Random Thoughts on the Kings- 10/15/08
A few things I like about Terry Murray:
-He puts Frolov, Brown and Kopitar on the penalty kill when they haven't played in a while and paired them for a shift when Frolov got out of the box
-He's trusting his young guys and giving them playing time in important situations: Doughty is playing 20 minutes a game, Moller is getting regular time on the power play, and Simmonds is getting regular minutes with Alex Frolov
-He seems to have instilled a team commitment to defense that is actually working and players are actually sticking up for one another
A few random thoughts about last night's game:
-Patrick O'Sullivan was again excellent. Since the Kings only have 2 games in the next 9 days, I imagine the Kings will work O'Sullivan in with one of the top 2 lines.
-Dustin Brown has been asserting himself a lot more carrying the puck, but I don't think Kopitar is comfortable moving without the puck. And Brown pasted Sammy Pahlsson in one of the best hits you're going to see.
-Tom Preissing and Michal Handzus are still overpaid but actually look pretty good out there.
-Jarret Stoll has a shot.
-Jason Labarbera is playing pretty well. Sure, he still gives up a few bad rebounds and he's not a great scrambler, but he's stands big in the net and gives his defensemen confidence.
-What the hell has gotten into Derek Armstrong? He's really mad all the time. I hope everything's okay at home.
-The Ducks looked terrible.
8 comments:
Rumor has it that Jarret Stoll has broken someone's leg with his slapshot.
The Ducks looked terrible.
That's pretty much the synopsis of the last three games. And strangely, very little of it has been Giguere's fault (he hasn't been lifted in any game, at any rate).
There's a dozen things the Ducks need to improve on in order to be mediocre. Should be a thrilling year, from the looks of things.
Besides Doughty's errant blue line pass, he is already playing like our best defenseman. Sean O'Donnell has been very solid and Preissing is actually playing very solid D. Harrold was pretty horrible at the start but did play better in the third. Still, I think we'll see Quincey instead on Friday.
Murray's trust of the young guys is the biggest difference from last season. With the way the Kings have played in the last two games, how long before Kyle Calder is waived or traded for a low draft pick?
Dustin Brown's hit on Pahlsson was beauty! Jim Fox froze it in the post game. Circled the puck so everyone could see Pahlsson was eligible to be hit. Circled Brown's skates to show he did not charge. Finally circled Brown's shoulder impacting Pahlsson's face to show he didn't use his elbow. I loved every second!!
Jim Fox is a tool.
They replayed that only because it was clean, and it was. If it were dirty he would have never said a second word about it.
But I know when our color guys do the games, they are much worse so no biggie.
Not sure if they're playing Stoll at a wing position or not, but is he REALLY a beast in the faceoff position?
He was my secret weapon in NHL 08.
He's "3rd line" with Moller and O'Sullivan on his wings right now. He's supposed to be great at face-offs.
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