alt="LA Kings Insider with Rich Hammond" />The Kings’ high-profile defensive pairing of Drew Doughty and Jack Johnson didn’t make it through the first period last night. At the start of the second, Terry Murray shifted his defensemen, putting Doughty with Rob Scuderi and Johnson with Sean O’Donnell. Here’s what Murray said today about the shift…
MURRAY: “I wasn’t seeing the right stuff from those two guys. They’re critical and key guys for our hockey club. When they’re on the ice, they have the ability to be able to control the tempo, control shifts. Like the rest of us, we were not up to that kind of a mindset to begin the game. The first shift of the game, we have the puck on our stick, and that’s just a hockey play. It bounced off. It just tapped. But then you have to, then, be in a position to recover. That was the purpose of last year, from my side of it, all that checking and intensity, home-plate attitude.
“Stuff happens in hockey. There’s going to be that reaction that you have to have, to defend, to be tougher for your teammate. That’s what those guys, Dewey and Jack, are good at. They need to be good at it, because they’re playing 28 minutes a night. That’s just part of playing the game in the NHL, and I didn’t see it happening right away, from the beginning. So we made it through the first (period) and I wasn’t happy with what was going on.”
I have to say that was the worse game I’ve seen Doughty play. Even he looked helpless against their speed. It really just seemed Montreal had a good plan of speed & attack and didn’t waste any of the 60-minutes to get right to it. The Kings, on the other hand, were standing still on the freeway as they were blown by over and over… Speed kills!
I’m honestly not worried about the make-up of this team and I feel we’ll be okay IF we come out from the start with a jump, intensity and purpose… we need to play much more desperate hockey!!!
GO KINGS!!!
The defense was terrible last night. Johnson’s early turnover that lead to a bad, 0:22 deficit, and then Doughty’s turnover in the defensive zone… with an empty net!
Kings are gonna lose every single game with defense like that, really.
Other than that, the Kings didn’t get to the net as often as they should’ve. I was surprised they didn’t try crashing Halak more, considering that’s the way they scored both their goals.
Then again, maybe we just can’t beat Montreal. Just like we can’t beat Nashville. Just like we can’t beat Vancouver.
Gotta play tighter, and gotta beat the teams you maybe aren’t supposed to beat.
Kings just need 2 settle down. They will be alright, the break messed up the chemistry a bit, they will turn it around. There is 2 much talent on this team, so I don’t see them struggling 4 too much longer.
They’ve only lost 2 games in a row, if they loose 5 or 6 then its time to really panic. Dewy and JMFJ and the rest of the olympians have been busy the last few weeks, they just need to get back into their normal routine and they will be just fine.
I have a question? if Kopitar became an American citizen could he play 4 the US in the Olympics? Its a shame his country sucks at hockey because his talent should be displayed on the world stage. I would love to see him on the same line as Kane and Parise.
Everybody can have a bad game once in a while. I don’t know if Drew Doughty had a bad game or was just trying to do way too much.
Someone should ask TM why Jones is in the lineup, I never thought I’d say this but Harrold in the lineup would be nice. What happened to Drewiske anyway?
seems a little harsh……maybe talk to them at intermission and then make a change…….again i will say it..TOO many changes TOO often…..
@neil, I agree! Just my opinion but at some point there needs to be some consistency so the guys can have a clue of how to prepare day-to-day. What I mean, just as example, is that Doughty’s gonna play a different game with JJ than he would with Skuds. Yes change is part of the game, but a lot of players like to do at least a bit of some sort of visualization, planning, or whatever you want to call it… Not to mention that x-amount of practice time is also somewhat wasted if, again just for example, Drew and Jack are talking it out on how and what they want to do together and then the next day it’s all for naught… Consistency helps!
TM made the comment the other day that the Kings believe JJ is better at left defense. I don’t know where he dreamed that up! JJ has, as a King, always been been better on the right side. He played poorly at the beginning of the season on the left and only played better after he moved over to the right side.
The bigger problem is that the Kings now only have 3 top-four defensemen on the roster. Doughty, Johnson and Scuderi. Drewiske is potentially a top four but right now is a five or six. Greene is really a six on a top team and OD, Harold, and Jones are really sevens at best on a cup contending team. It is this problem that will keep the Kings from contending for the cup this year. There may be potentially top four D-men in the organization but right now there is no one who can fill that role. Until this problem is solved the Kings will not win the Stanley Cup. DL has done an admirable job but the task is far from over.
(meant to put this comment in response to this post…)
Doughty and Johnson may be the future…but what we need is the present. Why in the world was Johnson on the Olympic team anyway. He has potential. GREAT!! I can think of 2 King’s defensemen that earned the right to be there in 2010. Scuderi in particular earned the chance. What has Johnson earned to this point? (minus squared) Again, it is not a knock…those two guys may be the future…but it is a future connected closely to at least 4 other defensemen. We need some unity in the defensive corp
The replays of the third goal were hard to watch – Doughty got checked off the puck twice and Kopitar once. Hard to say he felt pressure under the spotlight (considering his Olympic performance), but maybe knowing he was on HNIC – and knowing he’d be the post-game interview – he thought he needed to do extra-special things? When the After Hours guys asked him about being nominated for the Norris, all he could say was, “I’ll have to play a lot better than I played tonight!”
Disregarding the Johnson-Doughty pairing in particular, Murray needs to learn a thing or two about chemistry. It seems our guys are playing with someone new every two games, and/or always making adjustments in their games such as switching positions etc… I wish we had a more static situation like most teams.
We lack the crease clearing, scare the crap out of you defenseman, Teubert is suppose to be that so maybe next year or if we last enjoy success in the playoff maybe than. But we should of addressed that sometimes this year but settled for waiver wire pick up of Randy Jones. Our enforcer cant skate on the 4th line on a regular basis and dont used tmost over used statements in hockey “we are team tough” Simmonds is “great” but disappears at times and is to valuable to fight that often… Matt Greene lots of heart but not a good fighter. OD is tough as nails, I still remember the Geoff Courtnall fight in the St Louis series but he is not that player anymore. Clune is a Sean Avery, Warren Rychel, Joe Patterson, Terry Ruskowski,Bert Wilson, Neil Komadoski, and Dave Hutchinson type player. I want a Dan Maloney, Randy Holt, Tiger Williams, Larry Playfair, Marty McSorley, Jay Miller or Matt Johnson. I want a Jay Wells type player. Night in night out you paid the price when he was in the crease… and he feared no one. Didn’t win them all but he “always” had your back.
@Kevin Y, Yeah, DD has not looked himself for two games in a row. He looks tired and burned out after the Olympics.
@Telos, While I see the benefit of everyone being able to play with anyone else on the team, I know from experience that “chemistry” between players definately exists in sports, both amateur and professional.
So I agree with you on principle, but the standings indicate otherwise and so I guess we could be even better with some chemistry.
@Mark1967, I don’t watch everything and haven’t been a STH for many years but Dan Maloney was the best pure hockey fighter I ever saw. It was like, “ya wanna go?” and then like 3 fast rights and the other guy on the ground without even a hold on the jersey. This of course was before helmets. I don’t even remember if he could score or not.
McSorley is forever stained.
Tiger was a beast, I was there when he came into the stands after a fan, on his skates, at the Forum. He got a few rows up, too lol. In interviews you could tell he was a happy go lucky guy when not on the ice. Still an ATF.
Where are these types of players today? No longer needed as much.
Wells had an admirable Kings career, all things considered.
off subject but can anyone tell me is it worth going to watch the pregame skate??? off tomorrow and thought it might be fun~thanks for any info
@Telos — I think TM has ideas about how each line could gain an advantage over an opponent. Each change of player alters that particular advantage.
TM put out Kopi’s line against the Habs first line. I could not see where we had an advantage, maybe size. Then Kopi scores from the outside.
I would love to know if he makes a line combo to gain an advantage against a particular team, other than the fourth line.
–OFF-TOPIC ALERT–
All of you who are fans of Mr. Fox doing play-by-play should take note of the following:
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-kings-miller8-20100308,0,4113705.story
Shingles/a virus that most of us have had in the form of chickenpox, lying dormant and harmless in our bodies… But, getting it again as an adult as shingles can be extremely painful and debilitating!
My prayers are with you, Bob Miller, if only to prevent Jim Fox (and a number of Kings’ fans) from having an in-game heart attack…
@BakoCAkingsCondorsGuy, Did Bob contract shingles from roofing?
Seriously I hope he’s recovering O.K. Thanks for the article.
@deepwater,
what do you mean why was Johnson on the USA team? he was on there for the same reason everyone else was, because Burke liked the way he played and liked how his commitment and dedication fit in with the locker room. all you +/- fanatics need to get over it. in reality yes Johnson has a high – but that doesn’t really mean anything. Its the pairings that highly effect the +/- and sometimes bad luck. if you watch the games you would know that a lot of the time Johnson has just gotten off the bench and a simple mistake made from someone behind him leads to a goal… now what could Johnson do about that? it seems to me that he has the worst luck with just getting on ice and the kings giving up the goal. don’t get me wrong he has earned a few -’s but overall its not consistently his fault. Johnson had every right and definitely earned his spot on team USA and did what i and tons of other people thought, a spectacular job and definitely showed why he deserved to be on the team.
@kingslover33,
I don’t agree. His body of work does not measure up to his selection. There are a number of very effective D’s who have slugged it out in the trenches for many years and deserve the opportunity to represent the U.S. He is young and will have his day in the sun. The irony is that it wasn’t that many weeks ago many followers of this Blog were wanting him benched or traded. I agree that he has a lot of upside. But at this point he is far from one of the best American D’s in the league.
Terry Murray has shown to me that he has his finger on the pulse of this team. The Kings up and down the lineup should not have been this successful this season and a lot of credit should go to Terry. That is why his line changes don’t make me cringe anymore. He has earned this fan’s respect and I was not a fan of his hiring. His calm demeanor, candid statements and transparent coaching without head games and childish motivational tactics tell me his message has been delivered to the players and they have accepted it.
I trust our coach and hope he can help our boys find the next gear to take this to the playoffs while another shift and right foot press on the accelerator takes us through it.
Going through the motions of being a good team. They need to humble themselves and play some desperate hard-nosed hockey!
GO KINGS GO!!!!!
p.s. Get better Bob! We miss all miss ya!
@lostjedi, Kopitar played in Championship play already for his home country. I guess once you do that you can no longer switch with a citisenship change.
@Alen, Actually Jones played pretty well last game and even had a great hit.
@deepwater, I actually agree that JJ did not deserve to be in the Olympics. That being said however, once he got there he was more than worthy.
Agree with the poster above, JJ needs to be on the right side.
@vindogla,
I was there the night that for some stupid reason Terry O’Reily ran Goring twice and each time Maloney kicked the crap out of him. I was there that night when Tiger and Smyl went crazy and threw a chair on the ice. Bottom line is that these players could play and keep the oposition accountable. Something we have been lacking for several years…. Especially on the backline….
@deepwater, I’m with you. JJ owns his minus rating.
@KC23, I’m also with you. JJ made good use of his playing time in the Olympics, which makes me wonder if the Kings coaching staff is doing the right things with him.
A couple of things here…
Doughty and Jack did not play well Saturday night, that was clear to all of us. That is not our problem defensively however. They will be fine. Greene and Scuderi will be fine. OD is generally serviceable, although he will have a really bad game from time to time. The real problem is with the 6th D-man. Jones is just not playing well on a consistent basis. Harrold showed some real promise in his first few games as a defenseman, and Drewiske had played solidly before his injury. Obviously, Murray is more comfortable with Jones than either Harrold or Drewiske, but it appears to me that both Harrold and Drewiske have more upside than Jones, although both are untested.
As for our last two games, the most basic and obvious fact is that we have not skated well. Our team strength is our skating. The layoff obviously affected that. A few more games and we will be back to skating as we have all year. Once that happens, we will be seeing the same team.
No panic; we will be fine.
I’m seeing a lot of circling around to get to the puck and not a lot of stopping and starting. The effort is not consistent, and the opposition is beating them to the puck.
All I want to hear about todoay is that Simmonds now traded spots with Brown on the frist line.
@KC23,
That could be the answer to Simmonds struggles lately. We haven’t really gotten on his back because he is so popular, but he has not played the same lately; not really making an impact like he used to.
Somebody posted that they thought the Kings were now just 6 points into the playoffs. Scared me, but not true. Fact is, we are 8 points into the playoffs with a game in hand. The standings say 7, we with 80 and Calgary in 9th with 73, but we would have more wins even if they won 3 in a row and we lost 4 more in a row, so the tiebreakeer goes to us. In short, Calgary needs to beat us by a point, so they need 8 to get ahead of us.
8 is close enough for me, however, plus we absolutely need the win tonight.
Calgary plays Detroit tomorrow, so one of those two teams is going to get closer Tuesday, and if we are sitting there still with only 80 points after a home loss to Columbus, that would SUCK. Either way, it would really SUCK. Us with 80, Detroit with 74, 75 or 76 and Calgary with 73, 74, or 75.
Not to mention that our next game is against Chicago while Detroit then plays Minnesota.
CRUNCH TIME. CRUCNH F’ING TIME.
@Player-X, Funny stuff…
A Kings Fan’s Guide to Panic
http://www.jewelsfromthecrown.com/2010/3/7/1361269/a-kings-fans-guide-to-panic
Let’s not all freak out even if we lose tonight. This team is resilient and we fans have to start believing. Perception is reality. Playoffs aren’t even a question. We’re well on our way.
@scv king, As poorly as everyone played, and this is no excuse since Montreal was on the same ice, the ice did look really bad and our passing was horrible. If you can’t put 2 or 3 passes together moving up the ice, the speed of the back-checkers will break things up and you’re left with dump & chase after dump and chase… but then we also lost most of the corner battles for pucks… Plain and simple Montreal was WAY hungrier for the 2-points.
@roadtripper,
The biggest tragedy is that the game was televised nationally as the second game of Hockey Night IN Canada….
This is gut check time. The season is winding down and the pressure has risen.
Will the Kings start to fold under the pressure or will they rise to the occasion?
They lose tonight and the noose tightens.
@runningman,
Faster than Superman on Laundry Day!
haha nooo they wont, just love that quote.
Freddy Modin vs his old team!!!
Not much action on the blog this morning ….
The offense looks really out of sync the last few games, not making the tape to tape passes up the ice that they have been doing most of the year. Too much chip and chase being done rather than gaining the line with the puck IMO.
Some of you wont like the reference but they need to play the way Team Canada did for the most part in the olympics. Always looking for the smart outlet pass rather than dumping it out.
@Kevin Y, aside from those 3 teams, we’re pretty damn good! We haven’t been able to beat MC since ‘93 and before, and VC has had our number for a few years now. I can’t explain the NP thing.
@VanKingsFan,
That’s a great quote.
It seems to me that after the trade deadline the Kings start a miny losing streak each year. I am not sure why but they have for the last few years. They do look slow and tired. Maybe the O-Break was not that good for them?
@lostjedi,
Hey! You guys already steal Canadians for your hockey program (Stastny, Brett Hull, etc etc.) you don;t need to be stealing Slovenians too!
@VanKingsFan, That’s indeed a funny statement since Paul Stastny’s father (Peter) was a Slovak before the Canadians “Stole” him…
@Belexes,
haha … plus half the Canadian track and field team is from jamaica etc.
I would just feel so bad for Slovenia since Anze is all they have
@VanKingsFan, Even better would be for the Kings to play the same way as the best team in the Olympic tournament…
You want action? I’ll give you action! (by the way, you started a firestorm the other day. are you even aware of it?)
@wavesinair,
Are you referring to me? LOL I am not aware of it if you are. I am very interested to know where and how though?
And nice little jab there Belexes… I guess they are giving out Silvers to the best team now? Come talk to me when Kane finally has the tears dried off his face
@VanKingsFan, yes van. one of the best all time meltdowns. email me and I’ll hook you up.
@KC23, yeah agreed. Definitely one of Jones better games of late..
@Bobby Scribe, best post this month
@VanKingsFan,
He’s been flat awful lately but he shouldn’t be elevated to the top line for bad play. Perhaps a seat in the bleachers that was so loved for Frolov by the crowd would do Simmonds some good too.
I have to agree with TM that the play wasn’t great with those two BUT where is calling out Jones and OD lately? It’s like TM only calls out people he has high expectations of and other people get to skate under the radar.
That being said TM is doing a great job overall with the team. Just no consistency.
@Player-X, I remember that post,but I can’t name names because that persons(usual doom and gloom)attitude has slowly started to come around.I suspect it will change if we lose tonight though.