Kings Win!

[CaptHowdy00]

Thank you Mike!

 

[davnlaguna]

2012 quick in the building
Kings special teams sucked but 5 on 5 they were better than the Oilers

 

[Stunner_At_Staples_Kings]

Yeahhhhh buddy!

Definitely a rollercoaster there. Kings solid first 10 minutes, then all Oilers for a bit. Special teams looked exactly like you'd expect. Kings tripping over their own feet on their PPs, and Oilers get 50 scoring chances per PP. That end of 1st period McDavid goal was brutal, and I was waiting to see how the team would respond coming into the 2nd period. Scoring chance early 2nd was good, but all Oilers in the second. They were finishing checks and dominating play. I did think they got a few calls, but they controlled play and they capitalized on their PP so more power to them on that end. Kings young D showed at times. That Draisaitl PP goal to tie it 3-3. Kings get outnumbered 2-1 in the corner, so Oilers win possession, yet the other 3 Kings on PK drift that way and still somehow leave Draistaitl open. If not for the broken stick laying in the middle, he would have had even more time. Quick made some big saves despite the score. Danault/Moore line looked great on offense, but man did Danault lose some massive draws. He lost them clean too. Especially back to back ones leading to their second goal. But a majority of the Kings offense came 5 on 5 from his line, so I guess you gotta take the good with the bad. Moore played lights out. Even defensively against McDavid. And Danault, off his body, with the game winner. I don't know how Smith stopped that first shot. He coughed it up and then made an unreal save. Weird play, but Kings had that killer instinct and you can't go wrong throwing it on net.

It feels like Edmonton has same D, and Mike Smith in net, so if play can be kept in their end, there's a chance. Conversely, their forwards are all world, and if the Kings d is playing in their own end, that's gonna be trouble most of the time.

Overall, best case scenario for a young team. Tough environment, tons of stuff to teach and grow off of. Many mistakes, and yet.... a huge win. Lots of good stuff. Lots of heart. Crypto (Staples forever) will be rocking for Game 3.

 

[Stunner_At_Staples_Kings]

I guess I will put this hear because that was an ass-pounding second period of Game 2 (And 3rd period) and I am trying to look a things as a whole. Mike Smith flop to start the second, but I thought Athanasiou was definitely in the way and bumped him. Do the Kings even practice special teams? PP is a joke, and now PK is a joke. Danault loses every major draw, so I don't know who he was padding his stats against last year on Montreal's run, but it takes Edmonton 5 seconds to get setup, and they get a shot about every 10 seconds. Kopitar not winning may more, so this is a big issue. I miss the days of Stoll. 3rd line Center can come in and win draws and kill penalties to take pressure off the top guys.

I mean, tonight was old Kings. Come out, be slower and less physical, and pretty much take it from start to finish in a period, and maybe get bailed out by the goalie.

Kings lack of grit is very apparent in this 6-0 game. Getting outskated everywhere, but then the Oilers are also running the Kings through the boards, and the Kings don't even really have a guy who could even step up like that. This gets back into the identity issues, and is something I would really like addressed in the future.

How do I spin this positively? If it weren't for second periods, we'd be dominating (I had that thought before the most recent 3rd, so this isn't even true)? I mean, it's one game, even though it felt like 2 separate poundings in the 2nd and then 3rd. Not saying everything is solvable, but this would be my critique of McLellan. Where are the adjustments? Same lines came out in the 3rd and nothing changed. No sense of urgency or anything really. If the Kings are objectively just happy to be here, and they are content running their young guys in meaningful minutes, then it is what it is, but it feels like after Game 1 they might actually feel like they can play. Tall task to have Durzi as basically your #1 as a rookie, and look who he has to go against all night. Great experience though. Same with Byfield. Kid is 19, so just being in playoff games is a good thing. Though a 6-0 beat down might do the opposite of what you want. So I am excited for these big games for the development side of things.

I thought Quick still made some big saves, but 6-0 is rough. Nice shot by Draisaitl on first goal. Def beat Quick. But 2nd, 3rd, and 4th were so ugly. This would be my insert on Kaliyev looking a little bit outclassed here. He's a sniper, but if he isn't scoring, then he is pretty much a liability across the board everywhere else. Offensive zone penalty, deflection on 2nd goal into his own net, generally slower and plays an undersized game. 5th was really nice and Quick had no chance. Then 6th Kane beat him pretty clean. Point blank but it wasn't deflected or anything. I felt like maybe McLellan would pull Quick and let him rest, but after letting him finish the game, I wonder if he is leaning towards Petersen for next game. I personally hope not, but we'll see.

We missed Arvidsson tonight I think. Some more veteran presence to even out the depth a little. Hopefully he is good to go soon. I thought Athanasiou and Kempe looked a little lost. Kempe scored 35 goals this year, so we're gonna need him to at least be a shooting threat going forward. Not saying he has to score, but if he's dangerous, it's going to open up the ice for other players.

Um, yeah. 1-1 heading home, so what's the real complaint? Just a really exposing game in my opinion. Special teams on full display, and everything I said about heart Monday can be turned on its head. Just no real answers on any level tonight. I keep thinking the same thing as I have all year. They're young, so you get excited about this team, and they're gonna shit the bed. But doubt them and they'll surprise you. So based on that logic, they should come out firing on Friday. Edmonton is worse on the road, but Kings are also worse at home, so we shall see. I do think Staples/Crypto.com is gonna be rocking on Friday!

 

[Fox4Kings]

Gosh pretty spot on and agree I think on every point. The only silver lining I see is that for whatever reason, and this happened so many times in the regular season, when they lose a game they really lose a game. They had several clunkers where they just got brutally outscored, but then could follow it up with a solid performance. It would explain why other than the Stars, they have the worst goal differential of any of the playoff teams.

 

[davnlaguna]

I have people from work I rarely talk to, sending me texted on how bad they are playing. The only solace I have is I can reply” at least my team is playing still”

 

[Kings4OT]

The only solace I have is I can reply” at least my team is playing still”

But are they?

 

[Stunner_At_Staples_Kings]

Whelp. I'm too drunk to really type it all out but really pathetic effort start to finish. Outshot Edmonton heavy in the first but nothing really dangerous I can recall. Send out a missing persons alert for our 1st line. Kopitar netted one once it was 5-0 but where's our 35 goal scorer Kempe? Just not impressed with Edmonton, but way less impressed with LA right now. Calgary in a dogfight with Dallas but Pacific looking really weak right now. If LA gets beat ,("If") then Edmonton and Calgary could be fun. But the Central and East waiting so I don't see it long-term for Edmonton. I just want to see some more fight from LA but they look so amateur right now. Sucks watching Quick get clowned on too.

I would like to see McLellan adjustments, but I'm not sure he's that type of guy.

 

[Kings4OT]

I wouldnt expect much from Cantplay, he is not that type of player to carry a team. In a regular season your team is going to score goals and somebody will look better than they really are. Donut and cantplay are good but best suited on 2nd or 3rd lines if your having a good team imo. Obviously doughboy missing is huge but i think the end results would still be close to the same.

 

[davnlaguna]

I too miss the sandwich days. The days when the team could lock other teams down and stay in the game. Two blowouts in a row mostly because the penalty kill is the worse ever in the history of hockey

 

[CaptHowdy00]

And they win again.

 

[davnlaguna]

Kings players standing up for each other. Have not seen much of that this year.

 

[Stunner_At_Staples_Kings]

That was a lot. Awesome win. So much more heart to say the very least, which all we really were asking for. Not just taking it start to finish. Lizotte, Mr. Pizzaface himself was everywhere. Tons of credit to a dude who is 5'8 but was getting around and doing work in corners. Gretzky called it before the game saying he can't think of a series where the first goal means more. Edmonton still looked dangerous, but Quick shut the door and the overall team defense seemed much better (Not perfect, but so much better). Sticking on players, and not overcommitting on little drop passes etc. Edmonton look more dangerous on the counterattacks, but Kings had so much more possession than that last few games. They said Kopitar was 13 of 16 in the faceoff dot through two periods, which is so huge.

Special Teams. I knew it was bad, but they flashed that Edmonton was 45% on the PP this series it's really something to see. Kings held them to zero shots on one of them in the second, so just that made such a difference. Kings PP still blows, and if I was Edmonton I would look for shorthanded opportunities because LA just really doesn't have it together there. Kings also didn't just hunker down on 4 on 4, which has been another problematic area in this series. Kings actually held possession and didn't just sit back on their heels like they had been.

Stetcher in for Spence was a great call. His goal was lucky off of Keith, but he was shooting the puck on net and stepping up, which is all you can really ask for.

One note on just this game. We got Durzi, Grundstrom, (And a 1st that became Bjornfot) in the Muzzin trade and just in this game you gotta say that's looking like more decent of a haul. I thought we got Trevor Moore in that trade too, but I looked it up and he came in the Kyle Clifford, Jack Campbell trade.

Overall, just happy with the fight, and nice to see Quick not spend the whole game pulling pucks out of his own net. I don't have any thoughts on next game. I could see Edmonton winning 10-0 or Kings surprising them. I really don't know. I feel like Kings are going to have to match a crazy motivated and angry Oilers team, but if they can have a good start and plant that seed of doubt, you just never know. Mike Smith looked pretty good, but he's not unbeatable, and I think Oilers defenseman aren't super strong if LA can just keep that forecheck and pressure on them.

 

[davnlaguna]

The Kings frustrated the Oilers. Nurse upending Moore and Kane getting a game misconduct proved that. Don’t know if t continues but no 4 game sweep like the world predicted.

 

[Kings4OT]

One more game at least than I thought they would get, Based on the scores that I'm seeing most of the teams aren't really playing playoff hockey in my opinion.... Could end up being the one team that figures it out and learns to play defense and tight and tight on every line will be the 1 that comes out on top.

 

[Stunner_At_Staples_Kings]

4-4 headed to OT. So much to say, but overall narrative is Kings have honestly been the better team 5 on 5, but their special (needs) teams have really cost them. When it was 4-2, Oilers had zero fear of Kings PP and were just sending it. I couldn't tell but that's on McLellan if he still had 4 forwards out there. McDavid PP goal, Draisaitl shorty, then Draisaitl PP. You tip your hat on some level to their PP, but for the Kings PP there's just no words. I know Danault scored on the PP, but it was after a 15 second 5 on 3 and a double minor they finally got one.

Talk to you dude's tomorrow. Just a solid gameplan and execution 5 on 5 but as far as talent, just so outmatched, and it's highlighted on special teams.

If you told me before the game we'd be 4-4 headed to OT I would probably take it, but if Edmonton scored 4 then that's probably bad.

Stressful ass game for sure. So we'll see.

 

[Stunner_At_Staples_Kings]

Nevermind. Kings better 5 on 5 and came out wanting it. My whipping boy Kempe with the dagger. I feel like I felt when Muzzin put in some crazy goal against Chicago in 2014, like dude, you stepped up, so I can't say anything else.

 

[davnlaguna]

Hope Kings end it in 6
Headbutts , cross checks to the back well after the whistle, blatantly pulling the feet out from under guys and who knows what was off camera. I thought for a moment we were watching a Syracuse Bulldogs game.

 

[davnlaguna]

Nurse to miss game 6 suspended for head butt
Should have got 2 games could have got none
Don’t know how much it helps the Kings

 

[Stunner_At_Staples_Kings]

Yeah I'm not sure either. On paper I would say that's a loss for Edmonton, but he was getting exposed and spent a ton of time in the box, so maybe that helps them out.

Here's the headbutt.