Satisfied? Acceptable?
Tuesday's victory improved the Kings' record to 6-6-2, and there's two ways to look at that. On one hand, the Kings' schedule has been so home-game heavy (11 of 14 have been at Staples Center) that a .500 record isn't shocking. On the other hand, this is a team that finished dead last in the Western Conference last season and had fairly significant player and coaching turnover. A .500 record for the whole season would give the Kings 82 points, compared to last season's 71. Here are Terry Murray's thoughts...
Question: You're now 6-6-2. I know a coach will never say he's satisfied with that, but all things considered, is that an acceptable record?
MURRAY: ``Well, if I say it's acceptable, I'm saying I'm satisfied. We're not satisfied with it, because we look back at some of the games and we felt we felt we should have... You never want to say you deserve a better fate, but we needed to find a way to get points out of those games. So you put it all in the learning mode. You take the good stuff away from the games you missed on and build on it. We are what we are right now, and we want to improve and become a better hockey club. But those kind of games like last night, those are important for us, for our confidence level and our momentum. As I said last night, with the new group of players we have on this hockey club, it's a good confidence thing for the team.''
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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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Let's be honest here. Out of the 8 losses, the Kings could of had at least 4 of those. That means they outplayed the other team, and if not for some bad goals given up by Labarbs, they just might of had those two points. So, this record could easily be 10-4.
As a fan, I'm happy as hell right now. Team is playing great, and except for two that I can remember...they've been in every game. It looks like they continue to get better and with Ersberg in net, we might just go 10-4 in the next 14. At the end of the day, if this team continues to play and improve like we've seen so far...they are playoff bound.
I wasn't going to do it this year but now that it looks like Iceberg will be in net, I went out and put a future bet on the Kings, the stock did go down a bit but I got them at 80-1. Go KINGS!!!
When is the last time the LA Kings were .500 or better after playing at least 15 games in a season?
2005-06...they started 10-5. They started 8-8 last season but then went 4-16-2 in their next 22.
I think it's best to be cautiously optimistic. It's a long season and so much can happen. What's at least obvious to me (and a reason to be excited) is that with TM and his philosophies are producing where it counts. On the ice. Whether it's win or lose, the team is competitive and there is a hint of cohesion developing. That being said I think they have so much more work ahead of them.
Right now the Doughty pick is paying off. The others in the top 5 aren't doing so hot. (Stamkos, Bogosian, Schenn and Pietrangelo) Who would have thought central scouting actually got it right by saying DD is "ready for the NHL" and "ahead of schedule".
Wow. Hard to believe (or remember) they were actually off to better starts the last 2 years. The tank-job couldn't happen this year, though. Right?!?!?!?!?
Thanks Rich.
I'm satisfied considering the expectations. Acceptable? I don't know... I gotta say that I'm happy with the way we've been playing. VERY. We've been in every game just about and the D is doing good. At this pace we're gonna be a threat a lot earlier than the critics say!
I'm satified with the progress made by this team in such a short time but I will not say satisfied with a .500 record...this team has too much talent for that...and I know their young and it will come, but I'm reserving "satifaction" for the day they're leading the Pacific Division and Stanley Cup contenders
I think that a .500 record at the outset of the season would have been more than a lot of us expected. As people have already pointed out, the Kings are competitive, which is more than could be said for last year. There's still a lot of work to do, though, and a lot of their victories have come against teams who would be considered as not elite, so there's improvement to be made down the road. I'll start to be a firm believer once they can knock off Detroit, San Jose, the Rangers, etc.
Satisfaction will be seeing the team get through December and January without pulling its usual tank job.
I'm not even paying attention to the record. I never expected them to compete for any type of playoff spot this year.
I am ecstatic with the play on the ice though...the progress shown by the under 25 on this roster in just a handfull of games under Murray in unbelievable. The kids are learning from their mistakes, and they are gelling together. We are watching a young core grow together.
There are only a few downsides for me. Kopitar's play has struggled some, but I'm not too worried about him. O'Sullivan is struggling to remember goals are scored in front of the net, not 30 feet away along the boards, and Johnson is loosing valuable development time with the injury. Outside of that...I could not be happier.
Last game, in the 3rd period, I watched Avery try to goat Simmonds, Doughty, Ivan the Destroyer, all three into taking dumb penalties by retaliating...all something either a rookie would make a mistake doing, or Ivaness would have done just last year. All three skated away from him, and left Avery skating to the bench shaking his head. THAT is progress.