Anyone who thought this would be a Kings’ win due to the fact Los Angeles had beat San Jose 3 times in their own building were unfamiliar with the fact that the Sharks have one of the best road records in the league at 13-3-0-2. To add insult to injury, the Kings again failed to score first. They have only scored the first goal in 13 of 38 games which is making it ever impossible for the home team to win. Before the game gets started, the loss is in sight and the team is playing catch-up instead of taking control of the ice.
Some things were different in this loss. LaBarbera gets pulled after giving up 2 goals in 3 minutes and showed his disgust. I am not convinced he is to blame for those early goals. Giuliano explained in the post game show that the goalie change did give the team a “boost” but not enough since the Kings failed to begin anything close to a forecheck until midway through the second period.
I will concede the obvious here. Many times during the game, the home team sure looked lost. I do get that. At this point, perhaps because I have a soft spot for this team, the Kings seemed scared stiff to me to move in any direction. To the sold out crowd, their perception based on the loud boos and hostile cat calls, fans collectively thought the team just didn’t care.
That is a fair reaction considering how the Kings looked. Heck, in the first period, while on the power play, neither Blake nor Visnovsky on one occasion could keep the puck in the offensive zone. Later on, Stuart had the puck essentially at his feet and lost possession. In the third, Stuart and Aubin nearly ran into each other. In other words, onlookers found the team essentially very hard to watch.
The toughest part to take is that the Kings have it in them to be better and opportunities were there to have a different result. They failed to set up any forecheck until midway through the second period. In the first period, the Sharks iced the puck multiple times and the extra offensive zone play gifted from San Jose resulted in exactly nothing for the home team.
Here is Kopitar’s take:
“It seems the last couple of games we are right there but we come up a little short the last few games, down by one goal. The work ethic is there … we need a little bit more to win some hockey games. We were winning in San Jose and they are winning here. Maybe they are. Maybe they prepared themselves for this game a little better and maybe we are a little rusty coming off of 3 days off. It is kind of hard to get in the rhythm right away. They had the same thing. That is gonna be an excuse and it is frustrating right now.”
“With the goalie change, it woke us up a little bit. Jason, it is not his fault, any of those goals, it came off a scramble both goals. That is the way it is. That is how the coaches decide. We played pretty good after that.”
On one on one battles, Kopitar explained:
“I think they did that, they won that battle tonight, that is obviously a key factor to win hockey games when you beat the guy to the net two on one to create an odd man rush or something that is how the goals are scored in this NHL.”
My Take
Some things were different this game. Crawford again shortened his bench and the fourth line of Ivanans, Zeiler had approximately 4 minutes and change of ice time. The former made his time count with an impressive 4 hits. Brown played his own typically physical game on his return with 7 of his own.
The other thing I noticed is that Crawford did more line matching than I remember in the past. Every time Joe Thornton’s line got ice, he was matched against Giuliano, Handzus and Calder/Scott Thornton. Considering Thornton had only 1 assist, in theory that approach worked.
Personally, I believe the Kings are their own worst enemy right now. While line matching makes sense, and I am not suggesting otherwise, I would prefer right now all players got the same marching orders so that the players weren’t thinking so much. If the team has to be worried about when to get off and on the ice based on Thornton’s shifts, as opposed to when a typical shift was over, that is probably a very bad thing right now.
In other words, a shortened bench and a thinking team when the players probably think themselves to death right now isn’t working. I get Crawford is desperate for a win. Who isn’t after enduring the longest losing streak since the end of the 2003-2004 season?
Where to go from here?
First, for the love of everyone’s sanity, the players need to remember this is a game, it is supposed to be fun and skating paralyzed leads to disorganized play, missed coverage and anger from the fans. The Kings’ individual statistics for the season overall look good on paper. The problem is, just like in dating, the potential prospects on paper who looked good to us, often fail to match that hype in real life. The Kings have a perception problem right now.
How so?
They perceive themselves to be losers so they lose... Often.
Other teams perceive the Kings to be an easy 2 points. The Kings are subconsciously thinking the same thing. Los Angeles has lead to many teams ending losing streaks this year. Phoenix, Chicago, Columbus, Nashville and San Jose come to mind. In other words, perception is now reality.
How to change this?
For starters, wake the hell up and consider the possibility that when the players remember their skill, play with passion as they did through part of the second and most of the third, they are in fact hard to play against and good things follow.
For Crawford, consider lightening up a little bit. If you are calmer, your players might follow suit. Desperate line changing, a shortened bench which dwarfs the remaining confidence of those getting stiff waiting for their turn, isn’t working.
Rather than focus on the end result on the scoreboard, break this down to the little things. One shift at a time, positive instead of negative support to your players, making this a ‘team game’ might change things. I know this much, it couldn’t hurt.
Something needs to change and as Coach Mr. Crawford, you have the power to change the tempo and temperament of your team. Never forget that. The best analogy I can provide is that I have always noticed that anxious/nervous new Moms tend to have anxious and nervous babies. With this team, a rattled coach might be resulting in an easily rattled team. That is the antithesis of how to get out of the current situation.
For the fans, hang in there. I have no earthly idea when the Kings will look better in games than they do now. There were bright spots in this loss such as:
• Frolov’s tenacity out there that set up the Blake goal on the power play
• No power play goals against Wednesday
• Kopitar’s continued tenacious play that led Jim Fox to compare some of his moves to Messier, no small compliment there
• Both Handzus and O’Sullivan got much better in the face-off circle
• Blake had 8 shots on goal and 2 hits
• Visnovsky scored his 3rd goal of the year, had 3 shots on goal, 1 blocked shots and 2 hits no less
• O’Sullivan is looking quite the keeper now that his defensive game is showing some offensive flare as well as some real dominating play
• Preissing broke up a 2 on 1 rush alone stopping even a shot on goal against
I get that this team has 40 years of frustration following it. Please consider not suggesting this year’s Kings are responsible for the prior failed years. This is their time and with patience, maybe just maybe things will be different -- not right away but over time.
Update on Injuries:
As per the best source on the Kings, the Daily News reporters Matthew Kredell and Rich Hammond, there are some team updates, which can be read here:
www.insidesocal.com/kings/
Cammalleri is doubtful for this weekend with sore ribs. Stuart has been playing with a banged up foot for awhile and didn't practice today. He might not go this weekend (sounded like a possibility only).
LaBarbera practiced an extra half hour after regular practice since he didn't play a full game. He said that perhaps since returning from injury, he is forgetting some of the little things he did before. Finally, a call up is in order from Manchester, most likely a defenseman, and which defenseman, isn't known right now.
Brown spent the first 10 minutes of the game feeling tentative since he didn't know how much his shoulder would affect him. After that, he was more comfortable. While in juniors, he injured his shoulder, missed a week only. He felt soreness then for about a month. This seems to be following a similar pattern.
Carla Muller
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