Quick will start Tuesday

Good for Quick! He deserves to start as he has been brilliant. Ersberg will get back in short time. These games are so important now that we need to go with the hot goalie at the moment. Isn't it a nice problem to have Kings fans?

Good. Quick has done nothing worth being benched. I'd say that he has to give up at least 3 goals in a game before missing a start. In the last five games, he has yet to give up more than 1.

Well that was FAST.
And obvious.

Rich,
any news on what the forward lines are gonna look like.

Kopi Sully and Brownie need to wake up and use one another.Oh and Kopi kick your parents out of your house it will do wonders for you ,grow up!

Now that's what I'm talking about! That says a lot to me coming from the Duck.

This is what Murray has been doing all along. The goalie plays until he messes up and then the other guy gets his turn. IT's fair.

Marty, are Kopi's parents really living with him?

I had heard that they moved out here, and I had a sense that would affect his game, but I didn't realize he had to go home to them every night!

Kopi's dad is a coach, so maybe it's bad that he hears it from his real coach, and then again from his dad coach.

If the goal tending holds up We are 2 players away from fielding a cup winning team. All we need is a serious sniper and an offensive threat from the blue line. We need that scoring threat at all times. Ate d is shaping up but we lack that big shot that lubo provided. We need a serious goal scorer to play on the top line with kopi and sully. Once we get these 2 players we will have all the elements needed ; size , speed, grit, toughness, heart and soul and the talent to back it all up. The diffenence between a great team anD a team in last place is so slight in this league. I believe we are on the verge of being the best TEAM this organization has put on the ice. If get those missing pieces we will be a cup contender in the near future.

Bolt's brother was also here with his mom at staples the other night. His brother looks just like him.

Oh, I don't want to know that Kopitar is living with his parents. Someone please dispel this rumor at once. Unfortunately, I am now picturing "The Great Santini."

Remember this?

Family reunion
By Matthew Kredell on September 11, 2007 5:13 PM

Anze Kopitar's parents moved to Los Angeles from his homeland of Slovenia to see more of their son play in his second season. Matjaz Kopitar, Anze's father, took leave from coaching the Slovenian hockey team Jesenice.

Guys, I absolutely doubt that whether Kopitar lives with his parents or not has had any impact on his performance. Kopitar is just dealing with the pressure of the Kings having raised expectations now and the fact that the team is more about defense now than they ever have. If you've looked at the numbers, you've noticed that the Kings aren't scoring as much as they probably should be, although at the sacrifice of their defense, which is several miles ahead of what it was the past couple seasons under Crawford.

There are five parts to any NHL game: offense, defense, goaltending, power play, and penalty kill. Last season, the only parts the Kings were even decent at were the offense and power play. This season, they've got great defense, solid goaltending, the same power play, and a great penalty kill. That's improvement. That's all I can ask for.

Yes, but I didn't know they moved in with him. If Kopitar is actually living with his parents, I am just going to say that the Kings need to get out on the road! Yes, the Kings road schedule will be our salvation!

I now have no doubt the Kings will be better in the second half.

Kevin,

I'm not saying it is affecing him for certain, but he is a person more than he is an athlete. I'm of the thought that everything about a players life can affect his game. What 21 year old wants to live with his parents? Definately not one that makes more than enough to live on his own. I could easily be wrong, and probably am, but I don't buy it when people (directing this more in general than at you) assume athletes are somehow immune to allowing things that make them unhappy outside the rink affect how they perform on the ice.

I like your thinking Quisp. This team is secretly yearning to get on the road, they just don't know it yet.

Here's a clip about the Kopitar family in SoCal...and yes it seems they do all live together.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMg5bsm7dME

You think it's bad with Kopi living with his parents?

Just wait til his girlfriend moves here (and she is), then we'll all be fu

folks...

just some perspective... the penguins, which arguably have two of the best forwards in the entire nhl were shutout tonight by the rangers. they are just a game or two above .500. neither crosby or malkin have scored in the past 5 games at least. the biggest droughts of their careers.

even the best of the best cannot alwasys score as much as everyone thinks they should. i think kopitar and malkin have fallen into their junior year jinx's.

jedi, re PIT: yes, I agree.

re Kopitar's girlfriend: no, get her here ASAP. That's good! I'm betting he's the good cop, which means you know what kind of cop she is. If you go to games, you have a moral obligation to display signs begging Kopitar's girlfriend to move here immediately. "KOPI NEEDS YOU!" That kind of thing. If nothing else, it'll get on TV.

I am reposting this because I am sick of the Kopi bashing. This guy has been the ONLY King to get top line billing (F,D,G) all year long. Understand the system, TM requires his centers get back and play D down low, then become playmakers ie why Boyle got sent down. Lot is required of centers on this team. Zus plays well defensively but is not a playmaker. Stoll is on the ice a lot bc of his faceoff prowess. Kopi has been the most consistent. Let the team develop a good solid core, where the center doesn't have to over compensate and you will see the Kopi you all have been looking for. Right now I am thrilled to see the kid evolve and take on this challenge.

Here is my old post BTW:
I really dont understand the Kopi bashing considering he leads the Kings in points, is playing great defensively, is winning more facoffs, and is 21. Dude the kid is not a superhero. Talk about a team player with a team mentality. Kopi plays on more of the ice than any other player on this team. He is always back deep in the defensive zone and hustles his ass up the ice to become a playmaker. This Kopi bashing makes me sick because this player is going to be a key reason the Kings have long term playoff success both on and off the ice.

People like Brown because he hits (me too but not an MVP). People like Doughty because he is hope, and the kid can seriously see the ice, but he is not the best defensive dman. Watch some games and you will see him make some mistakes around the net. Why is it after goals he is always right on top of the goalie not doing anything??? Quincey...cmon folks, he puts pucks to the net and plays solid D but he does not have an extraordinarily hard or accurate shot. Fro is a beast but there is a reason he gets third line minutes. The only guy to be and remain on the top line is Kopi and he deserves that number one spot!

Ziggy, I agree with everything you said. Wasn't meaning to bash Kopi. He's turning into an outstanding player.

My only problem has been he doesn't have the full effort EVERY game, but he typically does.

Jedi, I love your posts and agree with most things you say, but you're a little off on Malkin. Malkin leads the league in points with 60, Kopitar has 29 points. Not even close. I'm one that is hard on Kopitar, but TM says he's happy with him, so I'll go with that, even though I don't see it.

JDM,

Yeah, I understand what you're saying. I'm only 18, and I don't know where I'll be in three years. I probably would want to move out if I had the money, or if I transferred to an out-of-state college. If Kopitar wants his parents in SoCal with him, I'm perfectly fine with that. He probably feels more comfortable with that.

I grew up playing AYSO soccer, and it was my life. I hoped to play soccer in high school eventually, and maybe college if I could. I stopped playing because the game wasn't as fun for me. I played for at least ten years, and all the time I had to dedicate to it was very draining. What with practices, having to wake up early for games, not to mention schoolwork and everything, it was hard. Everything that was going on in my outside life was making it harder for me to get my head in the game during practices, and during games (even though our team went undefeated and won the league title during the last season, made the finals each of my last three seasons). It didn't have a whole lot of impact on my performance (I was goaltender) because I had such an incredible defense, but the mental anguish got to me, and it came to where I was putting too much pressure on myself.

In other words, whether what's going on with Kopitar while he's away from the team is affecting his on-ice performance or not, it's something I can personally identify with. I personally don't think that he is struggling this season because he lives with his parents. But I'm not going to pretend for a second that he is immune to the mental issues in the life of an athlete.

My problem is he lives with his parents.

What 21 year old wants to live with any relative,not to mention a professional athlete? Although they occasional still need a kick in the ass to get going or straighten out.But thats what coach's are for.

What 21 year old wants to live with any relative,not to mention a professional athlete? Although they occasional still need a kick in the ass to get going or straighten out.But thats what coach's are for.

My problem is he's got those goofy Homer Simpson house slippers.

duckhunter...

you are right, i did overstate the malkin comment, but it was to try and make a point. people here are really hard on kopitar becuase his stats are down from last year and people are concerned. they are not factoring in that he is playing a more complete game than last year and its like trying to compare apples to oranges. i'll take his 20 less points this season if it means the kings will have 20 more points in the standings.

You people need to lighten up over the fact that Kopitar lives at home with his parents. Did it ever occur to you that he wanted them over here with him? He's obviously very close to them as evidenced by a video aired during a recent Kings game.

I think it is very commonplace in Europe for children to live with their parents and families well into their twenties. It's too bad that philosophy isn't shared here in the USA.

We are set. The Iceman/Quick rotation will take us the remainder of the way.

Finally, some stable goaltending..whew.

"It's too bad that philosophy isn't shared here in the USA."

Actually, it's much more common now than it was 20 years ago. I think something like 15 million adults live with their parents in this country. WAY up.

The problem is, it's nothing like it is in Europe where adult children have lives (even families) and jobs. Here in our country, they tend to be lazy procrastinators with no self respect who take advantage of permissive parents.

It's gluttony gone wild and a sad reflection of OUR society, which has always prided itself on independence for both the individual and the nation.

It's a different mindset across the pond, which is fine and dandy, but it doesn't work here. We're different and should embrace it. That's not to say we shouldn't change some things, but adult kids living with their parents is very low on the totem pole, if it's on it at all.

Lazy people without jobs who procrastinate their lives away and can't prioritize to save their lives should not be lauded for leaching off their parents.

Kopitar is obviously not even close to falling into this category, but I think he will find that people will think it's weird...and rightly so.