View from the Ox Box - Penguins 1/30

[oxnardkingsfan]

The end result was pretty much what I expected. I had hoped for a better offensive show from the Kings but it doesn't look like the slump is going to end any time soon. I thought the Kings started out OK. A couple of weird bounces coupled with some poor defensive coverage of Malkin led to the first Pens goal but he team battled back and actually scored a power play goal to tie it up.

Looking OK at that point but that didn't last long. The Kings didn't listen to me and gave the best power play in the league a 2-minute 2-man advantage. Before that 2 minutes were over the team was 2 goals down. They actually played fairly well from that point on. Jones came in and picked them up I guess. Either that or Pittsburgh backed off some. The game was essentially over by then however.

The problem as I see it is they just aren't generating any good scoring chances. Sure they're getting shots (actually out-shot the Penguins) but they're mostly from the outside and when there are rebounds the Kings aren't able to get their sticks on the puck. To me that says they're getting out-worked in front of the net. Why that's happening is anybody's guess.

Ox

 

[xis]

I was at the game as well last night and it became very obvious to me what the problem is. It's the lack of zone entries with any kind of speed or purpose. I lost count how many times they didn't even get the puck deep enough to get a line change and ended up with tired players on the ice.

This team needs to seriously simplify their game to be successful again. The passing, shooting and all the technical aspects of the game can be cleaned up. Even the power play will come around. But they if they can't accomplish the basics they're going to be in serious trouble.