiler's understudy. Moulson and/or Purcell (both of whom are putting up big numbers in Manchester) could easily be replaced by Richardson, who also has offensive chops.

My choice for third line wing is Trevor Lewis or Scott Parse (Parse has already doubled his point tally for all of last year; this is, I think, the last year of his Kings contract, so he's motivated not to blow it...I still hold out hope for him). But if that's just too many darn rookies for one team, put Richardson up there.

Waive Calder and Ivanans.

p.s. Azevedo has 5 points in 4 games in Manchester. And for those of you gunning for Gauthier, or looking for more offense from the defense (never a bad thing), I would note that Voynov leads all of Manchester in +/- with a +7 and leads all D in points. I'm not saying he's ready; last I saw him, he looked about a week older than Hickey. But he is playing minor pro and more than holding his own. ... Just saying.

Anthony you're IGNORANT! Ivanans is a monster and I saw clips of Westgarth. he maybe big but his fights were not impressive. most of the clips I saw Westgarth blocked punches with his face. is that your definition of a fighter?

Gauthier stinks. So does Calder. Ivanans isn't great but he has a role: to protect our guys. Get Gauthier and Calder off the ice.

I wasn't able to watch this game and/or comment over the past week, but I think I said that these line combos were unbalanced and that the 4th line was going to be exposed. There are always games where the team just isn't up for it, but criticizing the players when the lineup doesn't make sense is misdirection of blame. 5 days later and we're back to Calder on the first line despite it not having worked before.

There's a ton of criticism of Boyle, Ivanans and Gauthier, but if the coach didn't see this coming he's the one who's responsible.
If we're not a playoff team why are we wasting time trying to get guys producing in roles they're not effective in?