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Kings are in the 2018 playoffs

PuckinUgly57

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There’s no offense. I did not expect this team to be an offensive juggernaut, but their inability to create any offensive opportunities or possession is embarrassing.

A lot of that has to do with the defensive personnel in the line up, which is directly related to the injuries to Forbort and Muzzin and then obviously Friday night Doughty being out.

The Kings' attack begins from he defensive zone, I'm sure you can connect the dots as to how this affects the forwards. Steven's actually hits it in the link below, also some information about line up changes:


"We always talk about having fuel tanks full in that (offensive) zone," Stevens said. "If we manage the puck well and execute cleanly, we’re going to get into that situation with lots of gas in the tank, as opposed to spending too much time in your zone and then you’re looking just to get a puck in and change because your tank is empty."

April 15 notes; Muzzin, Perron in; That 70's Line; prospect news; more - LA Kings Insider

I'm glad Stevens is not like Sutter in the sense that he's willing to change things up, and I must pat myself on the back about that third line because I called it earlier in the thread.

=)~~

Lots of speed on that third line, the Kings will finally have a full line with some speed that can back the Knights off like they have been doing to LA. Hopefully they generate some pressure, sustained attack. I don't expect them to score but that would be great. At the very least it creates some issues for Vegas.

This is as close to the full lineup that the Kings will have in this series it looks like. Perron is in too for the Knights, always an adventure with him as we are well aware of from the Blues' days against LA.

I'm sure he will be back to his dirty little tricks so I hope the Kings are prepared to handle that and send a strong message tonight.
 

Kings4OT

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Sucks that the Kings don't send any messages, in recent years when they let shit go they lose. I guess we were correct....slightly different
 

lasportzphan

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I think we all know this team was going nowhere in these playoffs. But a better showing against Vegas was expected.

End of an era, Gents. It was a great ride, but it appears this team is burdened with some nasty contracts. Not envious of Blake and Luc’s roles.
 

lasportzphan

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You do whatever you can to set up a rebuild. Shed salary anyway possible. No one is untouchable (except Drew).
 
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This will probably be too much but F the Vegas transplant "fans". I mean, from the start, trolling and asking for fights (Which they almost found when a few dudes followed them into the bathroom). Not condoning them, but man it was wrong across the board and these guys who rooted for LA last year were the worst. I mean troll level.

Gamewise. Fire Stevens yesterday. You have arguably a top 5 goalie, top 5 center, and top 5 defenseman in the league and tonight was your absolute best foot you could put forward? It's not good enough. Period.

We all thought this year was probably not our year to win it all and were gearing up for next year, BUT I am not very optomisitc, even for next year, after watching tonight. 3 goals (2 that mattered) in 3 games is actually hard to do. My teacher used to say that the hardest grade to get was an "F", and the 2nd hardest was an "A".

Kings got the proverbial "F".

I like what Blake has done thus far but I am now 1000% questioning the Stevens move. "We only really interviewed one guy" scenario doesn't look great right now. The line changes are just insane. 12 seconds left in the game and wholesale like change. Changes on the PP in OT during Game 2. Best line change team in hockey. Line changing and short shifts are great when you're the best 3rd period team in hockey. But when it mattered, you weren't the best team, and it didn't work out. So what was the point of the short shifts early.

Our offense is 3rd man high always. Defense back holding Quick's hand. No chemistry or "touch" from anyone. It's just hold on and hope Quick makes magic. It's not sustainable. Power Play is... pathetic. Vegas gets more chances shorthanded. That's been the same since 2011 (We had a great PP in 2010 for some reason). It's our only hope it seems, but man, you watch and it's like "Should we decline these like in football".

Okay, Stevens bashing aside. You cannot convince me that Carter isn't hurt. My new line is "His Achilles is a factor because he isn't". I love Carter but he doesn't look right. Summer moves, if you're all in on keeping Doughty is move Muzzin and Toffoli.

Yeah, man... Probably too emotional but drunk words are sober thoughts, and it is what it is.

I love the Kings, but something ain't right right now.
 

PuckinUgly57

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I think we all know this team was going nowhere in these playoffs. But a better showing against Vegas was expected.

I didn't think the Kings were going to win the Cup this season (my pick is Nashville) but I expected them to right now be 2-1.

All 3 games have been decided by 1 goal and the RS story has played out, Vegas has struggled with LA but is just a hair better at opportune times. Fantenberg got schooled by Neal on that board move but that's a save Quick needs to make. He has stood on his head this entire series and I think this has been really the only weak goal he has given up. Unfortunately this was a back breaker so late in the game but he has given them a chance to win every second he has been out there.

And I have no idea what Doughty was thinking on the third goal, both he and Muzzin went to the man on the boards, Kempe was tied up with the center and Karlsson was left wide open on Quick. Nothing short of blown coverage there it seems but Stevens is saying it was a lost board battle. I'm no head coach but I know a blown assignment when I see one.

I'm not writing them off yet, this team has shown incredible resolve all season long but this is not looking good and this is certainly not the 2014 team.

End of an era, Gents. It was a great ride, but it appears this team is burdened with some nasty contracts. Not envious of Blake and Luc’s roles.

I don't think they need a full on rebuild, but they do need to get significantly more skilled. Notice I didn't say younger, there are a lot of young players in the lineup but young doesn't equal skilled. They have added some speed in Kempe and Reider but there needs to be more.

I think there are maybe 10 players I would consider keeping but everyone else should be evaluated and moved if a deal shows up that benefits the team long term.

Blake did a marvelous job this season considering what he inherited but there is some clean up required, I think we all knew that watching this team all season long.
 

PuckinUgly57

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I feel your pain Stunner, we had the neighbors over, kids were in bed, I had some wine and Fat Tire, feeling good wit it 1-0 after the 10 minute mark of the 3rd.

I think you guys knew I smoked for almost 25 years but I gave that up in January of this year - finally - but I do have a few when I drink - it's just one of those things I enjoy (Mrs. Puck does the same thing) now and again. I stepped outside to join her and the neighbors, lit up, went back inside, boom....3-1. I was thinking WTF just happened here and rewound it and couldn't believe what I just saw.

The Vegas fans, you talking at Staples? What a bunch of clowns. I'm past those days now at 43 but during the Kings-Detroit series in 2001 (specifically the Stunner at Staples), this Wing fan behind me was lippy all night. I mean this guy wouldn't shut up and the more he drank the bigger an asshole he became.

I ended up having words with him all game long and then the final 6 minutes shut him up really good, we all know what happened. On the way out, I hit the head and am walking down the stairs and it's him again, he was walking behind me, smacked my head and shouldered me as he was walking past and called me an asshole. I didn't know he was trailing me.

Pucky's response? I grabbed the neck of his jersey with my left arm and threw him down the stairs. Nice bloody heap at the bottom, some other Wings fans charged me, some Kings fans I don't even know who saw what originated it jumped in to stand with me and everything blew over in a minute. We all just left, never knew what happened to the guy, still don't care because he asked for it.

So my advice to Vegas fans...Kings fans won't put up with your shit so watch yourself.
 

Fox4Kings

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Kings really looked good in the first period, I thought they were going to get their mojo back, but it faded away as the period ended.

Hate to blame a guy for putting the puck on net, but Pearson should have passed that puck across on that 2-1 with Carter crashing the net. Carter was wide open with a wide open net, all he has to do is hit his stick and it's a goal, and a backbreaker, too. I saw it live and yelled for him to pass, and replay showed it too. Oh well..

Just not our year. I did a NHL bracket through my local rink and I didn't pick Kings to win it all, but I did think they would beat Vegas and whoever they drew in the next round.

Overall I would say I was encouraged by this season. Before the season started I don't know how many of us felt they were even a playoff team, and here we are. I think Blake did a fantastic job assembling and disassembling this team. I'm more optimistic about the Kings future today than I was 12 months ago. Brown is back and Kopi had an MVP season. We didn't have Carter all year. Added a few role guys at zero expense and the future does look bright on the farm.

I don't think we are too far off.
 

Fox4Kings

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McNabb had so many dirty little plays last night, how did he not get called on any of them?
 

PackManDan

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I think the series has been exciting. More exciting than any other series. It has been extremely physical and fast-paced. Going into the series I thought it could go either way...Vegas in 6 or Kings in 6. Game 1 I thought Vegas outplayed the Kings but could only muster up one goal. A win is a win, I'll take it. Game 2 I thought was closer. Game 3 I fully expected the Kings to take and they came out swinging for sure. I thought the Kings outplayed the Knights in the 1st and 2nd but the Knights turned it on in the 3rd.

A few things:

Let's be real, there is no huge conspiracy theory that the commissioner, the refs, and the league are in on. I've heard excuses like "no expansion team has ever done this well, so it must be rigged". Whatever happened to "there is a first time for everything".

Doughty's hit on Carrier. It's playoff hockey...I don't think he was aiming for the head, but he did make contact. With that said, I don't think he should have been suspended. But with that said, it doesn't mean the league wants Vegas to win because the league suspended him. There are questionable calls even after league reviews in every sport. More than a few come to mind in the NFL.

Playoff hockey is intense and physical. Let's be real, every single team will have their fair share of cheap shots. IT happens. It's part of the game. Somehow it seems that certain Kings fans think that only the Knights are a cheap team but the Kings are innocent. The Kings are taking just as many shots at the Knights as the Knights are taking at the Kings. The refs will always miss calls. They always have and they always will. And the refs suck anyways. But let's face it...if you guys were up 3-0 right now and you saw Knights fans saying the Kings were cheap, the league wants the Kings to win, and all that you would say "stop whining and deal with it...it's playoff hockey" but because the shoe is on the other foot instead somehow the Knights are cheap and a dirty team and they are getting everything handed to them.

I'm actually a fan of the Kings. I lived in LA for quite some time. I like them and think they have a good team. But I'm getting tired of hearing the BS "conspiracy" excuses.

I think the Kings will take Game 4. I didn't come onto the Kings page to start drama. I actually came on to see what you guys were saying (every fan is curious to know what the other team's fans are saying) but I fully understand if my post seems like I'm trying to start drama.

Quick is a fucking beast.
 

Fox4Kings

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PackMan Dan, nice post. Pretty much agree with all your points. I think the conspiracy Kings fans are posting elsewhere, I see it all over social media and whatnot. Bottom line is Knights have outplayed the Kings. I think the games have been played closer than the 3-0 would leave one to believe. There have been cheap shots going both ways, Brown for example with the chop to the back of the leg last night. I do feel Knights have gotten away with a bit more, but I don't feel they necessarily changed the outcome of the game so much. Had Doughty not been suspended, I don't think it would be as big of a deal. But since it did, we are on high alert. Doughty said it best, the suspension was BS.
 

PuckinUgly57

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Welcome, always nice to have fans of other teams visit our page.

A bunch of us on this page have been together for 20+ years on various boards, most notably the ESPN boards prior to them shutting them down about 7-8 years ago and we migrated here. Lots of long timers, close group online and in person. You'll enjoy a lot of the information given here. There are some extremnely well versed, knowledgeable people here.

Overall a great group of posters, a wealth of information and very welcoming to opposing fans. Just don't be a jackass and it'll be all good, many of us are very good at trash talking and putting you in your place.

=)~~

That said, I don't think anyone here thinks there is a conspiracy, we are all calling for spades to be called spades. If a head shot to Carrier warranted a 1 gamer (it did not*), then the elbow to Kopitar's head as he was gassed and trying to get to the bench by McNabb in Game 2, then Haula and his butt end as well as the swing with the stick on Doughty's head should be at the very least looked at (the Kings did request a review of Haula's butt end as of this morning but I haven't followed up yet).

Doughty's play was a hockey play, neither of those three are. I think that would be the biggest beef among us, not that there is a conspiracy to move Vegas along.

I will say the Expansion Draft was heavily altered compared to any expansion draft post 1967 to allow Vegas to be a competitive team immediately. A James Neal or Marchessau is not even close to available in any of the drafts in 1991 (SJ), (Senators, Tampa Bay), 1993 (Anaheim/Florida), 1999 (Atlanta) or 2000 (Columbus/Minnesota) which is why you saw those teams suck for years and not experience what Vegas is doing. Their rosters were terrible (Ottawa went 10-70-4 for example). They did not get any passes - they were all old washed up veterans, journeyman minor leaguers, draft pick busts and overall guys who teams simply wanted to get rid of.

So while I do commend Vegas for their success, they got a sweet deal on the Expansion Draft other teams did not. I don't know if you are new to hockey or know a lot about Bettman, but his insistence of putting teams in non-traditional markets is almost like a psychological sickness - he has had two teams blow up in his face (Phoenix Coyotes, Atlanta Thrashers with the Thrashers finally moving to Winnipeg starting in 2011-12) so the success of Vegas was very important to his legacy after several big failures. Even Tampa Bay and Florida struggled mightily in the HRR and attendance numbers throughout their overall lifetimes with spikes here and there until the Lightning became a serious contender. Florida, well, it's Florida and they continue to make him look bad.

Back to the dirty stuff, the Kings have been guilty of it, but they aren't butt ending or tomahawk swinging sticks at people. Hockey is a dirty sport but even then there are codes you must follow within the dirty play realm. All three of those plays crossed the line and both of Haula's have no place in hockey. McNabb just needs a response, hitting another team's best player with a cheap shot.

Looking forward to tomorrow, it's do or die time for LA. Games have been extremely close and miscues at inopportune times have cost them so they have zero room for error tomorrow night.

*Rule 48 does state that contact to the head is looked at but also tucked in there is the positioning of the player who got hit. Carrier tried to dodge the hit, seeing it at the last second, changed his body position but not fast enough resulting in the initial contact on the shoulder and the completion of the hit on his head.

What they removed in Rule 48 that created the suspension was the head doe not need to be the initial point of contact, which is a revision of the original rule. If the old rule stands, Doughty doesn't miss Game 2 as the initial point of contact was the shoulder, not the head.
 
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Kings4OT

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definitely no conspiracy other then as a joke.....Vegas is good and deserves to be where they are. The DD hit should not have been a suspension. The other things going on and cheapo shots I blame the players for not at some point stepping up. I know its the playoffs and yadda yadda but there needed to be a response to the elbow to Kopitar. I had the same issue a few times most notably when Tchuck went after DD a season or 2 ago....no reponse and the Kings played lifeless for weeks and missed the PO. Sometimes you need to take the penalty to get your team going right especially when its well deserved. Kings wont make it out of this series and they should have...like others have said they weren't winning the cup but we thought we had another week or 2 of hockey.
 

PuckinUgly57

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^^^ is directly related to the overall team toughness that has left slowly since 2014 however. You think Mike Richards, as little as he was, tolerates that from McNabb? Not a chance. Lucic? He would have decapitated someone. Even Iginla immediately stepped up in his short yet memorable stint in LA.

Guys like Greene or Mitchell or Regehr around would send a very striong message back but the Kings lack those types of players in the current team. I'm not talking from an "old slow defender" POV, I'm talking from a "step up for your teammate in an over the top fashion" POV. The Kings do that overall but now and again you need someone to go bananas to keep other teams honest at all times.

The Kings came out flying in the first and abused the hell out of Vegas but there was no way that pace was going to be able to be sustained. I think some immediate retribution should have been doled out on Haula. The team of the last 4 years reminds me way too much of the high road Andy Murray preached and I didn't like it then, don't like it now.

The Kings lost a very good player in Palffy for this reason as the main cause.
 

Kings4OT

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Window closed or not, we got to witness 2 Kings cup wins and while everyone likes to say "quit living in the passed" or whatever, I can say fuck off. Kings have and never will be that dynasty that last forever and I am still pretty damn grateful for the success they still manage to bring even when they are slow and not nearly as skilled as the contenders. We knew the contract mistakes when they happened and also knew this was the eventual result. But as long as we have Quick, Kopitar, Carter (he still on the team right?) and DD they have a shot in any game.
 

PackManDan

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PackMan Dan, nice post. Pretty much agree with all your points. I think the conspiracy Kings fans are posting elsewhere, I see it all over social media and whatnot. Bottom line is Knights have outplayed the Kings. I think the games have been played closer than the 3-0 would leave one to believe. There have been cheap shots going both ways, Brown for example with the chop to the back of the leg last night. I do feel Knights have gotten away with a bit more, but I don't feel they necessarily changed the outcome of the game so much. Had Doughty not been suspended, I don't think it would be as big of a deal. But since it did, we are on high alert. Doughty said it best, the suspension was BS.

And I agree with you. I don't think Doughty should have been suspended. If it was clear that he was head-hunting then yes okay. But to me it wasn't clear he was head-hunting. He was going for a hit, glanced off the shoulder and made contact with the head/face. I can understand why Kings fans are upset with that suspension because if I was in your situation I would be pissed too. And yes, I believe the series has been closer than a 3-0 lead would show. I also agree with you that the conspiracy theory Kings fans are mostly on social media. That is where I have seen the majority of it, so maybe I was in the wrong to post something about it on here.

I think you guys will take Game 4 and I think Vegas will close it out either in Game 5 or 6. I doubt it goes to 7. However, in the world of professional sports you never know. And I know the Kings have done it before, so I won't get overly confident until the series is officially over.
 

PuckinUgly57

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Window closed or not, we got to witness 2 Kings cup wins and while everyone likes to say "quit living in the passed" or whatever, I can say fuck off. Kings have and never will be that dynasty that last forever and I am still pretty damn grateful for the success they still manage to bring even when they are slow and not nearly as skilled as the contenders. We knew the contract mistakes when they happened and also knew this was the eventual result. But as long as we have Quick, Kopitar, Carter (he still on the team right?) and DD they have a shot in any game.

I think after this season, anyone not named Kopitar, Quick or Doughty should be evaluated.

Carter looks invisible, I'm almost wondering if he reinjured himself somehow (remember the awkward fall in Phoenix near the end of the season? I don't think it's his tendon if he is injured, I think it's something else).

Because he did produce however after he came back, I would give him one more year and see how he does because he was solid the last 20 games or so. If he shows no signs of slowing down he should be kept, if he doesn't shop him in the off season. I truly think Toffoli's time is done here and the glut of B6 players needs to be moved even if for 4th or lower draft picks.

And I agree, while the current state of the franchise needs some work there is still enough of a base and talent level to not justify a full rebuild. You also really learn to appreciate the process undertaken by Dumbo and the Kings from stripping down the franchise to a doormat to dominating the league for a solid 5 years resulting in the two Cups.

Meanwhile 7 years later after the Richards trade Flyer fans still think they won the deal but I highlighted their track record since previously not too long ago. Two Cups is two more than the Flyers have had in 40+ years.
 

Peter Gozintite

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Welcome, always nice to have fans of other teams visit our page.
Ah man, and I was gonna troll. You guys seem fairly level headed, generally speaking, when compared to some of my real life friends that are Kings fans.
 
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