Game Thread: Penguins vs Kings

[PuckinUgly57]

Pens were down 4-1 against Anaheim last night, made it 4-3 but the Ducks scored an EN goal to seal the win at 5-3.

Anaheim is breathing down the Kings' neck with 51 points to LA's 53 and SJ and Calgary have officially passed LA for 2nd and 3rd in the Pacific Division respectively. The Kings are officially a Wild Card team and 4th in the division but 1 point out of 2nd, that is how close this has become.

They really screwed the pooch with these losses the last little while and that huge gap they once had on the Pacific is gone. SJ also plays tonight (Colorado) so things will change by the end of the night.

Calgary is on their bye week until the 20th so if the Kings win tonight and SJ loses they will move into 2nd but it's still complicated. What a freaking mess LA has made with themselves and now it's going to be a dog fight to the bitter end. Congratulations for shooting yourself in the foot.

Serious line up changes tonight:

9/11/23
70/22/73
19/21/12
13/52/17

Looks like Andreoff and Mitchell will be scratched, haven't seen the defense pairings yet but I think LaDue and Gravel will battle it out for the 6 slot. With Muzzin in it'll 5/6/8/24/27 and the one of Gravel or LaDue. Excited to see Brodzinski though, I'm not sure what it is about him but he has something in him that is dying to come out. Just a gut feeling.

You know it's bad when Trevor Lewis is your 2C.

=)~~

Catching the Pens on a B2B exhausting game, Kings need this win badly.

 

[pete6835]

WTF Quick???? 5-hole again.

 

[PuckinUgly57]

Quick has looked completely off the last month or so. Yes, he is accustomed to playing 60-70 games a season but he didn't play almost all last season so it was like throwing him right back into the fire without a scaled entry.

That's on Stevens, dude needs to recognize his starting goalie needs to recharge or needs a break for more than 1 game.

 

[Kings4OT]

Kempe had some patience there

 

[pete6835]

Pathetic. Another rookie goalie in his first start.

and.................... Future HOF Bernier killing it Colorado.

 

[PuckinUgly57]

Yeah, you knew with a rookie goalie coming in he was going to win. Now watch, he will give up 4 goals a game for the next week, the usual script.

Lineup changes didn't help a lot although the Kings looked slightly better than they have recently but that isn't saying much. They kept whiffing passes, couldn't make a tape to tape pass, they are struggling as a whole and don't look like they are all on the same page. And that PP, yikes - I don't know WTF that was, that drop pass was picked off 3-4 times in a row. Why bother keep trying it? Looked like the ghost of Kompon drew that garbage up.

And Brown is going to be suspended for the first time in his career and rightfully so, he had time to hold up and still followed through. No escaping it this time so I don't expect him tomorrow or this weekend, I am banking on 2 games considering he will be a first time offender.

Quick looks tired, Keumper needs some starts. Kings also lost some muscle with McDermid sent down and they have Anaheim again tomorrow, Nick Ritchie needs a good beating after hitting Clifford when he was down last week - also a bush move. I expect Clifford to hold him accountable and I expect Andreoff inserted in place of Amadio or Brodzinsky.

Blake better be working the phones, this team needs some help. The absence of Carter has finally showed itself.

 

[LoCal Kings]

I only saw the beginning of game last night. Was there any further mention of Malkin's dirty stick work to Brown's crotch in the 1st period? Would hope the league reviews that one, but I know they won't. Being a top-end player and Poster-Boy's sidekick, I doubt Malkin has ever been "reviewed" by the league.

Clearly, they need a Defenseman and a Forward. They are obviously waiting to evaluate LaDue (should play tonight) and praying Carter makes progress asap.

 

[davnlaguna]

Brown out lunch money $10,000

 

[pete6835]

Brown out lunch money $10,000

+ Evgeni Malkin was also fined $5,000 for spearing Brown

 

[Kings4OT]

I'm not convinced they need a defenseman unless its moving Muffin. They need scoring not on the top line, some sort of playmaker with TT. Pearson and Lewis aren't going to cut it, Gabs is just kind of there right now...Carts coming back should be a big boost but I would still like to see someone else on 2nd line as well