All three of Scuderi, Schenn, and Alec Martinez (who was paired with Scuderi), had struggle filled games in containing the speed and size of the San Jose forecheck. For Martinez, who was just coming off an injury, a re-aggravation or a new injury may have been the case for his struggles in Game 1.
With his unlikely status for Game 2 (Stranger things have happened), the Kings now face another issue on defense; Who plays?
On Friday the Kings recalled young defenseman Kevin Gravel (Sorry Derek Forbort, Scuderi is No. 7 now.), and now face the question of playing the rookie in a playoff game, or the offensive specialist Jamie McBain.
While the major deterring factor with McBain is his "Risky" offensive leaning game and perhaps less than stellar defensive game, the Kings Men Podcast pointed out on twitter that McBain does not seem all that risky by advanced metrics.
McBain has actually been a really capable 5-6 defenseman this season who can add an element of puck moving, mobility, and powerplay specialty to a roster. However, he cannot kill penalties and Darryl Sutter has gone WELL out of his way to deploy him in offensive zone scenarios.
When McBain is in the lineup he is the most offensively deployed defenseman the Kings use. Next on that list? Kevin Gravel.
On the bottom of this list, Rob Scuderi.
The Kings have decisions in opposite directions here. They have four very different defensemen all vying for three spots. Scuderi the stay at home, Schenn the physical presence, Gravel the young two-way blue liner, and McBain the offensive specialist.
Having watched the Game 1 contest, the Kings struggled incredibly at moving the puck out of their zone under the intense pressure of San Jose's 2-1 forecheck. The two biggest stragglers? Luke Schenn and Rob Scuderi. While Scuderi is much more adept at clearing the puck without control, he constantly defers to his partner (And did so immensely during the regular season as well) in moving the puck up ice WITH control. Ergo, in a scenario with Alec Martinez, who was injured, the puck moving becomes almost non-existent. The Scuderi-Martinez pairing could rarely get across center red with control in Game 1.
Schenn is in tough right now, and is struggling with the fast decision making with the puck. This has led to some less than desireable deep zone decisions and perhaps some extended offensive zone times for opponents. He does, however, possess an aggressive play without the puck that the Kings seem to covet from blueliners. He will step up at the blue and redline in order to breakup plays, which is a common occurrence among Kings defensemen. Nevertheless, his struggles when the puck is on his stick were evident in Game 1. This was the case for Schenn most of the season. He does make some strong plays off the puck and on opposing carriers, but his own zone play has been extremely hit and miss.
With the struggling defensemen highlighted, where do you go?
The Kings now have options, but not too many. Do you play both Gravel and McBain? Do you sit one of Scuderi or Schenn? With Darryl Sutter it seems as though neither Schenn or Scuderi would hit the press box unless something dire happened. These players are a warm blanket to the Kings coach, despite struggles. You really cannot envy the position the Kings bench boss is in right now.
And notice in that second graph, Martinez was actually the worst relative corsi against per 60, however his heavy defensive zone deployment and quality of competition are definite factors in that. Martinez is and was regularly given the most defensively difficult minutes amongst Kings defenders this season. This is why, for the most part, Martinez is an irreplaceable cog. He is good in transition, gets difficult minutes, and gets a lot of them also (around 18-22 a night)
Unfortunately for Los Angeles, they seemed to have dug a grave for young Derek Forbort on the year, and in a situation like this it might make more sense to have him making his playoff debut somewhere in this first round if struggles from regulars continue. However, hindsight is 20-20 of course, and Forbort may have been of little to no use. We may never know.
The reality is that from a coaching standpoint it looks Sutter has two players he cannot trust and two players he wants to trust but are playing poorly. Three of them have to play tonight unless No. 27 is ready to go or Robyn Regehr hops in his Lambo and signs a one-day contract with the Kings for tonight's game. (Tunnel of doooom)
What would be your ideal lineup defensively if Martinez is not healthy?
Who would you play on Defense?
From the perspective here on the blog, McBain almost certainly has to play as a puck moving option in order to better evade the Sharks forecheck. If you want to be conservative and give Schenn and Scuderi one more game to right the wrongs of Game 1, you do it. If it continues? Flip a coin and play the young rookie. While Gravel's fancy stats were not exceptionally promising in his small sample, it was simply that...a small sample. He showed heads up decision making and assertiveness with the puck, which are two things you want. Is it ideal that you play him in his 6th NHL game in the playoffs? No. But is it ideal to dress two players who are a continued detriment to the Kings? Also no.
It is one game, and the Kings might go 4-0-0 in their next four games and wipe this series from our memories quicker than it came. That is the nature of the playoffs. You balance between freak out and stay calm is thin. With injuries and inconsistency the Kings are kind of leaning on that fence right now, and Game 2 is going to be big in pushing the pendulum one way or another. The first challenge has been thrown down, and the Kings depth is going to be tested.
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