alt="LA Kings Insider with Rich Hammond" />If the Kings want to figure out what NOT to do in this situation, they can go ask the Vancouver Canucks. In the second round last year, the Canucks led the Chicago Blackhawks 2-1 in the series and held a 1-0 lead late in the third period of Game 4. The Blackhawks scored in overtime to even the series and then beat the Canucks in the next two games to win the series. The emotional impact of losing a Game 4, especially at home, to fall back even in a series can be big, and today, Ryan Smyth, Anze Kopitar and Terry Murray discussed what the Kings need to do…
SMYTH: “It’s a great question. This is what playoffs are all about. You ride a big wave. At times, you go through your ups and downs, but you can’t ride them too high or too low. We’ve got a great team here. We’ve got older guys who can settle things down, and we’ve got young guys that have energy and that want to learn and want to create things at another level. I think we’ll handle it well.”
SMYTH: “We came into this series (thinking) it’s a long series. It’s unfortunate that we let it slip, Game 4, but we’ve got to win one game up there, for sure. If it’s tomorrow, then great, and come back here and win it, but we’ll just take care of Game 5 right now.”
KOPITAR: “Obviously if would be a lot better if we were up 3-1 right now, but that’s just the way the game goes. You’ve got to shake it off. Tomorrow is the next game and we’re going to be ready for it.”
MURRAY: “In the playoffs, you’re going to go through those kinds of situations as a hockey club. The most important thing that we take out of this one, now, is being ready to play another game in Vancouver. We’ve got to win a game up there again to get the job done. Rebound is most important.”
Question: How do you keep the players on an even keel now?
MURRAY: “That’s going to have to be a group effort. We talked about it immediately after the game last night, as I addressed the team. That was the area that I addressed. It’s a loss, it’s a hard loss. You’ve just got to make sure that you’re not going to get too low off this loss. Know that we’ve got to go back and play. `You guys played a real good game.’ When I watched that game last night, behind the bench, and I see it again today in my review, we played well. We came out and played a tremendous first period, the best first period that we’ve had in the series. We showed composure, making plays, and that’s the attitude we have to bring back. … You’re going to experience a lot of emotions in the Stanley Cup playoffs, so you have to deal with it. We’ve got to bounce back.”
I am so ready for this game to happen. More than 24 hours to go…hope I dont go crazy!!1
If we as fans are anxious these guys have got to be chompin at the bit as well.
In the wise words of an Adam Sandler movie:
“YOU CAN DO IT!”
ps… Thanks for letting me be first again! :-)
What not to do is to keep the start time for Sunday a secret so all your season ticket holders can’t call and get a baby sitter or make plans!!!!!!!!!!!!
I need Kings victory bad…..
Well on the bright side, Alberts is back in!
Lets see…
Williams and Jones played in the first game and we lost. TM benched both and inserted Clune and Harry and we won 2 games. He went back to Jones and we lost. Now he’s hinting about going back with Williams.
I’m not a coach or a GM, I just play one on this blog but its pretty obvious who should be playing and who should be sitting. Williams for Parse I can live with but Jones has to sit, if nothing else he is just bad luck and we know in hockey you never mess with things when they are working. Wear the same socks, eat the same food, shoot 27 pucks into the net before you leave the ice after practice but whatever you do don’t dress JONES!
Three glaring mistakes led directly to three VAN goals. It’s totally correctible. Had we been outplayed, thats one thing. I’m confident that we can come back, and this team just doesn’t quit. Play like we did in games 2 thru 4, and we should be fine.
LOL Lead feet. All night long!
Keep the intensity up like the 1st period.
GO KINGS GO!!!
Rich,
A little off topic,but while leaving Staples Center last night I met a few bloggers.1 male,and 2 females.One of the females got punched in the back by a Canuck fan.I think they said something about being mediaters for lakings.com.
Can you find out what happened,if possible?
Kings AHL team vs. Sharks AHL team in the 2nd round of Calder Cup….interesting….
Want to win?
Simple formula
Bench Jones and don’t score first!
Bingo Bango!
@WWAMD
Jones was not on the ice for any of the VAN goals. OD made more mistakes.
@WWAMD
Simple and BEST formula it seems!
Perhaps we need not panic. Many thought that the Kings were going to tank it the last couple of weeks and miss the playoffs, and we righted the ship. After game 1 we were ready to fire DL, TM, and bring in Bernier. After game 3 it was all good. We lose game 4 and here we go again with the negativity. We’ll make it to the next round.
@WWAMD
Well that might just lead up to one of the most boring hockey games ever to exist. Just 5 guys on each team sitting behind the net afraid to go after the puck. :-P
The team that has scored first in the series, has lost each game; maybe a stronger finish is even bigger than a strong start.
On a side note, Andrew Alberts will be back Van’s lineup tomorrow night!
Jones was not on the ice for any of the goals but he doenst help the team out….one time he just sent the puck from behind the net to no one and Van. got the puck..He is NOT a good player…
Glad to see so many quotes from Smyth, but he needs to do more and talk less. He has been underperforming for weeks, and this series has been no exception. He’s getting a huge chunk of the team payroll – time to earn it!
@fournato: Absolutely agree with you about the Sunday start time secrecy. Ridiculous. Maybe it is the TV folks calling the shots on it, not the Kings – either way, it is insensitive to ticket holders.
2Neil…you need to ad IMHO to your post.you are not stating facts only Your opinion.I certainly don’t agree with you
@ rick
Wow, I guess you didn’t see Smyth go into the boards in game 3, then get up and stagger and almost fall down again then the ref grabs his arm to help?
I’m glad they didnt practice today…they need the emotional and physical rest to gear up for an intense game 5. Game 6 is going to be AWESOME!!
I’m glad they didnt practice today…they need the emotional and physical rest to gear up for an intense game 5. Game 6 is going to be AWESOME!!