FINAL: Avalanche 6, Kings 1

Quisp, brother, I need some of your positivity.
Good Day, Sir?

Here's a thought.
I can't believe McLeod was given a pass in this game.
We ought to change our name to the LA Prisoners - cuz we got bent over like biches tonight.

i feel like this could get ugly. thats all i'm going to say.

WOW Maybe a line change is in order and while their at it reach down and check for any balls.

Well.....

........at least they didn't give up any goals in the 3rd period.

we're a young team and it showed tonight, oh well hope they will learn from this.

I give credit to Zeiler, for droppin them... Don't know how much of a positive thing that is however.

Jason LaBarbera has to be the MOST unsound goaltender when it comes to fundamentals. That was a horrendous job of handling the puck behind the net tonight. Plus, he was bouncing around like a beach ball back there tonight and on several occasions left the net wide open. Can we finally get him out of Los Angeles? I'm not blaming this loss entirely on him - there was a huge lack of effort out in Colorado by the Kings, and that disappoints any Kings fan - but this guy is just not No. 1 material, and is hardly qualified for backup duty.

Does anybody else want to see the Kings call up one of their young studs from Manchester to play goal?

When is JJ coming back?
Armstrong was the scapegoat this time.

It's official the PEPSI arena boards are made of rubber. DID YOU GUYS SEE THAT BOUNCE ON THAT GOAL? JESUS

I blame the faltering economy. plus ryan smyth is super ugly.

thanks for the coverage, rich!

This is the definition of a setback. It hurt to watch from start to finish.

JJ is despareately needed.
Gauthier is impossibly useless.
He' super slow and takes way too many penalties when a player beats him to the puck.
Peter Harrold's game is also beginning to wear thin.
Even O'Donnel is beginning to show signs of playing old.

The defense is in trouble.
Keep Doughty, Quincey, JJ, Greene,
Dump the rest.
But Gauthier must go ASAP.
I can't believe that TM thinks he's better than Preissing.

Ersberg lets in 3 in the 1st period of his last game and gets the hook and the crappy comments from TM after the game.

Labs lets in 3 after the 1st tonight and looked 10 times worse doing it and gets to stay the whole game and look like crap for two more periods!!!

Do us all a favor Rich and specifically ask Terry Murray what his thinking is here because a lot of us here are confused. Please try to get him to give a specific answer.

As a fan, I thought this was piss poor coaching more than anything else. I especially love the experimentation by TM in the third, basically telling his team he's given up. You don't get continuity by playing 'Crawford Hockey'. For Pete's sake, if you wanna shuffle something, buy a deck of cards and play poker with yourself. Leave the lines alone and LET THEM LEARN!!!

I agree with you old school,bring up bernier and let him back up eric.First two periods no forechecking,you saw the results.Third period pressure much better results. Why wait till your down five goals? I don`t understand TMs way of thinking, very frustrating.Well another sleepless nite.

The only good news is that it was the last game of the road trip.

I can't think of one player who played well, although I guess Simmonds was OK.

Ersberg fumbles the puck and gives up a bad, bad goal leading to TM's comments posted earlier. He'd better say worse things about Santa LaBarbara cuz his whole game was terrible. Every goal but one came off a rebound (and he should've blocked the pass from behind the net). Bouncin' around like a beachball? Hell he was arms and legs akimbo out there. He flops more often than a Vegas dealer. He rolls around like a slinky going down the stairs. He makes more snow-angels than my 5 year-old daughter in winter. His whole game is based on a prayer. Can't handle the puck. Can't win a shoot-out. Member last year when we were pissed that he couldn't be called up?, how ironic.

As Charlie Brown would say, "Good Grief."

Santa Labarbara is a good nickname as he was passing out some gifts.
It's a scary thought Antony, but I though Harrold was one of the better Kings tonight. Gauthier, too (that holding penalty was an awful call).

Why wasn't Ivan the recipient of an instigator in this game? Was he told not to? What is up?
Armstrong must be incensced that nobody "backed" him like Lappy did Foote - or like Armstrong's done for his teamates.
Another 5 on 3 gone by scoreless.
Something is up with Kopitar. There's no doubt.
If we could only bottle Zeiler's determination and feed it to this team.
I'm done criticizing Zeiler. At least he tries.

Where do we turn now?

This game made me angry. It's so freakin' frustrating to get hope, and then have those hopes dashed. Get a little more hope and then watch this complete disaster of a game. LaBarbera is absolutely terrible, and the defensive coverage was atrocious. I'm a huge Kopitar fan but jeez, he looks listless. He doesn't look as though he plays with any physicality at all. This sucks.

Wonder how DL is feeling these days after signing Kopi to that huge extension. Jeff Carter of Philly has almost as many goals as Kopi, Brown and POS do combined.

One general complaint about Labs is that he doesn't get angry enough when pucks go in his net. After the shootout loss to the oilers he got angry (breaking his stick after the game)...and went on to get the shutout against the jackets. Then tonight happens. I'm not one to bash Labs, but how frustrating was it to watch him flail about on the ice all night. He needs to figure out what makes him tick and use it every night.

Let's see, hmm, the good news from tonight's game...uh, well, okay...

(1) Moller scored.
(2) Zeiler did good against Lappy, I guess.
(3) My mother-in-law came to visit and went to bed in front of the TV, so I had to speed through the game tivo-style in about a half-hour, so it went by really quickly.
(4) a couple of those goals were no fair. The hand pass one especially.
(5) you can't get less than zero points for a game. A 6-1 loss is worth the same as a 2-1 loss.

The game appeared to be a total write-off. Maybe there's something to learn from it. I don't know. Sometimes you just suck.

Labarbera is the most worthless goaltender I have ever seen in the NHL that doesn't come from Japan. He makes Roman Cechmanek days in LA seem like a wet dream. His nicnkame should not be Santa Labarbera. It should be BARBIE. This guys a joke, get him the hell out of NHL. Of course Ersberg seems to get tired after a long stretch of starts but I'd still prefer him over BARBIE in net. Given the team was just horrible tonight, TM now is looking more then ever that old coach that refuses to change. It looks like another year that will go down the toilet and a lack of goaltending seems to nbe the major casue once again. How often does a young team bounce back in the game when your goaltender is giving out gifts? I bet if Lombardi knew that with decent goaltending we'd actually have a shot at the bottom two playoff spots, we woulda taken Khabibulin off waivers, anything is an upgrade from BARBIE.

Murray certainly got his grittier offense...and look what it got him.

But I have to say, I can’t wait to see more of that chippy-ness in this team in the near future. Did you catch that shoulder shiver Handzus laid on McLeod? Nice! Zeiler quick to lay down, Simmonds throwing his body, Stoll hanging tough at the net, “I Must Break You” Ivanans grinding McLeod’s head into his own…right after the guy scores! All good stuff! Doughty and Quincy again showed they are the shockers of the season. Did you see that pass from Doughty after he fell? This kid has ice in his veins. Quincy, however, did give up a chance to clear the puck and it ended up in the net to make it 2-0 I believe, but otherwise looked solid.

But, now it's time to go back to defense-only hockey because our young team has yet the ability to balance a potent offense with a stingy defense consistently, night in and night out…like great teams do. From what I'm seeing, if we stick to this long, drawn out plan, it will indeed eventually come to fruition. Unfortunately, there will be many more growing pains like tonight before we see a perennial winner.

But for now, I will enjoy this burgeoning team for what it is and especially enjoy the individual efforts that some of these kids are displaying on a regular basis. You know, players like that unbelievable stand out from Sweden! Oscar Moller is my new favorite player and I look forward to watching the likes of him and Doughty play for years to come...hopefully.

I do not like where this team is headed right now. Started off good this season with the defensive focus, but the offense and goalies is just plain out poorly coached.

nice game boys. labs you looked great. 6 goals on like 16 shots, solid. way to stick with him Murray. and that was great how nobody stood up for army. could kopi look more half assed? time to call that guy out on his lack of effort. for god sakes, break up that first line. let's see brown, stoll and sully. I gotta say that I was glad to see such a horrible effort get rewarded with such an embaressing ass kicking...we deserved it

Well, I guess the good news for me was, I didn't see the game.

Man, I swear my crystal ball had a 5 above a crown. Now that I think about it, I guess it could have been a 6 below a Avalanche logo. What the heck happened here folks? We have trouble with these guys all the time, but it sounds like we really stunk up the joint huh?

I'm with you Old School...I would like to see one of the young goalies come up and get a chance.
The D was terrible, but Barbs was disgusting last night. Flopping around like a fish out of water.
I don't think pulling Barbs was going to give a spark to the team. I had a terrible feeling as soon as the 1st goal went in.
Good job by Zeiler dropping them with Lappy. I thought he held his own in the fight.
I was watching some of the post game show and Lappy had some complimentary things to say about Zeiler.
Also on the pre game, the Colorado announcers and Granato were praising the Kings..saying that in a year or 2, this will be an elite team. it's always nice to hear that from others outside the organization. Of course we go out and throw a stinker in.
Unfortunately, these kind of games are going to happen from time to time with this team. Let's see how they respond in the next game.

Did anyone else happen to notice the hand-pass on the goal where Labs fumbled the puck behind the net? I can't believe that was not reviewed and the goal taken away.

Labs did not have a good game, but to blame him is ridiculous. The Kings played terribly top to bottom. Their d-zone coverage in the first period and into the second was the worst I have seen all year. Labs probably should have stopped two of those six goals. The others were totally on the defense, or just the product of a bad bounce.

That was a tough game indeed.

Maybe TM/DL want Babs in as much as possible to get us through the year then trade him at the deadline? I don't know. It definitely seems that way with Calder.

I have to agree with the comments regarding Zeiler, he did his job(for the most part).

Nobody wanted a part of Ivan last night because CO knew that could help the Kings get back in it. Fox even made comments about it.

I think the Kings are on the brink of having to make a few changes. I don't think the Kings should bring up the goalies just yet. Let Ersberg have 75-80% of the starts with Lababstink backing him up. The Kings should bring up some D-men. I'm thinking Teubert and Hickey, or even trade for one, because they have some glaring opportunities there.

All-in-all, we're seeing some patterns start to emerge on defense, so maybe some subtle changes could be made to let some others have a shot at this level.

This loss was ENTIRELY Jason LaBarbera's fault. One of the worse exhibitions of goaltending in NHL history.

You guys are too much. Labs has two GREAT games in a row and none of the people that praised him were the Ersberg lovers that blamed his crap game on him but everyone else.

I didn't see the first period (thankfully) and maybe Labs was to blame for all 5 but I doubt it from watching the games. I said yesterday that Ersberg would get his chance and it looks like it's sooner than I thought but I was right.

The good news for the Kings is that when they get blown out, normally they come back with a great game of their own the next one...and I have tickets for tomorrow night :)

One more thing...I turned on the TV and saw Ivanans on the power play. I figured if the coach didn't care anymore I shouldn't either so I turned off the game at that point.

Does anyone think we can blame our ice on some of these games? I am not sure but it seems playing so much at home on slow, slushy ice is affecting the way the boys play on the road, especially in a place with good, hard, fast ice.

the scariest thing about last night for me...

this guys not in the avs line up due to injury -

Foote, Adam
Tucker, Darcy
Sakic, Joe
Willsie, Brian
Svatos, Marek

good thing brian willsie wasn't in there... we dodged a bullet. it could have been 16-1 otherwise.

in all seriousness, what would the score have been with some of those guys in the Avs line up last night.

embarrassing loss.

Ersberg,

Teubert and Hickey are in Juniors and will be there for the rest of the season.
If there are any call-ups, it will be from Manchester. What happened to Voinov? I heard he went back to Russia...WTF?????

I really think this would have been a diffrent game if that interferance call would have been made against Hejduk on O'Sullivan, just before they got the second goal.

That was a brutal missed call.

Nyking-

He went back for family reasons I believe.

The Teubert/Hickey thing was more of wishful thinking than anything, but some D tweeks should be in order.

Labs sucked, but the D was far worse.

Labs - useless
Ivanans - useless
Zeiler - absolutely useless
Armstrong - useless

Quisp,

Thanks for the positives. YOu're right, you don't get any more punishment for losing 1-6 than you do for 1-2.
I think the biggest positive is that Murray may relax on dog-housing players for little mistakes. Really, in this one, you can't bench everyone but Zeiler.
I don't know if it's good or bad, but Zeiler may have solidified his role as an agitator. At least he's got his nose to the grindstone every second he plays. I don't want to see him try to take on someone huge who can fight, but I'm done criticizing Zeiler and have a new respect for him, even though skill wise he's never going to be problem for the opposition.

This comes at a really bad time, however. After the last 2 weeks its possible we're seeing the REAL Kings. We have some real talent, but I'm starting to wonder if the wheels are off and that Lombardi made a big mistake exposing the young guys too early.
Kopitar's play really concerns me. I know he's still the same guy inside but I'm worried.
I think Lombardi would be well served to TRY and lure Shanahan here to help educate these young guys in playing in this league. A proven winner who is good in every aspect of the game and who has some tricks up his sleeve could really help.
The goalie situation is really worrisome, too, because we may have two guys who have ZERO confidence. I DO think Murray did the right thing this time in letting Labs deal with the situation from start to finish.

Those saying this is the worst goaltending performance EVER should keep in mind Patrick Roy's last game in Montreal. 7 or 8 against on an experienced club only shortly removed from winning the Cup. Again, not saying Labs is Roy, but these things happen. I DON'T know, though, if the Kings have what it takes to recover from these performances.

Florida, of all teams, is opening a gap on us in the points column.
I'm really worried about this experiment.

Whoever says oh Barbie had a good game against the Blue Jackets and a good period against the edmonton blah blah. Well thats the damn problem, he has 1 game worth mentining and one where it looks like a statue of him would of done better. This is the NHL for god sake. Being a goaltender one game and being a useless paper weight the next game doesn't cut it, it just means you don't belong in the NHL! Oh and at the end of the day its freakn COLJMBUS

Whoever ISN'T pointing out that QUincey was shocking last night is kidding themselves.
Doughty too. If the Avs had finished every opportunity our TEAM presented them it'd have been about 1-12. DOughty was shocking.
I can't even remember noticing Calder. Did he play?
O'Donnell must have had something else on his mind. No presence.
Murray's 4th line is weak enough without having to adjust every other line after Armstrong's injury.
He's going to have to call up players, too, because Richardson can't go right now.
Remember when this team was punishing the opposition physically? It's a fuzzy memory, but I know I saw it happen.

Labs should have been credited with at least 2 assists last night (on Av's goals) but really, the whole team played poorly. That loss was a team effort.

Fans stay positive. We may as well. To those looking for some good points, I offer these:

The Kings outplayed the Lakers.

Draft position.

Wait till next year!

Ersberg
I agree 100%
thanks for the info on Voinov

Let's see:

Brown has stopped really hitting people and can't put the puck in the net if it were a soccer goal.

Kopi's game is so far off it makes me nauseous to watch because he plays with no balls and no defensive tenacity and can't find the net, unless it's open.

POS, if you watch his face during the game looks like he has a chip the size of NJ on his shoulder and shows no desire to be out there.

LaBeerbelly just blows since he is about as graceful as Larry the Cable Guy telling Hillary Clinton jokes.

The rest of this team is mediocre at best.

WTF happened in the last two weeks? If it was up to me, these guys would be fined for playing this way. They make too much money for so little effort.

All this is of course IMHO.

Colorado seems to be a nasty matchup for us and I think their skill guys and Ryan smyth have got our number-- we always seem to be trailing the play with these guys- and their cycle in our end was killing us - the first minute or so was strong on our part just missing going up early - then it went downhill from there- I will say every bounce went CO way last night- need solid bounce back game against STL on thursday - this yr will be up and down like this - playoffs are still right there for us though kings always