I managed to overcome my frustration and anger last night to get some sleep and now ready to post some thoughts.
First, lets call it like it is-Howard was amazing. It happens. Hockey is one of the few games where a red hot goalie can singlehandedly win the game for his team. He could have had the French Special Olympic team playing in front of him and still found a way to win. It happens. It was the polar opposite of a game I attended years ago that ended in 2-2 ties if memory serves where the talented up and coming Wings outshot the Kings 48-24 and it was Kelly Hrudey standing on his head for 65 minutes.
Next, stop with the bashing. Some of you guys sounds like the biggest douchebags on the planet. Terry Murray's fault? Christ his game plan was perfect and given the same criteria the Kings win this game 99% of the time. When you outhit, outshoot, and outplay the opposing team-doesnt that tell you the game plan was sound?
Browns Fault? The guy was hitting the Wings Star players which I specifically noted in my game notes. He smacked Lidstrom a couple of times as well as Datsyuk....even shadowing him on a couple of shifts and really giving it to him with some stick work along the boards. The one thing that always pisses me off is when the Kings dont play physically against the other teams skilled guys and tonight just wasnt the case. And the people with the personal attacks- you disgust me with your complete douche baggery. It has always been my perception that the worst offenders of this are always that same ones that in real life miserable wrecks of human beings. Seriously, some of you show a real bona fide lack of character.
O'Donnells Fault- I wont even go there because once again the Kings dominated. They outshot, outhit, outskated, and outworked the Wings. This is the game of hockey. It happens. Its what makes hockey special.
Some other thoughts, not to be confused with the lightweight blame game....
Frolov-A solid game but in the 1st there was one shift that pretty much summed up his play this season. Frolov gets the puck at his own blue line, skates it up and instead of going into open ice, moves the puck to the side where 2 Wings have coverage, He crosses the red line and once the Wings player move to him he is unable to even get the puck deep. Why? Why elect to go to the side of the ice thats covered and why magnify the play by not being able to make the safe/fundamentally sound play?
Jack Johnson- Its sad but last night when I looked to see who the D Pair was I felt secure until seeing the #3 out there. Not bashing him but at this point in the season its starting to become a reflex that when JJ it out there you know that is the most likely time the opponents will score.
Lets be honest again, this was a Fantastic Game to Watch and the Kings played their best solid team game they have played in ages. Every line was playing fantastic.
Simmonds/Parse/Richardson- They Really have chemistry as evidenced by dumping the puck to the side with a speedy winger already with momentum there to chase down the dump in. I counted several time where seeing his linemate with the puck, Simmonds skated hard into the offensive zone knowing his linemates would dump it to his side.
Even the 4th line- Moller and Stoll looked amazing together and not sure if its something they worked on but looked like they were actually able to use Ivanans as a huge pylon to set picks and/or set up Ivanans to make a huge hit. I couldnt help but think a skilled/better caliber winger on that line would make a huge addition-but they played well in spite of having Ivanans on their line.
This was one of the first time in years that I was devastated after a loss. I must admit I had visions of punching someone in a Wings jersey and had a flashback to my near miss attack on a Blues fan at the end of the infamous Blues/Kings playoff game with the Courtnall incident.
It was an exciting, fantastic game that had just an incredible feel to it. Im sorry the Kings lost the way they did but how can any fan who has been a fan for longer then 2 years managed to find anything to bitch about without sounding like a fool? Answer-You cant.
If the team plays the rest of the games like they did tonight rest assured we will make the playoffs. The only question is- does the team come out against the Blues with the same fire or use it as a deflating ego buster and come out flat?
Isnt it truly a testament to the hard luck Kings that in a game where they played their best hockey in ages-they face a red hot goalie having a career game. And that same goalie had to have been with the friggin Wings. Why couldnt this same game been against the Lightning or some other eastern team? Wouldnt that have been so much more palatable? And making the case more-in a season in which the Kings clearly have the strongest roster they've had in years is also the same season in which the Western Conference is the toughest in ages and teams that were expected to suck are fighting for division titles in Colorado and Phoenix. Can we lobby Bettman to move the Kings to the Southeastern conference next season?
As always, look forward to your thoughts.
__________________ "The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools."
1) Its a well known fact Detroit has no heavyweight enforcer. So who is Ivanans going to fight? Who is he protecting our star players from? If its a game against another team that ices a heavyweight, I expect Ivanans to be in the lineup. But in a game like last night, he does not bring any set of skills we need. I would rather play Purcell or even Harrold for his defensive responsibility. If you dont think having Ivanans in the lineup was a mistake, please explain why you believe Murray was right and he's the better choice out of other options we have. I've given my reasons as to why Murray should not have played him.
2) Again, with Ivanans, but specifically in the 3rd period. We're down a goal. It's a tight game. Ivanans is no offensive star. WHY is he playing a shift. If its the 2nd of back to backs, or long travel, or whatever, where Murray feels he MUST roll 4 lines, its one thing. But thats not the case here. He should have started rolling 3 lines (or double shifting someone/multiple players in Ivanans' spot on the 4th line). Again, I've explained why I believe it was a MAJOR mistake to have Raitis out there in the critical 3rd period. If Murray was correct to have him running around, resulting in that stupid holding penalty, I'd like to know why.
3) Failure to "coach" his players. After we scored that huge goal, it seemed like every player suddenly was running on empty. We had 2 or 3 shifts in a row where Detroit was buzzing, late in the game. Thats when a good coach uses the timeout. Settle the troops down, regroup, focus. Murray consistently fails to take advantage of the time out at critical junctures, whether its late in the game, or we've just given up 2 goals, or we've iced the puck after a long shift...
4) OD's bad game... how many times did he try a WEAK clearing attempt which was stopped and kept in the zone? I counted at least 3 times, probably more. WEAK checks all night, getting beaten in battles etc. A good coach would have seen OD, for whatever reason, was off his game. I dont care that he's a veteran. Maybe you dont want him out there THE LAST 30 SECONDS OF THE GAME. Maybe we have some better options? Not saying OD should be sitting on the bench, but again, if he has used a timeout, it would have given everyone a breather so we could have DD and Scuderi or Greene etc out there instead. When the game is on the line in the last minute, you want your BEST out there, and tonight, OD was not in that category by a long shot.
Would the outcome have been different? I dont know, Howard was nothing short of amazing last night. But would we have given ourselves a better chance? I surely am convinced of it.
I was not at all impressed by Terry Murray's coaching last night. I havent been impressed with him for some time now. I'm not saying he's a bad coach, and I'm not saying we need to make a change. I just wish he was more active and involved and making some different decisions.
Hip, I agree with 90% of your post until you got to JJ. "Not bashing him or anything" - are you saying that he is snakebit or are you saying that he is a bad defender? because from where I'm sitting watching that game, the two goals weren't his defensive "responsibility". So snakebit? maybe. bad defender? he makes mistakes but I wouldn't call him a bad defender this year (especially compared to last year).
This was a fantastically played game. 27 shots in one period alone. that's just about the season average...in a period!!!
The future looks as bright as ever, as far as I'm concerned.
Hips Thoughts - Thats Hockey, Thats life 
rajuabju
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