From the locker rooms

i don't know which game TM was watching if he thought LaBarbi had a tremendous game.

Calder was useless again.
O'Donnell had a pretty bad game. Especially when he was called for that 3rd period penalty.
Kopitar is starting to miss more and more wide open nets. What's up.

Greene and Frolov were the best players today.
Richardson impressed as well.
POS set up some really good scoring opportunities that nobody was able to finish off.

This loss hurts because the game was so winnable.

Paison that Guiliano is. I think Terry Murray did a good job with the line changes. We need to tone down the penalties. Anthony, spot on.

TONY OUT

A question...is anyone on the Kings playing better now than last year???? Kopitar isnt...anyone ????

Ya what is with kopie? Man so focused on passing he forgot how too score? I was painful too watch tonight.

Yo Marty, Marc Nathan,
Need some support here.

Anthony,

When you get past your emotions, then you should post. What you post as soon as you finish reading what Rich/Jill states rarely paints you in the best light.

It is obvious that you are passionate about the Kings, but the things you write would be better received if you would take a little time to think them through before just spouting off.

LaBarbara only gave up two goals tonight. Ersberg gives up two on most nights too. Did you expect for LaBarbara to have to save those two as well and post a shutout?

Sean O'Donnell took a penalty early in the third and had a giveaway deep in our zone and a pass went through where he was supposed to be that led to a goal. He had a tough couple of minutes! I'm not pissed at the guy - I'm sure he is doing his best. It's the first thing he's done to hurt this team after over a quarter of the season is over. His good outweighs the bad by far!

We didn't do enough to win tonight only scoring 1 goal no matter who was in net. Why can't you give Labarbara some props for making some other huge saves during the game to keep it close enough so we had a chance in the end?

Instead, we have Ersberg facing a Conference Opponent, Phoenix, tomorrow night in a game that matters more in the standings on the back end of a two game stint.

Our Specialty Teams had more to do with this loss than LaBarbara. Please try to place blame where it is due.

Losing isn't the end of the world. Losing inside our Conference hurts more than losing to an Eastern Conference foe in the playoff picture.

Please take a minute and think before posting, Anthony. It's obvious that you are intelligent, it's just that you don't write like it very often. Rushing to be the first to post a reply on every thread isn't a sign of anything positive - especially when you write basically the same thing four times. This is a great blog, please try to add to that with your well-thought out comments.

Sorry Brent but we have pictures of LOLBarbera about a mile and a half away from his net with that 5 on 3 - that was pure vintage suck-a-thon LOLBarbera. Guess what? They scored, even though Greene was the one who had to doble stack the pads so to speak.

Barbs was very strong tonight.You cant blame him for the second goal when the leafs got three or four chances at it. The leafs started to control the physical part of the game in the third which I think earned them their win.

Again failure of Murray to load up 3lines cost the Kings this game.Put your most skilled players together we come out of it with a win.Keep roling 4 lines like he did this is the result you will have--we are not good enough,we do not have the depth.You play the 4th liners you get penalties because they are dumb or can't handle the speed of the game and resort to hooking or holding to compensate.I blame this loss squarely on the shoulders of Murray with his in effective line choice again.Need GOALS to win and this game was a gimmee.Put Sully back with Kopi and Brown stop the madness.And leave them together.Its the only prooven combination we have.I predict more 1 or 2 goal losses until they do.

Again failure of Murray to load up 3lines cost the Kings this game.Put your most skilled players together we come out of it with a win.Keep roling 4 lines like he did this is the result you will have--we are not good enough,we do not have the depth.You play the 4th liners you get penalties because they are dumb or can't handle the speed of the game and resort to hooking or holding to compensate.I blame this loss squarely on the shoulders of Murray with his in effective line choice again.Need GOALS to win and this game was a gimmee.Put Sully back with Kopi and Brown stop the madness.And leave them together.Its the only prooven combination we have.I predict more 1 or 2 goal losses until they do.

Agreed Brent. None of us know better than any coach, player or GM in the NHL. NONE OF US. We are spirited fans, they are the professionals.

Here's a fun question...of those who post...who actually plays hockey? (I do)

Brown needs to show a little restraint on the PK. You can't just run around and try and hit everything that moves. Good energy from him tonight but no direction to his game.
Hopefully O'Donnell puts last night behind him. Definetely an off night for him.
Greene was probably the best King.
Richardson is more effective then Boyle.
Moller is tailing off a bit on those lower lines.
Simmonds played well.
Labarbara played a solid game for the back up goaltender. Anyone that blames him for this game just doesn't like him.
Everyone else was average to below average tonight.
Can't wait for Johnson to be back because the Harrold and Preissing combo is scary.

i don't know which game TM was watching if he thought LaBarbi had a tremendous game.

Calder was useless again.

O'Donnell had a pretty bad game. Especially when he was called for that 3rd period penalty.

Kopitar is starting to miss more and more wide open nets. What's up.

Greene and Frolov were the best players today.

Richardson impressed as well.

POS set up some really good scoring opportunities that nobody was able to finish off.

This loss hurts because the game was so winnable.

Gauthier was actually needed for this game. Toronto comes at you with a lot of big O-men, and G's presence on the blue line would have helped stop some of their chances.

Brent...I actually agree with Anthony about LaBarbara on the 1st goal. He was so badly out of position I could have scored there, and I score about once every year.

He played a solid game, but his rebound control is so bad it forces the entire team to scramble around. That first goal, he was WAY too far out of position, which caused the open net...how Hagman missed that initial shot, I don't know.

He is also right about O'Donnel...he was horrific last night. Easily the worst game I have seen him play this season. Nobody is perfect, but his play directly resulted in costing the Kings the game.

But, overall...Toskala stole that game for Toronto, and a blind man could see that.

Anthony

I'm confused as to why you thought Richardson played a good game? He had several chances, but didn't bury them...Isn't that what you always say about Calder and why you hate him?

I agree with you that he had a good game...The 4th line had a pretty good night all the way around.

Brent..I agree with all of your points 100%

also,
This was the 1st game that I really missed having Cammi on the PP. We could use a sniper on the PP. We're getting way too many chances and not burying them. last night it cost us.

Brown lost us that game. Not just because of the penalty. I think the game was lost in the second when that douche Devreux or whatever, the ugly goon, shouldered Brown after the whistle. Brown responded to that rather poorly overall and after that was too focused on hitting. I love the hits, but he is the Captain, and he needs to know when to show restraint. The great thing about Brown is that he hits without running around like Zeiler. Well after that shoulder he was like a bigger, stronger Zeiler. That almost skiddish tenacity trickled down toward the team and the penalty became inevitable and the team played nervous and too emotional, getting off their game, just like their Captain. Usually I am urging Brown to add some emotional zest to his game. He has done that a few times effectively this season, but last night his emotions got the better of him. He'll learn, he's still a kid after all.

Labs had a very strong game, one his better performances. Hell, he played better last night than when he shut out St. Louis. We should have had 3-4 goals in that game. He made some HUGE saves and timely ones. I agree that he was out of position on the first goal, but again, that never happens if our Captain shows restraint when we have a lead like he should. I think overall Labs totally kept us in that game, and for most goalies, ESPECIALLY for Labs, that's all you can ask. I also didn't feel like Labs was just getting lucky all night, he actually made some really strong saves. Nothing really highlight reel worthy, but strong nonetheless.

I thought the line combos were OK. I would like to see Handsuz dropped down to play with Moller and Richardson, and Armstrong dropped down playing with Rat boy and Simmonds. Sully should be on the second line with Frolov and Stoll. Calder wasn't an issue at all (which is rare) last night. He was just as good as Kopitar and Brown... which is sad for Kopitar and Brown. Kopitar HAS to bury those chances.

All in all it was a very intense and exciting game. Definately one of the more brutal of the season, and I like that, but the Kings showed their youth a bit tonight not being able to bury the puck and getting caught running around. It's good to bring the physical game but Toronto made us loose our focus because of it whereas they turned it into high gear.

Why doesn't anyone on the PP move the puck high to low? I'm sick of Kopi ALWAYS going for the 5-6 foot soft pass to Stoll at the point. Send it down to Sully in the corner and cycle the damn thing until you find a seam to the point from BELOW the hash marks. To me, that is the big weakness on the PP this year. It's the same every game. It worked in the first couple of games of the season when Stoll buried a few of those, but it hasn't worked for 15 or so games, so please, stop it. If Kopitar showed half of Frolov's creativity this season he would have twice the points.

One thing I loved is that I don't recall the Kings getting kicked out of the face off circle once. Every time it was Toronto. We showed a lot of discipline there. That was one of the bright spots for me.

Richardson had a really strong game, as did Greene. In fact, Greene has had a string of incredible games lately. He's coming out to be the best part of the Visnovsky deal.

Sucks for O'Donnell. When he is making bad plays in the third, you just know we are going to lose. It's too bad, I will only hold it against him until the puck drops tonight, at which point he gets a clean slate because he has been, except for last night, incredibly poised.

Interesting that O'Donnell making some mental errors seemed to have a visible effect on Doughty's performance. Really shows what a great influence OD has had on DD. After OD's few slip-ups, Doughty looked shaky for the first time all season.

Again, Brown lost that game. I love him to death but he can't do that when he's Captain. Granted it's a fine line for him, but last night he stepped right over that line. You could feel the tension between him an OD when Brown sat in the penalty box. When they showed that shot of the two of them I knew the game was lost.

Oh well, I think he'll come back big tonight. He had so much frustration that I hope and am sure he spent the good part of last night and will spend most of today calming down. The Captain can't be slamming sticks in the bench because he is frustrated with his own game. Even if he is, he needs to show more resolve than that. Again, oh well, he's learning and so far I think he has been an outstanding captain.

I think Ersberg will come up big tonight and I imagine the team will be VERY hungry for goals. I hope to see lines like this...

Calder-Kopi-Brown
Frolov-Stoll-Sully
Moller-Handsuz-Richardson
Ivanans-Armstrong-Simmonds

Doughty/Greene
OD/Preissing
Quincey/Harrold

I think Greene has earned the extra minutes, and maybe it's time to see what Doughty can do without his mentor by his side for a game. Mainly though, Preissing/Harrold scares the living crap out of me. Quincey hasn't earned a demotion or anything, but Harrold needs to play with a bigger, meaner guy than Preissing.

Looking forward to smacking the Yotes around!

GO KINGS GO!!!!

I'm not going to blame anyone for the loss tonight, as they were all busting their A$$'s to score. What gripes my a$$ is the pi$$ poor to unbearable officiating, Toskala absolutely went out of his way on the trip of Kopitar, and there were a couple of others that should have been called, but boy's the Kings are going to have to play great to get the Ref's breaks. I don't know if Jason started yelling for help and direction when that puck went up in the air but that was just a rub of the green and I'm sure OD didn't see the Leaf between him and the guy he was trying to pass to. All I know is, these guys are going to be ok and it's going to get better and even more exciting. I made a statement before training camp was over when alot of the "Hockey GM's" here were crying for more experienced players for leadership and I said " evidently you don't know or understand the heart of a young player just out of Juniors, I said we'll be alright with what we have and we are and we will finish with the heads high and a warning to the other 29. Keep up the good work boys.

Nice post JDM, and I can't/won't argue with any one of your points.

I wholeheartedly agree with your line combo's as well, especially the defensive pairs. Every time I saw Preissing and Harrold out their together, I cringed. Not because I have a problem with Harrold, in fact, I think he should be playing over Preissing, just that those two together don't exactly strike fear into the hearts of anyone but Kings fans and Kings goaltenders.

Brent, Jeff, Marty, Kings2010: Good Posts, especially Brent. Why do we have 2 forward lines with, arguably 3 centers? O'Sull - Richardson - Moller and Frolov - Handzus - Stoll?
Why are the 2 weakest defensive defensemen playing together?

nykingfan - What's our PP %? I think we'd be 5or6 wins better if we still had Cammi on the PP. O'Sullivan has lost the plot on the PP and is just shooting, not working with his teamates.

JDM - I'll get back to you next week after I have time to read that post. hehe. Just Kidding.

I've got no complaints about the performance other than not liking the line combo's. It was a great game of hockey and as long as we're in it every night we have a chance to win. I think .500 is deserving for this club based on the coaching. I do think the offense could be better, but like how Murray has a solid defensive system. If he figures out how to organize this team offensively as well, look out.

T-bone - I do, and I'm not surprised that someone else I won't name can't score to save his life. The fact that he criticizes Labs shows his hockey sense. haha.

anyone notice that our second power play unit is better than our first?

Josh - Is it? Are there statistics? What's our PP % overall? Knowing those numbers might be a good way to JUDGE PROGRESS, wouldn't it?

They're better off when they get the shot from the point off and last night it looked like Doughty was afraid to shoot. I love that kid but a big part of his game is going to be PP quarterbacking. He should be getting that one timer off and letting the guys in front hammer away at rebounds. The down low stuff isn't working.

Handzus is a beast on the PP. That guy is working his ass off in front of the net every time they're out there. I like Fro and Moller with him and would like to see more of that combination at even strength.

Does it seem to anyone else that Moller isn't making any impact in the games right now?
He's been a little invisible lately.

Al - I have to say that I agree with you about the horrible officiating in the NHL. There's no consistency whatsoever. For example, why on Frolov's goal isn't the ref raising his arm for the hook to the hands? The league is in transition and maybe it's hard to be consistent with rules changing like this, but I also think they're getting the big calls wrong, even when it's getting reviewed.
Add the horrible ice surfaces to the mix and we shouldn't be paying top dollar for these games.

This time I think Brown messed up, but he is so great usually I can forgive him. O'Donnell blew it and Kopitar was not very good either. As for Brown, I watched many replays (love Tivo) and it was a stupid penalty plus he should have knocked in that puck at the front of the net!!!! That one and Kopitar's...you DO HAVE to find a way to bury those. LaBarbera did as well as Ersberg would have this time.

I love a lot of things this year but I have hardly seen any REAL amazing quality saves against. WE have been making the other goalies look good. I would say it is a real scoring chance only if good position alone doesn't make the save. To many of our shots are "on Goaltender" when there is a lot of net open.

I hope someone on Sully's line can start burying his awesome passes in front of the net. THAT would be a good quality chance. Frolov was really good. I hope tonight goes better.

eat the rich:
calm down buddy...just an observation...when frolov is on the power play he seems to be having more control and success than when kopitar frolov and sully are the men...maybe they don't score as much because they get less time on the power play...but they seem to create more chances...

Josh - I was seriously asking if there are some stats on that because I agree. Our host doesn't seem to offer up that kind of info. The power play has been really weak lately, but I don't know where to find the stats for the last 15 games only.
I actually think you're right. Handzus, Harrold, Stoll, and Moller have been the one's getting PP goals and assists usually, if I remember correctly.
Why did you think I was attacking or freaking?

Frolov is the Kings best player hands down.